Sahasra, London

Who does she look like ? That chubby face, chappai nose points to her grandma Bhagya, says her mother, as she knew her when Bhagya was Sahasra's age.
Seated over her father Shankar's head. Already ?

The Govindans wedding anniversary

Yesterday (Nov.3) was their wedding anniversary - the Govindans. It was on this day 35 years ago that my sister Bhagya married Govindan, at Palani.
This is the only photo of the occasion available with us in Mysore, though, I presume, my sister has the album, containing pictures of the wedding ceremony and of the relatives who were present on the occasion. Would be nice if she could share some of those photos with us on this family blog.

The marriage was held at a chaultry - Kozhumbu Chattiram - close to the foothills of Palani shrine. The occassion attracted most of our relatives not merely because it was Bhagya's wedding but more so because it was being held at Palani. The chaultry, arrangeged by our Chettipalayam chittappa Ramaiar, didn't cost us anything by way of rent.

And the marriage expenses, excluding the value of gold ornaments and things offered to the bride, added up to Rs.13,000 at 1974 price-level. I remember this because I heard my father V Gopalan telling chittappa that he got Rs.30,000 by way of provident fund on retirement from the government service. Of this he had spent Rs.17,000 in building our Pollachi house, and had kept the rest for Bhagya's wedding. My mother had saved, by way of ornaments and silver vessels, for the wedding. Gold price those days was around Rs.150 a paun (eight grams).
The Govindans went through a second wedding ceremony, this time in New Delhi, two years back (Sept.2007) after he turned 60.

Faded Family Album

Here is a selection from our collection of vintage photos that we thought you might want to see.I am sure every household has such photos to be shared with others in the family, before they fade or get lost.
A group photo of relatives at our wedding in Mysore,1971 (I guess) . Double-click on the image to see an enlarged version.
We were so many in our Pollachi clan that they had to split in two groups for the customary post-wedding photo session. This and the earlier group photo was taken on the terrace of Udupi Krishna Kalyanamandapam.
Wife's mother Meenakshi with a grandchild at their Forest Collage bungalow in Dehradun. Vintage - 1965
Shobi with a baby on a two-wheeler parked in front of her grandma house in Mysore.
In New Delhi, my wife's family with her uncle Ramasami Iyer, aunt Kalyani and cousin Shyamala.
A family outing with other relatives in New Delhi, 1956 .

We would like to carry more such photos in the Faded Family album series. You could scan and mail photos to gv.krishnan@gmail.com

Remembering Bitsy

My wife's sisters, all but the eldest, are mad about dogs. Before her marriage,in early 70s, her family had Bhutto, the dog named after the Pak.leader. After their marriage the Sulur sisters brought up dogs of their own - Geetha had two in the house before 'Punch' died some time back.

The thing about these pets is that they are treated as family. My wife Lakshmi is 'periamma' to Chitra's Joey; and Geetha's 'Shadow'. Baby, my wife's Mysore sister, lost her 'Prince' few weeks back. Rajesh's 'Tuffy' died a few years back.
Our own Bitsy died in 1993, on this day (oct.31). He was picked up from the street, when he was only a few days old. Our son, then a schoolboy, brought the puppy home in early 1980s when were in Bhopal. We named him Bitsy, a dark chap who grew up to be sturdy brat. He grew up to be a terror to hawkers and door-to-door salesmen. We had to shut him in one of the rooms whenever we had visitors at home.

Bitsy particularly disliked khaki. He once chased our postman all over the front-yard of our apartment block in Chandigarh, until the terrorised postman managed to climb up a tree. Where he stayed till our office boy Dinkar coaxed Bitsy back inside. If at all Bitsy obeyed anyone, he was Dinkar.

Bitsy moved with the family, from Bhopal to Chandigarh, and then to Chennai, where he died, after prolonged weakening of his hind-legs. He could barely stand in his last days. It was on this day (Oct.31) sixteen years ago we took Bitsy to Veterinary hospital at Egmore. The doctor who examined him declared Bitsy was anemic and referred him for blood transfusion.

Bitsy had been, for some weeks, weak on his hind-legs, showing signs of fatigue , and been totally uninterested in taking a walk. He had to be carried by my wife to the car.In his earlier days, there was nothing he loved more than a ride in our car. And Bitsy occupied much of the back-seat. We had taken him on car ride a number times to the Marina beach, and to my wife's sister's, and Bitzy's 'periamma's', place in Kotturpuram.

On that October day in 1993 Bitsy was very reluctant to get into our Dolphin car. Presumably, he sensed we were taking him to hospital; and that he wasn't going to return home. Dogs, they say, could sense when their end was near. We drove Bitsy to the hospital, where they gave him blood-transfusion. After they were through with the drips on the table, Bitsy stood up on the operating table with renewed energy.
Seeing him springing to his feet, I thought for a movement Bitsy would be up and running. It was just for a flickering moment that I sensed a new-found energy in Bitsy. For in the next moment he collapsed on my wife's shoulder, as she tried to get him off the table. I can't forget the sight of Bitsy, his sorrowful eyes pleading, as it were, not to let go of him. We watched him go helplessly, with our eyes welling up.

We chose to leave him there, at the hospital. It wasn't an easy decision to make. The doctor said they would do a postmartem, if we donated Bitsy to the hospital. And we wanted to ascertain the cause of death. It was kidney failure.

'Public Service' Padmanabhan

My neighbour in Coonoor G V Raman refers to him as 'Public Service' Padmanabhan. Because of his reputation to reach out to those who need help in dealing with government departments, banks, municipal authorities. As a retired judicial dept. official, who has worked in various courts, from the munsif to district courts , my chittappa Mr Padmanabhan is fairly well-versed with rules and procedures in the functioning of offices at panchayat,taluk and district levels.

He has a way of getting things done, partly because of his resourcefulness particularly on his home ground Pollachi, and mainly because of his familiarity with the ways of the bureaucratic system at work in public dealing offices - nationalised banks,the municipality, treasury and courts. Most of us having to deal with folks in these offices have no clue to rules, procedures,and the paperwork involved in getting something as basic as a bank account transferred, or obtaining death and heirship certificates. This is the plight of Siva who has lost his father Raja in
Coimbatore.

Knowing how ignorant Siva is in such matters my chittappa has vounteered to help him. For someone in his mid-70s Mr Padmanabhan is hyper active. When Siva approached him with his predicament chittappa went to Coimbatore, from his Venkatesa Colony home in Pollachi, to take him to the relevant offices and help him with filling official forms and drafting various applications.

I must mention here how much I looked up to chittppa for help and guidance when I lost my father in Pollachi over six years back. I wasn't there when father died; and couldn't even make it to Pollachi until a few days after cremation. Not only did Mr
Padmanabhan organise everything for us, he got all the post-death paperwork done for us. He still helps my mother, who is with us in Mysore, with her bank transaction relating to her family pension account held in Pollachi.

Farewell my friend, Raja

My cousin Raja, 76, died with an unfulfilled wish. He wanted to visit Mysore to spend a few days with us. I spoke to him last before we left for the US in June last. My fault was I didn't get in touch with him on my return. And Raja, appears, had been talking about his plan to visit Mysore to his son Siva, daughter-in-law Anandhi, and even his neighbours at Lokmanya St. in Coimbatore . He would have probably made it, if only he knew that we were back in Mysore; and if only I had phoned him on my return from the US, more than a month ago.

Raja died on Monday (Oct.26) during his afternoon snooze. Siva reckoned his father had premonition; for Raja had mentioned to his son earlier on Monday morning that he preferred to go in sleep. "I even chided him," said Siva sobbing, " for talking silly things as I was leaving for work". A day earlier, when Raja went for a routine medical check-up he mentioned to the doctor that he felt he would not be around for long, even though the doctor didn't find anything wrong or life-threatening in his patient. But he died within the next 24 hrs.

Anandhi, who went to serve him coffee on Monday afternoon, found him dead in his sleep. Siva said his father had expressed preference for the traditional firewood cremation. Arrangements
were made by Gomathi's people. Raja had told me about Gomathi, a spirited woman who runs a Brahmins cremation agency in Coimbatore. Raja had engaged her services on the death of his borther-in-law Chandrasekar a couple of years back, and that of his sister Jayam a few years earlier.

As we watched Raja's body being taken away to the cremation ground I remembered his expressed desire for visiting Mysore, and I blamed myself for not making it happen. I felt guilty of having failed to stay in touch with Raja, particularly during recent weeks when he had felt the need for our company. Raja and I were close during my school days in Coimbatore. We re-connected during my posting in Chennai as Times of India correspondent in early 90s.

My wife and I used to visit him whenever we had occasion to pass through Coimbatore, on our way to Coonoor or Pollachi. After we settled in Mysore, nearly five years back, Raja came to spend a week with us, along with his grandson Mallikarjun. We also maintained telephonic contact, despite his deafness. Our phone conversation was mostly one-sided, with him doing
much of the talking. However when Raja was in Mysore I engaged him in conversation, with a notepad in hand. I jotted down my thoughts for him to read and this set Raja going for a while, till I wrote out something else for him to talk about.

I enjoyed chatting him up about our Coimbatore days. His father and my periappa Tirumurthy Iyer was a school teacher and later head-master of Veerasami School in Coimbatore. I was doing my schooling at R S Puram Municipal school , staying with grandparents at Telugu Brahmin Street.

During his Mysore visit Raja kept us engaged in chat about old days. And my mother, to whom Raja had special regards, joined in our converstion. I relished Raja's company for his story-telling skill and his anecdotes pertaining to our relatives and also the Telugu Brahmin Street charecters we both knew, and could relate with - such as primary school principal Ramarao, street-corner shop-keeper Kuppusamy, Nagappa Asaari (goldsmith), Ramamirtham vadhiyar, our neighbour we referred to as 'German Doctor' , and the chief priest at the Rajarajeshwari temple, at the far end of Telugu Brahmin Street.
Our street has since changed beyond recognition. Our grandfather's house, sold by my periamma, has changed so much in appearance that I couldn't make out the house where I had spent a part of boyhood.
The only structure that still remains unchanged is the primary school run that used to be run by headmaster Ramarao.

Though he was five years elder , Raja treated me as an equal; and this, at a time when even relations barely an year older sought to asserted seniority, and entitlement to be addressed with respect. He was always Raja, and never Raja-anna for me.

A stroll through Trafalguar Square

I have read a lot about this venue in many novels. In fact it was my father who had first expressed desire of visting this place of which he had heard from so long. Unfortunately, we could not make it while Appa was there, but went later with Amma one weekend.

Trafalgar Square is a square in central London. With its position in the heart of London, it is a tourist attraction; and one of the most famous squares in the United Kingdom and the world.

At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base.

Statues and sculptures are on display in the square, including a fourth plinth displaying changing pieces of contemporary art, and it is a site of political demonstrations.

Though at the time when we visited, there was some magic show going on in the middle.

The southern end of the square was the original Charing Cross which to this day is considered the heart of London, from which all distances are measured. The square in itself is surrounded by important buildings

As per wikipedia, Trafalgar Square ranks as the fourth most popular tourist attraction on earth with more than 15 million annual visitors. I had taken a video of the surroundings which though not the best, does certainly show the importance this place holds among tourist.