I got an encouraging feed back by mail from Prasad, Mukund and Sudarshan and phone calls from Santhanam anna, Aarthi and Harish. This time also the subject of my musings is my life at Pollachi.

Pollachi is a beautiful town as far as my memory goes. I studied in one Balagopalapuram elementary school from 2nd to 5th standards. All my elder sisters studied in the school run by Nachimuthu gaunder, father of N. Mahalingam, the famous industrialist, while my brother Santhanam studied in Anderson High school. I enjoyed my school life very much . I can still remember the happy face of my class teacher, (one Mr. Sundaram) to whose house I forced my father to accompany me to give him sweets when I stood first in the class. I cannot forget the expression in my father's face when he drank the coffee that was given in his house as it was not the usual coffee that we take at home . Karuppatti was added instead of sugar and the coffee powder was not filtered properly. Appa's face was like the one who drank castor oil.

Talking about castor oil I cannot forget the ordeals we had to undergo on a Sunday every month. Sundays are meant for enjoyment. But we dreaded to get up on that particular Sunday which was castor- oil- day. Amma used to derive great pleasure in giving us castor oil on that day. We used to get up from bed reluctantly and amma would give us that yukky oil either raw or with milk. The way she used to hold our nostrils so that we would automatically open our mouths and her constant shouting, ' Muzhungu, muzhungu (swallow, swallow)' still reverberates in my ears. We all would suffer from nausea and almost vomit the whole thing. But she was so clever that she would immediately ask us to jump the three steps near the kitchen 3, 4 times so that the vomitting sensation would pass. I used to hate the food given on that day, namely though on any other day they would have been tasty. Raghu used to hide for some time but amma would drag him and give him the oil with some scolding and even beating. This monthly ordeal went on till we left Pollachi . When we came to Kanchipuram we were given the oil once in two months and the ordeal finally stopped after we came to Madras.

The house of Thiru. N. Mahalingam was a mansion with a huge lawn and there used to be a lot of animals and other figures like elephant, peacock, deer, man etc. made out of bushes (I remember from a crossword clue that this is called topiary) . I used to admire the house a lot, especially the garden part. Though our house was a small one it had a small garden area where we had some flowering plants.

In those days even radio was a luxury . We never had one till we came to Madras. My sisters were crazy about film music and so used to ask our neighbour's son, Rajakutti to increase the volume whenever our neighbours played the radio. My sisters had a notebook full of lyrics of film songs . Both Choodakka and Rukkakka had very good handwriting and I liked to read the songs . They used to sing almost all the famous songs while doing the housework. It was infectious and so I too liked to sing the songs even at that age. The habit continues even now. That way, everyone in the house, including my father, loved music. My mother also liked songs, but did not want us to sing while working or studying. So Choodakka and Rukkakka would stop singing if Amma noticed. But Pushpakka being younger would argue with mother singing the song .

Talking about music, I remember the bhajans we used to recite during the Margazhi month. There was a Ramar temple within walking distance from our house and there used to be a bhajan mandali . I took part in that and recited Thirupavai, Thiruvembavai and Thirupalliyezhuchi daily in Margazhi going around the streets early in the mornings.We were given pongal prasadam daily and at the end of the month we were given a printed blouse-piece which I thought was a great gift!. In that Ram temple, Rama navami was celebrated on a grand scale every year. All the children who wanted to have food in the temple would be let off from school at 12 noon (one period before lunch) and we would all rush to our houses to take the tumbler to the temple as the temple authorities would not give any container for drinking water. The food used to be very good with payasam on all 9 days.

Raghu studied only 1st and 2nd standard there. I used to take him to the school. I played the big sister's role to the tee. Once when we were coming back from school there was a flash flood. Volunteers were standing on both sides of the road regulating the traffic and helping the children to cross the small stream of water. I brought Raghu home safely. . Hema was a small baby at that time who was a plaything for me and Raghu.

Some of our relatives visited us there. My future mother in law, Vanaja Akka, Mettur mama and mami, Chinna Kannan (Seema mama's son who was called so to distinguish from my brother), Sridhar and Mythili ( my cousins) were among the few from my mother's side whose visit I remember. From my father' side also some relatives came. Chakkaravarthi periappa visited us a few times. One Melma thatha, who was a magician also came there twice and he conducted a magic show there for all of us.

I recall some interesting incidents about my Pollachi life.
** There was a tahsildar and his wife in our neighbourhood who were fond of Hema. He used to get passes for films in Selvam theatre (I think). All of us used to be taken by them by turns.
** Once when amma was away at Madras, Choodakka and Rukkakka decided to make beetroot sambhar. But they never thought that it would turn out to be so red. Everyone refused to eat it as it was like blood. They were afraid to pour it in the gutter as it would be conspicuous in the open drain. So they hit upon the idea of burying it in the garden. A ceremonial burial was given to the beetroot sambhar which was never prepared again!
** Whenever we bought 'nungu', all of us would go for the big ones little realising that the tasty ones are tender and small. We made the nungu-seller happy as nobody else would have bought them.
** Santhanam Anna and Raghu used to act as King and prince in a play (?) directed by themselves. I burst out laughing when I think of their dress for their parts. Both of them used to wear half-pants and shirts. But to act as king and prince, each of them would tie a half-sari of Choodakka or Rukkakka (plain Georgette) behind their shirts ! Once Santhanam Anna was fed up of being a king without any fight. So he wanted to announce that he would go for a war with the neighbouring king. But since there was no underling (sevagan) available to make the announcement, Rajakkutti (about whom I have written earlier) was called to act as sevagan and was expected to say that there would be a war with the neighbouring king. But he was not told what to say. So when the following dialogue took place,

all of us had a hearty laugh.
** There was a classmate of mine (Girija) whose father was a purohit. But I used to be amazed that every Friday, they could afford to make payasam.

My first two sisters who did their school final in Pollachi came out with flying colours. Both of them stood first in the school and were given very beautiful gold medals . But having come from an orthodox family, they could not continue their education as there was no college for girls there at that time. My father could not have afforded hostel for them.

If anyone had told me when we were drinking castor oil that I would look back nostalgically about it, I would not have believed. But it is nice to think about the past, whether pleasant or not.

I shall write about my life in Kanchipuram in my next article.

TAVALADAI and TOMATO CHUTNEY

Tip for the month