The Joys of Parenthood( 1978-1981)

I forgot to mention in my earlier blog that Thammayya ( Saraswathi's son) got married in June 1978.

I returned from Jagdalpur in Oct 1978 and continued with my bachelor life.Sudha stayed back in Jagdalpur and was expected to return to Madras sometime in Dec 1978 but no date was set.

One fine day in Dec, I returned from Office and found they were already home!! No phone call, no telegram --- nothing.Her parents had accompanied Sudha and Sachin and they had made the journey by car.

I used to normally give the house key next door to the Gopinaths so that the maidservant could finish up her washing and cleaning, so Sudha and her parents had no problem getting into the house.They were surprised to see the house spic and span even without any notice of their arrival.

Rama Aunty straightaway took charge of Sachin.The regular oil bath and massage and looking after him when Sudha was having her bath was all taken care of by Rama Aunty.

As Sachin started his baby steps and then the running around, Sudha used to tie him to an immovable object---- the dining table or the sofa--- with enough length to enable him move within a confined area.

Around this time, relations sarted to sour between our landlady and us.The landlady was jealous of the increased friendship between the Gopinaths and us on the first floor.

Finally, matters came to a head in March 1979 and we were told to vacate.We looked desperately for a house in T'Nagar but didn't anything suitable.We finally moved to an independent house in Ashok Nagar ( rent Rs.500 per month).
The house was very nice with 2 bedrooms and a lawn but it was too far from Mount Road, my Office and all our usual haunts.The house was owned by the brother-in-law of one of my friends G.Jayaraman.Sudha was very unhappy with the move but soon settled down.

Miraculously, we found another Maami at the back of our house.The lady was a widow and was staying with her 2 sons and 2 daughters ( all in their teens and early twenties). Straightaway they adopted Sachin and made life easier for us.

I know I'm writing about the joys of parenthood and it isn't as though the joy comes from having other people take care of your kid--- but still, it felt good to know that there were others to take care of Sachin when things became a little too much.

Meanwhile our activities in Kannada theatre increased.There was one drama to be done for the Sourabha program of Doordarshan and we all practised hard. Sudha would carry Sachin on her hips and do the rehearsals at Karnataka Sangha.
There were plenty of others to look after Sachin also.

In May 1979, I got a chance to make my first trip in an aeroplane and also my first stay in a 5 star hotel. A business visitor had come from Malaysia and I was told to accompany him to Bangalore, Manipal( where the visitor's son was studying at Manipal Medical College), Hubli and back to Madras via Bangalore.

We were booked in Hotel Ashok at Bangalore and caught a flight from Bangalore to Madras.

In May 1979, we also attended Rajani's wedding with Murali at Bangalore. This was a gala affair with all uncles and aunts in attendance. Anti's Navilu dance was one of the highlights of the entertainment program.
Sachin was properly fussed over and Sethuram used to call him "Benne Biscuit".

In June 1979 we visited Bhadravati for the Grihapravesha of Seethakka's house.Sudha was keen on going to a Kannada movie " Hombisilu" and went with Shashi and Chaya.She left Sachin behind at home and as usual he cried because his mom had left him.
Sudha was met with accusing stares when she got back from the movie and promptly burst into tears, especially when Seethakka told her how "poor" Kesari was left alone to manage the kid.

In October 1979, we travelled to Bhadravati again for Chaya's wedding.Good fun as usual.

Kittu Maava ( my mother-in-law's brother) came down to Bangalore in November 1979 and we had a pleasant meeting with him.
In November 1979, we were invited by the Karnataka Nataka Academy to the Horanada Kannadigara Drama Festival at Ravindra Kalakshetra in Bangalore.Our Director was H.N.Srinivas, a HR professional with United India Insurance at that time.The play chosen was a Kannada translation of a Sanskrit play called "Bhagavathachukeya" and the Kannada name of the play was "Soole Sanyasi". It was a play about a prostitute and an ascetic and the transmigration of souls.

It involved songs and dances and the subject was esoteric, to say the least--not the kind of story that could be understood by the common man.

We practiced the dialogues and dance in our drawing room which was no more than 12ft x 10ft.Since all of us were working, there were always one or two people absent during every rehearsal.

Our drama was to be staged on a Sunday.It was a double header with the first play being "Jokumaraswamy" --- a very famous one being staged for the 50th time by a professional drama troupe and was already making waves in the theatre circuit.

We travelled on a Friday night from Madras to Bangalore and rang up all our friends and relatives to come and watch our performance on Sunday.

We met up on the Saturday evening for a rehearsal and this was in fact the first time that all actors were present.We had to wait till the featured play got over and the stage was given to us at 12 midnight.

Our first surprise was the stage.It was huge-- at least 40ft x 40 ft.By the time we went one round of the stage, we were breathless.The play also involved intricate lighting where there would be two groups of actors on the stage.One group would talk among themselves in one part of the stage and the other group would stand in darkness in another part of the stage.The dialogue would then switch to the other group and the previous group would stand in darkness since they were not supposed to know what was being spoken.Srinivas called one of his theatre friends in Bangalore to watch the rehearsal and make notes in the script on the lighting changes to be done.

It was 4 AM by the time we finished the rehearsal and went home.We came back to the venue by 3 PM.There was a huge crowd and a big clamour for tickets.People came to me and begged for tickets but I shrugged them off imperiously."Jokumaraswamy" got over and was a huge success judging by the audience applause.

And then our play started.Things started to go wrong right from the beginning.One of the actors said " Huli Banthu! Huli Banthu!!" ( The tiger is coming!!) and a cat ran across the stage.This was actually supposed to be a serious situation , but the audience roared with laughter.

One of the actors forgot his dialogue midway, so he started all over again.Another actor spoke a dialogue of the 8th scene while doing the 3rd scene and the play carried on from there.A couple of people were supposed to die in the 4th and 5th scenes but they never got the chance and so continued living.

One actress was playing dead and suddenly relaized that she was not supposed to be on stage.She just got up and walked away.

The lighting specialist was so confused by all this that he forgot to control the lights. The result was that there were two groups on stage with the lights focused on both.One group mouthed the dialogues and suddenly went silent and then the other group mouthed their dialogue and kept silent.

The audience had no clue about what was going on ( and neither did the actors, for that matter).Mercifully the play came to an end and all our relations and friends came and said what a wonderful performance it was . We knew better.

Next day, there was a review of the play by a Kannada paper.
The reviewer wrote:" We have seen some pretty bad plays in our journalistic career but yesterday's play staged by a Madras troupe takes the cake. We had no clue about what the play was all about and neither did the actors.People came on to the stage and went out of it at will.The actors were mouthing their dialogues and then standing there like dumb puppets( this was when the lighting was not done as planned).
The only comforting factor is that this was a brave attempt by a Horanada ( out of State) troupe and therefore we must commend their bravery in trying out a complicated drama".

( to be continued)