Pravography

hmmm... adhellam oru kaalam!

2008-01-16T10:20:00.000-05:00

Pondicherry... Kamraj nagar, Jayaram Theater pinnala dhaan enga Thatha Veedu, enga amma along with her 8 siblings and 3 other cousins valandha idam. Koottu kudumbam. My thathas family, his elder brothers family & their father, all lived together.

Just imagine, a house with 11 children... ELEVEN CHILDREN!!! thats a number!

Only 2 grown females in the house - my Grandma (I call her Mummyma and so did my cousins who still owe me the copyright charges… grrr) & my periya thathas wife (perimma as everyone calls them)

They were one happy family, at least, from the kids perspective. Would any of us can even think about having more than 2 or 3 kids at home, at a time? It was like 24 hrs of fun for these 11 kids, running around, messing up things, playing pranks, fighting, eating theyn mitttai, javvu mittai, kamarkat, ilandha-vada, goyya pazham and what not.

There was NO TV, Cable, Video Games, CD Players, MP3 players, no car, no bike. I think they only entertainment they had was a Murphy Radio which they got after begging their Dads for months.

Thatha:

The most honest, straight-forward, kind, principled, angry and strict person I’ve ever met in my life. Avara paathaaley apdiye thodai ellam nadungum enakku. Avara kaamichi kaamichi enakku saapaadu oottuvaanga or edhachum vela vaanguvaanga enga ammavum chithingalum.

He was a terror to his kids. Everyone would be scared to even have a chat with him. I mean everyone, including his colleagues, his supervisor, his Father, his Elder brother, Mummyma and of course the kids.

He met my Mummyma in an usual “pen paarkum” padalam. She was 14 I guess when they met and he was 24 or something. (Hey this was in the 40s, what do you expect!). Like all the movies both of them liked each other et all, but the Jaadhgam did not match. He did not believe in it and hence wanted to marry her. Obviously, there were many oppositions from both the families, but he finally did marry my mummyma, else I wouldn’t be here, writing about my family!

As I mentioned before, since they didn’t have much of entertainment in those days, they spent their free-times in making kids. Poor Mummyma gave birth to 9 kids, out of which 7 of them were girls. Poor thatha… I pity him, it is hard to even think how the heck would he have managed to raise them. Tough job, but he did it well, using his own personal skills of being a “Strict” Father. He is, or rather was, pretty similar to the character played by actor Nasser in the movie “Emtan Mahan”. A very nice man in the inside but hard on the outside! PalaaPazham maadri. I can understand the reason.

A very simple person. Aadambarathukku aasa padravaru illa. Only owned had the essential things. All he owned was the house they lived and a bi-cycle for most of his life. He didnt even invest in a car, he rode a tvs 50 for many years. He got an A/c only a few years back, that too for his kids who visit him from France. He is not a poor guy, he held a respectable position in the French government office (When they had a colony in Pondicherry), so was compensated well too. He still gives saves his pension money and distributes to his kids and grand kids. He is a very good Sports man. He used to play of lot of games. Very active. Mostly tries to walk wherever he goes and Pondicherry, a not a big city helped him in that way. He was a popular man. I used to go out with him to the market or he takes me out to a restaurant or somewhere and almost everyone on the streets would greet him saying "Bonjour Monsieur".

He had a laid down a lot of strict rules in the house. The kids, especially the girls had so many restrictions in those days, like all other kids in those days. They were not allowed to go out after a certain time, they were not allowed to hang out with their friends after school, no Tuition business (if you cant study on your own, then quit – was my thatha’s ideology), no expensive clothes (he would by meters and meters of the same cloth and stich pavaada jacket to all of them) can watch movies only once in a quarter or so, must study the day’s lessons in the evenings, eat on time or dont and list goes on.

Mummyma:

The sweetest lady I’ve ever met. When I was young, and when people ask me” unakku yaaru indha ulagathuliye rommmmba pudikkum? I promptly used to say “Mummymaaaaa!!!” without even thinking and I’ve done this even in front of my mom who wouldn’t mind at all, because Mummyma was her favorite person in the world too.

She was adorable, I just love to visit my thatha veedu just to see her and spend time with her. And she loves me the most among all her 20 some grand children, may be because I’m the 1^st or I’m just so lovable! hehe.

Enakku kutty dosa suttu kudupaanga, nalla vilayaaduvaanga, she used to bathe me when I was a kid, she was there when I was born! She was the one who conveyed the message to my Dad (who was not allowed in to the hospital during off hours). As soon as I was born, she made sure that I had all the parts of the body, that I was breathing well and all and thn conveyed the message to my Mom. She said to mom “Payyam porandhu irukkan di, color kammidhaan aana lakshanama irukkaan, veral ellam neelam neelama irukku di…” then the nurse took me, washed all the bloody gui substances on me and made lie on my mothers belly… ahhh, that would have been the happiest moment for my Mom, Dad, thatha, Mummyma et all. Modhal Peran adhuvum aambala kozhandha na sumava adnha gaalathula?

So, back home the whole family was so nervous while my mom was in labor and they all jumped in joy once they heard the news “thaaiyum, seyum nallapadiya irukaanga”.

Enga poitten, so, back to Mummyma. Naandhaan avungalukku kaal amukki viduven, she didn’t like her son doing it, may be because he didn’t have the “massager” in him.

She even composed a song for me with veggies and fruits. It goes like this… “Maambazha kannam, dhraatchai kangal, mondham pasha netri, kovakkai idhazhgal, kodamilagaai mookku!” I keep smiling till she comes to kodamilagaai mookku L yes, my nose is slightly big… its all about the external appearance right? Wrong. It was just for fun.

I was in 2^nd or 3^rd grade studying in St.Michaels school in Adyar, Chennai. We used to live in Abiramapuram at that time. I think it was a weekend when my Mom & I were having an afternoon nap. The door bell rang and we received a letter, an inland letter, a blue colored letter, around 15 paise, which was widely used those days. We came back to the bed room, lied down, Mom started reading the letter and she suddenly got up and sat with a gasp. She started crying, crying aloud, real hard and I was scared and confused. I started consoling her for whatever reason it was.

Mummyma had Cancer.

Mom told me that Mummyma was sick and I was sort of upset. The whole family was horrified with that news, especially my mother who loved Mummyma to the core. She couldn’t digest it.

Poor Mummyma, she suffered a lot, I mean a LOTTT. She was only in her mid 40s at that time. No advanced medication available, she had already reached her final stages when it was diagnosed, so couldn’t remove her uterus; thatha gave her all sorts of treatments like Radiation, chemotherapy, homeopathy, naturopathy… none of them worked, they just made her sicker and weaker. She was a very fair and pretty lady. I had no problems going near her, talking to her, playing with her or anything, After those treatment, apdiye avunga uru kolanji poitaanga, I just couldn’t see her in that stage. So this went on for a few years, she bed ridden, constantly undergoing some sort of treatment. Nothing worked.

It was September 11^th , cant remember the exact year, my Dad came home early and he asked us to get ready immediately to goto Pondicherry. He said that Mummyma was real sick and we had to go see her. My Mom packed out things and we left. Reached thatha’s house. Mom got down first and she started walking. Dad and I got out next and my Dad whispered in my ears (still remember it!) “Mummyma erandhutaanga!”… I was like !?!?!?!?!?! no reaction from me, had no idea how to react, I just couldn’t believe or digest what he just said, I kept walking with him.

My Mom slowly walked in to the house and soon as she saw Mummyma lying there, with garlands and flowers and smoking incense stick and surrounded by crying people, she swiftly just sat near vasapadi and started crying and shouting! Kept on crying and crying. Then went near Mummyma, hugged and continued crying.

Surprisinlgy, not just me, for everyone, I couldn’t cry. I tried hard to cry, but I couldn’t. May be I still couldn’t believe she was no more, that she wont be singing my theme song, that I wont get those kutty dosas from her or I may not massage her legs anymore or just no reason, I couldn’t cry, just couldn’t!

So, the time came to take her to cremate. The ladies weren’t allowed, all the gents, including me had to go. When they took herbody away, the iyer asked us all to call her so that her aavi wouldn’t return. I didn’t / couldn’t. Just stood silent.

Then the cremation was done, we went the next day to collect the ashes. My mama whom I call anna, thatha’s youngest kid, tried to steal one of her bones, of course he loved her too. I saw what he did and told my Dad. HE immediately snatched it from anna and kept it down explaining him that he shouldn’t be taking that and stuff. Anna should have hated me at that time… well, its all good.

My uncles and aunts asked me after a few days “enda nee azhave illa Mummyma irandhadhukku? Needhaaneda avungaloda chella pilla, unakku avungala dhaane da rumba pudikkum, en nee azhala?” I said “ therila”, that’s all, enna nejamaave theriyila…

Years passed, people moved on. Now, we can only see her in the laminated picture that my thatha gave to all his kids after she left us. and she is still my favorite person in the world.

Sila Chinna vayasu nyaabangal: (To be contd...)

Phew...so many schools...

2005-02-18T15:41:00.000-05:00

Phew...so many schools...1

How many schools have u studied in? 1 ? 2? or even 3 may be???

I have studied in around a dozen Schools!...I cant remember where I studied the KG & 1st grades, I know that I went to around 4 schools before my 2nd grade!

My dad is Biz man, kept traveling often...

I started my schooling in a town called PANRUTTI, funny name eh? its like 1 hr from Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu. Its pretty popular for Jackfruits n Cashew nuts, which was my dad's primary biz then.

I went to Janduvi and one more in Panrutti, I guess it was 7th day, ok let it be 7th day. So, Janduvi... there was this EVIL Anglo-Indian teacher named Mary, she somehow got the idea that I was a Rich n Spoiled Kid… I was/am a HARDCORE THALAIVAR/Rajini fan, right from my birth. My dad bought me the boots, the Ankle shoes or the Zip shoes, the leather ones which Thalaivar used to tuck his Pants in…yeah that one, I used to cal’e as Zip shoes…I used to wear them to School! C’mom, the school asked me to wear Black Leather shoes, so did I, they did not mention that it shouldn’t have ankles! Mary Ma’sm (Saniyan) caught me and asked me to remove the shoes in the class nad asked me a kneel down, KNEEL DOWN !! damn! Everyday, till I bought a pair of normal shoes that everyone used to wear! Did I mention about this to my Mom? NOPE, so I was kneeling down everyday, for like a week or so during her period. My Mom, looked at my knees one day and she was terrified to see the Blackened/Hardened Knees, I had to tell her what happened and she got realy realy MAD, for my MOM, her SON is the MOST important thing in the World, more important then her own Parents, or even her Husband…she became Reallllly MAD @#$#!@^&%. She went to the school and complained to the Principal, who happened to be friends with our family…hey its Panrutti, everyone knows everyone. But she also asked me not to wear the “Zip shoes” anymore..So, my Dad, he was building his first House in Panrutti, it was actually the first one in that area, now the are is crowded like hell...anyways, it was pretty fancy, built with the help of young architects and designers who were popular then.

Every one passing by will stop for a couple of seconds, have a nice glance at our house and move...it was that nice! hey i'm not boasting here, just saying the truth...also, we named it "the LOTUS house", cos my mom's granny's name (cant remember what it is) meant Lotus...The house warming ceremony was so grand, we had around 1500 hundred ppl who attended it, brought in the cow and did the usual pooja stuff...it was great.

My dad should've felt do happy and proud! because hes the first one in his family (among 6 brothers and 2 sisters) to ever build a house, that too so huge and modern and what not...he always used to be the "first one" in doing things, like getting a tv or a fridge or a car, or dress..you get the picture... Oh, I forgot about the 2nd school in Panrutti, which I joined after Janduvi, dunno why I moved from Janduvi, may be because they didn’t have higher classes, so anyways, I went there, there was no space in the Benches (shared by 3 ppl) for me. The Teacher made me sit on the floor till they got a new Bench/chair. My Mom, used to send me BournVita thru a man named PAZHAMALAI, who used to work as the MESTHRI, the Supervisor during the construction of our Lotus house, he stuck on with my dad even after the construction was complete, doing odd jobs, like bringing a big flask full of Bournvita for me around 3pm in the afternoon, in the middle of the class. I will be sitting in a class session, Pazhamalai enters the class, calles my name “Parveen aiyya…Parveen Aiyya”…dude, cant u see I’m in the middle of a class!!! “Amma bournvita kuduthu irukaanga, kudikalaam vaanga”…I will turn n look at the Teacher…she cant say anything…she’ll nod her head permitting me to GO HAVE MY BLOODY DRINK! I’ll go to a corner of the class, sit with Pazhamalai, who will “Aathufy” my drink slowly and make me drink till the last drop and leave. So when he came the first day, he saw me sitting on the Floor, he was horrified and went and told my MOM, who cud’ve changed his fate…guess what my Mom did, she got a new Chair that evening and asked Pazhamalai to carry it for me to the class, till they got a new bench…so did he…poor Pazhamalai…and his wife’s name was Jyothi, she was a very kind women who stayed with us too…Dunno if those folks are still alive…Glad that I've met them…

So, Lotus house, we lived there for like 6 months or so after completion.

Contd in 2...

Phew...so many schools...2

Kerala...

My dad had to leave for Kerala cos he was starting a new factory there.

So we MOVED to TRIVANDRUM! rented the 2nd floor of an independent house owned by a the nice bunch of PPL, a mallu Paatty, her Son and her daughter-in-law, RAJI Chechi. They loved me and my Parents, we loved them too, cos they always used to serve me with either Pineapple Squash or Sweet LASSI. I spent the next 3 months or so on VACATION!!!! oooh hooo!!...cos we moved during the middle of a school-year so, no school would admit me...But, it finally happened, the Day, the Armageddon of my vacation, REOPENING DAY came, DAMN that day!

All my Grand Parents, my Aunts, uncles from Chennai, Pondy and almost every single relative of our in India had visited us at that time, the time I was about to re-join HELL aka SCHOOL. it was a Chinmaya Vidhyalaya I guess...who cares, its a bloody SCHOOL, thats it, so I went there, the 1st day in a school in TRIVANDRUM -
OH! Valliayadhoru School Aakkum!

I remember them (my aunts :-p) singing "Aaduvome Pallu Paaduvomey, Aanandha Sudhandhiram Adaindhu vittome"! They were so happy that I finally joined School! Just to annoy me!

I do not remember which grade was it, probably 1.5 or 0.75 ?? whatever...Guess what the first period was... it was 2nd language...MALAYALAM! I was DEAD ! couldn’t understand a word of what they were speaking MY GOD!

I even remember the lunch period of my 1st day there, when I had my lunch, ( I know, u have do have lunch during lunch, Dinner during night etc, now proceed..) I came down to wash my hands, I washed my hands, but made my whole body Dirty!! HOW? I slipped and fell on the WET FLOOR near the Tap, which had a layer of PAASI (Algae), it ruined my Uniform, the AAYAA took them off (GOSH! She saw me Naked!) & gave me a Towel…I was staring at her...I couldn't even ask her what to do with it, she did not SPEAK TAMIL/English!!! Next scene...I was sitting in the Class the rest of the day wrapped in a TOWEL…a BLOODY TOWEL!

After a few months, we moved from Trivandrum to Marthandam, a town near the border of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Was again put up in another school, cant remember the name...

Contd in 3...

Phew...so many schools...3

SINGAARA CHENNAI !!!!

We finally moved to Chennai after a few months in Marthandam. Again, it was a middle of a School-year, so none of the schools wud accept me except for one school, named OXFORD, located in T.Nagar, Chennai. They let me in for a "WATER BARREL", as DONATION!. It was not a very good school, it was "ok"- Rated by my MOM.

My MOM, is not usually ok with just "OK". She kept trying other schools. First tried St.Bedes, she rejected it because there was a rumor in those days that St.Bedes was BAD, the students used to do drugs n stuff..whatever...she Rejected it, thats the point, then considered a couple more and she got fixed on St. Michaels, located in Adyar, a few of her friends/relatives supposedly gave a good report about it...so she quickly found a FATHER( yeah, a priest) got a letter from him and got the Admission for me! How cool was that ? (its a Christian institution run by a set of Priests I guess, so they often respect letters from other co-Christian Fathers/Sisters/nuns etc)

PHEW! Finally a school where I studied for 3 YEARS at a stretch !!! 2nd grade to 4th grade!!!
can u imagine? a guy who changed like a zillion schools from his KG to 1st grade, finally settles down in a school and studies there for 3 yrs !!! WOW ! Yeah, it was after 3 yrs when my MOM who found a "good" school (St. Michaels) found the so called "Best" school, in Chennai... Its a Brahmin School, its a classy school, the teachers are very kind, they never beat the students, but beat the parents who beat their children, they had the best educational system, they followed CBSE syllabus...yes...its the one and only Padma Sheshadri.

We all were in Panrutti visiting my uncle/aunt who were living in our house in Panrutti at that time when I got admitted to PSBB. We had just returnd from the Sabhari Mala trip (where I had been 7 times by the way). We usually make that trip from there, cos that was like a hub, where my Dad, his brothers, their friends etc meet up and leave for the Yarta, Man! I used to love those Trips...now I'm too lazy...

This time she got in touch with an Actor friend of ours, Mr.Ravindar, he used to be the favorite villain for Rajni & Kamal in those days. It happened so, that he was a good friend of Mr.Udayaar, yeah the "Saaraaya Kadai" Udayaar, a BIG SHOT, probably the BIGGEST SHOT (rumors say that even MGR used to borrow money from Mr.Udayaar), wait, Ravindar was friends with Udayaar's daughter, yeah...she helped me getting the admission for PSBB, for 5th grade!!! It does not mean that it was a Piece of cake, I had to do my share too..I bloody had to write an ENTRANCE EXAM! I should've passed or at least done a decent job...Oh I forgot, we also had to pay Rs5000 as Donation.

Everyone, at least everyone in Chennai, knows that its no easy task to get into PSBB. They would mostly accept the studetns only to join the KG grades, getting the APPLICATION form for admission itself was/is a big deal, I've seen ppl waiting outside the school, in the line, for like 2 days (including my uncles, for their children) to get the application form, which reminds me of the US Consulate, which I finally entered too. After getting and submitting the application, its no guarantee that u'll get the admit, they prefer "Educated Parents", preferably Brhamins and Doctors, of course, there are students from lower levels, like sons of bus drivers, daughters of watchmen too...oh by the way, the bus driver and the watchmen used to work for PSBB... So anyways...I joined the great PSBB...KK Nagar branch.

I was there from my 5 th to 10th grades...Lotta memories...good n bad...so many friends, especially Jaba, Ganesh, Nimmi, Sara, another Sara, Siddharth, Anand, Isakki, Giri, Vino, Arun, Pramod, Sujan, Ramanan, Ballon( K.Sathish), S.A.Sathish(Pallavaraayan), Sudhakar, Srinath(KAKA), Raghavan (Pichai), Yadesh & Gopi (My Srilankan pals) Pavitra, Uma, Sangeetha(Jaba's sight sorry Sangeetha's sight was Jaba hehe), MNV Lakshmi, verum Lakshmi, Prasanna(My tuition ma'am's son)...mmm...Rajesh, another Arvind(who went to college with me to)...& 100s more...so many teachers...WOW...PSBB...it was great..except the studies part...hehe

10 grade results came...like the usual kids, who jump to State board schoools for their 11th & 12th grades, I jumped to MAK, a State board school, located in Ekaatuthaangal - Ashok Nagar. Opted for 2nd grp, Math+CompSci, actually thought of shifting to 4th grp - commerce after a month, but got brain washed by parents and remained in 2nd grp. Ganesh & Jaba from PSBB went to the same school too, Ganesh - 4th grp, Jaba - 1st grp.

Phew...so many schools...4

"Hell" Lok...

Oh!!! I forgot about Bal Lok...how cud I...ok...before joining MAK for my 11th, I actually joined another Jail, sorry School named Bal Lok, run by 2 A$$H@L3$...The husband is the Correspondent and the Wife is the Principal( the rumor is that the wife used to work for PSBB).(I shall call them as C & P from now on) My god...It was a hell of an experience im telling u...they should probably change the name to "HELL LOK". Actually Sara(who went to PSBB with me) went to HELL LOK too, Poor guy, he stayed there till the end, I mean completion of 12th, guess when did I leave...right after a MONTH!

I definitely need to mention the atrocities that happened there...

Everyone, the Principal, Correspondent. staff, faculty, carries a wire, folded into 2 and twisted and taped at the end - to use as a WHIP!

Anyone can HIT a student, anyone = Faculty Staff, Principal, Correspondent- They use the WIRE WHIP

Everyone should start WORSHIPING this guy named "SACHIDHANANDHA" - what the hell!!! - every student and faculty must go to this hall in the morning for prayer session, every morning, for like 1 hr...its not a prayer for the usual GODS that we know, its for that SACHI guy!! we were being FORCED to become his DEVOTEE..what the F*#K man! we need to be standing for the first 20 mins, then have to sit on the floor, in the hall, where no one can sit straight, like there was not enuf space to accommodate everyone, we had to squeeze ourselves, I got a cramp everyday! after the prayers, songs, bajans and other crap, ther'll be an interrogation session...its the session when the C & P will have around 4 to 5 students on the stage, not for singing any songs or for a dance competition, but to embarrass them in front of the hundreds of students sitting in front of the stage, they would've done CRIMES of various types eg. passing ladies toilet, sitting next to a girl in the bus, bringing MEAT for lunch, talking ill about SACHI etc...

One day, one of my class mates, who was like 6" , brought a brush to clean his shoes, cos he got whipped by the PT SIR the day before cos his shoes were dirty. Our Class Leader, who was a hard core devotee of Mr.Sachi, complained to the C & P about this guy brining a BRUSH, a simple, Shoe cleaning BRUSH! The funny part is yet to come...the C & P arrived at the Classroom...invited the brush guy near the black board...they started to hit him, sorry whip him and finally asked him to LICK his bloody shoes...yeah LICK!!! guess what happened...HE LICKED THE F%#^$G shoe!!! That was the day I decided to leave the school, remember, I have not been hit even once by them, meaning I was not caught, for a month, but I was not able to digest the things happening next to me...so I went home, cried to my "Best School" Mother and jumped to MAK!

I forgot to mention about my Talented Mr.Daddy. He did not pay even a penny to either Bal Lok or MAK, he got me admitted with his talent - of Speech! After everything - He is a Business MAN!

Now...MAK...First Day - for me...but actually 30 days of school re-opening! A lotta memories there too...Here is where I met my other close buddies Arun, Muthu, K Manju K, Sathish & RajaRam...and many more

A bunch of interesting/stupid/dumb ass/cant mind their own biz - Teachers where there, except for one Teacher, TAMIL SIR, who was our (Arun, Sathish, Jaba & Me) favorite and vice versa. Though French was my 2nd language, I somehow got close with Tamil Sir!

So...there you go...after a bunch of schools...I finally finished "SCHOOLING" and went to "COLLEGE-ING"...

Phew...so many schools...