Let me start this month's musings with a shocking statement. Yes, it is true. Chitra was born in our house in 'nadu street' in Kanchipuram. Whenever somebody asked me where were you residing in Kanchipuram, my reply was, 'Nadutherula’ (Nadu street or middle street). But 'living in nadutheru' also means we were paupers and residing in the street.

That was the second house where we lived at Kanchi, the first one being nearer to the famous Ekambareshwar koil, which is supposed to have the highest gopuram in India. We lived in an old house, a typical house in a small town with long corridors and 'mutram' (courtyard) [with a grilled top for ventilation]. We had a garden at the backyard and the latrine was at the back. So we always feared to go to the loo. Raghu and I would run off to the temple whenever we got the chance. The temple was a huge one with a lot of ground for playing. There was one Ayiramkal Mandapam (thousand-pillared hall) at a raised level where my brother Kannan and brother-in-law to be Gopalan used to play chess for hours together. My mother would be annoyed at the delay in their having lunch and one of us would run to the temple to fetch them. The praharam around the sannadhi is like the one you see in the Meenakshi temple at Madurai or the Rameshwaram temple, with that bat (bad) smell (pun intended)! There used to be a park near our house where there was a radio. I used to like to go to that park almost daily just to hear the cine songs and the news through the speaker. The garden, though a small one was quite well-maintained. We were in that house only for a few months and shifted to the nadutheru. My sister (Pushpa akka) and I studied in Soma sundara kanya vidhyalaya which was situated near the famous Kamakshi temple. Santhanam anna studied in Anderson School (I had wrongly stated last time that this school was in Pollachi).

I studied 6th and 7th standards in that school, whereas my sister did her school final,i.e. SSLC (11th standard) there. In this school also, I had my lunch with my sister in her class, the difference being that we no longer carried that thooku (big tiffin-box)! One of my classmates had a sister studying in my sister’s class and so we both used to go together to have our lunch. In our family, my brother Santhanam and I cannot control our laughter. The others also laugh, but they have control. We two giggle a lot (even now) at anything remotely funny. In my school, whenever there was a function, say, a speech by somebody or a competition, my class children would be seated in the front as we were the youngest .My friends used to comment about the way the speaker spoke just to make me giggle. I used to try my best to control my laughter but sometimes I would burst out laughing. My sister’s Hindi teacher who taught me Sanskrit, used to complain about me to my sister saying, ’You are so quiet. But your sister is very naughty’. My children didn’t believe me when I told them this. I stood first in the 6th and was presented one silver photo of Lord Hanuman. The comment from that teacher was, ‘ Vanaraththukku eththa vanaram‘ (A monkey to suit another monkey). I cannot forget my Tamil teacher, Mrs.Meera, who taught social studies for the higher classes. We had Tagore’s life-story for the non-detailed class. She taught us so well that I liked the teacher as well as Tagore. My very close friend Bhooma, who was staying next to the famous Ulagalandha perumal koil, and I used to look forward to Meera teacher’s class. Instead of Special Tamil, I took Sanskrit as per my father’s view. But I don’t remember anything except a few Shabdams. We were taught a lot of devotional songs and slokas in that school. Though I studied for just 2 years, I liked the school very much. Every Friday, I used to go to the Kamakshi temple , picking my friend Bhooma enroute. I am an ardent fan of the Tamil writer Anuththama, who used to come to the temple on almost all Fridays. I started reading stories at the age of 7. So I was quite familiar with the names and faces of the prominent writers at that time. The other famous temples that I visited in Kanchipuram were Varadarajar temple, Kandakottam and the Kailasanadhar temple which was in the outskirts of the town.

Unlike Pollachi, we used to to have a lot of visitors at Kanchi. This may be due to the fact that it is very close to Madras as well as our native place Perungalathur, a small village. My father’s cousins belong to a place called Kazhiyur which is just about 4 Kms from our village. So there was a continuous stream of relatives coming either to visit the temples or to see night-shows of Tamil films. They came at odd hours but my mother somehow managed to feed them well. In those days there was no gas, fridge, mixie, grinder or any modern amenity that we now take for granted. In fact we did not even have a servant-maid for washing utensils which were big. So feeding 5 or 6 people without any prior notice was quite admirable and I can’t imagine how my mother managed. The best part is that she did everything with a warm smile. We knew about most of our relatives only in Kanchipuram. During the temple festival times, like Garuda sevai people came in huge numbers and she handled the situation very efficiently. So all my father’s relatives had great regard for her. We felt elated at the sight of either Chakravarthi periappa or Kannan chithiya as we were sure of seeing a picture that night. I saw Akbar (Tamil version of Mogal-e- azam), Vidivelli and many other pictures with them.

Choodakka’s marriage was fixed in 1961 when we were in Kanchi. The wedding took place in Thirumala. A small reception was given in our house in Kanchi, and Raghu mono-acted a drama by name ’Thanks’, which was appreciated by everyone. When akka was pregnant, her in-laws used to visit her often. I remember very well how she used to narrate the story, ’The Count of Monte Cristo’ daily after dinner.

My father suffered from ulcer for a long time. I cannot forget the day when he vomited blood and became unconscious. The doctor came immediately and after proper treatment he became all right till 1970, when he suffered again due to stomach pain. Except for this incident, we had a good time at Kanchi.

During Aadiperukku, my mother used to take us all to the river Palaru and after a nice dip in the river we had the chithrannams (variety rice) brought by my mother. At that time there was water in the river but now I believe it looks like a desert and is called ‘mannaru (sand river)’.

When my father got a transfer to Madras, the new inspector who succeeded my father also stayed in that house. He had a small baby and his sister had a small boy, both about 6 to 7 months old. The girl’s name was Snehalatha and the boy’s name was Sugavanam. Both of them were very chubby. I liked the girl very much who was very pretty. Both Raghu and I , after coming from school , used to pinch them lightly to wake them from their sleep. As I said at the beginning, Chithra was born in our house in 'nadu street' in Kanchipuram. We all used to pet her a lot as she was the first grandchild in the family.

I recall some more interesting incidents about my Kanchipuram life.
** One old Saurashtrian lady was staying all alone in our next-door house. She had coconut trees and other vegetable plants in her house, which fetched her some money. I used to go to her house to get Pachai sundakkai and coconut. I used to wonder at that time how could anybody live all alone.
** Like my first two sisters , Pushpa akka also came out with flying colours standing first in the school in two subjects . Unfortunately she also could not continue her education.
** Appa’s office mail-overseer was commuting from Chengalpet to Kanchi and he used to bring garden-fresh brinjals and ladyfingers (bhindi) , both for 4 annas (25 paise).
** Our first radio was bought here (not in Madras as I wrote last month). It was a G.E.C. assembled set. We were delighted to listen to the Radio Ceylon (Ilangai Vanoli Varthaga Oliparappu) programmes in that. I remember all of us used to crowd around the radio on Wednesday nights for 'Binaca Geetmala' compered by the famous Amin Sayani.
** We visited the photo studio a few times for a group photo when some close relative like my Seema mama visited us. This photo was reproduced in an earlier Newsletter, but I am again reproducing it here as it is the only tangible thing I have of my life in Kanchipuram.

** My mother used to recite the following verse written by Kalidas to tell us that we were lucky to live in Kanchi
Pushpeshu Jathi, Puresheshu Vishnu
Narishu Ramba, Nagareshu Kanchi
(Jasmine among flowers, Vishnu among men
Ramba among women, Kanchi among towns)

I am giving the recipe for Maida Chips which was requested by Shoba.

Tip for the month

Using a cloth below and above a pile of chappatis, kept in a closed container, will keep them form `sweating' and getting soggy, as well as keep them from becoming too dry, also.

Amritha
December 2002