handful of vegetables into your bag. The monarchical
system had imbibed a sense of respect and awe toward all
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those wielding power and influence. It was considered rude
to look at a person of higher standing in his eye when
talking to him.
The changeover from Kannada medium in Bangalore to
Hindi medium in Udaipur was quite hard on us at school.
Giri, Roopa and myself had a private tutor at home to make
this transition easy. He was a direct descendent of Goswami
Tulsidas. For those who don’t know, he wrote the
Ramayana in Hindi considered a Masterpiece of literature.
He is considered the Shakespeare of Hindi literature. Our
teacher, Sri Ganesh Puri Goswami, as he was called would
knock off one mark for every word we used that was not
Hindi in its utmost purity. Getting him to sign off our
homework, with his characteristic ‘GA-PURI’, at the end of
the day would win us our daily wings.
Dattanna had moved to Burnpur near Calcutta, having got a
position with Indian Iron & Steel Co., there. Ramanna was
working on his Law degree at Poona. Premanna was in the
Medical College at Madras. All the rest of us were at
Udaipur. Vichanna had moved from Shikohabad and was
now running his own glass bead factory. The others were in
college and schools. Dattanna wanted Kartik to bond with
his grandparents and learn family tradition. So he was
staying there too. When we sat for dinner it was a room-
full. At around 9 AM it was a mad rush for all of us to get
ready for the day. We would all try to get into the bathroom
at the same time. When we got into the car (‘loaded
ourselves’ would be a more appropriate expression) it
would be like a can of sardines.
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There was a kind of double facet to our personalities. Inside
the house we maintained a typical Tamil Brahmin orthodox
tradition. We ate on the floor, only a Tamil vegetarian
cuisine. Observed all the rituals and festivals. But once we
stepped out of the house we had to mingle with our North
Indian friends and colleagues. The language we spoke was a
mongrel of Sindhi, English, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi.
Which language dominated, depended upon what we tried
to emote. Our language of profanity was developed only in
languages that were spoken outside home. We remained so
illiterate when it came to abusing in Tamil.
This dual culture manifested itself in various forms. Akka
would want us to go abegging on ‘Porattashi’ Saturdays. On
those four Saturdays in the month of ‘Porattashi’ we had to
don silk dhotis, wear a ‘naamam’ on the foreheads and go
seeking alms. We had to eat only what we collected in
charity. This is supposed to be an exercise in frugality,
humility and penance. However being what we were and
the school bell ringing at 9 AM sharp on Saturdays, we
would go ‘abegging’ in our chauffeur driven limousine!!
Akka would call 4 families ahead of time to keep our alms
ready. We would get down from the car, costumed like
clowns and pick up our ‘alms’ that would be kept ready for
us. After finishing our round of 4 houses, we would
hurriedly rub off the makeup and change into ‘civilized’
clothes in the car itself before rushing to the classroom as
the bell would ring. In the school of course the environment
was quite different. We spoke, sang and learnt everything in
Hindi and sometimes in the Mewari dialect.
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In 1952 we celebrated the 60th birthday of Appanna. We
invited our family priest Ranganatha Shastrigal from
Vellore. Aunts, Uncles and Cousins from all over came.
The house was full of fun and frolic. When people talk of
‘quality time’, that is my idea of it. When we went seeing
movies, we had to book one full row from one end of the
hall to another. And there were those endless picnics and
outings.
Udaipur has a typical Tropical climate. Some 10 weeks of
summer stretching from May till end July. At this time the
temperature easily hits 110 F or 40 C. In those days A/C
was an unthinkable luxury. Most people stayed home
during days with blinds drawn on all the windows and
doors. We would sleep on the terrace during nights after
sprinkling water on the floor. With cool breeze blowing
from the lakes, it would be just heavenly. Come end-July or
early August, we would have the first sprinklings of
Monsoon rains. It would rain heavily for a few days. Then it
would sprinkle off and on till the end of the year. All the
lakes would be full to the brim. The surrounding hills would
be blanketed by greenery all across. Peacocks would start
crowing and dancing in the woods. It would be a common
sight to see them spread their dazzling tails even from our
own windows. That would be the time when the whole
landscape takes on a most beautiful sight imaginable.
People would celebrate the season by having Fairs, Dances
and Music. There is something about Folk Music. It does
not follow any set rules or need special training. It comes
straight from the hearts and souls of people. As if from the
soil and earth itself. It penetrates straight into the depths of
your sentiments. The percussion beats and soulful tunes
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have that pristine and primeval human flavor that is hard to
define. That is what makes it such an important part of the
whole environment. It touches you right within your vital
parts. The whole area becomes so beautiful that it has been
a favorite haunt for moviemakers to shoot their films. We
have met several of them including Vyjayantimala, Dilip
Kumar and Shashikala etc. It is also a favorite place of other
celebrities from India and abroad to come for their private
vacation. There are any number of most picturesque spots
for outings and picnics.
By now the political landscape in the country was also
slowly changing. New Constitution had been inaugurated.
The erstwhile princely states were all consolidated into
Federal States headed by Governors. In 1952 first General
Elections were held for Federal and State governments. I
recall Jawaharlal Nehru’s visit to Udaipur on a campaign
trip. We were at the airport reception for him. There were
throngs of crowd all over, trying to get a glimpse of this
national hero. Appanna, Ramanna and myself did not want
to get jostled by the surging crowd and were quietly
standing at one corner of the tarmac. And to our utter
surprise, Nehru came walking in our direction as he was
taken on a detour from the main crowd. We not only got to
take a good look at him but also shake his hand and
exchange pleasantries. A little later as we were trying to
get
back into our car, we found that Indira Gandhi had got
separated from her dad and got mixed up with our section
of the crowd. As she was trying to get back into Nehru’s
jeep, a policeman not knowing who she was, was trying to
beat and push her back. At his point Ramanna stepped in
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and played the chivalrous Sir Gallahad. She finally got on
the jeep and waved us good-bye.
Empty Nest:
Around this time Vichanna decided to wind up his bead-
making factory as he had a job opportunity in Bombay.
However after taking up that job he was not very happy
with it. Appanna had known a German friend called G.
Wilhelm from back in Hyderabad days. He had come to
Appanna as a Sales Engineer from Siemens of Germany
selling Siemens turbines, before the WW2. However during
the war he had been imprisoned as a citizen of enemy
country. After the war was over he along with 3 other
partners started a company called Protos Engineering Co.,
which were the agents in India for Siemens as well as other
German companies trying to re-establish their business.
They were expanding and needed a good dependable work
force. Appanna renewed his friendship with Wilhelm and
sent a letter through Vichanna. Thereby Vichanna got a
position of Sales Engineer with the Siemens in Bombay.
Along with Roopa’s wedding I also had my Upanayanam in
1953. Later Appanna and I returned to Udaipur while Akka
was still behind winding up and taking care of some other
chores. On our way we stopped at Bombay and paid a visit
to Wilhelm at Protos Engineering Co. Appanna wanted to
personally thank him for the help he had given Vichanna.
That was the first time I also met Wilhelm as Appanna
introduced me. Appanna also bought me my first
wristwatch, during our halt at Bombay. As we tried
boarding the Frontier Mail at Bombay Central station, we
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found that there was a mix up in our First Class reservation.
The Travel Agency asked for berth in the name of Mr S. C.
Doré. In the telegram ‘S’ of the initials got attached to “Mr”
and they reserved a berth for “Mrs” C. Doré in the ladies
compartment!
By 1953 all the birds had flown away and the nest in
Udaipur had become almost empty. Roopa had got married
and lived in Bangalore. Gullanna had joined Engineering
College and Giri joined Commerce College in Bangalore.
They were staying in “Meenakshi Nilayam” with Amma
and Kalyaniathai. Ramanna and Premanna were still
studying at Poona and Madras respectively. So that left just
me and my parents at home. I was in High School now.
After appearing for my High School exam in 1955, we all
went to Bangalore for Roopa’s first confinement. I got my
Roll Number all fouled up. When the results were
announced in the newspaper, everybody home thought I had
flunked. Appanna was in Udaipur and found out from
school that I had really passed with good grades. He wrote a
strong letter telling me that just for that reason, I deserved
to be flunked!
Appanna would invariably score 20 out of 20 in the
“Readers Digest” Word Power quiz. Once he got 19 and
after referring to the dictionary we found Wilfred Funk had
flunked! We could hardly come up to that kind of record,
but we tried. At home we were all strongly encouraged to
read books. In fact if you wanted to appreciate and
understand the conversations at dinner time, you had to be
quite well versed with various quotes and anecdotes from
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PP (“Pickwick Papers”) or P&P (“Pride and Prejudice”),
besides, PG Wodehouse, Dickens, Alexander Dumas Oliver
Wendell Holmes, etc. There was always a large stack of
books in our library at home. Very early on I realized that
books are my best friends. There is nothing in this world at
my level of information, that somebody has not already
thought of and written a book about. Whenever I had a
question or was curious about something, I could always
pore over a relevant book to figure out the answer. Books
never talk back at you. They never tell you your question is
stupid. They don’t tell others behind your back about what
questions you asked and spread embarrassing rumors.
Whenever Appanna went on business trips I would ask him
to get me books. My favorite authors at that time were R. K.
Narayanan and Pearl Buck. Along with my books Appanna
would also bring a bunch more. My school would finish in
the afternoon by 4 and when I came home there would be
nobody. I would normally curl up with some book. Once I
found a book on “Marriage and Sex” written by a couple of
very recognized medical professionals. Appanna had
brought it on his latest trip. I sneaked and read that book
from cover to cover, when nobody was watching. Now
looking back I realize that I was not outsmarting my father.
That is exactly what he intended me to do! We never could
have a frank conversation on matters like this. Instead, he
bought that book and just put it in the shelf so I would read
it behind his back! Otherwise I don’t think at the age of 65
he would have bought that book for his own reference! I
believe that was pretty smart of him. That was my father,
my hero. “Talk by your deeds, not by words”, “Keep your
eyes and ears open but mouth shut”, he would say.
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Task of Sisyphus:
Soon after assuming his new position in Udaipur, Appanna
realized that it was not for nothing that the erstwhile owners
of the company wanted to get it off their hair. It was ridden
with all kinds of problems and Appanna had to shoulder
them. The Company had been running at a loss and money
was being constantly sunk into it just to keep it afloat. It had
no system of administration. The people working there had
neither any technical nor managerial talent. The power
generators were old and inefficient. It was a typical catch
twenty-two situation. The company could not become
efficient and profitable unless more money was invested
into it. The parent company was reluctant to pour more
money into an enterprise that was already running at a loss
and they had not intended to buy for keeping anyway. There
was constant labor unrest as people working there were not
happy with low wages and poor working conditions. When
the company tried to get out of the financial mess by
increasing the price of electricity, the consuming public
raised hue and cry. Power Utility is a highly visible industry
and touches every person on the street. Thus local
politicians and the government officials were willingly
participating in the fra
y taking sides in warring factions.
There was also a very huge credibility gap amongst the
public, labor, government and the parent company.
Appanna was right in the middle of all this.
Building trust and confidence is the key to any situation
where there is such an amount of chaos and disorder.
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For example if there is a fire in a theater with a huge crowd
trapped into it all the people can be saved if there is one
person at the exit that they all trust to maintain order and let
them out in an orderly manner. If not all the people would
try rushing out at the same time and all of them would court
disaster.
Another example would be when there is a run on a bank.
Due to some rumor if there is a panic and all depositors
withdraw their moneys from a bank at the same time, the
rumor becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and the bank does
in reality collapse. Somebody needs to step in and shore up
the confidence level of the depositors for the bank to stay
afloat.
Appanna’s task was similar. It took him quite a while to
gradually win the confidence of the investors, consumers,
labor and the government. And that process was very
arduous and also fraught with danger to his personal safety.
There were times when there was all out strike by the trade
union. His office was surrounded by placard holding and
picketing laborers. He was kept locked up in his office for
several hours. There were times when the public was in a
rage and his car was surrounded by a crowd while on his
way to work with hecklers trying to manhandle him. But in
such situations, it was his undaunted pursuit of truthfulness
and fair-mindedness that pulled him through. Slowly people
started to like him and even trust him as a person. But at
that point the adverse factions wanted him out of the way so
they could fly at each other’s throats and pull each other’s
hair!
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