Protests & Movements

Going back to the thread of Ammamma's life after coming back to Hyderabad - Ammamma joined the AP Mahila Samakhya. It was here that she contributed significantly to the Institutional work, apart from working successes in the affiliated organization of Working Women's Association - I have already documented her role there in great detail in one of my earlier blogs. Her organizing and writing talents have been put to great use here. She actively participated in all rallies and protest movements in support or against many women's issues. Among the various issues she worked for are: dowry harassment and dowry deaths, marriage of minors to Arab Sheikhs, rising prices of vegetables and other essential commodities, obscenity in advertisements and the movies, Sati of Rupa in Rajasthan, use of dancing girls in amusement clubs, particularly in the coastal districts and the pinnacle of them all - anti liqour movement. In some cases, it was just protests and dharnas and in some, like the dowry cases, it was more active involvement. She was given the task of helping out the dowry victims file cases and follow through, which she had to abandon after a while as it meant a considerable amount of money to be spent on transport, which she found difficult to pool in, as the family was again going through the downside of its perennial financial ups and downs.

She, however, contributed fully in activities that did not require her to spend too much money such as writing up seminar reports, resolutions drafting, leaflet preparation, slogan coining, writing State reports to Central Committee and many others. She was much in demand for slogan writing but the only one she remembers now is the one she coined for Sati - 'Sati duraachaaraaniki Chiti perchandi!' - meaning - create a funeral pyre for the social evil of forced death of widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands. (Now you know where I got the punning streak from! It is genetic and will be difficult to be cured by the most persistent daughters wanting to bring up their parents properly!). This case had rocked the country and brought international censure from many activists.Another case of girls being sold/married off to Arab Sheikhs took an ugly turn as the then Minister for Social Welfare Mrs Roda Mistry, made a callous remark that very poor girls being married off to affluent sheikhs is not really a bad thing to happen - this invited large scale protests and she had to step down.

On of the important contributions of Ammamma to the Mahila Samakhya was to increase its professionalism and visibility. She put things in order, did proper reporting, and organized press conferences, which did not take place till then. She also protested against the unprofessional practices of office bearers being in different locations and the consequent problems of running the organization. When Rita Seth of the National Federation came down to Hyderabad, Ammamma orgnanized a press conference in which the ideals, goals and activities of the organization were explained to the media. Ammamma remembers Amarnath Menon also taking an interview of Rita Seth. She used initially go to every major newspaper office and give press releases - later this was done by the NSS service on payment. She also participated on several seminars - one of which was a Law Commission wherein the members were met up by several women's organizations which submitted memoranda on changes required in Hindu laws for women. She met her old comrade and friend Udayam here who demanded to know what resolutions they were proposing. Ammamma demurred as each organization wanted to take credit for the homework they had done!!

The next important event is the case of Rameeza Bi. This was a case of a woman and her husband returning from a movie in the night and the police accost them and take them to the station and rape her after locking up her husband. Do you know, this happened in Adikmet Police station, a few yards away from where I was living immediately after my marriage. I remember Maamma going to very near the station to get the milk on the morning after and there was nothing amiss. By evening the whole city was aflame with student protests. This was my ringside view of confrontation between protestors and police and the tear gas shells and the lathi charge and what not! It was intimidating. Ammamma's Samakhya and many other organizations took up the cause and fought for it vigorously, but police pressure on Rameeza was too high and she gave up and retracted.

The highpoint of women's movement and Ammamma's active involvement in it is the anti-liquor movement of Andhra Pradesh. It transcended all barriers of class, caste, society and region, political and social affiliations and the can be hailed as the very first unanimous movement. The United Nations Development Fund for Women describes it as quoted below:

The 1990s Anti-Alcohol Movement in Andhra Pradesh, India

In 1991, women from the rural Dubuganta district (Nellore) in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh sought to address growing alcohol dependency among men and the consequent problems of domestic abuse and squandered household income by staging protests aimed at forcing out local liquor traders. The protests quickly spread across the whole state. The struggle catalyzed a larger social movement, known as the Anti-Liquor Movement, leading ultimately to a state-wide ban on alcoholic beverages, passed in 1995.
The Anti-Liquor Movement was a significant political achievement because:

• It forged a coalition between rural and urban women of different castes and religions, and
• It transformed a 'women's issue' into a campaign platform issue that significantly determined the outcome of the 1994 state election.

In 1992, the movement entered the domain of electoral politics, asking that parties declare their positions on the prohibition of alcohol. In 1994, the Telugu Desam Party, which had campaigned on a platform of prohibition and received support from women's groups, won state-level elections. The party passed the prohibition law a month after taking power.
Although the prohibition was partially abandoned in 1997, the antiliquor movement helped increase the participation of women in the public sphere and empowered women to mobilize effectively.

Ammamma participated in this campaign with full energy (despite recovering from a heart attack) and worked alongside of Pratibha Bharathi, Malladi Subbamma (Manju aunty's mom in law), her old friend Vasireddi Seeta Devi, Nayani Krishna Kumari, Tripurana Venkatratnam, Suryadevara Rajyalakshmi, Mallu Swarjayam, Punyavati, Advocate Lakshmi Devi (Governor Rama Devi's sister), Sandhya (POW), Jhansi Rani, etc. under the overall chairmanship of Renuka Chowdary.  Ammamma says she might be forgetting some names as her memory is not that good now. The first file that N T Rama Rao signed in the Lal Bahadur Stadium was on the prohibition bill. Ammamma and others courted arrest several times and were released by evening. Sometimes, they were taken to far flung police stations like Bolarum. Maapi used to take help from colleagues and friends to find out where Ammamma was (you girls cannot imagine life without cell phones no?). Once police set up barricades but the women stormed them to go to the Central Excise building and they were lathi charged - Ammamma wasn't hurt, but several of her colleagues were hit by the lathis. Once when Ammamma was kept in Punjagutta police station, she and some of her friends came home and Maapi organized food for them. Ramoji Rao, Eenadu provided a great support and contribution to the movement and sent personal letters to all women after the movement was over. Vavilala Gopalakrishnayya was another great contributor to the movement. A public meeting was organized at Bashir Bagh and coincidentally, the picture that was published in Eenadu had Ammamma on the dais as she had gone up to speak to Mallu Swarajyam. They also protested in front of Gandhi hospital when a man died of excessive alocoholism. The movement was remarkable and is replete with stories of women's grit and what happens when go on rampage - so many dens were destroyed braving goons. Many also tried to dilute it with other issues of what liquors need to be banned, whether other things like cigarettes etc to be banned - it is a tribute to the unanimity of the street level rural women and the urban intellectuals that the movement did nto get derailed by any dilution. Whenever they were arrested and released, she and others had to find their way back to their homes. Sometimes people like Renuka Chowdary used to drop some of them, but for many others, it was a long trek home.

This is how Ammamma's journey in activism continued through participating in all protests and rallies, punctuated in between by marriages of Maapi and me, births of all three of you, Tatayya's passing away and her own heart attack. This will come in my next blog.

Floods!

Ammamma's place of birth Bethapudi and the places she worked in like Repalle, Bhattiprolu, Vellaturu etc are all under water, for the first time in a century. Repalle is almost submerged with neck deep water - the sub jail where Ammamma was oncew lodged is also under water and the prisoners there have been taken out and lodged in Tenali jail. Tatayya's village Chinapullivarru must be also affected badly as it is very near Bhattiprolu and Vellaturu. Pallekona station, from where Ammamma, Maapi and me took a passenger train after visiting Suryavati Athayya (Jhansakka was posted as a teacher there), is also under water. It seems strange actually as it never happened before.

I understand that Bethapudi was flooded about 106 years back, but Ammamma does not remember any one in the family talking about it, even though her parents would have experienced it and her elder brother may have been born by then. She remembers her elders talking about a severe famine though in hushed tones, the likes of which they have never seen - people ate mud to survive I believe. It must have been the great Bengal famine. The word in Telugu is Dokka Karuvu for describing the extreme nature of the famine. Dokka is pit of the stomach and therefore conveys the extent of food deprivation. But of floods - there was no discussion.

I do remember Krishna in floods once when we were trying to cross river at Puligadda. There were free flowing rivulets on the bank, which was earlier all sand. We had to cross two such rivulets before we could board the boat. Unaware of the danger, I was thrilled to be walking in water that came up to my waist. A coolie was hired by Ammamma, who carried our large grey iron trunk (you have light suitcases now - we had only iron trunks, which were ugly, heavy and often cut us with their sharp edges!) on his head and Maapi on his hip. Ammamma was carrying bags of odds and ends and some foodstuff for us. I was playful and tripped once - Ammamma shouted at me and said that the river's current is now so strong that if I slipped, I would surely be drowned and I would be washed off straight to the ocean as there were no further dams or barrages on the river. Instead of getting scared, hopeless romatic that I am, I was actually thrilled at the prospect that it would be poetic, just like River Kinnersani meeting the ocean!

Ammamma was recounting all the times that the coastal areas were ravaged, specially during the tidal deluge of 1977. What the future holds for this area is definitely not promising as the treacherous Bay of Bengal is anyway eroding inches every year from the east coast of India, while the Arabian Sea is receding inches year after year (that is why the beaches in Goa and in Kerala are walkable in water for a longer distance as the sea is shallow for a stretch.

Let us hope that the region gets back to normalcy fast.

Continuing Building Communities and capabilities

Ammamma wanted to give a bigger exposure to the girls in the adult school. She approached the Social Welfare Board and orgnaized a camp in Vishakhapatnam for them. This camp consisted of activities, sightseeing and talks by eminent people and officials. One of the speakers was the famous writer and Tatayya's friend in Delhi, Vakati Panduranga Rao. Ammamma had to make several rounds of trips at the Board for getting the sanction and even more rounds in the Railways to get a separate coach for the entire group. She succeeded in getting it for the onward journey. In those days getting railiway tickets was a huge exercise and there were not many facilities available for return booking. Often, this had to be done on the other side after you reach the destination.

She also had to find accommodation. She took the help of Deepak Bhattacharya (UNI Journalist and Tatayya's Mentee), who organized it in a school building. She also helped out in the return journey by ensuring that the group got seats together. The camp was a great success and the officials who came from Hyderabad for inspection wrote excellent reports of the same and stated that this kind of a structured exercise was not done earlier.

Based on this, Ammamma wrote out a proposal for the funding of 100 Adult education schools (6000 women literates!). For this, she had to learn the nuances of statistical data collection fromt he Bureau of Economics and Statistics, had to analyse it and present the costs and the strategy. She worked hard at it as it had to be self learnt - the Samakhya, till then was only orgnaizing protests and rallies and the real activities for development were started by Ammamma only. However, once the project was sanctioned, there were the usual organizational power games and the entire project was given to the chosen in a district of their choice! The irony of it was that - when the renewal of the project had to be proposed , it was again Ammamma who was requested to do this!!! Human nature does not mutate, does it? It seems so resilient even after so many decades!

If only many more people carried out development work at the grass root level with sincerity, India would have developed long ago. However, we have more development on paper and enormous funds have been spent with little to show for it.

Builidng Communities and Capabilties

Coming back from Delhi, we got to setting up house with full family once again, after living apart for nearly four years. Can you believe it - it was only now that we bought a gas stove! A makeshift table was made out of wooden crating for using the stove! Quite an event it was. Tatayya also bought a Bajaj scooter, for which there used to be a very long waiting list of years! I tried learning to ride the scooter with the help of a neighbourhood boy, but did not succeed as I could not balance. I joined MBA in Osmania, where, for the first time, the entrance exam system was introduced (probably first in the country after the IITs and Med Colleges). Osmania was active in student politics and that entrance exam was declared null and void after an agitation. We had to write another exam and by the time I got into MBA first semester, it was already December. I used to go round Hyderabad quite a lot with friends, with Ammamma always worrying about me, specially as there were no means of communication. Maapi joined Rosary Convent, our alma mater in the 9th standard, after several back and forth movement of her application. We were worried as to her schooling which had seen so many changes in nature and content, and were looking forward to her being settled in Rosary. When she got in, we were all thrilled and Maapi spent some of her happiest days of her life there.

Ammamma now had to reactivate her contacts in Hyderabad. She went to AP Mahila Samakhya, which is the NFIW state branch. She met Gujjula Sarala Devi, Secreatary and Brij Rani Gaur, the President. Both were active in Leftist movement and had married communist leaders in their days of leftist activism. Even at this time, Brij Rani undertook a very active role in public issues, notably, staging a sit in and occupying government land for distribution to the poor (this was in Chikkadpally). She started an organization for poor women and named it as Working Women's Association (a misnomer, as it was actually meant as a collective for poor women workers, maids, petty traders and the like). Sarala Devi gave the job of managing this organization to Ammamma, in addition to taking part in the activities of the Samakhya.

Her first job was to increase membership, seek funds for its continuance. She organized a cultural programme (an arrangement with a friend's daughter's debut dance performance - aarangetram on a sharing basis). They brought out a souvenir for which they collected ads and got some funds for the Association. (Actually girls, the girl who performed the aarangetram was Kantakka's niece Sangeetha). She then moved an application for funding of a vocational training programme and a condensed course for preparing school dropouts from weaker sections, villages and  including widows and other disadvantaged women for writing 10th class board exams. There were one or two girls from once well to do and forward caste families as well, who had fallen on bad times and financially weak. There was one girl who was a heart patient and used to keep telling Ammamma about the pain every now and then. Ammamma must have felt helpless. The girls were aged between 18-30 years. The girls used to get Rs 15 as stipend. The stay, food and teaching were free. Ammamma had to buy provisions for them for cooking their food.

Pending the sanction from the Social Welfare Board, they had to employ teachers, collect participants to the programme, run a hostel for their stay for at least 6 months (the girls used to cook food themselves and maintain the two rooms they were housed in). Then the sanction would come and Central funds would also be released for the same. An office had to be set up, care had to be taken for the welfare and safety of the girls, who were preyed upon by local eve teasers and gangsters and a host of such probelms. The girls were mainly from Telengana and a few from Coastal area and were usually poor communist families or sympathiser families. Slowly, other courses were also started for certificate programmes for which examinations were conducted by the AP Technical Education Board. This was a tailoring programme for women and a Balwadi for children was also started by Brij Rani Gaur under the Urban Community Development Project (MCH Project). Ammamma's arrival was a shot in the arm for these programmes, which were not running too well. Ammamma's organization skills and her interest and commitment to work went beyond her normal duties. She used to even take the children out for picnics and sightseeing.

Ammamma approached a friend of Tatayya, then famous as Dr N V Ramakrishna of the Ramakrishna Homeo Stores to open a free clinic for the poor in the community in Chikkadpally (Suryanagar Basti), under the aegis of the Lion's Club, which he complied with.

The Annual Day of the Bridge School programme for Dropouts was conducted in Ambedkar College at Chikkadpally, with thier permission and courtesy. The girls perfomed lambada dance and other cultural programmes. In other words, it was as normal as a paid school would be. Katragadda Prasuna, a lecturer of the College was thoroughly impressed with the entire effort and expressed a keen desire to also pariticipate in  social welfare activities on a regular basis. It is another matter that she left her job and became an active politician when N T Rama Rao gave a call to the young and the educated to participate in the elections actively and build a new Telugu Desam.

Ammamma did not stop at this. She coordinated with a friend in a Junior College in Marredpally (this was your Peda Mamayya's maternal uncle's wife as we came to know later), and took the girls on an excursion to Ajanta and Ellora. The costs were lesser as they joined up in the same bus and MCH gave funds for covering this. Ammamma is reporting with glee that they had a great time, and on their return journey, they even plundered a sugarcane field! Bad!

While what I am recording sounds impressive enough, it actually was far more tough in practice. Ammamma had to shift multiple locations for the girls of different batches, and duirng this time, she was also shifting houses, first to Nallakunta and then to our house in Banjara Hills, which was finally vacated by a tenant with great difficulty (Nanna and me also contributed by hounding the tenant! Can you believe it?). Here Ammamma had to change two buses to go to Amberpet where the girls were now housed. The first location interestingly, was near Rajyam Sinha's house in Erra Manzil. (Rajyam Sinha was the Director of Information and Public Relations, an earlier activist and had married Bijoy Sinha. Their daughter in law is Shantha Sinha of the Child Labour fame). There was a problem of eve teasing and a police complaint had to be lodged. A second location was in the ground floor of the rented portion where we were staying in Nallakunta (not me though, I was already married by then). This place was cramped and in any case, Ammamma and Tatayya had to shift to Banjara Hills to their own house as they could not afford to pay rent anymore due to Tatayya's erratic earning. They chose a location in Amberpet near a Communist sympathiser's house. The sister of the landlady was not happy with this and she tried to create trouble by getting a ruffian to sleep in the same premises. The next day Ammamma and Sarala Devi lodged a complaint and police summoned the lady in question and warned her severely and threatened action if she did not comply.

One day, the girls had an altercation and one girl just left the hostel nd ran away. Ammamma and the the rest of the offcie bearers searched high and low and were worried sick as to the whereabouts of the girl. Finally, her father brought her back from the village and handed her over with a severe admonishing. After that all doors and windows were to be secured shut by girls on this specific duty. I really wonder how they must have suffered in Hyderabad weather because of this.

All these events described above took place over a period of 10 years and to keep the school programme in one place, I did not litter the narrative with the family side of the chronology and other activities. I will continue these in future posts.

From Russia with love

It is nearly 27 days since I continued Ammamma's story. And since none of you even questioned me about it, I guess all of you also were taking a breather from reading my long posts! Anyway, I was travelling, Preeti was taking up her new job with ICLEI in Delhi, Nishu was leaving for UK for her first job with Simmons & Simmons - all added up to a break in routine, lots of new excitement and therefore slip up on schedules. This also meant that Ammamma and me have also lost the thread, and the will to continue it from where we left. So henceforth, it may be the recording of recollections on individual events. Perhaps I will string them in sequence when I do finish recording all the events in Ammamma's life. Today's post is triggered by yesterday's incident.

For two and a half years Ammamma has been a virtual prisoner in our flat, because there was no lift and except for visiting the doctor, Ammamma never came out of the house. It is only recently that we got the lift and I took her out for a film at INOX yesterday! It was quite a treat to be out and free and Ammamma loved it. I took her up in the lift and she enjoyed the new mall. I tried to tempt her into getting the fish spa, and she just shushed me. At the movie entrance however, we had to take the escalator for one level. I was trying to find out a lift for her, but Ammamma is all game for trying out. She decided to get on to the escalator and she almost tripped and fell. I and the attendant there caught hold of her. I was pretty worried because of her heart, but she was alright in a second and was hurrying forward as the movie time was already on. While coming back, she was gloating on her escalator experience and said that it reminded her of her visit to Russia and how at that time also she enjoyed trying out the escalator without much difficulty, except for getting off, when the translator was supposed to have told them to jump off with both feet together! I thought 'lost in translation' meant something else! From then on till now, I am only hearing of the visit to Russia, so I better record it now itself.

In 1986, Ammamma went for a 15 day trip to the mecca of communists - USSR! This was organized by Soviet Women's Committee - a conference called "Women for World Peace" in Tashkent. Ammamma represented the National Federation of Indian Women and she was part of a 13-15 delegate team of different women's organizations including CPM, FICCI Ladies, Shramik Sanghatan and others. Sheila Dixit (now the CM of Delhi) and Sheela Kaul, Congress MP, Aruna Asaf Ali, President of NFIW, were also part of the delegation. Many were from Delhi, 2 from Tamil Nadu, 1 from Maharashtra, 1 from Punjab (a minister, Surinder Kaur) and Ammamma representing AP. Ammamma had to get her passport done, go tot Delhi for her Visa, buy gifts for giving to the hosts, etc. She and Maapi and Bhaiyya (Sulakshan Sharma) in Delhi did all this, while I was preparing for our first family holiday to Delhi. Nishu was just born and Ammamma felt a bit uncomfortable leaving Maapi with a small baby even for 15 days.

It was her second trip by air and she was thrilled by it. She says she was overcome by an overwhelming feeling when they were crossing over the Himalayas that she was leaving her country behind. She also said that when she was returning she experienced an even more overwhelming feeling - things like these may not appeal to your generation, who think that patriotism is an overrated feeling. I was teasing Ammamma that her return was more thrilling because she came back with Aruna Asaf Ali and she got her upgraded to executive class and this also made her get away with excess baggage!

As you all know, Ammamma never cared much for clothes or jewellery, except when she was buying for us. For this trip however, she needed silk sarees and she borrowed the same from Maapi and me and was quite amused when Sheila Dixit went on complimenting her on her choice possession of sarees. She had to prepare speeches on behalf of NFIW and she had to hand over her text to the organizers for translation in the conference. She was warned to take care of her health as in Russia, you will be put in an isolation ward should you even catch a cold! Ammamma was very, very careful, given her background with allergic rhinitis. (I wonder what they are doing with Swine Flu now!)

She met women from many countries and interacted with them. She was on a roller coaster ride, so much to do, so much to see, so many people to meet - she was in her element. She was happy to see people from USA in the conference. They had a special day with Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman astronaut of the world and presented her with a gift. The Conference lasted for 3 days and then they were given an exposure tour of many social and historical places. Among the places she visited, she particularly remembers the tombs of Babar and Timur, Lal Bahadur Shastri memorial (Shastri was the Indian Prime Minister who signed a historic Indo Pak treaty in Tashkent and he died under circumstances not fully clear after this in his hotel), agricultural cooperatives (collective farms), schools, dispensaries, hospitals, sanitariums, not only in Tashkent, but also in small towns and villages(Some photographs at the bottom).It was a visual exposure of their working of an equitable society. They then went to Moscow and Ammamma was thrilled to stay on the 27th floor of Hotel Moskva (I went particularly to photograph this hotel in 1995, when I visited it) for Ammamma.

Ammamma's observations include both the good things and the not so good things. She learnt about the advantages of collective farming - its organization, operations and sustainability model, the very practical orientation to students in schools at a very young age (eg primary school children learning to play with instruments and mechanics), inculcation of past history and culture among youth through cultural activities, the local language being very close in intonation to Urdu, etc. She also met some AP girl students studying medicine, whom she reassured that the flood situation in AP was ok and not to worry for their folks (she visited their rooms in hostel). She learnt from the girls that there was eve teasing there also, but she told them not to give importance to every little thing, only to face it directly in Moscow, when delegates were also eve teased by ruffians. In one of the programmes where they showcased war heroes, Ammamma was made to dance. So a la Fiddler on the Roof, Ammamma did a jig with the hefty and robust Uzbeks!

In Moscow, they visited Lenin's Mausoleum, Kremlin, Red Square, the Duma (Russian Parliament), Stalin's magnificent buildings built as a testimony to Russian grandeur and many other places. She could not see the famous Russian ballet as it had to be booked a year in advance, to her disappointment. In October, it was already cold in Moscow at 2 deg centigrade. She had borrowed my coat (of my first trip abroad to Holland), which did not quite fit her and she was shivering. At least she was better off than a lady in the delegation who was completely vegetarian. Another lady, a Punjabi, was resourceful enough to get a small heater, coffee and milk powder and she gave Ammamma coffee everyday, otherwise, the Indians found it difficult to stay till breakfast for their first cup of coffee, which was also bitter and often black! Ammamma had no problems with food, as she really does not crib about anything she eats. Within 15 days, she put on a lot of weight!

Ammamma noticed all the differences between Tashkent and Moscow. Tashkent had water problems, insufficient sanitary facilities in interior places and such like. In Tashkent she asked why a school building, built only 2 years ago had already developed cracks. She says quality is a problem maybe because of state employment and/or corruption. In Moscow, she asked why they were not able to see many women drivers (a fact that is glamourised in India and other socialist countries that women in Russia had access to all kinds of jobs and are truly liberated).

She also did shopping for her three granddaughters and two daughters. She could not buy Vodka for her sons in law as the line for rouble payment was very long and poor Ammamma had converted all her dollars into roubles! (In those days, you were allowed to take out very little foreign exchange with you and Bhaiyya's friend gave her a little extra as well to tide over. Even so, it was very difficult for travellers). Ammamma bought electronic play things for all of you, which were pretty heavy, given Russian workmanship. The train bought for Nishu was particularly heavy and everyone warned her that she will not be allowed on board with this excess baggage - she was lucky, Aruna Asaf Ali's executive class came to her aid and she sailed through with all her gifts intact. She also brought back some pomegranates which she also planted in our garden. In fact, it was Preeti who received the first gift as it was her birthday in Delhi on the day Ammamma returned from Moscow. But Preeti had 104 temperature and so it was Sweety who played with both the gifts.

Ammamma wrote a detailed account of her experiences titled 'Nenu Naa Anubhavaalu' and it was published in Vishalandhra. Ammammma's tenant Papa Rao was quite flabbergasted with her narrative (to him in person, about her disillusionment with the facade of development)- he said that he had not heard anybody speaking of any defects in Russia - the role model of development for all developing countries! Well, we have to see with our hearts and brains as well and not just with our eyes and ears!

The veritable traveller

While going over the last post, I realised that I am again depending on Ammamma's memories, without the benefit of my first hand experience of them, the same as it happened when I was recounting her life before my birth. This is happening because I think the age and distance in your college days - both spatial and psychological- widens around this time as you are preoccupied with your life and friends and you think you know more than your parents can ever know. Being in Pilani, and not part of Ammamma's life in Delhi, as also her reluctance to talk about day to day occurrences, led to the Delhi post being restricted to just one long post, even though it is actually five years. I am sure that it does not capture her trials and tribulations, which have been many, nor her work for which she has to jog her memory hard. Isn't it strange that our brains remember the crystal clear images of our childhood and have only hazy memories of our middle age? Is it because of the clutter of too many mundane things that rob us of savouring life's experiences at that point in time? Probably.

However, Ammamma is very excited about talking about her return to Hyderabad and is very keen to talk about her work. She just narrated to me one of her travel experiences, which, I am going to recount straightaway, even if does not fall in the chronological sequence. To keep it for a later date would be injustice to her excitement. I would however, refer to it again in the actual sequence of her life.

This episode has to do with her travel penchant of seeing different places and people. While it may appear quite normal to us, I must mention that this took place in a day and time when we did not have really professional travel services for the middle class, train journeys did not have computerisation and needed booking standing in long queues (I remember I had to do all the travel bookings for Jayattha and Jyotattha's families every summer as the ladies' lines were shorter!), and information about places to visit and places to stay were unavailable freely (certainly no net or google!) and more importantly, ladies did not, as a general rule, travel alone.

While in Delhi, I had mentioned that Chandra Rajeswar Rao introduced her services to the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), which was affiliated to the Women's International Democratic Federation. She got involved in these meetings and was particularly impressed with the Conference mode of discussions. She actively participated in one International Conference in Vigyan Bhavan on Illiteracy Eradication among Women. (She reminds to me record here that she also attended the dinner given in Hyderabad House after changing clothes in Rita Seth's house. Why this is important for her I have not been able to fathom). When she returned to Hyderabad, she actively got involved, not only in such conferences, but more actively in setting up of Adult Literacy and Bridge Schools. Working Women's Hostel and the like. These will take up the next few posts, but as mentioned in the beginning of this blog, I am recounting here, her travel adventure in connection with one of these conferences.

It was probably in 1978 or 79, Ammamma went to participate in the NFIW Conference at Jullundur in October. She had decided that after the Conference, she would not only visit some places in Punjab, but also visit Jammu & Kashmir. And mind you, on a shoestring budget! This excited the rest of the ladies in the delegation and about 10 or 12 wanted to join her. She however, said that she cannot possibly take the responsibility of such a large group and therefore, selected 4-5 of her friends. This included Tammareddy Krishnaveni (she is also Satish Babai's Peddamma), who till this day recounts the trip she had with Ammamma whenever she talks on the phone. So, with Ammamma leading from the front, both physically, linguistically, informatively and inspiringly, the motley group of 5 women set upon this adventure.

Travelling by rickety buses mostly, they went from destination to destination, managing to see all the important things and managing to find cheap but neat places all throughout. They first went to Amritsar and witnessed for themselves the mindless carnage unleashed by Gen Dyer in the Jallianwala Bagh. Ammamma says that it is one thing to read about it and another, to witness really how small the park was and to imagine the massacre triggered by men in cold blood. In the same city, she then visited the Golden Temple, while still beautiful, however, bore the scars of yet another carnage in the Bhindranwale episode which was infamous later as Operation Bluestar - an achievement of sorts for the Indian Army, but a blot on the collective conscience of Indians, once again triggered by moments of madness in political leadership. She loved the cleanliness and the service orientation in the Golden Temple and the langar that tickled her taste buds. They then went to Wagah border and witnessed the change of guard of Indian and Pakistani Armies guarding the border and the Pakistani soil.

They then travelled to Jammu and from there, took the bus to Srinagar. She remembers the back panel of every transport carrying the notification that the owners are not responsible for any mishaps or loss of life on the way, as the journey was on a very treacherous route. They got in nevertheless. They passed Udhampur, the only big city in the area and then on to the narrow road edging off the mighty Himalayas. The valleys were sheer drops and the vehicles appeared to veer precariously, even as onward traffic bore down on them. It was quite dizzying, I believe, to look down into the valleys. Ammamma was surprised that all passenger and cargo vehicles used the same route and it must have indeed been a long journey time wise and fear wise. However, the scenic beauty of the route was indeed a great compensation. In Srinagar, when the taxis and autos came to them to ask whether they wanted to go to a hotel or a houseboat, Ammamma was enamoured with the houseboat and they chose one within their budget, with Ammamma using her bargaining skills. She was awed by the facilities on all the boats and in particular, the luxurious ones. They stayed on the boat for 3-4 days, experiencing the October chill of Srinagar. They took help of Kangris and angeethis to ward off the cold. Everyday, small transport boats used to come and they used to go visiting in the city and the nearby areas. They visited Shalimar and Nishat Gardens on one day and on another, Gulmarg and Sonemarg. They rode on ponies to the highest point in Sonemarg, though I think the poor brute must have had a tough time with Ammamma's weight as she was well endowed but fit at that time! They also bargained for silk sarees and were flabbergast when another seller offered them for even less they had earlier bargained far. Incidentally, Ammamma made it a point to have financial discipline. She used to spend the money and account for it in the evening every single day, no matter how tired they were and divided up the contributions to be made by each. I wish her daughters and her grand daughters had inherited this very desirable trait, if nothing, we are actually quite the opposite. Even today, at the age of 83, she meticulously maintains accounts, shaming me often at my own scatterbrained way of keeping tabs (and I am supposed to be the MBA!). The closest in the family to be a bit disciplined I think is Preeti, probably followed by Nishu. The rest of us are terrible!

One day they went to meet a couple (who, incidentally were the in laws of Satish Babai's cousin Tammareddy Bharadwaj and therefore Krishnaveni's relatives), who had also come to Srinagar and were staying in a hotel, as they were part of a tourist package. Ammamma of course, had no intention of doing any package tours (no wonder Sweety is as determined about such things while I am more comfortable with someone else doing the planning) and they continued with their a la carte tour and having fun all the way long. It was also about finances! They would have probably otherwise missed the exhilarating experience of spring water gushing in the mountains. Ammamma feels that she should have written about all the experiences that time itself so that she could savour them again and enjoy the same feelings once again. Ammamma loved the saffron fields and sea of the beautiful and small blue saffron flowers. She marvelled at the short and slight apple trees that bore so much luscious fruit and at the very tall and stately walnut trees that bore such tiny fruit! Quite nutty isn't it?? (It was quite a nice pun to be passed by! Don't yell at me girls!). They took a cruise orund the Dal lake and among the sights they saw was Maharaja Karan Singh's palace, which by this time, ceased to be a dynasty and a kingdom.

One problem that Ammamma was not fully able to solve on the trip was that of food and of getting used to being served hot jalebis and other sweets for breakfast! They also discovered that roti always came with one subji or dal and you had to pay for all the extra things. In Jammu, while going to the station for the return journey to Hyderabad via Delhi, a very providential thing happened. First they were accosted by a lady who was behaving very strangely and whom they finally got rid off (not before some of the members got scared stiff), they had a miraculous escape when an electric pole fell on the taxi they were travelling in to the station. It hit the roof and slid off the back of the car. The glass splintered into fine pieces and showered Ammamma who was sitting in the back seat. Her hair and clothes were full of glass pieces. It was a very close call without any fatalities or any injuries and damned lucky - I bet the car was an Ambassador, any other car would not have stood a fighting chance even! More than rejoicing her own near miss, Ammamma thanked Providence for saving her from a possible lifelong scar on her reputation if anything had happened to her team mates, who were taken by her on this 'wild trip' by the conservative Andhras! Even today she shudders to think of the blame she would have got for something that she had nothing to do with, in case there were serious consequences of the same incident. I am of course, delighted that our Mother came back to us safe and sound and not shaken in the least by the incident, except for the feeling of what would have happened in case of an injury or casualty.

Ammamma continued her extended conference trips for all the other conferences as well, as I would narrate to you in later posts.

Delhi - phatphaties and barsatis

Going to Delhi was lots of excitement and again Ammamma joined us in this excitement like a kid and revelled in the tunnels through which the train went, laughed at the painted ads 'Rishte he Rishte - contact ---" a matrimonial ad from an agency that painstakingly daubed it en route from almost outside Agra till Delhi along the tracks. Our wonderment in Ajmal Khan Road as to why the day was still so bright at 7 pm in the evening and the loads of goodies on sale in the middle class shoppers' paradise. This time Tatayya had indeed found a flat in Rajendra Nagar, off Pusa Road, as he had learnt his lesson from his Madras experience. It was a nice little house, albeit like a railway compartment with two coaches and a pantry car in between! Our first exposure to Punju names were Dollar and Pinky the son and daughter of the landlord. We had a lot to learn in Delhi. It started with our maid servant - incidentally a Tamil, who soon dissipate dour bon homie of south south feeling by demanding hot water for washing dishes, throwing out leftover food (surprise for us as maids down south gratefully took away anything that we gave in leftovers - Ammamma used to cook a little extra rice for the same), and telling us what she will do and will not do. We got a shock when she threw away a big bowlful of rice into the trashcan. After that, we ate all leftovers ourselves!

The first thing Ammamma and Tatayya had to attend to was our schools. Tatayya went abotu finding out mine as it had to do with putting me into the integrated higher secondary course, where marks for 9th, 10th and 11th were counted together. It was a problem for all south based new comers. I was dreaming of attending Springdales School (I was fascinated by watching the premises and the kids in their smart uniforms), I was told that it would not be possible. Tatayya even tried the Tamil Education Society School because I passed my SSLC in Madras. I was beginning to get scared that I would have to waste one year when Tatayya was told that the Govt had made provisions for a one year Higher Secondary Course for cases like mine. So I was admitted into Pandara Road Govt School. We also were to learn that schools in Delhi opened and closed early as part of traffic management. So Tatayya used to take me to my school early in the morning at 6 am by bus. We used to get down at ShahJahan Road and then walk through Pandara Road Quarters - I loved the beautiful houses - wherein in famous people lived, including M Chalapathi Rau - the ace journalist.

Tatayya did this till I got used to going and coming on my own. Actually, it is in Delhi, for the brief period of one year that our family really bonded together, specially during winter months. Tatayya was also not very happy in Delhi too. He was one reporter among hundreds and covering Parliament wasn't that interesting. Moreover, all things promised by the Editor in Chief when he was being posted to Delhi such as perks and other facilities, did not materialize as the Finance man Kunchitapadam reneged on all of these. Tatayya was disappointed and he resigned from Andhra Patrika at the end of one year in Delhi and returned to Hyderabad to United News of India as Hyderabad Bureau Chief.

It was in this school that I became friends with Sashirekha (or Sashi as we called her), Mahidhara Suryamohan's daughter. I had both Maths and Biology as my subjects, something I insisted for both of you Sweety and Preeti in your plus twos. I feel that both should be offered to kids alongwith Maths so that options are not foreclosed on some study lines. Sashi and me became great friends and we had sleepovers in each other's houses, a la Enid Blyton's Famous Five having midnight secret parties - only in our case - Sashi's father himself used ot wake us up so that we could have our secret party!!! Ammamma indulgently looked at all this as also our teenage mania of seeing the 8 am morning show (I tell you - Delhi is crazy) of all Dev Anand films!

Maapi's school admission was left to Ammamma. She went round all the schools in the vicinity and we both liked St Thomas School. Interestingly, when Ammamma went to the school and searching for the Principal, a couple of other parents mistook her to be the Principal and started beseeching her for admission for their wards! Luckily, Maapi got admission in this school and it was a very good school. It was Ammamma's duty to take Maapi to school and bring her back. She used to see M S Swaminathan and his wife dropping their kid everyday to school in their car. He was already famous for his work in hybrid agriculture. Maapi had to learn Hindi for the first time and that too of a higher class. Ammamma and she struggled together and it is a great credit to them that Maapi stood first in class in Hindi! It is truly remarkable.

I don't know the exact reason, but we moved from Rajendra Nagar to Kirti Nagar as neighbours of SPK Gupta (mentioned in the blog of Maapi's birth as Panicker's son in law and the biographer of Bio-technologist Dr SubbaRow). This was around my exam time. Maapi started coming by the school bus. She was the last kid to be dropped. I still remember her sitting forlorn in her seat in the bus and as soon as she saw us, she would get up excitedly and smile and rush forward. SPK Gupta was very fond of science and he made me appear for the National Science Talent Test. He worked with me for a paper on Cosmic Rays and I remember referring big books. Of course, I did nto clear the talent search exam to te disappointment of Ammamma. Ammamma always used to make fun of me about my Maths and I was determined to prove her wrong. We also had a rare family picnic on the initiative of Gupta again. Tatayya, Ammamma, Maapi and me went to Surajkund and I fell in love with the flame of the forest flowers there. Surjakund was sleepy resort then, today it is a five star conferencing joint. We also attended some Telugu Association activities. I realised that to appreciate Telugu and its cultural niceties, you have to be away from it. I think culture thus is preserved in the diaspora because there is none of it otherwise - it provides an island of belonging. We thus saw several dramas, dances, met many artistes and litterateurs. I met Vakati Panduranga Rao, the journalist, essayist and novelist.

Once when we visited Mahidhara Nalinimohan at National Physical Lbaoratory (at his house), she aske dfor permission to translate his stories on Mulla Nasiruddin from Telugu to Hindi. He readily gave his permission. It was a gentlemen's agreement. To think of it in the current day context is unbelievable. Anyway, I already wrote about her publication fo this in Bala Bharati.

Having both of us now settled in schools, now Ammamma started taking us around. We visited many places and some of them with Tatayya too - such as the Republic Day parade, where Ammamma made me click many photographs and scolded me later because I would not move but click from my seat and therefore clicked people's heads than the parade itself! We also marvelled at the ingenuity of the Sardarjis in making an auto look like a truck in the form of what was called a phatphati! We travelled in these and drank water from cold fountains which we found fascinating. I remember getting stomach cramps from buying many glasses of water just to see how they pumped it!

Ammamma renewed her contacts with Chandra Rajeswara Rao and Savitramma who were now in Delhi as he was the Chief of All India CPI. Savitramma was as affectionate and particular about hygiene as Suryavati Atthayya was. She cooked such delicious snacks for us everytime we went to 4, Windsor Place. I used to be fascinated at how effortlessly she made them. If at all you like my pakodis Preeti, you have her to thank for them. Chandra Rajeswara Rao introduced Ammamma to Vimla Farooqui, the General Secretary of National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), and affiliated organization of the CPI. He told her that she has worked for the party earlier and her services may be used again. She used to attend to the correspondence and arrange meetings and make minutes. She used organize things when delegations from other countries came to India. Once an east German delegation of women came over. Ammamma asked them (you know she loves asking questions and debating), as to why they need special women's organizations in East Germany when govt had made everything equal for women and created several rights for them. They explained that though this was indeed true, in implementation there were defaults - they particularly cited domestic violence as one of the major issues.

By this time, Tatayya had left for Hyderabad and Ammamma and we shifted to a Barsati (actually a one room penthouse on the top of nay house!) in Karol Bagh, after having spent a few months in the houses of friends and distant relatives in Tilak Nagar. Ammamma made me apply to so many places for admission. In Delhi University, the funny system was that you apply for BSc in order of your subject and college preference and they will allot seats on availability of cut off marks. You had to join the first college the comes on the list and then wait for the second list to transfer your admission. I got Maths (!) in Dayal Singh College and I remember being very upset both because of the subject and because of the college reputation as being notorious. I later got in Miranda House as well. In the meanwhile, I got a call from Pilani and Ammamma joined me there. With nobody to advise her, she simply read the notifications in the paper and made me apply. She even made me apply for Kharagpur and also made me write the IIT entrance without any preparation! Over the next few months, I got calls from Guntur Madical College, a college in Tenali and a college in Manipal! I now wish I joined Guntur Medical College. God knows what stars prevailed on me, Ammamma sent me to Pilani. Just imagine, there were not many takers for professional courses then?

Ammamma however, did not take the right decision in case of Maapi. Initially it was thought that they would also go to Hyderabad and Maapi was taken off St Thomas. But the Telengana agitation was in full swing and academic institutions were closed. Also because she joined me in Pilani, Ammamma decided that she would stay in Delhi - a decision that had serious financial implications for Ammamma and Tatayya. Tatayya was not in favour of it as my education in Pilani was already very expensive, but Ammamma stuck on. She therefore took up a job as Hindi teacher in Andhra Edcuation Scoiety School in Devnagar and moved again. Maapi was joined in this school now, which was not doing that well. In fact Mr T R Rao and some others were seized with the task of improving it and Ammamma says that he even hawked his LIC policies to raise funds for the school. Govada Satya Rao was another person who was working to improve the school. While Ammamma and Maapi were in the house in Devnagar (I was in Pilani), once Hanumantha rao uncle visited Delhi and he came to see Ammamma. She wasn't home. And Maapi, who was in her primary school then, lit the kerosene stove to make him some tea and give him! He was so impressed that a small girl was so thoughtful of a guest in the house that he talked about it for years! Little did he realise that one day this girl would become his daughter in law and feed him more than a cup of tea!

Incidentally, Ammamma was very upset with the Telengana and later the Andhra agitation. She wrote to Indiara Gandhi exhorting to take a decision on Telengana in her characteristic style - Telengana - now or never! Does not appear that Indira Gandhi read the letter or actually thought about it, because that issue has remained contentious till date, causing untold heartburn all across the state.

Despite all financial troubles, Ammamma did not skimp on us. We were always taken to exhibitions and tours and travels, as she believed that the best learning came from exposure. Thus, on all my holidays (Pilani was only 6 hours away), we used to join the Central Govt Employees' Assn tours and saw Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Chandigrah, Kurukshetra, Bhakra Nangal and many others. Bhakra and Nangal dams were very exciting and remembered even today because Dr K L Rao, who was a Cabinet Minister then, gave letters for us to enter the inspection galleries of the dams in the middle of the river. It was a great experience, particularly in Nangal as it was an old construction and we could see water seeping through the walls and the river gushing above us. Bhakra was more 5 star. Incidentally, in the trip, there were many others, one of whom recollected me as being in the same trip because of the unique name Ammamma gave me. Sweety, if you remember, when you introduced Mrinalini's parents to us, her mother asked me if I was on that trip!

Ammamma took us again in a long queue at the USIS (in Madras, we used to get Span from USIS, a magazine that I used to like and all the Soviet publications too!), to see the moon rock that was brought by the astronauts! For all the wait, the rock was quite unimpressive I must say. I was more enamoured by the CCTV where I could see myself.

It was in the Delhi barsati that Maapi started coming into her own and Ammamma indulged her wishes as she was quite lonely without me. She brought home a dog one day and Ammamma had to look after it. It was called Mickey and it was always tied up as they did not know how to bring it up properly. That poor thing always used to bark its head off and I was petrified of it. It also tore into shreds my new and one of the most beautiful sarees I ever had (a chiffon, blue green floral saree, very pastel and beautiful). Poor thing, its tail had to be cut as developed distemper. Everyone was afraind of it. Ammamma had to cope up with a lot here. She developed an 8 inch carbuncle on her thigh and it was extremely painful, specially considering that she had to climb two floor to get to the barsati. She endured it all alone and took homeopathy to cure herself. In winter we loved the open tandoors in almost every street, where you could take your atta and come back with hot tandoori rotis. We spent many memorable winter evenings in such simple pleasures.

Ammamma had to also deal with my changing habits and thinking - I wanted to be doing the in things like going to parties, drinking coke, going to India Coffee House for lovely coffee and hoping to catch snatches of discussions of intellectuals, or go to the Rambles in Connaught Place for Cappuccino, or Softy ice cream in December. And also lots of English movies. I am surprised that despite her fear of my movements and her dislike of the things I wanted to do, she actually did not impose her views on me, she probably rightly assumed that I would outgrow of them soon. She had, however, a bigger problem to deal with. I fell in love with Murthy (Naanna), my senior in BITS, Pilani. She again did not impose her will on me, though it was clear that she was not too happy with the timing or my choice. I was just 17. Of course, the tragedy in Nanna's family of his father passing away did change everything for a very long time and Ammamma went through hell trying to control me without actually controlling. I was of course, wanting to rebel at the slightest excuse. These were very, very difficult days for Ammamma, but that did dampen her activities or her optimism. I salute her.

I completed my BSc with difficulty as Maths proved to be my bug bear (I took it only to prove to Ammamma that I could do it, I wish I had taken medicine or biology). After that, Ammamma, Maapi and me moved to Hyderabad to join Tatayya, who was living in a room in is office, which was above the once famous Gopi Hotel.

Back to pavilion - Hyderabad beckons!