The kindergarten years..."Very bright child, but talkative".

Like everybody else that lived in H.V.F. Estate Avadi, I started my kindergarten at the Vijayantha Nursery School. In India, we actually have 2 years of kindergarten, L.K.G (Lower Kinder Garten) and U.K.G (Upper Kinder Garten). You start L.K.G when you are three, U.K.G when you are 4 and First grade when you are about 5. I just heard from my sister-in-law that the rules have changed somewhat - you have to have completed 3.5 years now to be eligible to enrol in L.K.G.

In my mind's eye I can still see the school - when you gained entry through the grand arched entrance to the campus (right behind the 65-B Avadi bound bus-stop) the well paved walkway was flanked by little shrubs and flowering plants all the way to the entrance to the building. You had the enter the building by climbing a set of stairs.

On both sides of the walkway, to the right(when you are entering the campus) was a huge banyan tree - it was where a majority of us were fed lunch by loving moms, dads, grandfathers and grandmothers. Since both my parents worked, my lunch was delivered by the indomitable "Govindamma" after Sarala Athai got married and left to New Delhi. Before that it was always "athai" for everything. Once in a while, Sundaram Thatha brought my lunch. Later I learned I was the only privileged grandchild of his to earn these honors. I feel honored he loved me so much. He has never carried lunch or fed lunch to any of his children or his several other grandchildren. Just lucky me :-) and to think how I teased him and ratted him out...well that is for another day, another story.

My Sundaram Thatha had a nickname "Magic" G.S.Sundaram. He served in the Indian Army - retired as Subadar Major. He was a very strict dad to his 9 children and a nightmare to my Patti. But by the time we grandchildren were born, Patti had gained a lot of independence of her own and it was fun to watch them bicker. Well, he was just a normal dad and husband of yesteryear India. He was not mean or anything..just thought strict was the way to go. I used to love him and his magic tricks. In his heyday apparently he conducted very many magic shows. He used to show us coin tricks and card tricks and Appa taught me a few too. He was well read and very disciplined with his food and other habits. I think unbeknownst to me at that time, I have learned a lot of good life habits from him. His bed had to be made just right - even now, even when I am really sick, I cannot sleep on an unmade or lousily made bed. He had very fixed meal times - I try to follow that with the children. My children fortunately do not know what it is to feel hungry - because they get fed on time :-)

What is the matter with me ?,  I digress a lot. But that is the stuff memories are made of right? You think of something and your memories take you on a journey of their own. Coming back to my first alma mater - a little to the left of the Banyan tree was the school playground. We had what we used to call a "circus", derived from Tamil word, "sarukku maram" - slide for you uninformed. We had "see-saws" and other standard playground equipment.

To the left of the entrance walkway was open grounds and a little left to that was an open-air auditorium. This is where the school functions were held.

The building itself spread into hallways and courtyards once you entered it through the stairs. The first hallways branched to the right and left and held the U.K.G classes then. If memory serves right there were 3 classes to each side. If you kept following the main hallway, soon after the fork was the Pricipal's office. The principal then was Mrs.Tulasi Chakrapani (she was the principal of this school for a long time and was a very good friend of my Appa). After that there was a fork of hallways again and had a smatter of L.K.G and U.K.G classes. Right after the fork was another huge play area filled with sand. It had a thatched roof to protect kids from the elements. This place was always filled with fun and laughter. And right after the playground around a courtyard were the L.K.G classes. My class was after the playground and Mrs.Iris was my first kindergarten teacher. I remember being in her class and learning my ABCs. Mrs. Niyogi, Meenakshi miss, Raji miss,  Banu miss and Mumtaz Begum miss were all LKG teachers there. I know them all as either Sarala Athai's friends or Appa's friends or Chellamaal Patti's friends or Murthy Chithappa's friends. End of kindergarten year, this is how my progress report read and I still have it :-) " Very bright child, but talkative". Well, that sums up Vandhana for you. Trust me, not much as changed since.

My U.K.G teacher was an anglo-Indian teacher called Mrs.Bartlett. Mrs.Bartlett was the first person I even conversed all the time in English with. She made me feel confident about mastering the language and I remember her a very kind and gentle, yet firm teacher.I will never ever forget the love of the language she instilled in me.

We sat on the ground and wrote on little benches in L.K.G.. In U.K.G we had real desks and sat on a bench type of seat :-) We graduated to pencils and notebook from chalk and slate. Felt like kings :-)

In L.K.G we did a show called "Ramasamy Thotathile". I remember a bunch of us dressed up like animals (I was a cow and had a fabulous costume thanks to the supremely talented Sarala Athai"). We all sang "ramasamy thotathile meow meow" or "ramasamy thotathile moo moo" - sounds familiar? Oh yeah, an extremely vernacular version of "Old McDonald Had a Farm".

In U.K.G we did a kolattam dance and a "chinna paappa yenga chella paappa" dance. I remember feeling so proud of my long braided wig for the kolattam dance. Malla Reddy uncle took all the school pictures. I still have the Ramasamy thotathile picture and the kolattam picture.

Writing this blog post is extremely therapeutic. After each post, I feel like I end up in a better place and my heart is filled with so many lovely memories and happy thoughts.

Meet the neighbors

Once we settled down in the newly painted, gated and gardened(?) G40/4, we started to get to know the neighbors.

Obviously we lived in G40/4.

In G40/1 lived a family of 4, I can't remember all their names, but I do remember Vinod. Vinod's initials were M.K.Vinod and I think uncle's name was Karunakaran. Those days you never asked for adults' names - if I remember some of the adults' names in our block, that is because I probably had a personal relationship with them. Aunty was very nice and would let us all tramp up in her garden. Since they were the other corner quarters, they had a huge garden too. Vinod was in the same class as me and he had a little sister. Bordering their backyard was the backyard of another family that lived in the other block. They were the Rao brother's family. I remember Pallavi - she was my class too and all her uncles were very good painters - artists. I think we still own a watercolor one of them did for my Appa.

In G40/2 lived Ramakrishnan uncle. I really think he was married but his family lived in Kerala. His home was also home to a group of bachelor's who were his room-mates. SO we called his house the "Bachelor's quarters". He had a huge tree in his front yard and a even bigger mango tree in his backyard. He did not mind at all if we suttufied mangoes from his tree. So all our houses pickles came from his mango tree.

In G40/3 lived my favorite family, the Balakrishnans. I think I first befriended Vatsala aunty even before I became friends with her children. I used to visit with them EVERY SINGLE DAY. No, not to play with the kids, but to hang out with Vatsala aunty. I used to talk to her, then talk to her and talk to her some more. My god, thinking back she must have been one very patient person. I used to watch her buy fish everyday and clean it and cook it while she explained patiently to me, a pukka TamBram, the art of cleaning fish, cooking it without smelling fishy and also the art of extracting the fish bone so people would not choke over it. I would nod sagely - I think I just loved all the attention she showered on me. Her sons were Shibu and Shejil and her daughter was Lija. Lija was several years my senior - I think when we moved there, she was already in 8th standard or something like that. She was also very quiet, I have rarely witnessed her talk or yell or scream or anything my boisterous family would do. Shibu was the older of the 2 boys. he was kind of borderline quiet as well. Shibu and Shejil were in the same class and at least 3-4 years my seniors. Shibu had some health issues and missed a year and joined Shejil in the same class I think. Vijay and I used to follow these 2 around and torture them when Vatsala aunty was not available :-) Shejil taught me how to play my first game of cards. He was always such a patient guy and knew how to play with little kids. We all played cricket together. The only reason I was in that team was because my dad bought me a cricket set, so my condition was that if they were to  use it they had to have me on the team. Shibu used to call me "Malcolm Marshall" because I used to do this big show of running a long distance befor bowling a ball which would be far wide anyways. I just knew Balakrishnan uncle - but for some reason the moment he came home, I would rush out the door. I think as a child I was initimidated of him. He was sweet and did not say a unkind word. But I never got to know him like I knew Vatsala aunty. Of all our neighbors, I think the rest of my family was also very close to this one family.

In G40/8, right above us, lived Sudhi Matholi(I just recently know his last name), with his brother Suji and their parents. Sudhi was a year older that Vijay and a couple of  years younger than me. He was such a studious and meritorious learner. Kind of quiet, but used to come over and play with Vijay all the time. I can distincly remember Suji and uncle and aunty's faces peering at us from their high perch as we talked back and forth.

In G40/7, first lived Sunitha and Vinitha and then the Moinudeen family lived there until we moved. I used to play with Sunitha (one year younger than me I think). Vinitha was a baby then. The Moinudeens pretty much kept to themselves - later I heard Moinudeen uncle was actually a spy and was expelled from HVF Avadi. Wow, did not even know I was living right under the nose of all that excitement. Excitement apart, I did feel a certain indignant anger when I heard it. Who knows if it was all true or not - but I felt/feel very strongly no Indian had/has or should have a right to sell the defense secrets of a country.If he did do that then he got what he rightly deserved.

In G40/6 lived another close friend of mine, Lakshmi Alagappan. She had 2 brothers, Sivanand and Vijayanand. Siva was the usualy older child, mature and while he played with us, made sure his siblings were safe etc etc. Vijayanand was a character. A hoot to be around and made us all laugh all the time. He used to take Hindi songs, change a few words here and there or add a south indian accent and it used to sound so funny. I used to play Gilli Dhanda with these guys too. Siva used to make the gilli and dhanda I think. Lakshmi was in my class as well (I use my class loosely - in Vijayantha Senior Secondary School - English Medium school as it was otherwise known - we had about 8-9 sections of over 50 kids in each standard a.k.a class. So we were all in the same grade,Vinod, Pallavi, Lakshmi - but not in the same section).

In G40/5 lived Sini and her family. Sini and Sudhi were in the same class. I know she had a younger sister. I can even still remember her face. But unfortunately I do not remember much of their mom or dad. They lived right across Lakshmi's house and I was a frequent visitor there too. Lakshmi's mom was an avid reader and stocked up on the Tamil Magazines and I used to borrow them and read them, after I was done with all the magazines my family bought. This was inspite of school, extra curricular activities, homework, pattu class, etc etc. And playing outside all evening - well, if you know me, you know what a Type A personality I am.

There, the neighbors are introduced. Most summers were spent in idyllic laziness playing in each others' yards or biking all across HVF Estate or reading. We used to stage plays in our garden. Play gilli dhanda, eat guavas, go to the Estate shops :-), play cricket, play in the park opposite our quarters all day...What fun. Andha naalum vandhidaadho...I am in touch with Shibu, Shejil and Sudhi and thru them know of Suji and Lija. I wonder what happened to Sini, Vinod, Lakshmi, Siva and Viji - where are they now? what would they be doing? will they be thinking of me nostagically like I think of them...will I ever get to see them all again?

The making of G40/4

Type G 40 was located near a power sub station and was the corner block and on the diagonal side other G types continued and on the other side it was flanked by the beginning of Type 2 quarters.

Like I mentioned before 1 - 4 were ground floor and 5 - 8 were first floor. G 40/4, the quarters we moved to was on the ground floor and the much coveted corner lot. Like I also mentioned before it was a haven for the gardening spirit in my Appa and Paatti. I think I also further mentioned this is the perfect heaven for me and my best days and dreams are around this house.

The week we moved there, Appa went to the township office and used all his charm to get the guys that worked there to lay a foundation of 2 pillars for a "gate". And on the gate pillars, he got "Victory" stencilled on one of them and "G.S.Viswanathan" on the other. It was the name of our house - "Victory". Appa always maintained "V" is for "Victory" hence Vijay and I were named "Vishnu Vijay" and "Vaishnavi Vandhana". The Vaishnavi in my name is for the Vaishnavi Temple in nearby Thirumullaivoil and Vandhana was in honor of Sharmila Tagore's alter ego in "Aradhana". Well Vijay's name had to rhyme with mine..that's all :-)

Anyways, coming back to the making of G40/4. He then went and bought a gate in Avadi and had it installed. We marvelled at the architectural design in that iron gate. Then we laid out a cement path(courtesy township office) between the gate and the door of the house. On both sides of this cement path, my appa and paatti painstakingly planned and planted a flower garden. If you are going in from the gate, to your right was a beautiful rose garden. The rose plants were brought in from all over Madras (nurseries in Madras) and Bangalore by Appa, Murthy Chithappa and Balu Chithappa. On the left side we had a "Vaadhanaarayanan" or "Gulbharga" tree. Then we had a few indigeneous rose bushes and then a "Pavazhamalli" or "Parijatham" flower tree. This tree had the most exquisite flowers - white flowers on a coral stem...just heavenly. Actually according to Hindu mythology these were indeed flowers from the heaven.

And to the side, right by the steps was planted the "kandaranga" tree - which yielded a kind of sour-bitter lemon that people used to make pickles. Then a little beyond that was planted the "Rath Ki Rani" shrub(lillies that bloomed at night and had a beautiful fragrance) which the myth was attracted snakes and I used to be a in a constant state of panic as I passed it.

After that was some carefully stamped ground and then started the fruit garden. Bordering this garden was an Ashoka tree(ornamental) and then there was a guava tree and after that a "arai nellikka" (gooseberry) tree. To the right side of the gooseberry was planted a coconut tree. This was a work of love and labor. My balu chithappa single handedly dug a pit 6 feet deep and about 4 feet wide since coconuts needed that kind of space to root and grow. To the right side of the coconut tree was a huge drumstick tree. This one was inherited and we did not plant. It was already yielding a lot of drumstick and we used to distribute bundles of it to neighbors. The drumstick leaves were used for cooking too. And when you dropped a few of these leaves while making ghee out of butter it just smelled so heavenly. Again to the right of the drumstick tree(imagine a square) we planted another coconut tree. Then the rose garden I mentioned before started. All the four borders of the house appa, chithappas and paatti loving planted multicolor shrubs(which we used to call crotons). Interspersed were the "hibiscus - shoeflower" shrubs and the "December poo" shrubs. I cannot think of a single girl in our school in those days that did not wear tightly woven garlands of this december poo in their "rettai pinnal". These flowering shrubs yielded pink, white, purple and striped flowers that were so delicate, weightless and pretty much odorless...but oh so colorful.

To the left side of the Ashoka tree, (imagine another square), they planted mutiple plantain plants. And then beyond the plantains they planted cotton trees. These 2 squares flanked an entire side of the house. The other side was flanked by another quarters. And the front was the flower garden I already mentioned.

In the backyard, several herbs like Karuveppillai, cilantro, mint and spinach were lovingly planted. There was also a neem tree and a sampanki tree. The sampanki tree yielded the most beautiful, yellow, five petal huge flowers that were so fragrant.

We lived in that quarters for about 9 years and were there to enjoy the yield of much of this vegetable and fruit garden. The only trees that were still growing and we did not enjoy the fruits of their labor were the mango and coconut trees. Patti guarded the roses with her life - her philosophy was that they were a thing of beauty and to be visually enjoyed. Tell that to a household of Indian women who think beautiful flowers are to adorn your hair. But her rose garden was off limits to the long haired damsels my amma, athai, chithi and later me :-)

Thus the settling down at G40/4 happened. I will introduce our neighbors to you in the next blog.

Moving day

It has been a tough few days. If you read my previous post, you can probably feel my pain a little bit. My beloved Sarala Athai, after feeding so many people with her wonderful cooking, passed on to a better, pain free place, after herself not eating at all for 2 months. When I think of that singular fact, it makes me want to just keep crying... I know life is full of ironies but this is just the worst of all. Obviously I am bereft with sorrow and ridden with pain. As I was pondering on what I can be doing, cooking and writing has always been therapeutic to me and I decided to continue where I left off on this blog.

Moving on to more memories of Avadi, we left G 63/5 soon after Athai was married and moved to G 40/4. This new block was only a couple of blocks away (each block in the G type in HVF Estate had 8 units or quarters, the ground floor was numbered 1-4 and the first floor was numbered 5-8). For years my parents, more so my Appa and my Chellama patti wanted to move to a "ground floor" quarters so they can cultivate their own garden. So when this became available, off we went.

By this time Balu Chithappa had completed his studies, done a stint at Larson and Toubro at Kuderemukh, Karnataka. Soon he left that job and got an opportunity to go to North Yemen. First person in our family to go "abroad" :-) And he is still trying to find that ideal job for him. Balu Chithappa was always bright, super smart, super handsome. But I think he is pre-destined to be his own boss. He does not take well to bureaucracy or a hippocratic culture. So when he faces it in the corporate world, off he goes on to his next adventure. I have always been a big fan of Balu Chithappa's adventerous spirit and die-hard enthusiasm. There was never a dull moment when he was around.

Murthy Chithappa, a really hard working person, had also completed his studies at the Govt School at SAP (TSP, Satyamurthy Nagar now) and got some jobs honing his skills and eventually joined H V F where Appa was also working. Very hardworking, conscientious, always puts his family first and Yes, that certainly includes Vijay and me. He is also very pragmatic, we always go to Chithappa if we want to know how to do things or get things done inside and outside of the house, fun loving and fun sharing(oh, the trips he takes and used to take me with him, they are worth a seperate post) and focused on building a strong future for him and his own.I am also a big fan of Murthy Chithappa. Murthy Chithappa has always been part of my childhood, before marriage and then later joined by Shanthi Chithi and then Vimal and Sriram. He is still a very integral part of my life. After Appa, he tells everybody he is my Appa. How sweet is that!!!

Amma was also settling down at her school. She sure missed Sarala Athai, but she was busy working at the school and then later helping Paatti around the house.

So on moving day our family and all our wordly belongings move on a bullock cart to G40/4 :-) That includes Appa, Amma, Thatha, Paatti, Murthy Chithappa, myself, Vijay and Govindamma (our newly acquired maid since Paatti was getting older, I think she must have been 60 or so when I was born). Govindamma is what legends are made of - in both positive and otherwise ways :-) Maybe there will more in a later post about her. She was around 45 I think, but called everybody in our house Anna. And my mom was Akka. And Patti was Amma. She later became Paati's confidant and best friend...

Whenever I am going through a bad phase or in a bad mood, I still have dreams about G40/4. I think that is where my sub-conscious takes me for security. Those were the happiest days of my life. Even in my dreams I can feel the green distember painted walls of that house surround me in peace and tranquility like a mother's womb. It is and will always be my security blanket.

Jab they met...

Appa: Gobichettipalayam Sundaram (G S)Viswanathan, an army brat, 4th of 9 siblings, born in Jabalpur(then state of Madhya Pradesh) and grew up all over the country. Even though he was the 4th of his siblings, he and my Padma athai were the defacto ring leaders of the house. Very well loved brother and prodigal son. There was never a dearth for food or love in their house. NOt rich by any standards of material wealth, but blessed in having a great family around him. After his PUC (12th standard) joined the MEG(Madras Engineering Group) in the Army as a stenographer. According to his dad, my Sundaram thatha, after the big boss, the stenographers in those days enjoyed all the privileges of a "saheb" and having been a field Subedar all his career, he wanted his sons to enjoy the privileged life. Appa settled down in Avadi in 1965 and after his brother's (Mani Periappa) marriage in 1971, the hunt for his bride begins.He was 30 years then. Appa was a very handsome guy and just oozed charm out of every pore. He was also a very fun loving person and great fun to be around with. Constantly joking, laughing, playing practical jokes at others...

Amma: Gobichettipalayam Subbarathinam (G S)Syamala,the second daughter of a struggling school teacher, very attached to her mother, (Venkatalakshmi paatti) and a doting sister to her siblings. A dreamer by nature, very conservative and grew up in and around the Coimbatore/Satyamangalam/Erode area . Apart from being a dreamer my mother was also the constant worrier that something would go wrong(still does worry a lot). Worked very hard through her PUC, did Secondary Grade teachers training at Erode and started her career as a teacher. She was 27 and that really worried (see the theme here?) that she was not married yet. Amma was extremely pretty - fair skinned, doe eyed, with about 6 feet(I am not kidding) of jet black, thick tresses of hair always worn in a braid, average Indian woman's height, soft spoken, afraid of everything, ultra conservative and sensitive...

His(her)story: So hunt for Appa's bride starts. At that time, Appa was at Avadi and Thatha and paatti were at Erode. All the sisters but for Sarala athai were married. Mani periappa was married. Route cleared for Appa. The search brings them to Satyamangalam where Amma is living with her parents. Incidentally Satyamanagalam was where I was born - but that comes later :-) Appa and Amma were related even before marriage in a very remote way. They (Appa, Sundaram Thatha .Chellama paatti was taking care of the younger siblings) go to Satyamangalam to see a girl. No, it was not Amma. It was some second cousin of Amma's. For some reason we still have a passport copy of this girl's photo in our album(thanks Kumar mama!!!). Appa does not like her and Thatha and Appa plan to return to Erode and Avadi respectively. But fate had other plans..

Thatha had a brainstorm...he remembered his onnu vitta athaiyoda peran (my Subbarathinam thatha) lived right in Satyamangalam and he had a couple of daughters of marriageable age (those were days before email and cell phone or even telephone for the middle-class so everything was a guess). SO he marches down the agraharam to Subbarathinam's house with Appa in tow and announces himself. He is so glad to note Subbarathinam does have a daughter of marriageable age. Appa and Amma meet each other. Each being secretly bowled over by the charm of the other. Subbratahinam thatha and Venkatalakshmi paatti are taken aback by all the suddenness of the marriage proposal. Sundaram Thatha camps there and declares he will not leave their house until they give their approval for this matrimony. Venkatalakshmi patti is now really scared...she insists that the behavior is so boorish that she is worried about her daughter living in that household. Sundaram thatha's perseverance wins - Subbarathinam thatha decides to go ahead with the match. They set a date for the wedding - June 8, 1972!!!

My Kumar mama and Suresh mama take to the streets of the Satyamangalam agraharam declaring "Engaathu maapillai evolavu azhagu theriyumaa" :-)

The wedding day arrives - Appa and all his siblings land on the small agraharam of Satyamangalam like hoards of bees. There is a small tributary of the Bhavani River that runs through the agrahaaram. Most people that live there go to the river for their morning bath. (I have been there as a child too - oh it is so idyllic). The agraharam has 4 major streets or mada veedhis built around the Meenakshi Amma temple. My mom lived in one street and right down the street, several houses away lived my dad's athanga, Alamelu Athanga. That is where they stayed before the wedding. My Appa likes to joke around and he spotted Amma returning from the river and since he could not whistle, had my Mani periappa whistle for him - my Amma was like so scared, she ran all the way home :-) On the day of the wedding, poor Amma picked up an eye infection and it seemed like she was crying all day. But she was in cloud nine. Everybody in the Sathy agraharam talked about their jodi porutham.

That is how they met, got married and my Amma had to move to the big, bad city of Chennai and settled down in Avadi. That is how their love story started. She took some leave from her then current teaching job as a transfer was being arranged. Then I came along a year(11 months later) on May 16, 1973. My Appa's focus entirely changed that day. Then began a totally new love story - one on long lasting, sacrificing, inspiring love of a father for his daughter. He ran to see me and apparently was rounding the agraharam veedhis even before my naamakaranam (which is a big no no for some reason - I think a lot of saasthirams exist so we are spared of infections and such). Since Amma did not get a transfer immediately, my Appa made frequent trips to see me and her until I was 9 months old. Then Amma got a transfer to the Vijayantha Tamil Medium school and then 2 years later Vijay came along (which is part of my second post in this series).

My Appa's life was the most beautiful life ever!!! His personality was a joy. They lived happily for a long time (33 years), before he left on his final journey. She is waiting - for her transfer one of these days..so Vichu (my Appa) can call her Sampuli (he loved to call her that) once again. I hope that time does not come for a long time (she is my Amma)..but I know she knows they will continue their love story again.He might have wandered toward bright lights before their marriage, might have had a lot of friends who belonged to the other gender during their marriage, but her faith in him never wavered. No matter who tried to taint some of his friendships in a bad light, she held steadfast to the love of her life...stay tuned to hear more in these posts about this lovely couple. I am lucky to be a part of them, lucky to have them.

Alu Parata and Saag Panneer

Talking about G 63/5 has had me think more and more of Sarala athai related memories. In the last blog I had mentioned one of her friends' names was Sarala (that is true and she had 3 sons also but she did not live in our block). The aunty that lived in our block was Sarasamma aunty or Sarasakka like Athai called her.

Well coming to this post. For those of you that have lived in HVF Estate Avadi or have been there to visit, you know there is only one bus from the Estate to the outside world. No guesses for what it is - it was Route 65-B from Ambattur Industrial Estate to Poonamallee. So if you need to go to Ambattur and from there to Anna Nagar or other places in the City or if you needed to go the other direction to downtown Avadi, this was the only mode of transportation. I am talking the bicycle or scooter days - so if you had to go somewhere outside of the Estate, you had to wait out for the bus. I believe the frquency was every 40 minutes or so. I remember so many days waiting for the bus in front of the Vijayantha Nursery School.Later 61-A would sometimes make a detour via these areas. However if you lived close to the HVF Hospital, you had a further choice of about 3 buses of the 61 series. These came from ICF or Parrys Corner(also known as Broadway) and went up to IAF or Ayapakkam or Pattabiram. There is a reason for all this and a connection to the topic :-) Give me a minute (or ten) to get to that.

Those were also the days where eating out was a exception rather the norm it is today. Most families cooked fresh meals and ate at home almost all the time. If there was visiting family or you had to go into the "city" you had an opportunity to eat out. Even that for a tambram family like ours meant idli,dosa,vada,pongal, poori etc. And to top it all there was NO hotel(that is how we used to refer to restaurants) in HVF Estate. There was one near the pan shop left to the Township office (near the Vijayantha Auditorium), but was mostly closed or changing ownership and did not even have much of a menu. There was this tea shop near the Vijanatha Institute that sold some fried stuff like bajji, bonda, those little samosas you could buy for 15 paise..but that was it. Of course you could get a variety of snacks in the Bakery(run by Kushia Begum's family - Kushia was my mother's student) or these other 2 places I mentioned. So really I had not heard of things like Alu Parata or Saag Panneer until Sarala Athai got married and went to New Delhi and started coming back home during summer.

She used to make Samosas, Alu Tikki, Bhel Chaat, Alu Chaat, Chana masala, Alu parata, Panneer dishes and a wide variety of "North Indian" cuisine that put Vijay and me in seventh heaven. Those were also the days that you could not just stop at a super market(there was none) and buy panneer. All these dishes took days of planning and Sarala Athai made a grand production of the entire event - planning to cooking to consuming it. I do not know which impressed me more - her ability to turn this mundane task into a grand event or her culinary skills. Both I guess. I still remember watching her make the Alu Parata. Do you think I am a foodie - well who isn't?

And those days I was so addicted to potato chips and "mixture". So she would give me 1 Rupees and 10 paise to buy 50 grams of Potato Chips almost daily and a "biscuit" that had cream filling in the center and was pink from Kushia Begum's bakery whenever she came to visit.

When she came from New Delhi she would pack pooris and tomato chutney and this Karela dish (that I am still trying to master) for her 36 hour journey in GT (Grand Trunk) express or TamilNadu express. She always made enough so she will have leftovers for Vijay and me when she landed. It is hard to describe how tasty this day old food was. Again I do not know if it is the food or the love that Sarala Athai showered on us. She even came to the New Delhi airport with this exact same menu in 1998 when Mani and I were enroute to the US. And I remember we ate it in France and I was telling Mani how it tasted exactly the same.

She would buy us gifts - pencils that did not have to be sharpened, school bags, shoes, litle trinket - we felt like kings and queens for days after that. So why am I making a big deal of all this is what you are wondering right? After all uncles and aunts spoil their nieces and nephews. What is the big deal is that she did not have enough to have luxuries in her life. She had to sew and sell arts and crafts to supplement her family's income. She toiled for hours on her sewing machine so she could earn extra so they can have a better lifestyle. But what little she had, she made sure Vijay and I had our share of it. Even as little children we had an awareness of it and that is why all this was so special. That is why Sarala Athai is so special. And she will always be...

Remember in the last blog, I said I used to cry whenever she left for New Delhi after spending a few weeks of summer with us. And how she teases me that I do not do that anymore since I am an adult. I think this time when she leaves I am going to cry. I am going to cry for a loonng time - in fact the tears and the pain of separation has already started for me. Because this time when she leaves, I am afraid I will never see her again. She will forever live in my memories and now for eternity in the world wide web.

Yes, regretfully my dear Sarala Athai is suffering from liver cancer and it is terminal and she has a few months to go before bidding her final adieu. Knowing her, it will be in style. It will be a dramatic grand finale. I have 5 athais, I love them all, but I am not beyond saying I love you the most Sarala Athai(Sampoornam was her real name). Everytime somebody says "Athai" anywhere in the world, it is your name and your face that comes to my memory. I remember your lullaby to me and Vijay when I was 3 - Athai madi methai adi...I cry everytime I hear that song. It is always a tune that is playing in my head....God Speed and hope you are feeling well now Athai.

Block G 63

G 63 Block

The times of innocence and fun.

The singlemost traumatic event I can remember when we lived at Block G63 was Sarala Athai's wedding.

To understand why it was traumatic, I need to give you a sneak overview into who Sarala Athai is. Sarala Athai was the last of my dad's sisters, who was unmarried at that time and living with us. We had several grooms come to "see her" and several dejections for her because of her birthstart "Moolam". If you are a TamBram and grew up in a TamBram household like mine, you will understand what I mean.

But in spite of all these setbacks (she was 22 when I was born and 28 by the time she got married), she filled her days and those around her with laughter and joy. She never really let her dejection show - she was always bubbly, had so many good friends like Parveen's mom, Noorjahan aunty, Suseela Aunty, Sarala aunty(her namesake), Jayanthy Aunty and spent quiet some time with all of them. You can imagine, first me and then Vijay were always accompanying her, door to door in that block, enjoying being with her and enjoying how well loved she was.

Our neighbors across the door were Parveen's mom(I never really knew her real name), Khasim uncle, Parveen, Shereen, Munnawar, Anwar, Ansar, Apsar and Munni. They shared their 600 odd sq ft space amongst all these people and had even "sublet" their quarters to another family - Noorjahan aunty, Kamal uncle, Saleem, Rahmath and Banu for a while. I loved to go over to their house, learn from Parveen and Shereen akka and play with Munni and just smell the aromas of a muslim household. They were visited always by Parveen's aunt, Grover aunty and I used to also play with their son Arif. Sarala Athai and generally the H.V.F. Estate atmosphere knew no difference based on caste, creed, religion or other criteria. We lived like one big family in a block. My grandma used to send "bathchanam(savories)" over to their house for every major festival.

Right down from us lived Shantha aunty, Pillai uncle and Sunil. Shantha aunty was also athai's close friend. Diagonally down were Suseela aunty and her family of 3 girls - Sumathi, Banu and Manju. Then next to them was Jayanthy aunty(she had a son Praveen and daughter(her name eludes me right now, we used to call her "Moli")) who both went on to be medicos and next to her was Sarala aunty who had 3 grown sons.

They did crafts together (Sarala Athai is very artistic - there is nothing that is impossible for her), exchanged recipes, played "soli" or "dhayam" or just enjoyed being around each other. I can still remember those times and the fun I saw happen. We were not allowed to eat in anybody's house (TamBram reference again). Sarala athai was so slight in enforcing this rule on us. If one of the auntys' offer us something to eat, she would tell us "By all means, go ahead and eat it" while all the time her eyes would warn us "kabardhaar". We would very politely say "No Aunty, we just ate" or "we are not hungry" or something like that. I remember this even stretched after she got married and went to Delhi and would come home for visits and we would go visiting her friends.

Well, let's come to the traumatic event. My Babu Athimber came to "see Sarala Athai". Everything else worked out and they were married. Moment of joy right - right!!! I used to not even talk to him initially because he took her away from me, all the way to New Delhi!!! I cried everytime she came to visit and went back. She kind of still expects me to do that, even though I am 40 :-)))

I know childhood is precious and those moments are lovely to recall for everybody - but when I think back, I am suprised I can remember all this vividly given my age at that time - 0 to 6. Then we moved to the G40 block and we will take our journey from there next time.

This is how it started...

My journey with my one and only sibling. The indomitable Major(Retd) Vishnu Vijay Viswanathan, B.A,B.L, PGIRPM (XLRI)!!!

Yesterday was Rakshabandhan - no matter how much distance has separated us, my only brother and I have always maintained a very close, strong bond. Even when he was in the special elite forces as a Major and was in some unmentionable part of Kashmir, I always found a way to reach a Rakhi to him. His well being and joyous life are of the utmost importance to me. For my Avadi friends, you know who I am talking about - the one and only Vishnu Vijay or Vijay like most of you know him.

My earliest memories of my childhood in Avadi are around his birth. We used to live in G 63/5. A 600 odd Sq Ft one bedroom apartment "quarters" where my mom, dad, myself, my unmarried aunt (Sarala Athai), my unmarried uncles (Murthy Chithappa, Balu Chithappa) and my grandparents all lived in sweet harmony. There might have been a dearth of space, there was never a dearth of love or harmony in that household.

I must have been about 2 yrs and 9 months old. I was preparing to get in to school for my L.K.G (I took life pretty seriously even then, boon or bane, only time can tell). So talk comes around the impending arrival of the "Great" one. I go, "It is hard enough to concentrate in this house, now there is going to be this baby that is constantly going to cry and how am I going to be able to do well in school" ? ha ha ha - too much for an almost 3 year old ? Well, you know me!!!

In those days there was no technology available to tell you the gender of the expected child. I was rooting for a sister. My ever indulgent dad was playing along with it. Then the "Great" one arrives. My dad knows it is not the sister I am looking forward to. He comes home and I hop along the front bar of his bi-cycle and we pedal along to the H.V.F Hospital (apparently there was a lot of drama around the birth itself that my 3 year old brain must have simply skipped). My dad starts to talk to me about the ill-effects of a "sister". How I will have to share everything - clothes, jewellery, hair pins, make-up yada yada. And with a brother I will have totally exclusive rights over what is mine. And how much he will protect me and defend me in later life. Within the 5 minutes ride to the hospital, my dad had convinced me that I really wanted, no needed a brother. And then magically I am greeting a brother. I was so impressed how my dad could make it happen just like that. Later - I realized I had been fooled by a master story teller. I learned that story so well that years later I repeated it to my daughter when she wanted a sister and I knew we were having a baby boy.

Anyways, not to take away from this story. It was love at first sight. I was so proud of my baby brother. He was way too fair skinned to my darker complexion and so chubby and had this beautiful head of curly, dark hair. He looked so angelic and was faster than me in learning so many baby and infant skills. He gave his bottle way before I did(comparitive ages), was potty trained before I was at the age and was my mom's apple of the eye. All this should have triggered sibling rivalry, but it was never so. Probably because of the adulation with which he regarded me. Exists to this day and I am so greatful for that. Probably because I had a similar singular attention from my dad. I do not think we really felt any sibling rivalry between each other. He was so content to let me take the limelight. He is so bright in his own regard and is the best of the best, but he was always so content to take the backseat. I was the de-facto spokesperson of the two of us. I took care of his needs, championed for things he needed with my parents and generally took him under my wings.

I could not have asked for a better brother than Vijay. I am so thankful to God for bringing him in to my life. Together we had so many adventures at Avadi. Did we never fight? who are you kidding - of course we did. For this and that and even today because we both have pretty strong opinions. And I never give up reminding him who is older :-) But even through all that and the distance that separates us geographically, the bond is always there. Like Fevicol. The journey that started in this sleepy hamlet called Avadi...

Why Chronicles of Avadi? Why now?

Turning 40 this year has been a big adjustment for me. For those of you that know me from my Avadi Days, you know it is not vanity or a factor of aging.

For me it has been about a year of reflection.

Of places I have been, things I have done and where I need to go. Of nostalgia from a wonderful, memorable childhood, thru adolescence and meeting my beloved husband to adulthood and the responsibilities. Of more morbid things like mortality. Suddenly I realize there will soon come a day when I will be an urn of ashes being immersed in some water body in some part of the world...but before that -

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

What better way can there be than remembering the most happiest childhood any kid could ask for? In a idyllic, dreamlike, slow moving, friends filled place called Avadi.Hmmm just saying that name strikes a feeling of intense nostalgia. Stirs a kind of longing "andha naalum vandhidaadho".

This idea came to me quiet suddenly while I was getting ready to sleep last night. Part of me was "Why now"?(I was going to call it "Avadi Days" in memory of one of my favorite author's iconic work "Malgudi Days", but decided I was too small in comparison and that would actually be quiet insulting to R.K.Narayan), but part of me was "Why not?". So here you go.

In this blogpost I am going to try and capture those wonderful moments, times that still fill me with inner joy and peace. Stay tuned.