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.
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.
