Here's a list of KGF shafts that I remember:-
Edgar's Shaft
Henry's Shaft
Bullen's Shaft
Tenant's Shaft
Gifford Shaft
Oriental Shaft
Golconda Shaft
McTaggart's Shaft ( I think there was one by this name)
Am inviting people to add to this list.
Showing posts with label KGF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label KGF. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Saturday, October 2, 2010
The Birth of Sandeep and later( 1981-1983)
The birth of my second child was due around Deepavali in 1981 and I decided to go to Jabalpur around that time.
Sudha's gynaecologist was Dr.Sarojini,a very old family friend of Sudha's parents.We celebrated Deepavali on 27th Oct and BVN's old friends, the Dwarkanaths had come from Nagpur to celebrate the occasion with us.
On 29th morning, Sudha developed labour pains and she was taken to hospital.There was a delay in the arrival of the doctor and she almost delivered right in the waiting room.
Anyway, everything went well and she delivered a healthy, bouncing 8lb baby boy at 9.15 AM.We were so sure that it would be a girl that it took some time for the fact to sink in that we had a second boy.
I reached the hospital around 12 Noon and there he was, cute and almost red all over.
My dad and mom got the news in KGF as they were about to leave KGF forever and settle down in Mysore.
Mrs.Dwarkanath was of great help during this time.
Finalizing a name for the child took all of 2 seconds.A son ( San) born on Deep(avali)day automatically became Sandeep.
OK, it wasn't actually Deepavali but Bhai Dhooj, it didn't matter.
The other notable event during that period was Sachin, Ravi and I going to see "Yaarana" starring Amitabh Bachchan and Amjad Khan. I had worn a particular coloured shirt for the movie and for a couple of years after that, Sachin referred to it as the Yaarana shirt whenever I wore it.
I returned to Madras soon after to resume my bachelor life. Dad and mom visited Jabalpur to see the child in Dec 1981.I remember mom mentioning that the child was trying to climb up her shoulder even when he was barely 2 months old.
I visited Mysore later in Dec 1981 and was happy to see my parents settling into their own home in Jayanagar Extension.
1982 dawned and this was the year of the Asian Games--- but a fairly momentous year for me.
Vasudha got married in Jan 1982 and I think Sudha missed this wedding.
Sudha returned to Madras with Sachin and Sandeep in Feb 1982.We were now in Teynampet in an independent house at the back of a main house.The owner was a Kannadiga, Dr.Srinivasan and the upstairs portion was occupied by Mr.Venkatachalam, his wife Meena and their two sons Mohan and Balaji.Mr.Venkatachalam was working in Best & Crompton Engineering.
Meena adopted Sandeep as soon as Sudha returned to Madras. He used to spend all his time in their house and called Meena "Amma".
March 1982 saw the first test for us as a family.The issue was school admission for Sachin.We had heard that DAV School at Gopalapuram,Madras was good and were determined that he would study only there.
The problem was that the admission was restricted to pupils whose parents were able to get an application form.
It was announced that applications would be distributed in Mar 1982 but the date was not announced.Sudha's brother Ravi was staying with us at that time and we took turns going to the school and waiting in a queue.The Principal ( Mr.Ram Kalia--- and a stricter disciplinarian I am yet to see) would come in the morning and say that applications would not be given that day and we would all disperse.
There were only 40 seats in LKG so the problem was to be among the first 40 in the queue.The queue started from 5 AM and slowly started going back to 4 AM, 3 AM and so on.By the 15th day, the queue started from 8 PM the previous day. Ravi was of great help to us during this time.
Finally, one day Mr.Ram Kalia announced that applications would be given and luckily we were among the first 40.
Nanjunda got married in Jun 1982 in Mysore and we attended the wedding.
In July 1982, my boss Mr.N.P.Shah who was the Branch Manager of Akay Industries resigned to start his own business. This was also the time when the office lease at Casa Major Road in Egmore had expired and we had to start looking for a new place.
Mr.Dewnany, a senior person from Administration in Bombay, came down to Madras and we finalized new premises at Hardevi Chambers in Pantheon Road at Egmore, not more than 500 metres away.
Around the same time, Sudha's brother Vinod was engaged to be married to Veena whose parents were also in Nagpur.The alliance was finalized thru the Dwarkanaths who knew both the families well.The wedding was finalized for Oct 29th, 1982---- Sandeep's first birthday.
Another significant event that took place was our Office Sales Conference in Lonavala in Sep 1982. My colleague Verghese and I attended and the employees from Hubli came by us with their families.We were put up at the Faryas Resort and had a lovely time. The icing on the cake was the China Silk saree that was presented to each spouse.Sudha got a nice purple one and liked it immensely.
Around this time, I had also enrolled for a Post Graduate Course in Marketing at the University of Madras and had to attend evening classes for 3 days in a week.
With Mr.Shah's resignation, I was made acting head of the Madras Branch and the office car ( an Ambassador) was given to me.
My parents in-law had shifted to Nowgong in Bundelkand region of Madhya Pradesh in early 1982 and BVN's driver Shiraz had taught me driving in BVN's office Jeep when I had gone there in May 1982.Therefore, I had no problems driving the car.I remember that our first car trip was from Teynampet to West Mambalam to visit our good friends Kiran Kumar and Shantha.
We shifted to the new Office during a weekend in Oct 1982 and this was my first test of leadership.We closed at the old office on a Friday and the shifting was done over the weekend and we were back in business at the new office on Monday.We had also managed to get our office phone connection on Saturday---- no mean feat considering that Telephones was still a Government monopoly at that time.
Oct 18th ( Mon) was when Veena together with her sister Nalini and her parents were passing thru Madras on their way to Bangalore for the wedding.It was raining very heavily but Sudha and I were there to receive them at the station and with food packets.
Soon after, we all went to Bangalore for Vinod's wedding.It was a nice affair, made doubly memorable with Sandeep's first birthday.
The boys were growing up nicely.No trouble ( at least that's how it appears to us now).
The Asian Games came up in New Delhi in Nov 1982 and saw the advent of colour television.
Sachin was going to school regularly now.I would drop him off in the morning and Sudha would pick him up in her TVS 50 moped which we bought in Sep 1982.
Sandhya delivered her first child ( a son ) in Mysore.Sunil was born on Feb 13th.Ravi had also bought his flat in South End Apartments and the Grihapravesha was held in Apr 1983.
I drove down to Mysore in the Ambassador ( my first outstation trip) and brought my parents and Sandhya and Sunil to Bangalore for the grihapravesha
I took Sachin on his first airplane trip to Bangalore in Aug 1983.I left him at Bangalore, went to Hubli on official work and then came back with Sachin in Brindavan Express.I remember getting Sachin some comics to read and he was immersed in reading about Kalia the Crow, Doob Doob the Crocodile, Chamataka the Fox etc etc.
My Doddappa A.C.Kanteeravaswamy passed away in Sep 1983.He was ill for a couple of months . He and Kamala Doddamma were childless but they loved children and had an open house for visitors.Dad was in Mysore at that time and I had to speak to his neighbour and ask him to convey the news to my dad so that he could rush to Bangalore for the cremation. Communication was a major problem in those days.
Our company was participating in the ChemAsia Exhibition in Singapore in Dec 1983 and I was chosen by my company to go along with two other colleagues.
I was pretty excited since this was to be my first overseas trip.I was given Rs.7500 and told to get a suit stitched and also buy some more new clothes.
I left for Bombay on 2nd Dec and we all flew out from Bombay to Singapore on 4th Dec night.At Bombay, my MD gave each of us US $750 for our expenses.We landed in Singapore on 5th Dec 1983 ( it was my parents' 35th wedding anniversary).
Singapore was like a wonder land and we were just gaping at the sights. We stayed in a house of one of my colleagues' friends.Next day, we went to the World Trade Centre where the Exhibition was to be held.We got our exhibits unpacked and set up our stall.
In the meantime, my colleague Sharma and I decided to go to Bangkok and come back after the exhibition and so we booked our tickets.We were booked to return from Singapore to Bombay on 17th Dec but our return ticket was not confirmed.
The exhibition was for 4 days and was a great learning experience.In the evenings, we went to all the malls---- Scotts, Far East, Takashimaya, C K Tangs, Centre Point, Yaohawn's--- we went to all of them.
I bought a Minolta camera ( which is still with me), a transistor cum tape recorder ( the ubuquitious 2 in 1), a watch for Sudha,another bracelet, sarees for mom and Sudha and shirts and shaving accessories for the gents. A toy train for Sachin and lots of clothes for both the kids. I also bought a lot of English music cassettes, a suitcase etc.
During those days, none of these articles were available freely in India.Of course, things are vastly different now.
We also went to Sentosa Island, the Haw Par Villa, Japan Garden, China Garden etc.
Singapore has always been one of my favourite destinations outside of India and its charm is evergreen.
We were told to stay in Patpong area in Bangkok and had no idea that this was a very notorious area.Barely 5 minutes after we checked into the hotel, one of the waiters appeared and asked " You want girl?" We said no. He said " Oh, you want boy?". It was taken for granted that we were visited Bangkok only for naughty purposes.
We made a one day visit to Pattaya and saw an interesting " show".
We returned to Singapore but found that our Bombay ticket was still not confirmed.
Meanwhile, the date of departure was drawing nearer and we were almost in a panic.On the 17th , we were told to try our luck in the Airport.We were really worried and didn't know what we would do if the ticket was not confirmed.Our money was running out and those were the days before international credit cards.
We went to the check-in counter and waited and waited. All the confirmed passengers were cleared and then the names of waitlisted passengers were called. The time of departure was nearing and we had lost hope.I started reciting the Gayatri Mantra. At last they called "Prasad and Sharma". We put our hands up, checked in and sprinted to the departure gate.
We landed in Bombay next day morning and then I caught the evening flight to Madras. My dad and mom were very proud that I had made a foreign trip and had come to the airport with a garland.
A couple of days later, I got a call from my Bombay office asking how much duty I had paid in Bombay airport. I said Rs.2000. A couple of days later I got an envelope containing Rs.2000.
That's it for now. My next blog will cover 1984 and later.
Sudha's gynaecologist was Dr.Sarojini,a very old family friend of Sudha's parents.We celebrated Deepavali on 27th Oct and BVN's old friends, the Dwarkanaths had come from Nagpur to celebrate the occasion with us.
On 29th morning, Sudha developed labour pains and she was taken to hospital.There was a delay in the arrival of the doctor and she almost delivered right in the waiting room.
Anyway, everything went well and she delivered a healthy, bouncing 8lb baby boy at 9.15 AM.We were so sure that it would be a girl that it took some time for the fact to sink in that we had a second boy.
I reached the hospital around 12 Noon and there he was, cute and almost red all over.
My dad and mom got the news in KGF as they were about to leave KGF forever and settle down in Mysore.
Mrs.Dwarkanath was of great help during this time.
Finalizing a name for the child took all of 2 seconds.A son ( San) born on Deep(avali)day automatically became Sandeep.
OK, it wasn't actually Deepavali but Bhai Dhooj, it didn't matter.
The other notable event during that period was Sachin, Ravi and I going to see "Yaarana" starring Amitabh Bachchan and Amjad Khan. I had worn a particular coloured shirt for the movie and for a couple of years after that, Sachin referred to it as the Yaarana shirt whenever I wore it.
I returned to Madras soon after to resume my bachelor life. Dad and mom visited Jabalpur to see the child in Dec 1981.I remember mom mentioning that the child was trying to climb up her shoulder even when he was barely 2 months old.
I visited Mysore later in Dec 1981 and was happy to see my parents settling into their own home in Jayanagar Extension.
1982 dawned and this was the year of the Asian Games--- but a fairly momentous year for me.
Vasudha got married in Jan 1982 and I think Sudha missed this wedding.
Sudha returned to Madras with Sachin and Sandeep in Feb 1982.We were now in Teynampet in an independent house at the back of a main house.The owner was a Kannadiga, Dr.Srinivasan and the upstairs portion was occupied by Mr.Venkatachalam, his wife Meena and their two sons Mohan and Balaji.Mr.Venkatachalam was working in Best & Crompton Engineering.
Meena adopted Sandeep as soon as Sudha returned to Madras. He used to spend all his time in their house and called Meena "Amma".
March 1982 saw the first test for us as a family.The issue was school admission for Sachin.We had heard that DAV School at Gopalapuram,Madras was good and were determined that he would study only there.
The problem was that the admission was restricted to pupils whose parents were able to get an application form.
It was announced that applications would be distributed in Mar 1982 but the date was not announced.Sudha's brother Ravi was staying with us at that time and we took turns going to the school and waiting in a queue.The Principal ( Mr.Ram Kalia--- and a stricter disciplinarian I am yet to see) would come in the morning and say that applications would not be given that day and we would all disperse.
There were only 40 seats in LKG so the problem was to be among the first 40 in the queue.The queue started from 5 AM and slowly started going back to 4 AM, 3 AM and so on.By the 15th day, the queue started from 8 PM the previous day. Ravi was of great help to us during this time.
Finally, one day Mr.Ram Kalia announced that applications would be given and luckily we were among the first 40.
Nanjunda got married in Jun 1982 in Mysore and we attended the wedding.
In July 1982, my boss Mr.N.P.Shah who was the Branch Manager of Akay Industries resigned to start his own business. This was also the time when the office lease at Casa Major Road in Egmore had expired and we had to start looking for a new place.
Mr.Dewnany, a senior person from Administration in Bombay, came down to Madras and we finalized new premises at Hardevi Chambers in Pantheon Road at Egmore, not more than 500 metres away.
Around the same time, Sudha's brother Vinod was engaged to be married to Veena whose parents were also in Nagpur.The alliance was finalized thru the Dwarkanaths who knew both the families well.The wedding was finalized for Oct 29th, 1982---- Sandeep's first birthday.
Another significant event that took place was our Office Sales Conference in Lonavala in Sep 1982. My colleague Verghese and I attended and the employees from Hubli came by us with their families.We were put up at the Faryas Resort and had a lovely time. The icing on the cake was the China Silk saree that was presented to each spouse.Sudha got a nice purple one and liked it immensely.
Around this time, I had also enrolled for a Post Graduate Course in Marketing at the University of Madras and had to attend evening classes for 3 days in a week.
With Mr.Shah's resignation, I was made acting head of the Madras Branch and the office car ( an Ambassador) was given to me.
My parents in-law had shifted to Nowgong in Bundelkand region of Madhya Pradesh in early 1982 and BVN's driver Shiraz had taught me driving in BVN's office Jeep when I had gone there in May 1982.Therefore, I had no problems driving the car.I remember that our first car trip was from Teynampet to West Mambalam to visit our good friends Kiran Kumar and Shantha.
We shifted to the new Office during a weekend in Oct 1982 and this was my first test of leadership.We closed at the old office on a Friday and the shifting was done over the weekend and we were back in business at the new office on Monday.We had also managed to get our office phone connection on Saturday---- no mean feat considering that Telephones was still a Government monopoly at that time.
Oct 18th ( Mon) was when Veena together with her sister Nalini and her parents were passing thru Madras on their way to Bangalore for the wedding.It was raining very heavily but Sudha and I were there to receive them at the station and with food packets.
Soon after, we all went to Bangalore for Vinod's wedding.It was a nice affair, made doubly memorable with Sandeep's first birthday.
The boys were growing up nicely.No trouble ( at least that's how it appears to us now).
The Asian Games came up in New Delhi in Nov 1982 and saw the advent of colour television.
Sachin was going to school regularly now.I would drop him off in the morning and Sudha would pick him up in her TVS 50 moped which we bought in Sep 1982.
Sandhya delivered her first child ( a son ) in Mysore.Sunil was born on Feb 13th.Ravi had also bought his flat in South End Apartments and the Grihapravesha was held in Apr 1983.
I drove down to Mysore in the Ambassador ( my first outstation trip) and brought my parents and Sandhya and Sunil to Bangalore for the grihapravesha
I took Sachin on his first airplane trip to Bangalore in Aug 1983.I left him at Bangalore, went to Hubli on official work and then came back with Sachin in Brindavan Express.I remember getting Sachin some comics to read and he was immersed in reading about Kalia the Crow, Doob Doob the Crocodile, Chamataka the Fox etc etc.
My Doddappa A.C.Kanteeravaswamy passed away in Sep 1983.He was ill for a couple of months . He and Kamala Doddamma were childless but they loved children and had an open house for visitors.Dad was in Mysore at that time and I had to speak to his neighbour and ask him to convey the news to my dad so that he could rush to Bangalore for the cremation. Communication was a major problem in those days.
Our company was participating in the ChemAsia Exhibition in Singapore in Dec 1983 and I was chosen by my company to go along with two other colleagues.
I was pretty excited since this was to be my first overseas trip.I was given Rs.7500 and told to get a suit stitched and also buy some more new clothes.
I left for Bombay on 2nd Dec and we all flew out from Bombay to Singapore on 4th Dec night.At Bombay, my MD gave each of us US $750 for our expenses.We landed in Singapore on 5th Dec 1983 ( it was my parents' 35th wedding anniversary).
Singapore was like a wonder land and we were just gaping at the sights. We stayed in a house of one of my colleagues' friends.Next day, we went to the World Trade Centre where the Exhibition was to be held.We got our exhibits unpacked and set up our stall.
In the meantime, my colleague Sharma and I decided to go to Bangkok and come back after the exhibition and so we booked our tickets.We were booked to return from Singapore to Bombay on 17th Dec but our return ticket was not confirmed.
The exhibition was for 4 days and was a great learning experience.In the evenings, we went to all the malls---- Scotts, Far East, Takashimaya, C K Tangs, Centre Point, Yaohawn's--- we went to all of them.
I bought a Minolta camera ( which is still with me), a transistor cum tape recorder ( the ubuquitious 2 in 1), a watch for Sudha,another bracelet, sarees for mom and Sudha and shirts and shaving accessories for the gents. A toy train for Sachin and lots of clothes for both the kids. I also bought a lot of English music cassettes, a suitcase etc.
During those days, none of these articles were available freely in India.Of course, things are vastly different now.
We also went to Sentosa Island, the Haw Par Villa, Japan Garden, China Garden etc.
Singapore has always been one of my favourite destinations outside of India and its charm is evergreen.
We were told to stay in Patpong area in Bangkok and had no idea that this was a very notorious area.Barely 5 minutes after we checked into the hotel, one of the waiters appeared and asked " You want girl?" We said no. He said " Oh, you want boy?". It was taken for granted that we were visited Bangkok only for naughty purposes.
We made a one day visit to Pattaya and saw an interesting " show".
We returned to Singapore but found that our Bombay ticket was still not confirmed.
Meanwhile, the date of departure was drawing nearer and we were almost in a panic.On the 17th , we were told to try our luck in the Airport.We were really worried and didn't know what we would do if the ticket was not confirmed.Our money was running out and those were the days before international credit cards.
We went to the check-in counter and waited and waited. All the confirmed passengers were cleared and then the names of waitlisted passengers were called. The time of departure was nearing and we had lost hope.I started reciting the Gayatri Mantra. At last they called "Prasad and Sharma". We put our hands up, checked in and sprinted to the departure gate.
We landed in Bombay next day morning and then I caught the evening flight to Madras. My dad and mom were very proud that I had made a foreign trip and had come to the airport with a garland.
A couple of days later, I got a call from my Bombay office asking how much duty I had paid in Bombay airport. I said Rs.2000. A couple of days later I got an envelope containing Rs.2000.
That's it for now. My next blog will cover 1984 and later.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Joys of Parenthood ( Contd)-----------( 1978-1981)
I have a feedback from my son Sachin on my previous blog.He says that I have focused more on the agony of theatre than on the joys of parenthood.
Mea culpa, and I'll proceed to set right matters.
The most endearing thing about Sachin as a baby, apart from his marble-like black eyes, was the way he would suck his right forefinger and middle finger . This was heaven to him.
He was a late walker, only at around 11 months or so.He was also a very quiet boy--- absolutely no tantrums.When we were in Ashoknagar, Vasuki and Arathi had come to visit us. They took him outside the house in his pram and then tried to race the pram.In the process, Sachin fell off from the pram and sustained minor injuries.I was off at work then and these two were shivering in their boots wondering what I'd say when I came back home.They still remember the incident.
In May 1979, we went to Bangalore to attend Rajani's wedding.It was a gala affair and we enjoyed ourselves hugely.Sachin was just 9 months old then and really quite chubby. Sethuram called him "benne biscuit" and fussed over him a lot.
We celebrated his first birthday in Aug 1979 by cutting a cake and calling Prakash and Rosy who were staying in Besant Nagar then. I remember that they presented him with a copy of "Bala Ramayana".
Sandhya was extremely fond of him and used to call him Johnny boy.He used to call her Jujja and the name has stuck till this day.We had all gone to KGF for Janmashtami in Sep 1979 and Sachin was dressed up like a little Krishna.Very cute.
Sandhya would invariably take Sachin every date to Oorgaum Railway Station to watch the train passing by.
1979 was when we bought our first TV--- a black and white TV set called Bharath TV. Every day we would watch from 6.30 PM starting with the Doordarshan logo.Initially we had just the Doordarshan channel and then we had Doordarshan 1 and Doordarshan 2 where the second channel was a commercial one with advertisements etc.
Wimbledon was a great attraction and watching the epic final between McEnroe and Bjorn Borg made me feel that the TV was paisa vasool.
Gayathri got married in May 1980 to Vittal and we travelled to Bangalore for the wedding.
In September 1980, I made my second travel by flight from Madras to Bombay for a Sales Conference in Ankleshwar.
We stayed in Hotel Poonam International in Shiv Sagar Estate in Worli and travelled by bus to Ankleshwar.I bought a saree for mummy at Akbarally's and Bombay Halwa for everyone at Dadar.
By now, Sandhya had finished her B Com and my parents were on the lookout for a suitable groom for her.Sandhya's friend Shobha was the first to get engaged and the wedding date was fixed for 21 Mar 1981.Within a short while, Sandhya was engaged to Ravikumaraswamy who was a partner in a packaging industry in Bangalore.
Ravi's parents stayed in Jayanagar 1st Block and his father Prof S.Ramaswamy was a retired Professor of Physics in Central College, Bangalore.His grandather , Dr.S Subba Rao, was the palace physician to the Maharaja of Mysore and had travelled overseas in the 1930s .Ravi was the youngest of 5 brothers, all of whom were staying in Bangalore.
The wedding was fixed for 18th Mar 1981 at Prasanna Kalyana Mantapa in Jayanagar 1st Block near Ashoka Pillar.Sudha was now pregnant again. Her parents and Vinod and Ravi came down from Jabalpur where BVN was now transferred.
Sachin had high fever during the wedding but recovered soon.
We returned to Madras after attending Shobha's wedding also.
Meanwhile, Sudha was told that her iron content was low and was advised to take Fefol along with an oil injection which was a particularly painful one.This injection was to be taken once a week and she had to be under complete bed rest.
Mummy and Bhagya came down to KGF to look after her and we had to miss Nandini's wedding in May 1981.
Rummy, in the meanwhile, delivered her second child--- a boy--- in KGF on 1 May 1981.Aditya was born almost 8 1/2 years after Akhila. I conveyed the happy news to B S Nagaraj in Bangalore. He repeatedly asked me if I was sure it was a boy and I said yes, yes, yes.
Dad also retired from service on 31 May 1981 and was allowed to stay in the bungalow for another 3 months while Rummy was undergoing her bananthana( post natal care).
May 1981 was therefore a hectic month in many respects.
Sudha left with Sachin for Jabalpur in July 1981, but prior to that we shifted from Ashok Nagar to Teynampet.This was centrally located but the house was very small.Once again, I was forced to live the bachelor life.
The child was expected around Deepavali in 1981 and I planned my leave so as to be in Jabalpur around the time of the delivery.
Meanwhile, there was a Kannada drama called "Udhbhava" being staged and I was given a small role in it.Small means really small--- just one line of dialogue. I went for practice for one whole month.I had another friend called Srinivas who also had just one line of dialogue--- after mine.
On the day of the play, I was waiting eagerly to deliver my line. Srinivas was even more eager than me.He jumped the queue and delivered his dialogue before mine and thus I lost my chance. Such are the ways of theatre.
My next blog will cover the details of the birth of my second son.
Mea culpa, and I'll proceed to set right matters.
The most endearing thing about Sachin as a baby, apart from his marble-like black eyes, was the way he would suck his right forefinger and middle finger . This was heaven to him.
He was a late walker, only at around 11 months or so.He was also a very quiet boy--- absolutely no tantrums.When we were in Ashoknagar, Vasuki and Arathi had come to visit us. They took him outside the house in his pram and then tried to race the pram.In the process, Sachin fell off from the pram and sustained minor injuries.I was off at work then and these two were shivering in their boots wondering what I'd say when I came back home.They still remember the incident.
In May 1979, we went to Bangalore to attend Rajani's wedding.It was a gala affair and we enjoyed ourselves hugely.Sachin was just 9 months old then and really quite chubby. Sethuram called him "benne biscuit" and fussed over him a lot.
We celebrated his first birthday in Aug 1979 by cutting a cake and calling Prakash and Rosy who were staying in Besant Nagar then. I remember that they presented him with a copy of "Bala Ramayana".
Sandhya was extremely fond of him and used to call him Johnny boy.He used to call her Jujja and the name has stuck till this day.We had all gone to KGF for Janmashtami in Sep 1979 and Sachin was dressed up like a little Krishna.Very cute.
Sandhya would invariably take Sachin every date to Oorgaum Railway Station to watch the train passing by.
1979 was when we bought our first TV--- a black and white TV set called Bharath TV. Every day we would watch from 6.30 PM starting with the Doordarshan logo.Initially we had just the Doordarshan channel and then we had Doordarshan 1 and Doordarshan 2 where the second channel was a commercial one with advertisements etc.
Wimbledon was a great attraction and watching the epic final between McEnroe and Bjorn Borg made me feel that the TV was paisa vasool.
Gayathri got married in May 1980 to Vittal and we travelled to Bangalore for the wedding.
In September 1980, I made my second travel by flight from Madras to Bombay for a Sales Conference in Ankleshwar.
We stayed in Hotel Poonam International in Shiv Sagar Estate in Worli and travelled by bus to Ankleshwar.I bought a saree for mummy at Akbarally's and Bombay Halwa for everyone at Dadar.
By now, Sandhya had finished her B Com and my parents were on the lookout for a suitable groom for her.Sandhya's friend Shobha was the first to get engaged and the wedding date was fixed for 21 Mar 1981.Within a short while, Sandhya was engaged to Ravikumaraswamy who was a partner in a packaging industry in Bangalore.
Ravi's parents stayed in Jayanagar 1st Block and his father Prof S.Ramaswamy was a retired Professor of Physics in Central College, Bangalore.His grandather , Dr.S Subba Rao, was the palace physician to the Maharaja of Mysore and had travelled overseas in the 1930s .Ravi was the youngest of 5 brothers, all of whom were staying in Bangalore.
The wedding was fixed for 18th Mar 1981 at Prasanna Kalyana Mantapa in Jayanagar 1st Block near Ashoka Pillar.Sudha was now pregnant again. Her parents and Vinod and Ravi came down from Jabalpur where BVN was now transferred.
Sachin had high fever during the wedding but recovered soon.
We returned to Madras after attending Shobha's wedding also.
Meanwhile, Sudha was told that her iron content was low and was advised to take Fefol along with an oil injection which was a particularly painful one.This injection was to be taken once a week and she had to be under complete bed rest.
Mummy and Bhagya came down to KGF to look after her and we had to miss Nandini's wedding in May 1981.
Rummy, in the meanwhile, delivered her second child--- a boy--- in KGF on 1 May 1981.Aditya was born almost 8 1/2 years after Akhila. I conveyed the happy news to B S Nagaraj in Bangalore. He repeatedly asked me if I was sure it was a boy and I said yes, yes, yes.
Dad also retired from service on 31 May 1981 and was allowed to stay in the bungalow for another 3 months while Rummy was undergoing her bananthana( post natal care).
May 1981 was therefore a hectic month in many respects.
Sudha left with Sachin for Jabalpur in July 1981, but prior to that we shifted from Ashok Nagar to Teynampet.This was centrally located but the house was very small.Once again, I was forced to live the bachelor life.
The child was expected around Deepavali in 1981 and I planned my leave so as to be in Jabalpur around the time of the delivery.
Meanwhile, there was a Kannada drama called "Udhbhava" being staged and I was given a small role in it.Small means really small--- just one line of dialogue. I went for practice for one whole month.I had another friend called Srinivas who also had just one line of dialogue--- after mine.
On the day of the play, I was waiting eagerly to deliver my line. Srinivas was even more eager than me.He jumped the queue and delivered his dialogue before mine and thus I lost my chance. Such are the ways of theatre.
My next blog will cover the details of the birth of my second son.
Friday, August 13, 2010
A Bachelor in Madras ( 1974-1976)
I landed in Madras on 23rd March 1974.It was a saturday morning and the blast of heat that hit me as I came out of Madras Central was a foretaste of the famous Madras heat.
I took a cycle rickshaw and went straight to Udipi Home in Egmore which was just 200 Metres away from our Office.
After freshening up, I walked over to the Office. This was in a residential locality and the carpenters were still giving the final touches in the ground floor. The first floor was to be the residence of the Branch Manager, Mr.N.P Shah.
The interiors were done up very well and my first impression of the lounge was that it looked like the lobby of a 5 star hotel. My fellow Sales Engineer was V.Kalyansundar whom I had known when he had come for training to Hubli.
I soon went back to the hotel (Rs.17 per day), had my lunch and then went to visit Venu. Venu was the Finance Director of Binny's and had a bungalow opposite to the Madras Boat Club.I took a bus to Adyar Gate ( now Park Sheraton) and walked up to his house.Venu was at home and I met Jaya Chikkamma as well as the children Vagdevi, Abhaya and Prasad.
I was to spend many pleasant weekends at their home over the next 2 years.
I got back to Udipi Home and then got ready to attend the Branch Office Inauguration Event at Hotel Connemara.
One of the Directors had driven down in a yellow Ford Mustang and this was creating waves at Connemara where it was parked.
The function was a grand success and I was introduced to many customers whom I would be regularly seeing later.
After I went back to the hotel, I realized that my Rs.100 would not last long if I continued to stay at Udipi Home. Next day ( 24th Mar), I shifted to Roseland Lodge ( Rs.10 per day) which was just opposite Egmore Railway Station.
When 1st Apr came, I did not get my salary because the Accounts people were not aware of my transfer to Madras!!
I had to borrow Rs.200 from Mr.Shah.
The 2 stenographers, Monica Kurup and Jennifer Satur, joined on 7th Apr 1974 and all 5 of us ( NPS,Kalyan, Jenny, Monica and me) went to Woodlands Drive-In for lunch.
In May 1974, Kalyan resigned since he had got admission to IIM,Calcutta so it was just me and NP Shah to do the Sales work.
My first Sales visit was to Bangalore and there was this customer in Peenya who had a problem with one of our pumps.
I visited his factory and had no clue of how to solve the problem. I finally told him that he should change the equipment.The poor guy dropped me back to Saraswathi's house in Maleswaram where I was staying and Gayathri gave him Khas Khas ( opium seed)payasa since it was Rama Navami or some such festival.He actully felt very woozy after this and he went off never to contact us again.
In Apr 1974, I shifted to another lodge in Saidapet ( very close to Saidapet railway Station) which offered a room with attached bath for Rs.110 per month.
Commuting by electric train between Egmore and Saidapet was easy and I would have my breakfast consisting of curd rice at Egmore Station after coming in from Saidapet.
For lunch, I would get the office boy to bring Masala Dosa or some other stuff from Udipi Home.
I stayed in Saidapet for just a month. In May 1974, I was able to move in to YMCA at Parry's Corner. I shared a room with two other boys--- Sudarsanam who was working asa Service Engineer at Ashok Leyland and Kamaluddin who was working in ITDC.These were nice guys who kept to themselves and did not interfere much.The room was very large and spacious and every evening a delightful breeze would blow in from the sea which was less than 500 metres away.
I would take Bus No 9 or 10 from Parry's Corner to casa Major Road and come back in the evening in the same bus route.
The office atmosphere was excellent.N P Shah's parents were staying with him and his wife had just returned with their second child from her Gujarat hometown.Every now and then, she would send down some delicacy like dhokla .There was a TV available, so if there was some Test Match going on, I would go up and watch the match.
The Madras heat was terrible but I was slowly getting used to it.I made my first visit to Kerala in June 1974and the first thing that hit me when I landed in Cochin wasthe smell of fish and then that of coconut oil.I travelled extensively in the interiors from Calicut in the north down to Trivandrum in the south.Trichur, Chalakudy, Shertallay, Kottayam,Udyogamandal,Quilon,Alwaye,Ambalamedu,Cannanore---- I've been everywhere.Kerala has a very good bus network and getting around isn't difficult at all.Ernakulam was the commercial centre and Cochin situated on Vypeen Island was the quieter area where the Navy establishment was located.
During my trips, I always took care to visit the local places of interest, be it Guruvayur near Trichur or Kanyakumari near Trivandrum.Mattancherry near Cochin had a quiet ambience and some areas nearby reminded me of KGF.
Boiled rice in the food was a major problem and it was difficult to find hotels that prepared meals with raw rice.
I made similar extensive trips in Andhra Pradesh. Guntur, Eluru,Vijayawada, Tadepalligudem, Bhimavaram,Rajamundry, Kakinada, Kovvur, Tanuku, Sirpur Kaghaznagar, Warangal, Bhadrachalam were some of the areas I visited.
The land was very fertile but the people were very poor.I travelled in many places by Cycle-rikshaw and the poor rikshawallah would accept whatever money I gave him.
Within Madras, I used to go to places as far away as Manali, Avadi, Ambattur, Madhavaram etc.I'm not exaggerating when I say that I worked really, really hard.But this was work that I enjoyed and I felt that I was making a real contribution to the organization.
Whenever I wanted to go to KGF or Bangalore for some function, I would plan a tour.During one such tour, Shankara and I went for a movie in Plaza Theater in Bangalore. During the interval, I slipped across to a customer's Office next door, finalized an order and came back within 20 minutes and resumed watching the movie.Shankara was amazed when I told him that my work for the day was over.
In May 1974, I attend the wedding of Vijayasimha ( Venu's brother) in Bangalore.
1974 was a year of unrest.The famous Railway strike led by George Fernandes took place in May 1974 and events had already started that would culminate in the declaration of Emergency in June 1975.
Our working hours were 9.30 AM to 5.30 AM with Saturdays being half-day. Sometime in July 1974, there was a power cut in Maharashtra because of which the lifts were not working on Saturdays in our Bombay Head Office.As a result, all Branch sales were ordered to be closed on Saturdays and we had a 5 day week.
From then on, I spent practically every week end at Venu's house.I would come on Saturday morning at around 10 AM and pick up a bunch of comics that Abhaya or Prasad had.I would then head back on Saturday evening.Sometimes, I would stay over and leave on Sunday morning or afternoon after lunch.
Prasad was a great lover of Billy Bunter books and had a stack of them.Many years later, when my son Sachin got married, Prasad sent me a Billy Bunter book all the way from USA .He inscribed it " To the Father of the Groom". Very thoughtful of him and a gift that I greatly treasured.
I used to travel a lot within Madras by auto and taxi and now the company decided to offer me a loan to buy a two-wheeler.I quickly went to KGF and took a crash course in scooter and motorbike riding at the Gymkhana Grounds with the vehicles being lent by my dad's colleagues.
I then went to Bangalore and bought a second hand lambretta with the help of B S Nagaraj and brought it by train to Madras.
I was now really mobile and used the opportunity to go places like Marina Beach etc.
Money was still tight and made worse by the fact that my full salary was not being credited to me.Here's why. Inflation was soaring at more than 12% at that time and the Government passed a law that an employee could not get more than one increment.If he did get more, the additional emoluments was to be stored in a separate account and given later.
I got 5 increments in August 1974, but I was given only one increment as part of my salary and the balance was kept in a separate account. Crazy but true!!
In November 1974, I suffered another tragedy. I had gone on a tour to Andhra Pradesh and had got off at Warangal in the night.I tried for a retiring room but it was not available. I then slept in the waiting room. When I got up in the morning, my suitcase was gone!! Fortunately, I had my wallet with me and the office briefcase was intact.
I lodged a complaint and then cut short my tour and returned to Madras.I then spent around Rs.1500 ( a lot of money those days) on refurbishing my wardrobe.
My company was extremely understnding about this and refunded the money back to me.
Life went on in this vein till April 1975 and that is when a series of events happened that severely tested my ability to cope with crises.
One of our office assistants had sent off an anonymous letter to our Head Office with complaints against my Branch Manager.As soon as they got it, they went through the contents and decided that the charges were baseless and decided to sack the employee. On the day I got the call, my BM was travelling.I was told to prepare a letter of dismissal and send the employee home immediately.This was a person with a family and I was sharing the same office room with him for over a year. But what had to be done had to be done. So I got the letter prepared, called him into the BM's chamber, asked him to sign the duplicate copy and asked him to clear his belongings immediately. Mind you, I was just 24 and this was a new experience for me.
Jenny resigned in May 1975 to join Qantas and only Monica was left to do the stenography. My BM went on long leave in June 1975 and suddenly Monica also stopped coming for work.
I didn't know what to do since work was piling up and the only people left in the Office were the Office car driver who also doubled up as an Office Assistant and me.
Jenny was still in Madras and so I spoke to her and explained the problem and asked her if she could help out by doing the typing work for me.She was a real sport and agreed.
Every day, I would send the typewriter, the office stationery like letterheads, envelopes, inter-office memo pads, carbon paper, stapler etc along with my handwritten notes along with the car driver. He would deposit the fresh set and bring back the typewritten letters etc that had been sent on the previous day.This went on for more than 10 days before a new girl joined.
By this time, my boss had also returned from his leave and he really appreciated the fact that I had not allowed work to pile up.
By now, I had started getting getting feelers from my mom and dad whether I was ready for marriage. A couple of proposals had come in but it had not yet got to the stage of exchanging photos etc.
In Aug 1975, my mom wrote to me that Mr.B.V.Nagaraj and his wife and daughter were coming down to Bangalore and were interested in a possible alliance. Since I was in Madras, they wanted to meet me with my parents in Madras on 30th Aug 1975 on their way back to Bhopal.30th Aug 1975 was a Saturday, so dad and mom duly booked their ticket to Madras and informed Venu that they would be staying in his house.
I happened to be in the office on 23rd Aug even though it was a Saturday.A call came through and it was from Mr.B.V.Nagaraj.He said that he was speaking from Madras and wanted to know whether I could meet them at his newphew Bhagavan's house in Raja Annamalaipuram. I had no clue where the house but said I would be there.
( To be Continued)
I took a cycle rickshaw and went straight to Udipi Home in Egmore which was just 200 Metres away from our Office.
After freshening up, I walked over to the Office. This was in a residential locality and the carpenters were still giving the final touches in the ground floor. The first floor was to be the residence of the Branch Manager, Mr.N.P Shah.
The interiors were done up very well and my first impression of the lounge was that it looked like the lobby of a 5 star hotel. My fellow Sales Engineer was V.Kalyansundar whom I had known when he had come for training to Hubli.
I soon went back to the hotel (Rs.17 per day), had my lunch and then went to visit Venu. Venu was the Finance Director of Binny's and had a bungalow opposite to the Madras Boat Club.I took a bus to Adyar Gate ( now Park Sheraton) and walked up to his house.Venu was at home and I met Jaya Chikkamma as well as the children Vagdevi, Abhaya and Prasad.
I was to spend many pleasant weekends at their home over the next 2 years.
I got back to Udipi Home and then got ready to attend the Branch Office Inauguration Event at Hotel Connemara.
One of the Directors had driven down in a yellow Ford Mustang and this was creating waves at Connemara where it was parked.
The function was a grand success and I was introduced to many customers whom I would be regularly seeing later.
After I went back to the hotel, I realized that my Rs.100 would not last long if I continued to stay at Udipi Home. Next day ( 24th Mar), I shifted to Roseland Lodge ( Rs.10 per day) which was just opposite Egmore Railway Station.
When 1st Apr came, I did not get my salary because the Accounts people were not aware of my transfer to Madras!!
I had to borrow Rs.200 from Mr.Shah.
The 2 stenographers, Monica Kurup and Jennifer Satur, joined on 7th Apr 1974 and all 5 of us ( NPS,Kalyan, Jenny, Monica and me) went to Woodlands Drive-In for lunch.
In May 1974, Kalyan resigned since he had got admission to IIM,Calcutta so it was just me and NP Shah to do the Sales work.
My first Sales visit was to Bangalore and there was this customer in Peenya who had a problem with one of our pumps.
I visited his factory and had no clue of how to solve the problem. I finally told him that he should change the equipment.The poor guy dropped me back to Saraswathi's house in Maleswaram where I was staying and Gayathri gave him Khas Khas ( opium seed)payasa since it was Rama Navami or some such festival.He actully felt very woozy after this and he went off never to contact us again.
In Apr 1974, I shifted to another lodge in Saidapet ( very close to Saidapet railway Station) which offered a room with attached bath for Rs.110 per month.
Commuting by electric train between Egmore and Saidapet was easy and I would have my breakfast consisting of curd rice at Egmore Station after coming in from Saidapet.
For lunch, I would get the office boy to bring Masala Dosa or some other stuff from Udipi Home.
I stayed in Saidapet for just a month. In May 1974, I was able to move in to YMCA at Parry's Corner. I shared a room with two other boys--- Sudarsanam who was working asa Service Engineer at Ashok Leyland and Kamaluddin who was working in ITDC.These were nice guys who kept to themselves and did not interfere much.The room was very large and spacious and every evening a delightful breeze would blow in from the sea which was less than 500 metres away.
I would take Bus No 9 or 10 from Parry's Corner to casa Major Road and come back in the evening in the same bus route.
The office atmosphere was excellent.N P Shah's parents were staying with him and his wife had just returned with their second child from her Gujarat hometown.Every now and then, she would send down some delicacy like dhokla .There was a TV available, so if there was some Test Match going on, I would go up and watch the match.
The Madras heat was terrible but I was slowly getting used to it.I made my first visit to Kerala in June 1974and the first thing that hit me when I landed in Cochin wasthe smell of fish and then that of coconut oil.I travelled extensively in the interiors from Calicut in the north down to Trivandrum in the south.Trichur, Chalakudy, Shertallay, Kottayam,Udyogamandal,Quilon,Alwaye,Ambalamedu,Cannanore---- I've been everywhere.Kerala has a very good bus network and getting around isn't difficult at all.Ernakulam was the commercial centre and Cochin situated on Vypeen Island was the quieter area where the Navy establishment was located.
During my trips, I always took care to visit the local places of interest, be it Guruvayur near Trichur or Kanyakumari near Trivandrum.Mattancherry near Cochin had a quiet ambience and some areas nearby reminded me of KGF.
Boiled rice in the food was a major problem and it was difficult to find hotels that prepared meals with raw rice.
I made similar extensive trips in Andhra Pradesh. Guntur, Eluru,Vijayawada, Tadepalligudem, Bhimavaram,Rajamundry, Kakinada, Kovvur, Tanuku, Sirpur Kaghaznagar, Warangal, Bhadrachalam were some of the areas I visited.
The land was very fertile but the people were very poor.I travelled in many places by Cycle-rikshaw and the poor rikshawallah would accept whatever money I gave him.
Within Madras, I used to go to places as far away as Manali, Avadi, Ambattur, Madhavaram etc.I'm not exaggerating when I say that I worked really, really hard.But this was work that I enjoyed and I felt that I was making a real contribution to the organization.
Whenever I wanted to go to KGF or Bangalore for some function, I would plan a tour.During one such tour, Shankara and I went for a movie in Plaza Theater in Bangalore. During the interval, I slipped across to a customer's Office next door, finalized an order and came back within 20 minutes and resumed watching the movie.Shankara was amazed when I told him that my work for the day was over.
In May 1974, I attend the wedding of Vijayasimha ( Venu's brother) in Bangalore.
1974 was a year of unrest.The famous Railway strike led by George Fernandes took place in May 1974 and events had already started that would culminate in the declaration of Emergency in June 1975.
Our working hours were 9.30 AM to 5.30 AM with Saturdays being half-day. Sometime in July 1974, there was a power cut in Maharashtra because of which the lifts were not working on Saturdays in our Bombay Head Office.As a result, all Branch sales were ordered to be closed on Saturdays and we had a 5 day week.
From then on, I spent practically every week end at Venu's house.I would come on Saturday morning at around 10 AM and pick up a bunch of comics that Abhaya or Prasad had.I would then head back on Saturday evening.Sometimes, I would stay over and leave on Sunday morning or afternoon after lunch.
Prasad was a great lover of Billy Bunter books and had a stack of them.Many years later, when my son Sachin got married, Prasad sent me a Billy Bunter book all the way from USA .He inscribed it " To the Father of the Groom". Very thoughtful of him and a gift that I greatly treasured.
I used to travel a lot within Madras by auto and taxi and now the company decided to offer me a loan to buy a two-wheeler.I quickly went to KGF and took a crash course in scooter and motorbike riding at the Gymkhana Grounds with the vehicles being lent by my dad's colleagues.
I then went to Bangalore and bought a second hand lambretta with the help of B S Nagaraj and brought it by train to Madras.
I was now really mobile and used the opportunity to go places like Marina Beach etc.
Money was still tight and made worse by the fact that my full salary was not being credited to me.Here's why. Inflation was soaring at more than 12% at that time and the Government passed a law that an employee could not get more than one increment.If he did get more, the additional emoluments was to be stored in a separate account and given later.
I got 5 increments in August 1974, but I was given only one increment as part of my salary and the balance was kept in a separate account. Crazy but true!!
In November 1974, I suffered another tragedy. I had gone on a tour to Andhra Pradesh and had got off at Warangal in the night.I tried for a retiring room but it was not available. I then slept in the waiting room. When I got up in the morning, my suitcase was gone!! Fortunately, I had my wallet with me and the office briefcase was intact.
I lodged a complaint and then cut short my tour and returned to Madras.I then spent around Rs.1500 ( a lot of money those days) on refurbishing my wardrobe.
My company was extremely understnding about this and refunded the money back to me.
Life went on in this vein till April 1975 and that is when a series of events happened that severely tested my ability to cope with crises.
One of our office assistants had sent off an anonymous letter to our Head Office with complaints against my Branch Manager.As soon as they got it, they went through the contents and decided that the charges were baseless and decided to sack the employee. On the day I got the call, my BM was travelling.I was told to prepare a letter of dismissal and send the employee home immediately.This was a person with a family and I was sharing the same office room with him for over a year. But what had to be done had to be done. So I got the letter prepared, called him into the BM's chamber, asked him to sign the duplicate copy and asked him to clear his belongings immediately. Mind you, I was just 24 and this was a new experience for me.
Jenny resigned in May 1975 to join Qantas and only Monica was left to do the stenography. My BM went on long leave in June 1975 and suddenly Monica also stopped coming for work.
I didn't know what to do since work was piling up and the only people left in the Office were the Office car driver who also doubled up as an Office Assistant and me.
Jenny was still in Madras and so I spoke to her and explained the problem and asked her if she could help out by doing the typing work for me.She was a real sport and agreed.
Every day, I would send the typewriter, the office stationery like letterheads, envelopes, inter-office memo pads, carbon paper, stapler etc along with my handwritten notes along with the car driver. He would deposit the fresh set and bring back the typewritten letters etc that had been sent on the previous day.This went on for more than 10 days before a new girl joined.
By this time, my boss had also returned from his leave and he really appreciated the fact that I had not allowed work to pile up.
By now, I had started getting getting feelers from my mom and dad whether I was ready for marriage. A couple of proposals had come in but it had not yet got to the stage of exchanging photos etc.
In Aug 1975, my mom wrote to me that Mr.B.V.Nagaraj and his wife and daughter were coming down to Bangalore and were interested in a possible alliance. Since I was in Madras, they wanted to meet me with my parents in Madras on 30th Aug 1975 on their way back to Bhopal.30th Aug 1975 was a Saturday, so dad and mom duly booked their ticket to Madras and informed Venu that they would be staying in his house.
I happened to be in the office on 23rd Aug even though it was a Saturday.A call came through and it was from Mr.B.V.Nagaraj.He said that he was speaking from Madras and wanted to know whether I could meet them at his newphew Bhagavan's house in Raja Annamalaipuram. I had no clue where the house but said I would be there.
( To be Continued)
Saturday, July 31, 2010
BE---- The Fourth Year( 1969-70)
Here's the blog on my 4th Year.
The results came in Jun and I found that I had a single ordinance in Strength of Materials.This came as a shock to me since this subject was actually one of my strong points.I had also got more than 60% in all my other subjects combined.
We had single rooms in the New Block and this was a luxury that we all enjoyed.Plus, we were now in the company of final year students who also had single rooms in the New Block.The mess continued to be in the Old Block and we had to walk the short distance for our meals.
The notable event of July 1969 was the Apollo-11 spaceship trip to the moon and Neil Armstrong's first footsteps and we all followed this avidly on VOA. I remember dad writing to me that he was also carrying the transistor to his Office to follow the moon landing.
I was made Captain of the College TT Team and was also a member of the College tennis and cricket teams.I actually became a member of the cricket team courtesy Nagabushan.I didn't have the time to attend cricket practice since I was busy with my TT and tennis and asked whether he could take me into the team anyway.He said OK and that was it.
We had a match against Hassan First Grade College and I remember being sent in at No 8 or No 9 with a few runs to get to win.I hit the winning runs and instantly became a hero.
In the next match, I was asked to stand at 2nd Slip for a fast bowler. One of the edges from the batsman flew to me and literally stuck to my hands.Again I was a hero.I then travelled with the team to Davangere and we lost there.
I went to Shimoga with a couple of my team mates to attend the University selection trials for the TT Team but we didn't make it.
I was also made a Joint Secretary for the Educational Tour and we had to write to various institutions and industries to arrange for visits apart from making arrangements for travel and stay.This was a good lesson in organizing things and also a test of our leadership since therewere so many opinions on places to visit and we had to take a decision.
Our route for the educational Tour was Bangalore-Mysore-Ooty-Coimbatore-Cochin-Trivandrum-Kanyakumari-Trichy-Madras-Hydrabad- Bangalore.The educational part of it was in Coimbatore, Trichy, Madras and Hyderabad.
In Cochin, my friends and I felt very thirsty and we went to this place called Grand Hotel on MG Road.As soon as we went in we realized that this was a 5 star hotel and we shouldn't have come here.Anyway, we went in and sat down. A waiter in his stiff starched white uniform came up to us and asked what we would have.My friends settled for a Coke but I ordered Orange Juice.
When the bill came, I almost had a heart attack.The others were charged Rs.2.50 for Coke ( it was available at 50p outside) while I was charged Rs.10 for my Orange Juice.
I had such a hangdog expression that my friends chipped in with Re.1 each to try and cheer me up.
I remember buying a foldable bamboo mat for Bhagya in Kanyakumari.
In Hyderabad, I shopped for bangles for mom, Rummy,Sandhya and Bhagya . Incidentally, Bhagya and Anand were staying with us in KGF since Anand had got a job in BEML.
While doing lathe work in the Workshop back in Hassan, a metal piece flew straight into my eye and got stuck on my iris.I went back to the hostel and repeatedly tried to wash my eyes with water but the piece wouldn't budge.By now I was suffering since I couldn't even blink my eye. In desperation, I went to the municipal hospital in Hassan but the sanitary conditions shocked me and I took the next bus to KGF and reached at night.
Next day, mom and I went to KGF Hospital and Dr.C.Rajasekhar delicately scraped the piec away from my eye. I got instant relief and immediately returned to Hassan. However, after 2 or 3 days, I got irritation in the same eye and again couldn't blink. I went back to KGF. Dr.Rajasekhar said thatthe problem was caused by rust particles.He put a solution in my eye and again I got relief immediately.
My parents were so worried about my eye problem that they took a vow to donate a metal eye at the Nanjundeswara temple in Nanjangud and fulfilled this vow at the earliest opportunity.As usual, they didn't inform me about this and I came to know about it indirectly.Typical of my parents.
The 4th year was when I experimented with beer and found that it was not bad. I had also experimented with smoking in my 3rd year and found that this was also not bad but I didn't take it up seriously.
You could say that I've been there and done that( well, almost).
1969 was the Gandhi Centenary Year. I took part in an Inter- College Essay Competition on Gandhiji and won the first prize.There was an Elocution Contest on Gandhi and I won the first prize here also. I remember making a point that it was a good thing Gandhi was cremated otherwise he would be turning in his grave with all the bad things being done by politicians in the name of Gandhism. I expected laughter at this point and made a pause, but there was complete silence.My joke had gone completely over the head of the audience and I was forced to carry on with my speech.
2nd Oct 1969 was also the day dad quit smoking.This was his way of paying tribute to the Mahatma.
The rest of the year passed off uneventfully.There was the trip to Bhadravathi for Deepavali but not much else.
I forgot to mention that I had asked for and got Mechanical Engineering as my Branch at the beginning of the year.
Our Mechanical Engineering Professor was D.K.Satyanarayana Setty who later went on to become the Director of Technical Education. Our other Mechanical Engineering teachers were Sherfuddin,Nanjundram, R.Narayana Rao ( we called him Sobers because he had just returned after doing Post-Graduation in the West Indies), Shadakshariah, M.K.G.Kumar--- to name a few.
That's it for now.
The results came in Jun and I found that I had a single ordinance in Strength of Materials.This came as a shock to me since this subject was actually one of my strong points.I had also got more than 60% in all my other subjects combined.
We had single rooms in the New Block and this was a luxury that we all enjoyed.Plus, we were now in the company of final year students who also had single rooms in the New Block.The mess continued to be in the Old Block and we had to walk the short distance for our meals.
The notable event of July 1969 was the Apollo-11 spaceship trip to the moon and Neil Armstrong's first footsteps and we all followed this avidly on VOA. I remember dad writing to me that he was also carrying the transistor to his Office to follow the moon landing.
I was made Captain of the College TT Team and was also a member of the College tennis and cricket teams.I actually became a member of the cricket team courtesy Nagabushan.I didn't have the time to attend cricket practice since I was busy with my TT and tennis and asked whether he could take me into the team anyway.He said OK and that was it.
We had a match against Hassan First Grade College and I remember being sent in at No 8 or No 9 with a few runs to get to win.I hit the winning runs and instantly became a hero.
In the next match, I was asked to stand at 2nd Slip for a fast bowler. One of the edges from the batsman flew to me and literally stuck to my hands.Again I was a hero.I then travelled with the team to Davangere and we lost there.
I went to Shimoga with a couple of my team mates to attend the University selection trials for the TT Team but we didn't make it.
I was also made a Joint Secretary for the Educational Tour and we had to write to various institutions and industries to arrange for visits apart from making arrangements for travel and stay.This was a good lesson in organizing things and also a test of our leadership since therewere so many opinions on places to visit and we had to take a decision.
Our route for the educational Tour was Bangalore-Mysore-Ooty-Coimbatore-Cochin-Trivandrum-Kanyakumari-Trichy-Madras-Hydrabad- Bangalore.The educational part of it was in Coimbatore, Trichy, Madras and Hyderabad.
In Cochin, my friends and I felt very thirsty and we went to this place called Grand Hotel on MG Road.As soon as we went in we realized that this was a 5 star hotel and we shouldn't have come here.Anyway, we went in and sat down. A waiter in his stiff starched white uniform came up to us and asked what we would have.My friends settled for a Coke but I ordered Orange Juice.
When the bill came, I almost had a heart attack.The others were charged Rs.2.50 for Coke ( it was available at 50p outside) while I was charged Rs.10 for my Orange Juice.
I had such a hangdog expression that my friends chipped in with Re.1 each to try and cheer me up.
I remember buying a foldable bamboo mat for Bhagya in Kanyakumari.
In Hyderabad, I shopped for bangles for mom, Rummy,Sandhya and Bhagya . Incidentally, Bhagya and Anand were staying with us in KGF since Anand had got a job in BEML.
While doing lathe work in the Workshop back in Hassan, a metal piece flew straight into my eye and got stuck on my iris.I went back to the hostel and repeatedly tried to wash my eyes with water but the piece wouldn't budge.By now I was suffering since I couldn't even blink my eye. In desperation, I went to the municipal hospital in Hassan but the sanitary conditions shocked me and I took the next bus to KGF and reached at night.
Next day, mom and I went to KGF Hospital and Dr.C.Rajasekhar delicately scraped the piec away from my eye. I got instant relief and immediately returned to Hassan. However, after 2 or 3 days, I got irritation in the same eye and again couldn't blink. I went back to KGF. Dr.Rajasekhar said thatthe problem was caused by rust particles.He put a solution in my eye and again I got relief immediately.
My parents were so worried about my eye problem that they took a vow to donate a metal eye at the Nanjundeswara temple in Nanjangud and fulfilled this vow at the earliest opportunity.As usual, they didn't inform me about this and I came to know about it indirectly.Typical of my parents.
The 4th year was when I experimented with beer and found that it was not bad. I had also experimented with smoking in my 3rd year and found that this was also not bad but I didn't take it up seriously.
You could say that I've been there and done that( well, almost).
1969 was the Gandhi Centenary Year. I took part in an Inter- College Essay Competition on Gandhiji and won the first prize.There was an Elocution Contest on Gandhi and I won the first prize here also. I remember making a point that it was a good thing Gandhi was cremated otherwise he would be turning in his grave with all the bad things being done by politicians in the name of Gandhism. I expected laughter at this point and made a pause, but there was complete silence.My joke had gone completely over the head of the audience and I was forced to carry on with my speech.
2nd Oct 1969 was also the day dad quit smoking.This was his way of paying tribute to the Mahatma.
The rest of the year passed off uneventfully.There was the trip to Bhadravathi for Deepavali but not much else.
I forgot to mention that I had asked for and got Mechanical Engineering as my Branch at the beginning of the year.
Our Mechanical Engineering Professor was D.K.Satyanarayana Setty who later went on to become the Director of Technical Education. Our other Mechanical Engineering teachers were Sherfuddin,Nanjundram, R.Narayana Rao ( we called him Sobers because he had just returned after doing Post-Graduation in the West Indies), Shadakshariah, M.K.G.Kumar--- to name a few.
That's it for now.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Hostel Life
I had promised to write a bit about hostel life, so here goes.
You must remember that I was just 15 years old when I left the comforts of home to stay in a hostel.This is a very vulnerable age.On the one hand, there is a heady sense of freedom and a feeling that one can do what one likes without anyone looking over your shoulder.On the other hand, there is an incredible feeling of loneliness because of a new place, new friends and the loss of home comforts that one had so far taken for granted.
A lot depends on the kind of friends that one makes.Fortunately for me, Priyan was already there and therefore it did not take me too long to settle in.
The food and climate are two major factors that one needs to get adjusted to very quickly.Hassan was not unlike KGF watherwise and the food was also OK.The servers were Ramanna, Shamanna and Damodaran Nair.
We had a feast on one Sunday in a month when Biriyani would be served and there would be either a sweet or Payasa.We also had Masala Dosas every Sunday and this is where I must have picked up my love for Masala Dosas.
Hostel life also teaches you thrift.The mess bill would be calculated on a per day basis and the average used to come to around Rs.2.30 per day.For a month this would amount to Rs.70.I would immediately send a postcard to dad and ask him to send Rs.100 by return post.Gafoorsab was the postman who would deliver the Money Order and I would tip him Re.1.
After paying off the mess bill, I would have to manage with Rs.30 for the rest of the month i.e Re 1 per day.This included movie tickets (Rs.2.50), the occasional Filmfare or Star & Style, laundry and the occasional haircut.If we fell short of cash, it was common to borrow Rs.10 from our friends to tide over till the next MO arrived.Thriftiness was a habit we soon got used to.
Laundry was a major issue.It was common to have one set of underwear for Sunday,Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and and another set for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The "cleaner" boys used to have 3 sets of underwear in a week. Daily change was an unheard of luxury.Bedsheets and pillowcovers were changed once a month.There were some who didn't change their bedsheets at all and the smell would hit you as soon as you entered their room.
Lungis were the standard loungewear then and the boys would sport the most colourful lungis.In fact , some of them could be easily recognised from a distance just by their lungis since this , like the bedsheets, would be changed once a year.
Saturdays and Sundays were meant for going to "town" in the evenings.The boys would line up in the bathrooms for their weekly shave, put on their smartest clothes and walk to town in batches of four or five depending on their friends circle.
If there was no picture to go to, the boys would head to one of the restaurants, order a masala dosa, sada dosa or benne kali dosa and finish it off with a coffee.Boys would either pay individually or there would be a "draw system". Let's say the bill came to Rs.10 and there were 5 boys.Someone would write down amounts of Rs.3, 2.50,2,1.50 and 1 on 5 sheets of paper and there would be a draw and each would pay according to the chit he drew.
We would do "batting", check out the girls and then head back to the hostel around 8 PM, finish our dinner and get back to our rooms.We had to pass through some woods before we got to the main road and so we used to carry a torch to watch out for creepy crawlies.On a couple of occasions, we saw a snake slithering away when the torchlight fell on it.
The more intrepid boys would go for the night show or stay on in town after dinner, watch the night show and then come back.There were no restrictions and boys could come and go as they pleased.
Very deep friendships were formed and you could count on your friends for anything.During my final year exams, I came down with a high fever. As I lay shivering in my bed, my friend N.A.Ravindranath peeped in.I was staying in a single room at that time so no one knew that I had fever.He put one hand on my forehead and immediately ordered me to get dressed and took me doubles on his bicycle to town to a doctor.I got an injection and the temperature came down by next day morning.
That is an example of friendship.
Girls, films, sex,sports and politics ( in that order) were the most discussed subjects in the hostel rooms.Please don't think I'm trying to titillate. I'm just giving readers a glimpse of what goes on in the minds of impressionable boys of that age.
We also got used to travelling on our own,managing without reservations.
Overall, I would say that hostel life or a stay away from home is good as long as one has the right friends
That's it for now.I'll continue with my blog on my 3rd Year BE next.
You must remember that I was just 15 years old when I left the comforts of home to stay in a hostel.This is a very vulnerable age.On the one hand, there is a heady sense of freedom and a feeling that one can do what one likes without anyone looking over your shoulder.On the other hand, there is an incredible feeling of loneliness because of a new place, new friends and the loss of home comforts that one had so far taken for granted.
A lot depends on the kind of friends that one makes.Fortunately for me, Priyan was already there and therefore it did not take me too long to settle in.
The food and climate are two major factors that one needs to get adjusted to very quickly.Hassan was not unlike KGF watherwise and the food was also OK.The servers were Ramanna, Shamanna and Damodaran Nair.
We had a feast on one Sunday in a month when Biriyani would be served and there would be either a sweet or Payasa.We also had Masala Dosas every Sunday and this is where I must have picked up my love for Masala Dosas.
Hostel life also teaches you thrift.The mess bill would be calculated on a per day basis and the average used to come to around Rs.2.30 per day.For a month this would amount to Rs.70.I would immediately send a postcard to dad and ask him to send Rs.100 by return post.Gafoorsab was the postman who would deliver the Money Order and I would tip him Re.1.
After paying off the mess bill, I would have to manage with Rs.30 for the rest of the month i.e Re 1 per day.This included movie tickets (Rs.2.50), the occasional Filmfare or Star & Style, laundry and the occasional haircut.If we fell short of cash, it was common to borrow Rs.10 from our friends to tide over till the next MO arrived.Thriftiness was a habit we soon got used to.
Laundry was a major issue.It was common to have one set of underwear for Sunday,Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and and another set for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The "cleaner" boys used to have 3 sets of underwear in a week. Daily change was an unheard of luxury.Bedsheets and pillowcovers were changed once a month.There were some who didn't change their bedsheets at all and the smell would hit you as soon as you entered their room.
Lungis were the standard loungewear then and the boys would sport the most colourful lungis.In fact , some of them could be easily recognised from a distance just by their lungis since this , like the bedsheets, would be changed once a year.
Saturdays and Sundays were meant for going to "town" in the evenings.The boys would line up in the bathrooms for their weekly shave, put on their smartest clothes and walk to town in batches of four or five depending on their friends circle.
If there was no picture to go to, the boys would head to one of the restaurants, order a masala dosa, sada dosa or benne kali dosa and finish it off with a coffee.Boys would either pay individually or there would be a "draw system". Let's say the bill came to Rs.10 and there were 5 boys.Someone would write down amounts of Rs.3, 2.50,2,1.50 and 1 on 5 sheets of paper and there would be a draw and each would pay according to the chit he drew.
We would do "batting", check out the girls and then head back to the hostel around 8 PM, finish our dinner and get back to our rooms.We had to pass through some woods before we got to the main road and so we used to carry a torch to watch out for creepy crawlies.On a couple of occasions, we saw a snake slithering away when the torchlight fell on it.
The more intrepid boys would go for the night show or stay on in town after dinner, watch the night show and then come back.There were no restrictions and boys could come and go as they pleased.
Very deep friendships were formed and you could count on your friends for anything.During my final year exams, I came down with a high fever. As I lay shivering in my bed, my friend N.A.Ravindranath peeped in.I was staying in a single room at that time so no one knew that I had fever.He put one hand on my forehead and immediately ordered me to get dressed and took me doubles on his bicycle to town to a doctor.I got an injection and the temperature came down by next day morning.
That is an example of friendship.
Girls, films, sex,sports and politics ( in that order) were the most discussed subjects in the hostel rooms.Please don't think I'm trying to titillate. I'm just giving readers a glimpse of what goes on in the minds of impressionable boys of that age.
We also got used to travelling on our own,managing without reservations.
Overall, I would say that hostel life or a stay away from home is good as long as one has the right friends
That's it for now.I'll continue with my blog on my 3rd Year BE next.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
BE---2nd Year ( 1967-1968)
Before I start the blog, let me test my memory and write down the names of my 1st year classmates:-
M.A.Ravindra, K B Ravi ( this is how he was known in KGF School but he later changed this to K.Ravindranath), H.R.Sripada Sastry, H.R.Sethuram,M.G.Nagaraja Setty,B.Vishakantiah,M.G.Srinivasa Murthy, Sajeer Ahmed,A.R.Manjunath, A.Kulaiswamy,N.A.Ravindranath,Narayana Shanbogue,Ganapathy Bhat,Bhaskar Bhat,Madhukar Kamath,Sudhir,B.K.Murali,C.R.Bhashyam,A.R.Hari Prasad, Chandan Dutta,B.N.Madhusudhana Rao, C.R.Nagaraj,M.S.Krishnan, Joseph Almeida,Hemkumar, M.C.Karumbiah,A.R.Krishna Prasad.I'll probably add to this as and when I remember or when my friends tell me names to be added.
Right, here we go with the 2nd year.The results came in May 1967 and I duly got a 1st Class.
After a holiday well spent, it was time to pack the bags and head back to Hassan.Because we were perenially short of money in the hostel, I would try to pack as many items as possible from KGF so that I didn't have to spend on them at Hassan.I would prepare the list starting from my head down to my toe:-
Hair Oil, Comb,Shampoo,Afghan Snow ( later switched to Pond's Vanishing Cream), talcum powder,razor,Godrej Shaving Round, Shaving Brush, tooth brush, tooth paste, shirts, banians,trousers,underwear,belt,socks,shoes,sports shoes,hawai slippers.
Then the general stuff:- Bedsheets, pillow covers, bedspread,mosquito net,Agarbathi, god photo, foodstuff ( lots of it).
Foodstuff usually consisted of crunchy stuff like Chakli,kodbale,thengolu, ompudi and sweets like kobri mithai etc.Whenever anyone came to the hostel from his hometown, everyone would raid his room and generally finish the stuff right then.To take care of this, I would pack two packets.The one to be raided and finished up was always on top and easily visible and the one I wanted for myself was usually hidden between layers of clothing.
The most challenging task was to smuggle the stuff to my bed after lights out, pull the covers over my head and try to eat the crunchy chakli and kodbale without making a noise and waking up my roommates.
A funny incident happened once regarding food.I was coming to Hassan from KGF and Priyan's mom had given me a packet to be given to him.As soon as I arrived in the room, Priyan and his gang came over and without as much as a by-your-leave, proceeded to ransack my suitcase.After they had finished gobbling up everything, I told Priyan that one of the packages that was demolished was meant for him.
In the second year, I was selected for trials to select the team for Sahyadri Zone for the Prof.M.G.Srinivasamurthy Inter-Collegiate Tournaments that was to be held in Mysore in Oct 1968.
I got through in Tennis along with Priyan and we travelled with the rest of the team to Mysore.The other teams were Karavali Zone,Chamundi Zone and one more zone representing Tumkur ( I forget the name).The matches were held in Maharani's College and there was a bunch of admiring college girls watching our matches.
There were two movie theatres in Hassan, New Imperial and Picture Palace.New Imperial was a little more sophisticated than Picture Palace. I had promised my parents that I would see only one movie per month but found it very difficult to keep this promise.You tell me how I could limit myself just to one movie a month with films like "Teesri Manzil", "Guide","Phool aur Patthar", "Kashmir ki Kali", "Brahmachari", "Mere Humdum Mere Dost". "Neela Akash"."Upkar" etc and heartthrobs like Waheeda Rehman, Nanda, Vyjayantimala,Mala Sinha, Asha Parekh,Meena Kumari,Mumtaz,Sadhana,Saira Banu. Hema Malini's "Dreamgirl" had released when she was just 16 years old and was already making waves.Even Rekha, a buxom 16 year old, made her debut as Bhanurekha in the Kannada Film "Jedara Bale".
The swashbuckling heroes of the time were Sunil Dutt, Raaj Kumar ,Dev Anand,Rajendra Kumar, Dilip Kumar,Jeetendra, Dharmendra,Shammi Kapoor,Shashi Kapoor,Raj Kapoor,Manoj Kumar,Sanjay,Feroz Khan etc etc.
Added to this was the pressure to see Kannada films--- mainly Rajkumar movies such as "Bangalore Mail","Jedara Bale","Gandondu Hennaru" etc.Many were the times when I had to see a Kannada film for the second time with my family in Bangalore because I didn't have the courage to say that I had already seen it in Hassan.
And then there were the morning shows on Sundays at half rate where we could see English movies and old Hindi or Kannada movies.
One other event that took place in 1967 was Sathya Uncle's grihapravesha in Bangalore.There was a Duleep trophy match going on at the same time in Central College Ground and my cousins Omprakash,Suresh,Badri and a couple of others totalling 8 people decided to go and watch the match.The caterer had made Poori saagu and Sathya Chikkappa instructed him to pack 8 pooris for each of us with enough saagu.We carried the food packets along and went by bus to central College.At lunch we opened the packet and found, to our horror, that the cook had packed only 8 pooris, not 8 pooris for each person.We didn't have enough money to buy lunch and were wondering how we would manage.Fortunately, we spied T.B.Venkatesh and a few others who had also come to watch the match.They shared their lunch with us----- thank you Venkatesh Chikkappa, after 43 years.
December was the time for soppina kadlekai and the annual exhibition.The exhibition was a great hit because there was a program with tickets called "Bombay Dance" where girls in skimpy costumes would dance and sway to Hindi cabaret numbers. Cheap thrills but that was our only source of entertainment those days.
The next important event that took place in early 1968 was the Grihapravesha of our house "Kesari Krupa" in Jayanagar Extension, Mysore.Dad had applied to the Housing Board and had been allotted a house.The cost was Rs.24000 with Rs.6000 as down payment and the rest to be paid in instalments.I remember that dad had borrowed the Rs.6000 from his colleague Mr.M.C.Ramaswamy for the down payment.I went to Mysore straight from Hassan and returned after the ceremony.
The rest of the year passed off uneventfully and then it was time for our exams.We had a subject called "Workshop Practice" and I probably created a record by being the only student to fail that exam.Here's how it happened.
In "Workshop Practice", we had either smithy or foundry and I drew foundry as my subject for the exam.We were required to make a sand mould inside a wooden pattern according to the drawing given to us.
I finished the mould in the allotted 2 hours and just as I got up, my foot accidentally kicked the mould and it broke into pieces.There wasn't much I could do except hope that the examiner would have sympathy on me.
When the results came, I had passed with a single ordinance meaning I had failed in one subject and that subject was "Workshop Practice".
Another easy subject was "Survey Practice" and one of my classmates failed in that subject.I think he also created a record and here's how it happened.
Survey practice usually had external examiners and one of the examiners was a friend of one of the seniors in the college.This student went to the senior and told him that he had "Survey practice" the next day and asked the senior to speak to his friend.The senior duly spoke to his friend and asked him to "take care" of X, the student, during the exam.He meant it in a good way but the external examiner thought that the senior wanted the senior to be failed and duly obliged him!!! After the results came , X was furious and asked the senior to check why his friend had failed him.The friend said " You asked me to "take care" and I "took care", so what's the problem?" A perfect example of communication gone awry.
Anyway, after the exams I went straight to Bhadravathi to attend Chikka Papacchi's wedding on 8th May 1968.From there,Mom,Rummy,Sandhya and I went to Chitradurga and then I went back to Hassan to collect my luggage and head back to KGF to spend the rest of the holidays.
That's it for now.My next blog will be on the 3rd year( 1968-1969).
M.A.Ravindra, K B Ravi ( this is how he was known in KGF School but he later changed this to K.Ravindranath), H.R.Sripada Sastry, H.R.Sethuram,M.G.Nagaraja Setty,B.Vishakantiah,M.G.Srinivasa Murthy, Sajeer Ahmed,A.R.Manjunath, A.Kulaiswamy,N.A.Ravindranath,Narayana Shanbogue,Ganapathy Bhat,Bhaskar Bhat,Madhukar Kamath,Sudhir,B.K.Murali,C.R.Bhashyam,A.R.Hari Prasad, Chandan Dutta,B.N.Madhusudhana Rao, C.R.Nagaraj,M.S.Krishnan, Joseph Almeida,Hemkumar, M.C.Karumbiah,A.R.Krishna Prasad.I'll probably add to this as and when I remember or when my friends tell me names to be added.
Right, here we go with the 2nd year.The results came in May 1967 and I duly got a 1st Class.
After a holiday well spent, it was time to pack the bags and head back to Hassan.Because we were perenially short of money in the hostel, I would try to pack as many items as possible from KGF so that I didn't have to spend on them at Hassan.I would prepare the list starting from my head down to my toe:-
Hair Oil, Comb,Shampoo,Afghan Snow ( later switched to Pond's Vanishing Cream), talcum powder,razor,Godrej Shaving Round, Shaving Brush, tooth brush, tooth paste, shirts, banians,trousers,underwear,belt,socks,shoes,sports shoes,hawai slippers.
Then the general stuff:- Bedsheets, pillow covers, bedspread,mosquito net,Agarbathi, god photo, foodstuff ( lots of it).
Foodstuff usually consisted of crunchy stuff like Chakli,kodbale,thengolu, ompudi and sweets like kobri mithai etc.Whenever anyone came to the hostel from his hometown, everyone would raid his room and generally finish the stuff right then.To take care of this, I would pack two packets.The one to be raided and finished up was always on top and easily visible and the one I wanted for myself was usually hidden between layers of clothing.
The most challenging task was to smuggle the stuff to my bed after lights out, pull the covers over my head and try to eat the crunchy chakli and kodbale without making a noise and waking up my roommates.
A funny incident happened once regarding food.I was coming to Hassan from KGF and Priyan's mom had given me a packet to be given to him.As soon as I arrived in the room, Priyan and his gang came over and without as much as a by-your-leave, proceeded to ransack my suitcase.After they had finished gobbling up everything, I told Priyan that one of the packages that was demolished was meant for him.
In the second year, I was selected for trials to select the team for Sahyadri Zone for the Prof.M.G.Srinivasamurthy Inter-Collegiate Tournaments that was to be held in Mysore in Oct 1968.
I got through in Tennis along with Priyan and we travelled with the rest of the team to Mysore.The other teams were Karavali Zone,Chamundi Zone and one more zone representing Tumkur ( I forget the name).The matches were held in Maharani's College and there was a bunch of admiring college girls watching our matches.
There were two movie theatres in Hassan, New Imperial and Picture Palace.New Imperial was a little more sophisticated than Picture Palace. I had promised my parents that I would see only one movie per month but found it very difficult to keep this promise.You tell me how I could limit myself just to one movie a month with films like "Teesri Manzil", "Guide","Phool aur Patthar", "Kashmir ki Kali", "Brahmachari", "Mere Humdum Mere Dost". "Neela Akash"."Upkar" etc and heartthrobs like Waheeda Rehman, Nanda, Vyjayantimala,Mala Sinha, Asha Parekh,Meena Kumari,Mumtaz,Sadhana,Saira Banu. Hema Malini's "Dreamgirl" had released when she was just 16 years old and was already making waves.Even Rekha, a buxom 16 year old, made her debut as Bhanurekha in the Kannada Film "Jedara Bale".
The swashbuckling heroes of the time were Sunil Dutt, Raaj Kumar ,Dev Anand,Rajendra Kumar, Dilip Kumar,Jeetendra, Dharmendra,Shammi Kapoor,Shashi Kapoor,Raj Kapoor,Manoj Kumar,Sanjay,Feroz Khan etc etc.
Added to this was the pressure to see Kannada films--- mainly Rajkumar movies such as "Bangalore Mail","Jedara Bale","Gandondu Hennaru" etc.Many were the times when I had to see a Kannada film for the second time with my family in Bangalore because I didn't have the courage to say that I had already seen it in Hassan.
And then there were the morning shows on Sundays at half rate where we could see English movies and old Hindi or Kannada movies.
One other event that took place in 1967 was Sathya Uncle's grihapravesha in Bangalore.There was a Duleep trophy match going on at the same time in Central College Ground and my cousins Omprakash,Suresh,Badri and a couple of others totalling 8 people decided to go and watch the match.The caterer had made Poori saagu and Sathya Chikkappa instructed him to pack 8 pooris for each of us with enough saagu.We carried the food packets along and went by bus to central College.At lunch we opened the packet and found, to our horror, that the cook had packed only 8 pooris, not 8 pooris for each person.We didn't have enough money to buy lunch and were wondering how we would manage.Fortunately, we spied T.B.Venkatesh and a few others who had also come to watch the match.They shared their lunch with us----- thank you Venkatesh Chikkappa, after 43 years.
December was the time for soppina kadlekai and the annual exhibition.The exhibition was a great hit because there was a program with tickets called "Bombay Dance" where girls in skimpy costumes would dance and sway to Hindi cabaret numbers. Cheap thrills but that was our only source of entertainment those days.
The next important event that took place in early 1968 was the Grihapravesha of our house "Kesari Krupa" in Jayanagar Extension, Mysore.Dad had applied to the Housing Board and had been allotted a house.The cost was Rs.24000 with Rs.6000 as down payment and the rest to be paid in instalments.I remember that dad had borrowed the Rs.6000 from his colleague Mr.M.C.Ramaswamy for the down payment.I went to Mysore straight from Hassan and returned after the ceremony.
The rest of the year passed off uneventfully and then it was time for our exams.We had a subject called "Workshop Practice" and I probably created a record by being the only student to fail that exam.Here's how it happened.
In "Workshop Practice", we had either smithy or foundry and I drew foundry as my subject for the exam.We were required to make a sand mould inside a wooden pattern according to the drawing given to us.
I finished the mould in the allotted 2 hours and just as I got up, my foot accidentally kicked the mould and it broke into pieces.There wasn't much I could do except hope that the examiner would have sympathy on me.
When the results came, I had passed with a single ordinance meaning I had failed in one subject and that subject was "Workshop Practice".
Another easy subject was "Survey Practice" and one of my classmates failed in that subject.I think he also created a record and here's how it happened.
Survey practice usually had external examiners and one of the examiners was a friend of one of the seniors in the college.This student went to the senior and told him that he had "Survey practice" the next day and asked the senior to speak to his friend.The senior duly spoke to his friend and asked him to "take care" of X, the student, during the exam.He meant it in a good way but the external examiner thought that the senior wanted the senior to be failed and duly obliged him!!! After the results came , X was furious and asked the senior to check why his friend had failed him.The friend said " You asked me to "take care" and I "took care", so what's the problem?" A perfect example of communication gone awry.
Anyway, after the exams I went straight to Bhadravathi to attend Chikka Papacchi's wedding on 8th May 1968.From there,Mom,Rummy,Sandhya and I went to Chitradurga and then I went back to Hassan to collect my luggage and head back to KGF to spend the rest of the holidays.
That's it for now.My next blog will be on the 3rd year( 1968-1969).
Friday, July 23, 2010
BE--- The First Year ( 1966-67)
The first year classes started in July 1966.
Classes were from 7.30 AM to 11.30 AM followed by lunch and then again from 12.30 PM to 4.30 PM.
At that time, there were no girls and so it was an all-boys college.
Hassan is in the Malnad area and is called the poor man's Ooty.The monsoon was on in full swing and it rained continously.
I now came across a new set of boys here and they were completely different from my overwhelmingly Anglo-Indian friends that I had in KGF.
Many were from South Kanara and I was hearing Tulu and Konkani being spoken for the first time.It took me some time even to distinguish between these two languages.
My roommates Murali and Bhashyam were both from Bangalore. Murali was very fond of Hindi films and Hindi film songs and was usually found humming the popular tune of the day.
I had brought my table tennis bat and tennis racquet along and soon got busy playing TT in the evenings.I was always habituated to playing sports and couldn't imagine anyone not being on the playground in the evenings.
I was also prone to walking quite fast and soon earned the nickname " Fast Express" which was also the evening bus from Bangalore to Hassan.
We had two messes--- V Mess and NV Mess and I naturally joined the V Mess.
The standard routine was to get up at 6 AM, go to the basement for brushing and the loo, come back to the room and then take the towel and go to the bathroom.There were only around 8 cubicles, so we had to stand outside the cubicle, knock on it and say "Bucket".The occupant would hand over the aluminium bucket from the top of the door.Then, we had to keep the bucket in a queue for hot water and wait for a cubicle to get empty. Some of the more intrepid boys would bathe in cold water but I was not used to this (even now).
We used to come back, get dressed and then go the mess for our breakfast ---- idli, dosa, uthappam, upma-- and coffee.
The college was about 5 minutes away from the hostel.Around 10.30 AM there would be a small break and all of us would go the canteen for coffee ( 15P).
Lunch would be a sambar, rasam and buttermilk. Afternoons were usually reserved for drawing or labs--- attending a class was a sureshot recipe for dozing off.
In the evenings, we used to play and then go the canteen again for kali dosa ( 15p), sada dosa( 25p) or masala dosa( 50p).
I used to come back around 6.30 PM, have a wash ( no bath, since there was no hot water)and then sit down to do my assignment. One of the favourite exercises was to see whose room had the lights on first, since that meant they were usually studying.These boys were called "kudumis" for being unduly bookish.
The more adventurous boys would go to "town"--- Hassan downtown which was around 3 km away, roam around and come back in time for dinner.
Usually we had other boys coming to our room or I would go to their room and then we would have "class" which was nothing but a gossip session.
There were one or two boys with transistor radios and their rooms would be full on Wednesday nights 8PM to 9PM for the Binaca Geet Mala with the incomparable Ameen Sayani.
No matter how many boys bunked classes on the other days, there would be almost full attendance on Thursdays.This was the day when the girls from A V Kanthamma College for Women came to our college for Chemistry Lab.We would watch from the balconies when they trooped in, attend our classes and watch from the balcony again when they trooped out and then wait for the next Thursday.Poor, poor us!!!!
NCC was 3 days a week with Lance Corporal Padavattan making us go through our drills.Our NCC Camp was at Bangalore somewhere near Jalahalli and the 1st Year and 2nd Year boys attended this camp.There were a few boys who sneaked out every single night for the 2nd show."Teesri Manzil" had just released and was a hot favourite.
I took time off on one of the days to visit Chubbadi Uncle and Indira Aunty and see Anil who was around 5 months old.
In August 1966, I had promised Prabhakara and Premila that I would visit Chitradurga for the Ganesh Habba.At the last minute, homesickness overtook me and I took the train to Bangalore on my way to KGF.
Premila Aunty ribbed me about this for many years saying that she had made lots of kadabu and had prepared a hande of hot water for my oil bath.Anyway, that was not right on my part.
Meanwhile, M.A.Ravindra ( my KGF friend)who was also underage had also joined Hassan and K.B.Ravi joined us as late as Nov for the 1st year.Ravi had these thick glasses and was instantly called Lloyd ( after Clive Lloyd who was touring India with the West Indies cricket team).
I remember one more thing--- I had bought a new drawing board and "T" Square and proudly painted at the back of the board--- A.H.Kesari Prasad, 1st B.E "B" Section, MCE,Hassan.
When I took the drawing board home, T.B.Venkatesh( my uncle) asked me whether I planned to be in 1st B.E"B" Section permanently.
The board passed from me to Bhaskara to Satish( Kamalakshi's son) to Tejaswi to I don't know how many other people.
I came to KGF again for the Dasara and Christmas Holidays.
The route from KGF to Hassan involved catching the 5.30 PM evening train from Oorgaum to Bangarpet and then catching the 6.45 PM Bangalore Express coming in from Chennai. We would reach Bangalore at 8.30 PM, have dinner at the station and then board the Talguppaa coach of the Miraj Mail leaving
Bangalore at 10.30 PM.At Arsikere, the Talguppa coach would be detached and attached to the Arsikere-Talguppa train at around 3AM and we would reach Hassan at around 5.30 AM and then take the jutka to the hostel.
All this when I was around 15, so I can say I've really roughed it out.
Now comes the surprise. After joining class, we had all forgotten about the High Court judgement, not knowing that we had all got admission as an interim measure subject to the final judgement.
In December, the Mysore High Court ruled that the age rules were valid, which in effect meant that our admission was cancelled.
Murali, M.A.Ravindra,K.B.Ravi and I started packing our bags to go home and we even bid farewell to our friends. Within the next two days came the Government announcement that all those who had got admission could stay and the new rules would apply only from 1967. We had got a new lease of life again.
In Feb 1967, dodda Papacchi's wedding was fixed up and I travelled to Bangalore for the wedding which was held at Ubhaya Vedanta Kalyana Mantapa in Malleswaram. I had always been very close to the Saraswathi family and there was no question of missing the wedding.I remember I had purchased a handbag for Papacchi as a wedding gift.The groom was K.S.N.Swamy who was related on my dad's side so the beegaru were well known to us.
The rest of the academic year passed off uneventfully and I pushed off to KGF after the 1st year exams.
In my next blog, I'll write a bit more about hostel life --- not all of it but a bit more.
Classes were from 7.30 AM to 11.30 AM followed by lunch and then again from 12.30 PM to 4.30 PM.
At that time, there were no girls and so it was an all-boys college.
Hassan is in the Malnad area and is called the poor man's Ooty.The monsoon was on in full swing and it rained continously.
I now came across a new set of boys here and they were completely different from my overwhelmingly Anglo-Indian friends that I had in KGF.
Many were from South Kanara and I was hearing Tulu and Konkani being spoken for the first time.It took me some time even to distinguish between these two languages.
My roommates Murali and Bhashyam were both from Bangalore. Murali was very fond of Hindi films and Hindi film songs and was usually found humming the popular tune of the day.
I had brought my table tennis bat and tennis racquet along and soon got busy playing TT in the evenings.I was always habituated to playing sports and couldn't imagine anyone not being on the playground in the evenings.
I was also prone to walking quite fast and soon earned the nickname " Fast Express" which was also the evening bus from Bangalore to Hassan.
We had two messes--- V Mess and NV Mess and I naturally joined the V Mess.
The standard routine was to get up at 6 AM, go to the basement for brushing and the loo, come back to the room and then take the towel and go to the bathroom.There were only around 8 cubicles, so we had to stand outside the cubicle, knock on it and say "Bucket".The occupant would hand over the aluminium bucket from the top of the door.Then, we had to keep the bucket in a queue for hot water and wait for a cubicle to get empty. Some of the more intrepid boys would bathe in cold water but I was not used to this (even now).
We used to come back, get dressed and then go the mess for our breakfast ---- idli, dosa, uthappam, upma-- and coffee.
The college was about 5 minutes away from the hostel.Around 10.30 AM there would be a small break and all of us would go the canteen for coffee ( 15P).
Lunch would be a sambar, rasam and buttermilk. Afternoons were usually reserved for drawing or labs--- attending a class was a sureshot recipe for dozing off.
In the evenings, we used to play and then go the canteen again for kali dosa ( 15p), sada dosa( 25p) or masala dosa( 50p).
I used to come back around 6.30 PM, have a wash ( no bath, since there was no hot water)and then sit down to do my assignment. One of the favourite exercises was to see whose room had the lights on first, since that meant they were usually studying.These boys were called "kudumis" for being unduly bookish.
The more adventurous boys would go to "town"--- Hassan downtown which was around 3 km away, roam around and come back in time for dinner.
Usually we had other boys coming to our room or I would go to their room and then we would have "class" which was nothing but a gossip session.
There were one or two boys with transistor radios and their rooms would be full on Wednesday nights 8PM to 9PM for the Binaca Geet Mala with the incomparable Ameen Sayani.
No matter how many boys bunked classes on the other days, there would be almost full attendance on Thursdays.This was the day when the girls from A V Kanthamma College for Women came to our college for Chemistry Lab.We would watch from the balconies when they trooped in, attend our classes and watch from the balcony again when they trooped out and then wait for the next Thursday.Poor, poor us!!!!
NCC was 3 days a week with Lance Corporal Padavattan making us go through our drills.Our NCC Camp was at Bangalore somewhere near Jalahalli and the 1st Year and 2nd Year boys attended this camp.There were a few boys who sneaked out every single night for the 2nd show."Teesri Manzil" had just released and was a hot favourite.
I took time off on one of the days to visit Chubbadi Uncle and Indira Aunty and see Anil who was around 5 months old.
In August 1966, I had promised Prabhakara and Premila that I would visit Chitradurga for the Ganesh Habba.At the last minute, homesickness overtook me and I took the train to Bangalore on my way to KGF.
Premila Aunty ribbed me about this for many years saying that she had made lots of kadabu and had prepared a hande of hot water for my oil bath.Anyway, that was not right on my part.
Meanwhile, M.A.Ravindra ( my KGF friend)who was also underage had also joined Hassan and K.B.Ravi joined us as late as Nov for the 1st year.Ravi had these thick glasses and was instantly called Lloyd ( after Clive Lloyd who was touring India with the West Indies cricket team).
I remember one more thing--- I had bought a new drawing board and "T" Square and proudly painted at the back of the board--- A.H.Kesari Prasad, 1st B.E "B" Section, MCE,Hassan.
When I took the drawing board home, T.B.Venkatesh( my uncle) asked me whether I planned to be in 1st B.E"B" Section permanently.
The board passed from me to Bhaskara to Satish( Kamalakshi's son) to Tejaswi to I don't know how many other people.
I came to KGF again for the Dasara and Christmas Holidays.
The route from KGF to Hassan involved catching the 5.30 PM evening train from Oorgaum to Bangarpet and then catching the 6.45 PM Bangalore Express coming in from Chennai. We would reach Bangalore at 8.30 PM, have dinner at the station and then board the Talguppaa coach of the Miraj Mail leaving
Bangalore at 10.30 PM.At Arsikere, the Talguppa coach would be detached and attached to the Arsikere-Talguppa train at around 3AM and we would reach Hassan at around 5.30 AM and then take the jutka to the hostel.
All this when I was around 15, so I can say I've really roughed it out.
Now comes the surprise. After joining class, we had all forgotten about the High Court judgement, not knowing that we had all got admission as an interim measure subject to the final judgement.
In December, the Mysore High Court ruled that the age rules were valid, which in effect meant that our admission was cancelled.
Murali, M.A.Ravindra,K.B.Ravi and I started packing our bags to go home and we even bid farewell to our friends. Within the next two days came the Government announcement that all those who had got admission could stay and the new rules would apply only from 1967. We had got a new lease of life again.
In Feb 1967, dodda Papacchi's wedding was fixed up and I travelled to Bangalore for the wedding which was held at Ubhaya Vedanta Kalyana Mantapa in Malleswaram. I had always been very close to the Saraswathi family and there was no question of missing the wedding.I remember I had purchased a handbag for Papacchi as a wedding gift.The groom was K.S.N.Swamy who was related on my dad's side so the beegaru were well known to us.
The rest of the academic year passed off uneventfully and I pushed off to KGF after the 1st year exams.
In my next blog, I'll write a bit more about hostel life --- not all of it but a bit more.
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