I am surprising myself - two blogposts in a day! I am getting a high writing this because all of you out there are reading this and encouraging me. And I am eager to get to some more of the exciting parts, but trying to avoid too many back and forth turns. I am therefore seeking completion of gaps before I proceed to the next chapter in Ammamma's life.
Reacting to my descriptive of Ammamma's AIWC Conference, she recalled that something very significant did happen, not at the Conference, but at the Communist Party office. For the first time, an All India Communist Party Women's Meeting took place formally. Comrades P C Joshi and G Adhikari addressed a crowd of about 25 women, some famous already for their protest history. Ammamma and Vijayalakshmi represented AP and were absorbing all that was being said at the meeting. The main theme was the focus of the Communist Party approach to National Politics and Development and the need for everyone in the party to take the movement to the masses. Among those who participated were Renu Chakravarti (later MP and married to famous Journalist Nikhil Chakravarti), Kalyani (who later married the famous Mohana KumaraMangalam), Parvati Krishnan (married N K Krishnan), Vimala Ranadive (married B T Ranadive), Perin Bharucha (later Rameshchandra), Mrs Adhikari, and Didi (A S K Iyengar's wife, who came in after Ammamma and Vijayalakshmi attended the AIWC conference). You will notice that many were party marriages between comrades, or families who became wedded to the cause. Ammamma was in awe of many of them as they had already left their mark on the national scene. She particularly talked about Kalpana (later married P C Joshi), whose dare devilry became famous as the Chittagong Armed Raid Case. I met this lady Kalpana Joshi when we were in Delhi and I had joined the one year Higher Secondary course. She was such a serene and dignified lady one automatically was respectful of, but it was difficult for me to picture her as the armed activist doing daring feats of assault and attack with incendiary. I remember her quizzical smile when I went on staring at her (I can see Sweety & Preeti giving me those looks - I haven't changed much, have I?), trying to see the fiery young Kalpana in the distinguished lady's visage before me.
In fact Ammamma was to meet people of different calibre and achievements and aspired to emulate them. In Guntur office, she met several people, including Rahul Sankrutyayan (a great writer, famous for the socio cultural novel Volga se Ganga - he married a Russian girl and named his son Rahulovich), and Prithvi Singh Azad. This man belonged to the Gadar Party, which grew pretty fast to have following and office in the US as well, but many of these groups later merged into one movement. The difference in approach to achieving independence was the main reason that there were many splinter groups initially, but they had a healthy respect for each other. Prithvi Singh Azad was a hero figure amongst the youngsters in Andhra because, he escaped from police custody on train after the train left Bapatla and he did not know a word of Telugu. He just used two words - Deshabhaktam and Swarajyam and with that was able to get people to take him to the Communist Party office and then on to Guntur. Here all the young brigade fell over each other to meet the hero and of course, can Ammamma miss this occasion? Ammamma tells me about the craze for Russian names for children born in Andhra at that time, specially heroic names of people in the Second World War. Girls were invariably named Tanya and Zoya and boys Lenin, Stalin (with Babu added of course!), a poor fellow even named Watootin, after a certain General! I have often mused about the coastal Andhra penchant for naming their children, together with the surnames of the heroes from India and Russia. Do you know that we have JawaharLal, Subhas Chandra Bose, Babu Rajendra Prasad, Jayaprakash Narayan among boys and several Jhansi's (after Jhansi ki Rani Lakshmi Bai) in Ammamma's family and therefore my cousins and nephews and nieces? Half of them were named by Satyam Tatayya. Fortunately for us, Ammamma and Tatayya were such literary buffs that they sought good names for me and Maapi. I later came to know that there are more mad people in India other than coastal Andhra people, when in a BHEL training programme, I met a poor marketing guy named Hitler from Tamil Nadu! He must have had problems every time he met clients, unless he used his marketing ingenuity to turn that as the opening conversational piece and turn a disadvantage into an advantage.
Ammamma continued her campaign in the villages against repression, women empowerment, health and other development issues. She also visited China Pulivarru - my father's village and the family was quite embarrassed that their daughter in law was carrying out such unlady like and more importantly anti establishment activities. Tatayya's brother in law, (Tatayya had only one sister, who was much older than him) was particularly livid inasmuch as it caused loss of face for him in the village, where he was strutting about as a major landlord, even though all the lands actually belonged to Tatayya's father. In fact, in later years, he gambled away the entire property (I believe around 100 acres!) and Tatayya was advised to file a case as it was inherited property and the lenders cannot confiscate it. However Tatayya desisted from doing so, for the sake of his father and sister. Anyway, the family categorically told Ammamma that she should not continue her activities there and they asked her to leave the place, but Ammamma finished her work and then only left the place.
Meanwhile, Ammamma was pregnant with her second child, who was born in October 1946 (a Libran Preets!). She therefore started translating a book called Chinese Women, but did not complete it before her delivery. Jyotsna was born and she was an extremely lovely child with very big eyes and a thick mop of hair. There was not a single person who did not comment on the child's beauty. Alas - this child too had a short life span and a painful one at that. Jyotsna became sickly after the sixth month and despite Ammamma and Tatayya seeking medical help, she was gradually emaciated and passed away three months after independence. Sometimes Ammamma thinks probably she had some liver disease and drugs were not available or affordable, but one really did not know what was the cause of her sickness. Everytime Ammamma talks about Jyotsna, she always mentions her eyes. Her photograph exists in a frame. I will upload it one of these days after getting it from Maapi and scanning it. I was always wistful of having an elder sister and brother, more so the sister. But who knows - maybe I would have been jealous of her famed beauty? How do we know how we would behave unless we actually confront situations? Incidentally, I must also mention that Ammamma always showed her happiness and humour uproariously, but kept her grief to herself. She is very stoical in the face of adversity (I wonder why those genes bypassed me and went to Sweety) and makes people think that she is a very tough woman and a hard nut to crack. They say it snidely too. But what do they know of her pain in multiple losses - be it child birth, acute financial problems, rejection in relationships within and outside family and other issues. What do they know of her magnanimity of spirit when she welcomed and helped and looked after people who turned their faces away in times of her dire problems? This is what I admire most in Ammamma and react very loudly and angrily when someone like the man upstairs keeps saying that Ammamma is very strong and tough and nothing will happen to her and that he is the one who needs to be sympathised. You will see more of her resilient spirit in the coming blogs.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Martial Arts, Posts and Leadership
The initial strategy of the Communists joining Congress organizations in order to represent their views and influence policies also continued with Women's causes as well. In accordance with this policy, Ammamma and a few others from the Communist Party Women's organization approached and sought membership in the Ladies Club of Guntur headed by Konda Parvati, the daughter of a leader Konda Venkatappaiah. Initially, the move was welcomed and they participated in some activities, however, they were politely asked to leave as they were communists. An interesting story Ammamma recalls is that Konda Parvati wanted to get married, but Gandhi told her not to do so because it would hurt her father! I wish I knew more details.
Later, Ammamma got a chance to visit Bombay again. This time, she, along with Malladi Vijayalakshmi were nominated by the Party to attend the All India Women's Conference (AIWC) there. Ammamma and Vijayalakshmi travelled first to Secunderabad, where they were received by a comrade S V K Prasad and taken to another comrade's house. This man was Iyengar and his wife was the sister (popularly called as Didi, but Ammamma forgot the original name) of Putchalapalli Sundarayya's wife Leela. Both the sisters were Maharashtrians and were the daughters of a lady (again popularly called as Tai) and who was responsible for the community kitchen and other arrangements for the party. There were several such marriages between men and women of the party, who truly believed that India was one whole and showed that they stood by the principle of a united India and Indianness. This would indeed appear in stark contrast to today's day and age of fractured regionalism motivated purely for political gain.
Anyway, Ammamma and Vijayalakshmi were then put on the Bombay train and after that they were on their own. They found out the address of the party office in Bombay and reached there safely. Again, if today such young people from the back of beyond of rural India, that too from another language speaking state, or speaking Hindi with an accent and/or literal Hindi, then god knows how they would have been hard put to stay without being cheated at least for a long taxi ride at the very minimum. Sometimes I wonder what freedom is all about. Like Rabindranath Tagore said - where the mind is without fear - kind of a society, or a highly sharpened and alert mind always watchful of any sleight in speech or action? By becoming smarter are we liberated, considering the increasingly inebriated and perverted society? However, there also existed another kind of India - Udayam's elder sister suffered a lot. she was the wife of an Inspector of Police named Chandramouli and he used beat up his wife black and blue. Once he beat up his pregnant wife and later showed evidence that she climbed a ladder and fell from it. Udayam revolted against this man, but to what avail, I do not know. Hope that poor soul got some relief and solace. Sorry about my distractions, but I feel that these are significant for capturing the societal fabric.
This Conference was not particularly eventful in Ammamma's memory, except for the fact that she could witness the felicitation of Vijayalakshmi Pandit - Nehru's sister and Sarojini Naidu (she was called the Nightingale of India for the poetry she wrote - I remember 'Bangle Sellers are we' for some reason. She was famous in Hyderabad as she had married Jayasurya, a famous homeopathy pioneer and, incidentally, Hyderabad Central University took birth initially in a building called Golden Threshold in Nampally, which was her house and which she donated for the setting up of the University). Ammamma was happy that though in a way Sarojini Naidu belonged to Hyderabad, she had not seen her before. She was also a fan of Vijayalakshmi Pandit's personality. She was an imposingly beautiful handsome woman (oxymoron?), and Ammamma was very happy to see her in person and found that pictures did little justice to the regal bearing of Vijayalakshmi Pandit. (At a later date, Ammamma was to be disappointed that her idol chose to be the Ambassador to capitalist Washington over communist Moscow!).
When they came back, Ammamma was trained first in Guntur in politics, history and geography. Later her training shifted to Vijayawada for more intensive training by veterans and also including Karra Saamu (a lathi wielding self defence/assault exercise regimen). Can you imagine, in the forties, people like Ammamma wore khaki shorts and shirts and did these exercises in a parade in the heart of conservative Vijayawada! I believe that Chandra Rajeswara Rao was teaching the women all the steps of the exercise and after the first day demo, he said that Ammamma would now be the Trainer for the rest of the team! She must have been a great learner of martial skills.
Around this time, Vijayawada was selected to host the resoundingly successful Farmer Grand Meet (Rythu Maha Sabha). Ammamma was the Assistant Commander of the Women's Volunteer Force. Manikonda Suryavati was the Commander. I wish Ammamma had pursued a military career or a police one, she would have been so courageous and imposing! In fact, military was a career option that she seriously considered and was selected, but chickened out from final enrolment as she did not like the idea of being away in far off places with too many movements in between and being away from action (while actually engaging in action on the war front!). She was clearly for the masses and she gave up wanting to work in the military. However, her preference for the martial skills was evident in the zeal with which she recited/taught poetry in schools in later years (more interesting details on this to come in future blogs).
(I would like to put a few dates in perspective here to set the sequence right. I would have to do this often I guess. Probably after I first document the complete history of Ammamma, I will rewrite it with corrections and additions. Ammamma's formal political indoctrination would have been in late 1942. Between 1942 and 43, she attended the two conferences in Bombay. She was the District Women's Secretary in 1943 and in the same year, she was elected as the Working Committee Member in the first AP State Women's Mahasabha at Kancherlapalem (Guntur district)In 1944-45, she was an active member of the Fifth Column (interesting episode - described later in this blog). The picketing of the ITC/ILTD office was around 1946-47).
The II World War was distant for Indians till the Japanese joined the war towards the end and started their conquest of the east. The moment they dropped bombs in Vizag and Madras, people were petrified. That was when the Fifth Column preparations began and Ammamma whole heartedly participated in the training for self defence, organization of the fifth column, air raid precautions, first aid etc. However, the threat of a war receded fast with the defeat of Japan and Germany and the victory of the Allied Forces.
The problem with this blog of mine is that most of Ammamma's pictures have not been preserved well. I remember one of hers playing the harmonium which I saw in her second sister's house in Ravivaripalem. I will try and see if we can get some pictures from somewhere. I am however happy that there is one that is available in a paper clipping of which I am now posting a scanned image below.Ammamma is in the row immediately behind the seated people - fifth from the left.
Later, Ammamma got a chance to visit Bombay again. This time, she, along with Malladi Vijayalakshmi were nominated by the Party to attend the All India Women's Conference (AIWC) there. Ammamma and Vijayalakshmi travelled first to Secunderabad, where they were received by a comrade S V K Prasad and taken to another comrade's house. This man was Iyengar and his wife was the sister (popularly called as Didi, but Ammamma forgot the original name) of Putchalapalli Sundarayya's wife Leela. Both the sisters were Maharashtrians and were the daughters of a lady (again popularly called as Tai) and who was responsible for the community kitchen and other arrangements for the party. There were several such marriages between men and women of the party, who truly believed that India was one whole and showed that they stood by the principle of a united India and Indianness. This would indeed appear in stark contrast to today's day and age of fractured regionalism motivated purely for political gain.
Anyway, Ammamma and Vijayalakshmi were then put on the Bombay train and after that they were on their own. They found out the address of the party office in Bombay and reached there safely. Again, if today such young people from the back of beyond of rural India, that too from another language speaking state, or speaking Hindi with an accent and/or literal Hindi, then god knows how they would have been hard put to stay without being cheated at least for a long taxi ride at the very minimum. Sometimes I wonder what freedom is all about. Like Rabindranath Tagore said - where the mind is without fear - kind of a society, or a highly sharpened and alert mind always watchful of any sleight in speech or action? By becoming smarter are we liberated, considering the increasingly inebriated and perverted society? However, there also existed another kind of India - Udayam's elder sister suffered a lot. she was the wife of an Inspector of Police named Chandramouli and he used beat up his wife black and blue. Once he beat up his pregnant wife and later showed evidence that she climbed a ladder and fell from it. Udayam revolted against this man, but to what avail, I do not know. Hope that poor soul got some relief and solace. Sorry about my distractions, but I feel that these are significant for capturing the societal fabric.
This Conference was not particularly eventful in Ammamma's memory, except for the fact that she could witness the felicitation of Vijayalakshmi Pandit - Nehru's sister and Sarojini Naidu (she was called the Nightingale of India for the poetry she wrote - I remember 'Bangle Sellers are we' for some reason. She was famous in Hyderabad as she had married Jayasurya, a famous homeopathy pioneer and, incidentally, Hyderabad Central University took birth initially in a building called Golden Threshold in Nampally, which was her house and which she donated for the setting up of the University). Ammamma was happy that though in a way Sarojini Naidu belonged to Hyderabad, she had not seen her before. She was also a fan of Vijayalakshmi Pandit's personality. She was an imposingly beautiful handsome woman (oxymoron?), and Ammamma was very happy to see her in person and found that pictures did little justice to the regal bearing of Vijayalakshmi Pandit. (At a later date, Ammamma was to be disappointed that her idol chose to be the Ambassador to capitalist Washington over communist Moscow!).
When they came back, Ammamma was trained first in Guntur in politics, history and geography. Later her training shifted to Vijayawada for more intensive training by veterans and also including Karra Saamu (a lathi wielding self defence/assault exercise regimen). Can you imagine, in the forties, people like Ammamma wore khaki shorts and shirts and did these exercises in a parade in the heart of conservative Vijayawada! I believe that Chandra Rajeswara Rao was teaching the women all the steps of the exercise and after the first day demo, he said that Ammamma would now be the Trainer for the rest of the team! She must have been a great learner of martial skills.
Around this time, Vijayawada was selected to host the resoundingly successful Farmer Grand Meet (Rythu Maha Sabha). Ammamma was the Assistant Commander of the Women's Volunteer Force. Manikonda Suryavati was the Commander. I wish Ammamma had pursued a military career or a police one, she would have been so courageous and imposing! In fact, military was a career option that she seriously considered and was selected, but chickened out from final enrolment as she did not like the idea of being away in far off places with too many movements in between and being away from action (while actually engaging in action on the war front!). She was clearly for the masses and she gave up wanting to work in the military. However, her preference for the martial skills was evident in the zeal with which she recited/taught poetry in schools in later years (more interesting details on this to come in future blogs).
(I would like to put a few dates in perspective here to set the sequence right. I would have to do this often I guess. Probably after I first document the complete history of Ammamma, I will rewrite it with corrections and additions. Ammamma's formal political indoctrination would have been in late 1942. Between 1942 and 43, she attended the two conferences in Bombay. She was the District Women's Secretary in 1943 and in the same year, she was elected as the Working Committee Member in the first AP State Women's Mahasabha at Kancherlapalem (Guntur district)In 1944-45, she was an active member of the Fifth Column (interesting episode - described later in this blog). The picketing of the ITC/ILTD office was around 1946-47).
The II World War was distant for Indians till the Japanese joined the war towards the end and started their conquest of the east. The moment they dropped bombs in Vizag and Madras, people were petrified. That was when the Fifth Column preparations began and Ammamma whole heartedly participated in the training for self defence, organization of the fifth column, air raid precautions, first aid etc. However, the threat of a war receded fast with the defeat of Japan and Germany and the victory of the Allied Forces.
The problem with this blog of mine is that most of Ammamma's pictures have not been preserved well. I remember one of hers playing the harmonium which I saw in her second sister's house in Ravivaripalem. I will try and see if we can get some pictures from somewhere. I am however happy that there is one that is available in a paper clipping of which I am now posting a scanned image below.Ammamma is in the row immediately behind the seated people - fifth from the left.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Taking the Lead
Ammamma says that she got married shortly before the marriage of Indira Gandhi, which was quite talked about because of Nehru's dislike of Feroze Gandhi for several reasons, including his prowess in oratory. Imagine, Ammamma was a mere 16 years (June 13, 1941 maybe) when she got married, but considering that her older sisters got married before 12 years, which was the official age at that point of time in India, I must say that she got married quite late for her generation! Even Vanakumari Pinni was 14 when she got married. At Vanakumari Pinni's marriage, Ammamma's main job was to bathe all the kids of the house as others were engaged in cooking and other chores! It is also interesting to note that despite news of her affair and her subsequent rejection of the same, the family, traditional as it may have been, never looked down on her. In fact, she was always treated with respect, she was welcome in all the houses and her views sought after, even by the extended family, such as her second sister's brother in law, who insisted that Ammamma give her opinion even on the positioning of the doors in his house! Such is the power of education and self confidence in women.
(Sweety, Preeti- This brother in law of Ammamma's second sister, is another Jhansakka's father - she visited us a few times and both of you seemed to like her, I hope you remember her. Her husband works in a sugar factory and your Naanna's eldest Atthayya's husband also worked there and both of them were friends and which I came to know about it after my marriage, when she came visiting us).
Having finished her exams and also losing her first born, Ammamma took to writing letters to magazines (she remembers writing more to Prajavani from the Deccan Herald stable, published from Bangalore) on issues, and also wrote counters to the replies to her letters, keeping up her debating skills alive and kicking. She was itching to do more. So she went about enquiring about the setting up of women's organizations/associations and wrote to the Toorpu Krishna Mahila Sangham President named Katragadda Hanumayyamma at Vijayawada to find out details. She was an avid reader and a regular visitor at the town library, where she befriended several women from all political affiliations and tried to discuss her proposal with them on the setting up of a women's cell. At about this time (1942), the famous and powerful Quit India Movement was launched by Gandhi and set the imagination of the country on fire in their 'Do or Die' slogan. Cutting across parties, castes and classes, many excitedly joined this movement. It is interesting to note that the Communists and Congress worked together on many issues, in fact many joined the Congress through the route of N G Ranga's Rythu Sanghams (farmer associations).
They used to meet secretly in the houses of different people as there was a ban on such meetings. Some of the meetings were held at Ammamma's house also. She remembers leaders such as Lavu Balagangadhar Rao addressing them. These were heady days, made all the more exciting by the ban.
After sometime, Communist Party was legalised and the ban lifted and the party moved into high gear organizing cadre mobilization, meetings and activities. Ammamma finally got a response for her mail on how to set up women's organizations. She was summoned to the Zilla office in Tenali to start working. Obviously she was good and was better utilised at the Head quarters in Guntur, to where she was soon shifted. The party was busy organizing different groups such as ryots (farmers), women, youth and children and the major task was spreading awareness on rights, responsibilities, health and other messages, as well as organizing women's groups.
She very quickly proved her mettle at organizing activities and systematic handling of work, good letter drafting and very good communication skills. She was soon given direct membership to the party (a short cut in place of going through being first the sympathiser, associate member, cell member route - she says with pride!). The party leadership also realized that Ammamma and Tathayya were separated because of this and they ordered him to resign from his government job and now join the party full time. He started working in the party office as Secretary. Tatayya thus graduated to being a member after being a sympathiser since his high school days, where he was indoctrinated into socialism and communism philosophy by his senior Mallayya (this mentor of Tatayya became a Fire Officer later in life). Tatayya was a poet as you know, and he wrote poems on Spanish war while in school at Kolluru.
Ammamma was away quite a lot. Tatayya chafed at being used only for Headquarter based organizing activities and aspired for field work. But since Tatayya had the gift of writing, he was asked to contribute more here. He slaked his thirst for activism by organizing the Press Workers' Union in Guntur and boosting their cause. This was the first of the press/journalist unions that he would find and lead. At this time, he was also requested by Praja Shakti, a leftist Telugu paper, to contribute news from Guntur, and thus began his illustrious career in Telugu journalism.
Busy as a Bee
In 1943, the first All India Communist Party Conference was held in Bombay (Mumbai as it was then known). P C Joshi, the All India Party Secretary sent a circular requesting all unit delegations to bring along a cultural troupe, and that the best one would win a prize of Rs 500 for the party unit. Makineni Basava Punnayya was determined that their unit must win a prize. His contention was that the Bongs would only sing Robindra Shongeet (the favourite of the classes) and therefore, they should stage folk dances that represent the masses. A group of men and women were stationed in Vijayawada for training for this purpose - Ammammma was among them. The trainers were V Madhusudana Rao (he later became a famous cine director of Tollywood), and Mukkamala Nagabhushanam (later of famous as Praja Natya Mandali theatre group, which is a landmark institution in Telugu theatre). It was very disciplined and rigorous training on Chindu dance, Kolatam (the types you see in garba dance during Dusshera time), and Uyyala Paatalu (lullabies), Oggu Katha (by men - soothsayer godmen types - you may noticed the continuance of this in the annual Mahankali Bonalu). Through all these, denouncement of fascism and propagating socialism were the main themes that were enacted. Ammamma participated in Chindu dance and Kolatam. The training was so intense that she used to feel famished even after being given a heavy breakfast. Ammamma was nominated to the Bombay Conference as a delegate from Andhra that comprised of personalities such as Makhdum Moiuddin, Pramila Tai, from Hyderabad and Vemulapalli Hanumantha Rao (Vijaya Ghanta's father), Makineni Basava Punnayya, Chandra Savitramma, Katragadda Hanumayamma, Chandra Rajeswara Rao, Vellanki Annapurna, Putchalapalli Sundaraiah and others from Andhra. The programme was punctuated with one dance item by AP Unit followed by a song by the Bengal Unit and the the entire crowd applauding loudly for the AP Team. Imagine Ammamma bundling up her saree at knee level and taking it back and inserting it at her waist (it is easy to say gochi kattandam in Telugu). The AP state unit was the proud winner of the national prize. Not only that, the Maharashtra Unit requested them to perform separately in another hall for the general public. Alas! If only Ammamma had pursued an acting career - where would we have been??
Ammamma became the District Women's Association Secretary. She started touring villages and forming women's groups, talking to them on several issues and used to organize camps as well. The organization banner was Freedom, Equality and Progress (emulative of the French slogan). Campaigning was against rampant social evils such as child marriages, marriages of women to old men, propagating and performing widow remarriage, education, building latrines etc. An interesting niche fight was against the purdah system that existed among the Rajus, where women did not even know their husband's face even after children were born!! Isn't it strange that this relic of Muslim influence transcended from North India and was carried out to such an extreme? The latest followers of any practice/religion appear to be more zealous. Many widow marriages were performed. One particular marriage she remembers vividly is that of Innaiah and Sarojini. Sarojini's husband had died in a railway accident. Sarojini's father was dead against the wedding, though her mother and aunt had agreed to it. He sat with a lathi (a big stick) on the front doorstep. Others got scared but Ammamma braved him and went inside and brought Sarojini out. Despite his being livid, Saraojini's father said he could not bring himself to hit a girl like Ammamma, who had moved freely in his house as his own daughter. When I was around 12, Ammamma took Maapi and me to Innaiah & Sarojini's house in Guntur and I remember the house, the heavenly feeling of sleeping outdoors in summer, the food and the smiling face of the affectionate Sarojini. She showed off her four-girl brood to Ammamma and jokingly gesticulated that she was responsible for it. That family made an impression on me as they were quite affectionate between themselves and with others, a trait which is not very common in our otherwise undemonstrative society.
Another thing on which they used to spread a lot of awareness about was on the nutritious food and the way to clean and cook it. Of course food was her favourite anyday and she believed in what she was preaching, by following it in letter and spirit. This was also the case with Tatayya in terms of love for food and the need to eat properly - no wonder, I am such a glutton! I also know that it is because of this, I have developed a lifelong habit of eating everything on my plate, and particularly including the curry leaf (karivepaku)! Of course, this helped to me survive at any place on earth. Dr Komarraju Atchamamba, an avid activist, wrote a book on Pregnancy and Child Care, and this was widely preached to counter crude birthing methods prevalent then, including one that made the hapless woman to run around a room while in labour, taking support from a thick rope tied to the ceiling of the room. They talked specially about hygiene and the importance of trained nurses to attend delivery.
Most would find it difficult to listen to lectures, so they used innovative media such as Burra Kadha (narrative play in verse form accompanied by rhythm & beat), songs, street plays, lullabies, Sodi (a typical crystal gazer type of woman going from house to house giving predictions), etc. The Burra Kadha was the most popular medium. A Burra Kadha has a typically structured format. There were three people - one the main narrator (kadhakudu or kadhakuralu), who uses verse and song for a story line and accompanies it with chirutalu (small hand held clappers), the second one was for comedy - Hasyam, and the third was the commentator who explained in greater detail and outlined the learning (usually political) from the story and the comedy. The men's Burra kadha party became famous hugely, even at a national level and Shaikh Nazar became legendary. The women's burra kadha became famous as Moturi Udayam's Burra kadha as she was very effective. Hasyam was provided by Chintala Koteswaramma and the commentator was Mahankali Parvati.
Around 1944 (or 1945, Ammamma begs indulgence to her failing memory), the tobacco workers' strike was on in Guntur. Ammamma and her comrades kept the motivation of the workers high and also picketed outside the offices of British India Tobacco Co and ILTD. T Lakshmikantamma was also part of this picketing - she later became a Congress MP. There were men and boys also participating in the agitation. Ammamma and Lakshmikantamma and a few men were arrested and sentenced to one week's imprisonment. During the trial, the Magistrate asked if the arrested had anything to say in their defence, and none volunteered. Bapatla sub jail did not have more than 2 cells, which were used for criminals, so Ammamma and others were lodged in the verandah and they made a great picnic out of the whole imprisonment. They used to be fed food ordered from the hotel. This was the first of her imprisonments. I wish Ammamma bothered to fetch the records of all of her and Tatayya's jail sentences, they would have got Freedom Fighters' pensions and also land and what not. Somehow, both Ammamma and Tatayya were against going through the whole bureaucratically painful process of proof and file movement and I don't think I would have done it either.
(Sweety, Preeti- This brother in law of Ammamma's second sister, is another Jhansakka's father - she visited us a few times and both of you seemed to like her, I hope you remember her. Her husband works in a sugar factory and your Naanna's eldest Atthayya's husband also worked there and both of them were friends and which I came to know about it after my marriage, when she came visiting us).
Having finished her exams and also losing her first born, Ammamma took to writing letters to magazines (she remembers writing more to Prajavani from the Deccan Herald stable, published from Bangalore) on issues, and also wrote counters to the replies to her letters, keeping up her debating skills alive and kicking. She was itching to do more. So she went about enquiring about the setting up of women's organizations/associations and wrote to the Toorpu Krishna Mahila Sangham President named Katragadda Hanumayyamma at Vijayawada to find out details. She was an avid reader and a regular visitor at the town library, where she befriended several women from all political affiliations and tried to discuss her proposal with them on the setting up of a women's cell. At about this time (1942), the famous and powerful Quit India Movement was launched by Gandhi and set the imagination of the country on fire in their 'Do or Die' slogan. Cutting across parties, castes and classes, many excitedly joined this movement. It is interesting to note that the Communists and Congress worked together on many issues, in fact many joined the Congress through the route of N G Ranga's Rythu Sanghams (farmer associations).
They used to meet secretly in the houses of different people as there was a ban on such meetings. Some of the meetings were held at Ammamma's house also. She remembers leaders such as Lavu Balagangadhar Rao addressing them. These were heady days, made all the more exciting by the ban.
After sometime, Communist Party was legalised and the ban lifted and the party moved into high gear organizing cadre mobilization, meetings and activities. Ammamma finally got a response for her mail on how to set up women's organizations. She was summoned to the Zilla office in Tenali to start working. Obviously she was good and was better utilised at the Head quarters in Guntur, to where she was soon shifted. The party was busy organizing different groups such as ryots (farmers), women, youth and children and the major task was spreading awareness on rights, responsibilities, health and other messages, as well as organizing women's groups.
She very quickly proved her mettle at organizing activities and systematic handling of work, good letter drafting and very good communication skills. She was soon given direct membership to the party (a short cut in place of going through being first the sympathiser, associate member, cell member route - she says with pride!). The party leadership also realized that Ammamma and Tathayya were separated because of this and they ordered him to resign from his government job and now join the party full time. He started working in the party office as Secretary. Tatayya thus graduated to being a member after being a sympathiser since his high school days, where he was indoctrinated into socialism and communism philosophy by his senior Mallayya (this mentor of Tatayya became a Fire Officer later in life). Tatayya was a poet as you know, and he wrote poems on Spanish war while in school at Kolluru.
Ammamma was away quite a lot. Tatayya chafed at being used only for Headquarter based organizing activities and aspired for field work. But since Tatayya had the gift of writing, he was asked to contribute more here. He slaked his thirst for activism by organizing the Press Workers' Union in Guntur and boosting their cause. This was the first of the press/journalist unions that he would find and lead. At this time, he was also requested by Praja Shakti, a leftist Telugu paper, to contribute news from Guntur, and thus began his illustrious career in Telugu journalism.
Busy as a Bee
In 1943, the first All India Communist Party Conference was held in Bombay (Mumbai as it was then known). P C Joshi, the All India Party Secretary sent a circular requesting all unit delegations to bring along a cultural troupe, and that the best one would win a prize of Rs 500 for the party unit. Makineni Basava Punnayya was determined that their unit must win a prize. His contention was that the Bongs would only sing Robindra Shongeet (the favourite of the classes) and therefore, they should stage folk dances that represent the masses. A group of men and women were stationed in Vijayawada for training for this purpose - Ammammma was among them. The trainers were V Madhusudana Rao (he later became a famous cine director of Tollywood), and Mukkamala Nagabhushanam (later of famous as Praja Natya Mandali theatre group, which is a landmark institution in Telugu theatre). It was very disciplined and rigorous training on Chindu dance, Kolatam (the types you see in garba dance during Dusshera time), and Uyyala Paatalu (lullabies), Oggu Katha (by men - soothsayer godmen types - you may noticed the continuance of this in the annual Mahankali Bonalu). Through all these, denouncement of fascism and propagating socialism were the main themes that were enacted. Ammamma participated in Chindu dance and Kolatam. The training was so intense that she used to feel famished even after being given a heavy breakfast. Ammamma was nominated to the Bombay Conference as a delegate from Andhra that comprised of personalities such as Makhdum Moiuddin, Pramila Tai, from Hyderabad and Vemulapalli Hanumantha Rao (Vijaya Ghanta's father), Makineni Basava Punnayya, Chandra Savitramma, Katragadda Hanumayamma, Chandra Rajeswara Rao, Vellanki Annapurna, Putchalapalli Sundaraiah and others from Andhra. The programme was punctuated with one dance item by AP Unit followed by a song by the Bengal Unit and the the entire crowd applauding loudly for the AP Team. Imagine Ammamma bundling up her saree at knee level and taking it back and inserting it at her waist (it is easy to say gochi kattandam in Telugu). The AP state unit was the proud winner of the national prize. Not only that, the Maharashtra Unit requested them to perform separately in another hall for the general public. Alas! If only Ammamma had pursued an acting career - where would we have been??
Ammamma became the District Women's Association Secretary. She started touring villages and forming women's groups, talking to them on several issues and used to organize camps as well. The organization banner was Freedom, Equality and Progress (emulative of the French slogan). Campaigning was against rampant social evils such as child marriages, marriages of women to old men, propagating and performing widow remarriage, education, building latrines etc. An interesting niche fight was against the purdah system that existed among the Rajus, where women did not even know their husband's face even after children were born!! Isn't it strange that this relic of Muslim influence transcended from North India and was carried out to such an extreme? The latest followers of any practice/religion appear to be more zealous. Many widow marriages were performed. One particular marriage she remembers vividly is that of Innaiah and Sarojini. Sarojini's husband had died in a railway accident. Sarojini's father was dead against the wedding, though her mother and aunt had agreed to it. He sat with a lathi (a big stick) on the front doorstep. Others got scared but Ammamma braved him and went inside and brought Sarojini out. Despite his being livid, Saraojini's father said he could not bring himself to hit a girl like Ammamma, who had moved freely in his house as his own daughter. When I was around 12, Ammamma took Maapi and me to Innaiah & Sarojini's house in Guntur and I remember the house, the heavenly feeling of sleeping outdoors in summer, the food and the smiling face of the affectionate Sarojini. She showed off her four-girl brood to Ammamma and jokingly gesticulated that she was responsible for it. That family made an impression on me as they were quite affectionate between themselves and with others, a trait which is not very common in our otherwise undemonstrative society.
Another thing on which they used to spread a lot of awareness about was on the nutritious food and the way to clean and cook it. Of course food was her favourite anyday and she believed in what she was preaching, by following it in letter and spirit. This was also the case with Tatayya in terms of love for food and the need to eat properly - no wonder, I am such a glutton! I also know that it is because of this, I have developed a lifelong habit of eating everything on my plate, and particularly including the curry leaf (karivepaku)! Of course, this helped to me survive at any place on earth. Dr Komarraju Atchamamba, an avid activist, wrote a book on Pregnancy and Child Care, and this was widely preached to counter crude birthing methods prevalent then, including one that made the hapless woman to run around a room while in labour, taking support from a thick rope tied to the ceiling of the room. They talked specially about hygiene and the importance of trained nurses to attend delivery.
Most would find it difficult to listen to lectures, so they used innovative media such as Burra Kadha (narrative play in verse form accompanied by rhythm & beat), songs, street plays, lullabies, Sodi (a typical crystal gazer type of woman going from house to house giving predictions), etc. The Burra Kadha was the most popular medium. A Burra Kadha has a typically structured format. There were three people - one the main narrator (kadhakudu or kadhakuralu), who uses verse and song for a story line and accompanies it with chirutalu (small hand held clappers), the second one was for comedy - Hasyam, and the third was the commentator who explained in greater detail and outlined the learning (usually political) from the story and the comedy. The men's Burra kadha party became famous hugely, even at a national level and Shaikh Nazar became legendary. The women's burra kadha became famous as Moturi Udayam's Burra kadha as she was very effective. Hasyam was provided by Chintala Koteswaramma and the commentator was Mahankali Parvati.
Around 1944 (or 1945, Ammamma begs indulgence to her failing memory), the tobacco workers' strike was on in Guntur. Ammamma and her comrades kept the motivation of the workers high and also picketed outside the offices of British India Tobacco Co and ILTD. T Lakshmikantamma was also part of this picketing - she later became a Congress MP. There were men and boys also participating in the agitation. Ammamma and Lakshmikantamma and a few men were arrested and sentenced to one week's imprisonment. During the trial, the Magistrate asked if the arrested had anything to say in their defence, and none volunteered. Bapatla sub jail did not have more than 2 cells, which were used for criminals, so Ammamma and others were lodged in the verandah and they made a great picnic out of the whole imprisonment. They used to be fed food ordered from the hotel. This was the first of her imprisonments. I wish Ammamma bothered to fetch the records of all of her and Tatayya's jail sentences, they would have got Freedom Fighters' pensions and also land and what not. Somehow, both Ammamma and Tatayya were against going through the whole bureaucratically painful process of proof and file movement and I don't think I would have done it either.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Matric, marriage and communism
While writing this blog, I keep going back and forth with Ammamma on chronicling her amazing journey, it is inevitable that there are repetitions. There are times she tells me the same incidents again and again and refuses to believe that we covered the ground already. There are events that she remembers distinctly and some she is totally hazy on. Considering my own memory at this stage, I am not surprised that at 83, people, places and events appear so far removed as to seem unreal. The upshot of all this preamble is to appeal to all you readers of my blog to forgive ramblings and repetitions, which is actually a reflection of my own memory and my inability (or laziness) to devote time in rereading earlier blogs and editing.
When Ammamma came back from Allahabad, she was accepted back into the family, as they were willing to forgive her escapade for the genuine and legitimate reason for pursuing studies and also because, Satyam Mamayya and Suryavati Atthayya may have taken the brunt of it already for having abetted her 'crime'. The one person who felt most bereft about Ammamma leaving was her younger sister Vanakumari, who not only had to deal with not having her playmate, companion, confidante and sister around, but also to put up with the household chores. I am actually surprised that there was no rancour about this between them then or later, even though it must have been really tough. How wonderful it would be if we could emulate these great relationships!
However, as far as continuing studies were concerned, there were no champions, except for Satyam Mamayya and Suryavati Atthayya. It is her noble heart that made Suryavati Atthayya to set aside the fact the Ammamma had rebuffed her own brother's marriage proposal and was willing to support her further studies. Isn't it remarkable that a deep friendship would develop and remain steadfast between these two till July 14 of 2008, when Suryavati Atthayya passed away? In her death too, she was asking for Ammamma. Exceptional relationships such as these are seen by exception alone. Anyway, all of us who had witnessed this friendship at some time or the other, have not come away without some degree of impact and an enormous feel good satisfaction with us. Isn't it also remarkable that they were willing to make Ammamma study higher and higher even though none of them could go beyond the primary in their own education?
Satyam Mamayya then took her to Guntur and housed her in the house of Chadalawada Pitchaiah, who was active in the cause of Communism and supported students and others in their pursuit of education or political careers; by this time Satyam Mamayya had become a fan of Communist philosophy. Police would keep a watch on this house. Ammamma took tuition and started preparing for her Benares Matric exam in English meidum. Here she met many activists and intellectuals, she particularly remembers Vishwanadham, a good orator, Makineni Basava Punnaiah, Kanthamaneni Venkatratnam, Vemuri Srikrishna, Pullupula Sivaiah, Pratapa Rama Subba Rao (After my marriage, I met Pratapa Rama Subba Rao and his family as they were staying in Vidyanagar, and their fondness for Ammamma was evident even after so many decades) and many many more. The highlight of her stay here was the acquaintance and friendship with Moturi Udayam, an activist and the wife of a communist leader called Moturi Hanumantha Rao. Udayam was spirited and adventurous, given to wit and therefore, it was instant friendship that blossomed pretty rapidly (in Telugu it is described as 'one plate, one bed' - oke kancham, oke mancham). It was as if Ammamma was looking for a twin soul and could not find any till that time amongst her own sex. I myself had the occasion to meet Udayam when she visited us in our house at Amrit Nagar Colony (Troop Bazar, near Kothi), just about the time Maapi (for other readers - Maapi is short for Madhuri Pinni and my sister, eight and half years my junior) was born. She is a gregarious woman of generous proportions, full of beans and an ever smiling disposition. I was fascinated by her and also marvelled at her courage to wear a man's bush shirt as a blouse, simply because she was so fat. She was quite comfortable about it and was all the more admirable because of that. I was petrified that she would think of me as a weakling, but Ammamma and she were ever busy taking pot shots at each other in an enjoyable manner.
Moturi Hanumantha Rao was underground that time and police surveillance increased. When a message used to come that he was in the vicinity, Ammamma would do a recce to check out the police personnel, who, she said stuck out like sore thumbs in their civilian camouflage, with a pen and pad to take notes. Udayam used to go by the front or the back door to avoid them and meet her husband and come back and the police were none the wiser for it. Little wonder that there is so much lampooning of them in our movies and even in Enid Blyton's books (Mr Goon).
Political activism also spurred on exercise and fitness fads amongst the aspirants and they were strongly advised to build their bodies by exercise. There was a guy called Dandamudi Rajagopal who developed his bod so much that he used to demonstrate it by getting people to stand on his chest. Together with another such man called Kodi Rammurthy, their muscle prowess made a great impression on their young minds. Adventurous that they were, Udayam and Ammamma took turns and balanced each other on their chests at home, as they wanted to do everything that the boys did. Luckily for both of them, neither got injured in the process. They also suddenly decided to do early morning jogging. I don't know how many days they actually kept up with this, but they did succeed in scaring away women who used to get up at 5 am for their nature calls near to their house as at that time, Brodiepet 4th line was sparsely inhabited and ideal for open air business. These women got the fright of their lives when they saw these two girls pounding down the road and they left their mugs/lotas and ran for their lives!
Ammamma was preparing for her exams, but by now, Satyam Mamayya landed himself in financial difficulties because of lack of planning and some injudicious expenses. He had donated part of his property to the party, and spent generously on buying books and magazines, a cycle (a fashion in those days), smoking cigarettes, etc. He had to struggle quite a bit for some years after that, yet, I do not remember either Satyam Mamayya or Suryavati Atthayya show any time that were burdened with problems. They were always happy together, but their style of talking was as if they were fighting with each other. These kind of parleys were very enjoyable not only to them but to others who were fortunate to be in their vicinity. In any case, this brought home the reality to Ammamma that she will have to seriously think about her future. She also knew that from now on she would have to earn and learn to progress further in her studies. It was slow, given the need to work for thee party and to survive economically, but she did not give up - she did her Sahitya Ratna and Vidwan exams (MA equivalent exams in Hindi) years later, a couple of years after I was born. I think she passed Bhushan when I was born.
So when her brother Satyam brought a young man called Krishna, a dark, handsome man with great writing skills and a dash of humour, Ammamma agreed to her brother's proposal to marry him. They were married on the terrace of a house in Guntur amidst friends and comrades. They did not invite family, however, when they later came to know that anger subsided in both places, they visited each other's houses. Getting married was good because the alternative was marrying a farmer and remaining confined to the villages, which I think would have stifled Ammamma. For as long as she could move, I have never in my life seen her staying in one place. She went to every place at every opportunity and she took me and Maapi along with her always. We got to see a lot of things and discover so much of the world and that did us a world of good. It was also well that her marriage was not arranged by other members of her family as is evidenced by Vanakumari being married off to an affluent but a widowed man, who luckily was a nice man alright, but ended up losing money in a hotel venture and then went off in search of a homestead in Karnataka. It took years of hard toil to make their riches, which did come around the time I was in my late teens.
I always found it strange that settlers moved west in most locales, whether in our own country or in the UK or the US. I wonder why? Is it because the lower reaches of rivers are easier to negotiate and amenable for tilling than the upper reaches and therefore become affluent and competitive? And those who found opportunity for growth uncomfortable in a crowded place, chose to exercise their spirit of adventure and entrepreneurship and moved towards more difficult but attainable challenges? From Ammamma's family, Satyam Mamayya went o Miryalaguda, Bhushiah Mamayya went to Nizamabad and Vanakumari Pinni went to Bellary(Sanapuram) and made the dry, unrelenting soil turn soft and produce golden crops. Ammamma and Tatayya chose to go to Tenali, Guntur, Vijayawada, Kurnool and then finally Hyderabad in pursuit of their own mecca in careers.
In those days party membership of the Communist Party did not come easily. There was a process. First one had to be a sympathiser, then an associate member and then graduate to being a cell member. Ammamma and Tathayya took a house in Tenali, where he was working as a clerk in the sub-Registrar's office. Ammamma started taking coaching classes in Bharat Tutorial College next door. During this time, Ammamma, alongwith Tathayya visited his village China Pulivarru in Bhattiprolu for the first time. I remember Tathayya sanskritising his village name and telling me that is Bala Vyaghrapuri. I loved the way my father made up all these things. Jokes apart, it is a fact that Bhattiprolu was very ancient and was also an important centre for Buddhism as evidenced by relics and excavations. Its earlier (real) name was Pratipalapura.
When they were returning from the village Tathayya said that his parents wanted him to tie the traditional mangalasutra and since he refused, his mother still pressed it into his hands when they were leaving. Ammamma was quite delighted and wore it in the train itself because it was perhaps the first and the only jewellery she had till date! She returned to her studies and went to Benares to give her exam, which she passed. She was pregnant with her first child at the time of writing her exams, a boy, who was born in 1942 during the eighth month of her pregnancy and survived just for three days. After this, Ammamma got into the thick of activist politics, which is subject matter of my next blog.
When Ammamma came back from Allahabad, she was accepted back into the family, as they were willing to forgive her escapade for the genuine and legitimate reason for pursuing studies and also because, Satyam Mamayya and Suryavati Atthayya may have taken the brunt of it already for having abetted her 'crime'. The one person who felt most bereft about Ammamma leaving was her younger sister Vanakumari, who not only had to deal with not having her playmate, companion, confidante and sister around, but also to put up with the household chores. I am actually surprised that there was no rancour about this between them then or later, even though it must have been really tough. How wonderful it would be if we could emulate these great relationships!
However, as far as continuing studies were concerned, there were no champions, except for Satyam Mamayya and Suryavati Atthayya. It is her noble heart that made Suryavati Atthayya to set aside the fact the Ammamma had rebuffed her own brother's marriage proposal and was willing to support her further studies. Isn't it remarkable that a deep friendship would develop and remain steadfast between these two till July 14 of 2008, when Suryavati Atthayya passed away? In her death too, she was asking for Ammamma. Exceptional relationships such as these are seen by exception alone. Anyway, all of us who had witnessed this friendship at some time or the other, have not come away without some degree of impact and an enormous feel good satisfaction with us. Isn't it also remarkable that they were willing to make Ammamma study higher and higher even though none of them could go beyond the primary in their own education?
Satyam Mamayya then took her to Guntur and housed her in the house of Chadalawada Pitchaiah, who was active in the cause of Communism and supported students and others in their pursuit of education or political careers; by this time Satyam Mamayya had become a fan of Communist philosophy. Police would keep a watch on this house. Ammamma took tuition and started preparing for her Benares Matric exam in English meidum. Here she met many activists and intellectuals, she particularly remembers Vishwanadham, a good orator, Makineni Basava Punnaiah, Kanthamaneni Venkatratnam, Vemuri Srikrishna, Pullupula Sivaiah, Pratapa Rama Subba Rao (After my marriage, I met Pratapa Rama Subba Rao and his family as they were staying in Vidyanagar, and their fondness for Ammamma was evident even after so many decades) and many many more. The highlight of her stay here was the acquaintance and friendship with Moturi Udayam, an activist and the wife of a communist leader called Moturi Hanumantha Rao. Udayam was spirited and adventurous, given to wit and therefore, it was instant friendship that blossomed pretty rapidly (in Telugu it is described as 'one plate, one bed' - oke kancham, oke mancham). It was as if Ammamma was looking for a twin soul and could not find any till that time amongst her own sex. I myself had the occasion to meet Udayam when she visited us in our house at Amrit Nagar Colony (Troop Bazar, near Kothi), just about the time Maapi (for other readers - Maapi is short for Madhuri Pinni and my sister, eight and half years my junior) was born. She is a gregarious woman of generous proportions, full of beans and an ever smiling disposition. I was fascinated by her and also marvelled at her courage to wear a man's bush shirt as a blouse, simply because she was so fat. She was quite comfortable about it and was all the more admirable because of that. I was petrified that she would think of me as a weakling, but Ammamma and she were ever busy taking pot shots at each other in an enjoyable manner.
Moturi Hanumantha Rao was underground that time and police surveillance increased. When a message used to come that he was in the vicinity, Ammamma would do a recce to check out the police personnel, who, she said stuck out like sore thumbs in their civilian camouflage, with a pen and pad to take notes. Udayam used to go by the front or the back door to avoid them and meet her husband and come back and the police were none the wiser for it. Little wonder that there is so much lampooning of them in our movies and even in Enid Blyton's books (Mr Goon).
Political activism also spurred on exercise and fitness fads amongst the aspirants and they were strongly advised to build their bodies by exercise. There was a guy called Dandamudi Rajagopal who developed his bod so much that he used to demonstrate it by getting people to stand on his chest. Together with another such man called Kodi Rammurthy, their muscle prowess made a great impression on their young minds. Adventurous that they were, Udayam and Ammamma took turns and balanced each other on their chests at home, as they wanted to do everything that the boys did. Luckily for both of them, neither got injured in the process. They also suddenly decided to do early morning jogging. I don't know how many days they actually kept up with this, but they did succeed in scaring away women who used to get up at 5 am for their nature calls near to their house as at that time, Brodiepet 4th line was sparsely inhabited and ideal for open air business. These women got the fright of their lives when they saw these two girls pounding down the road and they left their mugs/lotas and ran for their lives!
Ammamma was preparing for her exams, but by now, Satyam Mamayya landed himself in financial difficulties because of lack of planning and some injudicious expenses. He had donated part of his property to the party, and spent generously on buying books and magazines, a cycle (a fashion in those days), smoking cigarettes, etc. He had to struggle quite a bit for some years after that, yet, I do not remember either Satyam Mamayya or Suryavati Atthayya show any time that were burdened with problems. They were always happy together, but their style of talking was as if they were fighting with each other. These kind of parleys were very enjoyable not only to them but to others who were fortunate to be in their vicinity. In any case, this brought home the reality to Ammamma that she will have to seriously think about her future. She also knew that from now on she would have to earn and learn to progress further in her studies. It was slow, given the need to work for thee party and to survive economically, but she did not give up - she did her Sahitya Ratna and Vidwan exams (MA equivalent exams in Hindi) years later, a couple of years after I was born. I think she passed Bhushan when I was born.
So when her brother Satyam brought a young man called Krishna, a dark, handsome man with great writing skills and a dash of humour, Ammamma agreed to her brother's proposal to marry him. They were married on the terrace of a house in Guntur amidst friends and comrades. They did not invite family, however, when they later came to know that anger subsided in both places, they visited each other's houses. Getting married was good because the alternative was marrying a farmer and remaining confined to the villages, which I think would have stifled Ammamma. For as long as she could move, I have never in my life seen her staying in one place. She went to every place at every opportunity and she took me and Maapi along with her always. We got to see a lot of things and discover so much of the world and that did us a world of good. It was also well that her marriage was not arranged by other members of her family as is evidenced by Vanakumari being married off to an affluent but a widowed man, who luckily was a nice man alright, but ended up losing money in a hotel venture and then went off in search of a homestead in Karnataka. It took years of hard toil to make their riches, which did come around the time I was in my late teens.
I always found it strange that settlers moved west in most locales, whether in our own country or in the UK or the US. I wonder why? Is it because the lower reaches of rivers are easier to negotiate and amenable for tilling than the upper reaches and therefore become affluent and competitive? And those who found opportunity for growth uncomfortable in a crowded place, chose to exercise their spirit of adventure and entrepreneurship and moved towards more difficult but attainable challenges? From Ammamma's family, Satyam Mamayya went o Miryalaguda, Bhushiah Mamayya went to Nizamabad and Vanakumari Pinni went to Bellary(Sanapuram) and made the dry, unrelenting soil turn soft and produce golden crops. Ammamma and Tatayya chose to go to Tenali, Guntur, Vijayawada, Kurnool and then finally Hyderabad in pursuit of their own mecca in careers.
In those days party membership of the Communist Party did not come easily. There was a process. First one had to be a sympathiser, then an associate member and then graduate to being a cell member. Ammamma and Tathayya took a house in Tenali, where he was working as a clerk in the sub-Registrar's office. Ammamma started taking coaching classes in Bharat Tutorial College next door. During this time, Ammamma, alongwith Tathayya visited his village China Pulivarru in Bhattiprolu for the first time. I remember Tathayya sanskritising his village name and telling me that is Bala Vyaghrapuri. I loved the way my father made up all these things. Jokes apart, it is a fact that Bhattiprolu was very ancient and was also an important centre for Buddhism as evidenced by relics and excavations. Its earlier (real) name was Pratipalapura.
When they were returning from the village Tathayya said that his parents wanted him to tie the traditional mangalasutra and since he refused, his mother still pressed it into his hands when they were leaving. Ammamma was quite delighted and wore it in the train itself because it was perhaps the first and the only jewellery she had till date! She returned to her studies and went to Benares to give her exam, which she passed. She was pregnant with her first child at the time of writing her exams, a boy, who was born in 1942 during the eighth month of her pregnancy and survived just for three days. After this, Ammamma got into the thick of activist politics, which is subject matter of my next blog.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Thank you friends!
I am so happy that my friends are following this blog. While I would continue with my style of narration in the conversational mode with my daughters and niece, I will now try to include the geography and English equivalents, as one of my friends suggested. Here are a few terms that might be of relevance:
1. Village Bethapudi is situated in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh - towards the east side. In India, it would be South Central tilting towards the east.
2. Allahabad is in North India, separated by about 1200 miles, and which is as different as Tirana is from Johannesburg.
3. Sweety/Sweets are the pet names for Shraavya, my elder daughter, Preeti/Preets the same for my younger one Laasya and Nish/Nishka/Nishilu are for my niece Nishita.
4. Relationships - these are quite confusing for the non- Andhras, as they are decided by the side of the family. Also, relations by marriage also fit into the nomencalture as part of this side or that side of the family!
Ammamma = Maternal grandmother
Tatayya = Grandfather (maternal and paternal)
Mamayya = Uncle, usually maternal but also paternal aunt's husband
Athayya = Aunt, usually paternal, but also maternal uncle's wife
Annayya = Elder brother
Akka or Akkayya = Elder sister
Pinni = Aunt, mother's younger sister or father's younger brother's wife
Please feel free to ask me any doubts, and I will try to confuse you further!
1. Village Bethapudi is situated in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh - towards the east side. In India, it would be South Central tilting towards the east.
2. Allahabad is in North India, separated by about 1200 miles, and which is as different as Tirana is from Johannesburg.
3. Sweety/Sweets are the pet names for Shraavya, my elder daughter, Preeti/Preets the same for my younger one Laasya and Nish/Nishka/Nishilu are for my niece Nishita.
4. Relationships - these are quite confusing for the non- Andhras, as they are decided by the side of the family. Also, relations by marriage also fit into the nomencalture as part of this side or that side of the family!
Ammamma = Maternal grandmother
Tatayya = Grandfather (maternal and paternal)
Mamayya = Uncle, usually maternal but also paternal aunt's husband
Athayya = Aunt, usually paternal, but also maternal uncle's wife
Annayya = Elder brother
Akka or Akkayya = Elder sister
Pinni = Aunt, mother's younger sister or father's younger brother's wife
Please feel free to ask me any doubts, and I will try to confuse you further!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Happy Memories
I am not going to continue from the previous one, but take a slight detour.
While sharing her reminiscences with me, Ammamma suddenly got worried that she tended to share so many challenges of her life with us that she may be giving the picture of a childhood that was less than happy. She recalls the fun of being the younger lot in a joint family with sisters, brothers and sisters in law pampering her. There was a lot of fun when her brothers in law came visiting, as they were the target of many jokes and pranks, which was the normal practice. Ammamma and her brothers used to spread a small mound of broken earthenware pieces (penkulu) and then cover it up with the low seat (peeta) and invite them honourably for partaking lunch or dinner. They would then have great fun and laugh uproariously when the sitting down resulted in an embarrassing and prolonged cacophony of the pieces being crushed. Another prank was to put the durada gundaaku (a leaf that causes itching) on their beds.
She remembers the day Suryavati Atthayya came home as a new bride - she certainly did not have the coyness of a new bride - when Ammamma was shown to her as her aada bidda, she immediately commented - aada bidda? goda gidda? - and that marked the start of a lifelong friendship that transcended every relationship in the family and it also characterized their continual ribbing as the major medium of conversation (this of course all you three kids know and are witness to their constant repartee). She remembers Suryavati Atthayya as a very energetic and fun person (and actually fat at that time!), and alongwith her third sister in law Laxmikantamma, they made quite a riot in their huge yard playing all sorts of games such as chamma chakka, and the like and - hold your breath - marbles! Ammamma prides herself on being able to hit the farthest marble with her aim. Suryavati Atthayya and Laxmikantamma were lively and home was a fun place. Their parents' homes were also in nearby villages (Nagaram and Bellamvaripalle), and their bonding increased during travels. Satyam Mamayya was big chested and quite a six pack man. He was capable of hefting a bag of paddy on to his shoulders with facility. So they made a great pair physically and temperamentally as he was also fun loving.
A particular scene that is not happy which Ammamma remembers is that of the extraction of the heavy ankle ornaments which had to be removed from her sisters' feet when they outgrew them. A rope used to be tied to the anklet and to a pillar and the hapless girls used to be pulled till the solid silver metal bent and could be taken off their feet, only to be readorned in a bigger size.
Ammamma was a gourmet (she is specific to mention that it was not gluttony), and she enjoyed all kinds of freshly cooked foods, natural fruits and laments that they don't come like that anymore. She remembers biyyappindi jantikalu made by a big, special wooden press and eaten by dipping into bellam syrup. The press needed the muscle power of men (her brothers) for the finest extrusions. She loved a lot of dishes made of palm fruits (thaatikayalu). Thaati kudumulu, thaandra made by scraping of the pulp against a huge vertical sieve and then spread out to dry, apart from a whole lot of other snacks made in huge quantities and stored in baskets for the large family. She loved the freshly made thotakura kaadala pulusu from plants grown in their backyard. Many vegetables were sun dried in summer and stored for use in rainy season, when going out would be well nigh impossible. These were known as vorugulu. In summer they had a maize dish called mokka jonna thopa (more like a porridge).
Festivals were occasions which she enjoyed a lot. Deepawali was an elaborate festival. Preparations for that started way in advance of the date. She remembers the beautiful hanging lamp holders made from thaataku (dried palm leaves) and hung on the sides of each door. All crackers were made at home. Other festivals she liked were Atla Tadde, when swings were slung upon very big trees and all girls used to swing high and for a whole day, and also make and eat atlu early morning(pancakes - Atla Tadde means Pancake day- third of the lunar month).
She remembers her mother being very strict about the upbringing of girls, yet, she was tender enough not to let her daughters know the suffering she was undergoing due to probably a tumour in her womb - no details are known. She would insist on keeping her younger daughters with her always and not leave them even if she had to go for treatment, probably because she was scared that she may not see them again. So Ammamma and Vanakumari Pinni always went with her to Repalle Govt Hospital, then for a Nature Cure centre in Morthota. They used to travel by a goodu bandi (an oxcart with a purdah on all sides and Ammamma had to go to the front of the house and alert all men to vacate the porch because women had to travel). In the nature cure hospital, her mother was smeared with oil and sunbathed in the hot sun with a shade for her head only. None of these treatments helped her. However, when she actually passed away, Ammamma and Pinni were watching the Chariot festival on Vaikuntha Ekadasi at the temple and had to be summoned to her bedside after her death.
Isn't it surprising that Ammamma used to be religious in the sense of regularly going to temples, singing bhajans, etc., though I personally suspect that it may be because of the prasadam! (She is protesting). She particularly talks about bhajans at the houses of two ladies called Vallamma who lived in front of their house and another lady called Devudamma. Both incidentally were widows. There used to be heavy bhajan singing and at the end of it, Vallamma used to light the harathi and swallow it off, whcih use dot fascinate Ammamma. (It may be a reflection of the constricted lives of single women/widows in those days, who had not other legitimate outlet other than pooja I suppose?). She also vaguely remembers the preaching of Christianity by Missammas (as the missionaries were called) and also receiving the Cross and Jesus Christ etc., but does nit seem to know anyhting more about the inroads of Christianity into er village.
While sharing her reminiscences with me, Ammamma suddenly got worried that she tended to share so many challenges of her life with us that she may be giving the picture of a childhood that was less than happy. She recalls the fun of being the younger lot in a joint family with sisters, brothers and sisters in law pampering her. There was a lot of fun when her brothers in law came visiting, as they were the target of many jokes and pranks, which was the normal practice. Ammamma and her brothers used to spread a small mound of broken earthenware pieces (penkulu) and then cover it up with the low seat (peeta) and invite them honourably for partaking lunch or dinner. They would then have great fun and laugh uproariously when the sitting down resulted in an embarrassing and prolonged cacophony of the pieces being crushed. Another prank was to put the durada gundaaku (a leaf that causes itching) on their beds.
She remembers the day Suryavati Atthayya came home as a new bride - she certainly did not have the coyness of a new bride - when Ammamma was shown to her as her aada bidda, she immediately commented - aada bidda? goda gidda? - and that marked the start of a lifelong friendship that transcended every relationship in the family and it also characterized their continual ribbing as the major medium of conversation (this of course all you three kids know and are witness to their constant repartee). She remembers Suryavati Atthayya as a very energetic and fun person (and actually fat at that time!), and alongwith her third sister in law Laxmikantamma, they made quite a riot in their huge yard playing all sorts of games such as chamma chakka, and the like and - hold your breath - marbles! Ammamma prides herself on being able to hit the farthest marble with her aim. Suryavati Atthayya and Laxmikantamma were lively and home was a fun place. Their parents' homes were also in nearby villages (Nagaram and Bellamvaripalle), and their bonding increased during travels. Satyam Mamayya was big chested and quite a six pack man. He was capable of hefting a bag of paddy on to his shoulders with facility. So they made a great pair physically and temperamentally as he was also fun loving.
A particular scene that is not happy which Ammamma remembers is that of the extraction of the heavy ankle ornaments which had to be removed from her sisters' feet when they outgrew them. A rope used to be tied to the anklet and to a pillar and the hapless girls used to be pulled till the solid silver metal bent and could be taken off their feet, only to be readorned in a bigger size.
Ammamma was a gourmet (she is specific to mention that it was not gluttony), and she enjoyed all kinds of freshly cooked foods, natural fruits and laments that they don't come like that anymore. She remembers biyyappindi jantikalu made by a big, special wooden press and eaten by dipping into bellam syrup. The press needed the muscle power of men (her brothers) for the finest extrusions. She loved a lot of dishes made of palm fruits (thaatikayalu). Thaati kudumulu, thaandra made by scraping of the pulp against a huge vertical sieve and then spread out to dry, apart from a whole lot of other snacks made in huge quantities and stored in baskets for the large family. She loved the freshly made thotakura kaadala pulusu from plants grown in their backyard. Many vegetables were sun dried in summer and stored for use in rainy season, when going out would be well nigh impossible. These were known as vorugulu. In summer they had a maize dish called mokka jonna thopa (more like a porridge).
Festivals were occasions which she enjoyed a lot. Deepawali was an elaborate festival. Preparations for that started way in advance of the date. She remembers the beautiful hanging lamp holders made from thaataku (dried palm leaves) and hung on the sides of each door. All crackers were made at home. Other festivals she liked were Atla Tadde, when swings were slung upon very big trees and all girls used to swing high and for a whole day, and also make and eat atlu early morning(pancakes - Atla Tadde means Pancake day- third of the lunar month).
She remembers her mother being very strict about the upbringing of girls, yet, she was tender enough not to let her daughters know the suffering she was undergoing due to probably a tumour in her womb - no details are known. She would insist on keeping her younger daughters with her always and not leave them even if she had to go for treatment, probably because she was scared that she may not see them again. So Ammamma and Vanakumari Pinni always went with her to Repalle Govt Hospital, then for a Nature Cure centre in Morthota. They used to travel by a goodu bandi (an oxcart with a purdah on all sides and Ammamma had to go to the front of the house and alert all men to vacate the porch because women had to travel). In the nature cure hospital, her mother was smeared with oil and sunbathed in the hot sun with a shade for her head only. None of these treatments helped her. However, when she actually passed away, Ammamma and Pinni were watching the Chariot festival on Vaikuntha Ekadasi at the temple and had to be summoned to her bedside after her death.
Isn't it surprising that Ammamma used to be religious in the sense of regularly going to temples, singing bhajans, etc., though I personally suspect that it may be because of the prasadam! (She is protesting). She particularly talks about bhajans at the houses of two ladies called Vallamma who lived in front of their house and another lady called Devudamma. Both incidentally were widows. There used to be heavy bhajan singing and at the end of it, Vallamma used to light the harathi and swallow it off, whcih use dot fascinate Ammamma. (It may be a reflection of the constricted lives of single women/widows in those days, who had not other legitimate outlet other than pooja I suppose?). She also vaguely remembers the preaching of Christianity by Missammas (as the missionaries were called) and also receiving the Cross and Jesus Christ etc., but does nit seem to know anyhting more about the inroads of Christianity into er village.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
A bold new step, an affair and many new events
This blog perhaps captures many tumultuous event in Ammamma's life and would seem like a roller coaster ride.
As mentioned earlier, Ammamma's exposure to political thought did leave an indelible impression on her and even today she continues to get high on politics and political events with the same child like excitement. (I bore this animated excitement in the run up to the elections for the past 8 months now, with the last month at a crescendo level! It's a miracle I survived!).
Ammamma's further education and her life is now guided by the political events and awakening in the family, more importantly her fourth brother, Satyam Mamayya. She used to be inspired and excited about Bose's speeches (thrilling is the word she used actually. She also had many discussions with her brother Satyam, who was in the Congress Party that time, alongwith his cousin Pundareekaakshayya (Leelakka's father).As mentioned in my earlier blog, she eagerly absorbed all magazines and used to listen to patriotic speeches. She was most disappointed that her brother could not attend the Tripura Congress in 1938, where Subhash Chandra Bose was anointed as Congress President. (Sweets - revisit this in Tharoor's novel on Pandu's election).
All parties, irrespective of whether they were congress or communist, believed in nationalism, believed in the unity and homogeneity of our diverse country, wanted Hindi as the common language as opposed to English. Satyam Mamayya wore only Khaddar and so did his wife. Poor Jhansakka, who was born in probably 1937, also was clad in thick and heavy khaddar by her patriotic parents! After about a couple of years, Satyam Mamayya and Suryavathi Atthayya joined hte cause of communism, however, Leelakka's father continued in Congress. That was also the parting of ways or at least distancing between the families.
By now, Ammamma had finished her schooling in the village. It was obvious that her fahter and other brothers would not think of further education. So Satyam Mamayya, with active and wholehearted support from Suryavati Atthayya, decided to help Ammamma go to Allahabad to study for Matric there, secretly. In this, they sought the support of Suryavati Atthayya's brother, who had already enrolled in Devgarh (Bihar) for a course. He of course, suggested that he would help, but after finishing her studies, they should marry. In her anxiety to get an education, Ammamma thought it was a good idea and agreed. She then ran away from home without telling anybody and helped by Satyam Mamayya.
Imagine girls - a completely alien place, alien people, no exposure to the language, unfamiliar climate. a new culture - what guts! She was enrolled in Mahila Vidya Peeth in Allahabad in the 9th standard. The Principal was the famous poetess Mahadevi Verma. All subjects were in Hindi and a special Hindi Pandit was assigned to Ammamma for coaching her in Hindi and a lady teacher for coaching in English. This kind of a bridge course was great and to Ammamma's credit, within three months she could catch up with the rest and the special tutoring was discontinued. the Hindi Pandit was so pleased with her that he presented her a book on Veer Savarkar, which naturally impressed her because of the sheer adventurism of that man. She was also enamoured by reading the Indian War History, even though she could not fully understand it. There were several girls who came from all over India because Banares was a great place of learning. For example, the Kathiawar Maharaja's daughter was in her batch, as was a girl from the family that owned the famous Lakshmi Mills in Coimbatore. She also remembers a middle class girl called S V Draupadi from Madras. (Ammamma visited her later when she was a teacher in Madras and Ammamma was en route to Cuddalore Central Jail to visit Taathayya who was lodged there). Interestingly, all letters used to be censored. Even Tamil and Malayalam letters were censored, but since there was no Telugu person to read Ammamma's letters, she wrote freely and received letters freely from Deogarh.
The rooms had to be shared between 2-4 girls. They had a strict regimen - get up at 5 am and jog and then the studies and sports. At that time, Mahatma Gandhi was to visit Allahabad to inaugurate the Kamala Nehru Hospital and hte Principal was seeking out volunteers to assist at the event. She was choosing girls based on height and Ammamma took advantage of the fact that the Principal was inspecting fromt he other side of the short parapet wall. She stood on a brick and got selected. It was then she saw Gandhi and Nehru and also witnessed Nehru's famous anger when crowds started surging and disorganised - he jumped directly into the crowd and started physically putting people in place. The girl brigade of the Vidyapeeth was obviously not in a position to manage crowds.
Ammamma passed her 9th and had one month holidays before her 10th class started. So Suryavati Atthayya's brother, Nageswara Rao came and took her to Deogarh for a visit. There she happened to chance upon his diary and did not like what she found there and decided that she would not marry him after all. Anyway, she went back to Allhabad after the holidays and wrote to him from there her decision of not wanting to marry him. He was livid and he tried convincing her to marry him. He then got so angry with her refusal that instead of writing in Telugu, he wrote to her in Hindi and of course, this time her letter was censored and she was summarily sent home by the Principal. This was another turning point in her life. In my next episode, I will write about how she completed her matric despite this setback.
As mentioned earlier, Ammamma's exposure to political thought did leave an indelible impression on her and even today she continues to get high on politics and political events with the same child like excitement. (I bore this animated excitement in the run up to the elections for the past 8 months now, with the last month at a crescendo level! It's a miracle I survived!).
Ammamma's further education and her life is now guided by the political events and awakening in the family, more importantly her fourth brother, Satyam Mamayya. She used to be inspired and excited about Bose's speeches (thrilling is the word she used actually. She also had many discussions with her brother Satyam, who was in the Congress Party that time, alongwith his cousin Pundareekaakshayya (Leelakka's father).As mentioned in my earlier blog, she eagerly absorbed all magazines and used to listen to patriotic speeches. She was most disappointed that her brother could not attend the Tripura Congress in 1938, where Subhash Chandra Bose was anointed as Congress President. (Sweets - revisit this in Tharoor's novel on Pandu's election).
All parties, irrespective of whether they were congress or communist, believed in nationalism, believed in the unity and homogeneity of our diverse country, wanted Hindi as the common language as opposed to English. Satyam Mamayya wore only Khaddar and so did his wife. Poor Jhansakka, who was born in probably 1937, also was clad in thick and heavy khaddar by her patriotic parents! After about a couple of years, Satyam Mamayya and Suryavathi Atthayya joined hte cause of communism, however, Leelakka's father continued in Congress. That was also the parting of ways or at least distancing between the families.
By now, Ammamma had finished her schooling in the village. It was obvious that her fahter and other brothers would not think of further education. So Satyam Mamayya, with active and wholehearted support from Suryavati Atthayya, decided to help Ammamma go to Allahabad to study for Matric there, secretly. In this, they sought the support of Suryavati Atthayya's brother, who had already enrolled in Devgarh (Bihar) for a course. He of course, suggested that he would help, but after finishing her studies, they should marry. In her anxiety to get an education, Ammamma thought it was a good idea and agreed. She then ran away from home without telling anybody and helped by Satyam Mamayya.
Imagine girls - a completely alien place, alien people, no exposure to the language, unfamiliar climate. a new culture - what guts! She was enrolled in Mahila Vidya Peeth in Allahabad in the 9th standard. The Principal was the famous poetess Mahadevi Verma. All subjects were in Hindi and a special Hindi Pandit was assigned to Ammamma for coaching her in Hindi and a lady teacher for coaching in English. This kind of a bridge course was great and to Ammamma's credit, within three months she could catch up with the rest and the special tutoring was discontinued. the Hindi Pandit was so pleased with her that he presented her a book on Veer Savarkar, which naturally impressed her because of the sheer adventurism of that man. She was also enamoured by reading the Indian War History, even though she could not fully understand it. There were several girls who came from all over India because Banares was a great place of learning. For example, the Kathiawar Maharaja's daughter was in her batch, as was a girl from the family that owned the famous Lakshmi Mills in Coimbatore. She also remembers a middle class girl called S V Draupadi from Madras. (Ammamma visited her later when she was a teacher in Madras and Ammamma was en route to Cuddalore Central Jail to visit Taathayya who was lodged there). Interestingly, all letters used to be censored. Even Tamil and Malayalam letters were censored, but since there was no Telugu person to read Ammamma's letters, she wrote freely and received letters freely from Deogarh.
The rooms had to be shared between 2-4 girls. They had a strict regimen - get up at 5 am and jog and then the studies and sports. At that time, Mahatma Gandhi was to visit Allahabad to inaugurate the Kamala Nehru Hospital and hte Principal was seeking out volunteers to assist at the event. She was choosing girls based on height and Ammamma took advantage of the fact that the Principal was inspecting fromt he other side of the short parapet wall. She stood on a brick and got selected. It was then she saw Gandhi and Nehru and also witnessed Nehru's famous anger when crowds started surging and disorganised - he jumped directly into the crowd and started physically putting people in place. The girl brigade of the Vidyapeeth was obviously not in a position to manage crowds.
Ammamma passed her 9th and had one month holidays before her 10th class started. So Suryavati Atthayya's brother, Nageswara Rao came and took her to Deogarh for a visit. There she happened to chance upon his diary and did not like what she found there and decided that she would not marry him after all. Anyway, she went back to Allhabad after the holidays and wrote to him from there her decision of not wanting to marry him. He was livid and he tried convincing her to marry him. He then got so angry with her refusal that instead of writing in Telugu, he wrote to her in Hindi and of course, this time her letter was censored and she was summarily sent home by the Principal. This was another turning point in her life. In my next episode, I will write about how she completed her matric despite this setback.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
early schooling (continued)
Ok - yesterday was actually Mother's Day and not 5th when I started this blog. Anyway, as they say - it is the thought that matters........And as you girls have now trained me - we have to live by our thoughts alone!
I had already stated that it is difficult to string memories together in a coherent fashion. What I do is, I refresh chats with Ammamma on some of the incidents as I track her life's journey. Some of the details can get elaborate, specially because I am anxious to share all details with you girls - Sweety, Preeti and Nishu. So bear with me if I ramble along.
I continue with Ammamma's early schooling. I mentioned the lucky break she got with the school being opened in her own village. Apart from that, she got some encouragement at home too. In her days, there were no schoolbags or boxes. Books used to be wrapped in a particular way in a cloth and tied up, which would then be carried slung over the shoulder or on one's head. Ammamma's eldest Annayya (Chittattha's father) used to do this skillfully everyday for her (and he was quite interested in seeing her go to school, upto primary, that is). This particular thing was called 'Dastara' - etymologically, this shows the liberal usage of Urdu in the Circar Districts of Krishna and Guntur.
I mentioned in my last blog that Ammamma did rebel on issues that she perceived to be unjust, be it the apportioning of food in a discriminatory way between boys and girls, or against the assignment of subjects in school based on gender. She was also encouraged by Satyam Tata (her fourth brother) to read books and magazines which he used to subscribe to. She therefore read a lot (fortunately those genes appear intact with all of us!!). Among the publications were Krishna Patrika (thought provoking articles - a phenomenon in Telugu heritage), Vinodini (a comedy magazine, and as you know, Ammamma is very fond of jokes and ridicule and particularly remembers cartoons from this magazine which caricatured odd looking couples), and Chitragupta, which carried fiction through short stories. This was the second lucky break for her as her sharp mind absorbed more and more and brought her the knowledge that can come only with exposure. She also used to listen to nationalist speeches in the village when leaders visited and also her cousins and brothers started taking a lot of interest in these. in 1937, election campaigning was on for the Madras Presidency and she heard several speeches of the Congress Party and the Justice Party (Kalluri Chandramouli). Bharati Devi Ranga stayed at their house while visiting Bethapudi. Vemulapalli Srikrishna, a village resident propounded socialist ideology. Therefore Ammamma had opportunity to hear divergent political views at close quarters.
On the gender issue, she was faced with examples from her sisters and her sisters in law - her eldest sis in law already showed howt an educated woman can act and dress differently. She saw her sisters getting meekly married at an early age, particularly pathetic was the plight of her second sister Saraswati (Rangannayya's mother), who was whisked off to the French Quarter of Machilipatnam to be married off at 11 years, because the British had enacted the Sarda Act, which forbade marriages of girls below 12. Saraswati had to learn the hard way of taking up family responsibilities at a very tender age. I myself have been told of this in one of my annual summer holidays to Ravivaripalem, by her Thodi kodalu, of how Saraswati Peddamma used to get burnt and soiled with soot when she had to get food from stove to serve the large joint family she was married into. Perhaps, the biggest empowerment lesson that Ammamma got from her family was when she saw her second sister in law take up cudgels against Chittattha's father. It so happened that Anjiah had acquisitive tendencies and his brother Bhushiah was a mild man. But his wife stood up for their rightful share - an unexpected resistance for Anjiah. When arguments became really heated, he tried to intimidate her by bringing a stick (a very typical end to arguments between genders). However, this lady was not cowed down and she also picked up a stick and was willing to fight her way. Fortunately, the fight stopped then, but this made an indelible impression on Ammamma. She understood the power of courage and conviction and she also understood that studies are her only salvation. This was deepened when her father insisted on having a separate homestead and expected his pre teen daughters to cook and keep house for him. Ammamma naturally rebelled. Her skills were recognised, when her sisters asked her to champion their cause for getting their late mother's jewels from the Anjiah. On behalf of all, Ammamma demanded for them, however, it was in vain as he said that they were used for medical expenses of the deceased person! It is interesting to note that the separation and division of the assets left all brothers with no alternative but to seek better avenues and thus began the migration of the Kudithipudi family from Bethapudi. The first to go was the third brother Raghaviah, who first went to his in law's village and later settled comfortably in Koduru. The second brother Bhushiah first migrated to Khammam, where a malaria epidemic scared him to return. He then eventually migrated to Nizamabad and did well (this uncle of mine, during his last days - when I was doing my MBA - out of some premonition, visited all relatives in their respective places, came to our house in Hyderabad for medical check up and died in our house. When he was collapsing, he could not speak, but took leave of our Tatayya with folded hands. I remember trying to help him by pouring first water and then milk into his mouth. He died in the ambulance on way to Osmania Hospital). Satyam Mamayya stayed on longer in Bethapudi, but he squandered his share on cigarettes and vehicle (cycle - a luxury for middle income people in those days).The only person who stayed the longest was Anjiah, but he was prosperous.
Influence of Political Movements
Ammamma's further studies are invariably linked to the influence of the political awareness and social change sweeping the country then in the wake of Indian nationalism. Ammamma was influenced by several of her family members who dabbled in politics. This is where a little bit of ancestral evolution also comes into effect. It appears that five brothers came from somewhere and became settlers in Bethapudi. They all tilled large tracts of land and lives in homesteads stretching one after the other and became a dominant force in the village, alongwith the Vemulapallis, Paruchuris, Nallurus and Bobbas. Economically well off, as well as having enterprise in their thinking, which is the hallmark of settlers, they influenced all new things in the village. The younger brothers and the second generation became active in development and one of the first things was the setting up of the middle school. They also became active in politics and the events ensuing from this had an influence on Ammamma. Her cousin Pundareekakshayya (Leelakka's father!) and Ammamma's fourth brother Satyam were initially in Congress. They fell out when Pundareekakshayya continued in Congress and Satyam Tata became a communist for life later. It was the nationalist focus on development that influenced Ammamma's life from then on and had an impact on her higher education, marriage and work. It was Satyam Tata and his wife Suryavati who shaped her course and helped her continuously despite their own strained circumstances that gave her the leg up in life. In my next blog this is detailed.
I had already stated that it is difficult to string memories together in a coherent fashion. What I do is, I refresh chats with Ammamma on some of the incidents as I track her life's journey. Some of the details can get elaborate, specially because I am anxious to share all details with you girls - Sweety, Preeti and Nishu. So bear with me if I ramble along.
I continue with Ammamma's early schooling. I mentioned the lucky break she got with the school being opened in her own village. Apart from that, she got some encouragement at home too. In her days, there were no schoolbags or boxes. Books used to be wrapped in a particular way in a cloth and tied up, which would then be carried slung over the shoulder or on one's head. Ammamma's eldest Annayya (Chittattha's father) used to do this skillfully everyday for her (and he was quite interested in seeing her go to school, upto primary, that is). This particular thing was called 'Dastara' - etymologically, this shows the liberal usage of Urdu in the Circar Districts of Krishna and Guntur.
I mentioned in my last blog that Ammamma did rebel on issues that she perceived to be unjust, be it the apportioning of food in a discriminatory way between boys and girls, or against the assignment of subjects in school based on gender. She was also encouraged by Satyam Tata (her fourth brother) to read books and magazines which he used to subscribe to. She therefore read a lot (fortunately those genes appear intact with all of us!!). Among the publications were Krishna Patrika (thought provoking articles - a phenomenon in Telugu heritage), Vinodini (a comedy magazine, and as you know, Ammamma is very fond of jokes and ridicule and particularly remembers cartoons from this magazine which caricatured odd looking couples), and Chitragupta, which carried fiction through short stories. This was the second lucky break for her as her sharp mind absorbed more and more and brought her the knowledge that can come only with exposure. She also used to listen to nationalist speeches in the village when leaders visited and also her cousins and brothers started taking a lot of interest in these. in 1937, election campaigning was on for the Madras Presidency and she heard several speeches of the Congress Party and the Justice Party (Kalluri Chandramouli). Bharati Devi Ranga stayed at their house while visiting Bethapudi. Vemulapalli Srikrishna, a village resident propounded socialist ideology. Therefore Ammamma had opportunity to hear divergent political views at close quarters.
On the gender issue, she was faced with examples from her sisters and her sisters in law - her eldest sis in law already showed howt an educated woman can act and dress differently. She saw her sisters getting meekly married at an early age, particularly pathetic was the plight of her second sister Saraswati (Rangannayya's mother), who was whisked off to the French Quarter of Machilipatnam to be married off at 11 years, because the British had enacted the Sarda Act, which forbade marriages of girls below 12. Saraswati had to learn the hard way of taking up family responsibilities at a very tender age. I myself have been told of this in one of my annual summer holidays to Ravivaripalem, by her Thodi kodalu, of how Saraswati Peddamma used to get burnt and soiled with soot when she had to get food from stove to serve the large joint family she was married into. Perhaps, the biggest empowerment lesson that Ammamma got from her family was when she saw her second sister in law take up cudgels against Chittattha's father. It so happened that Anjiah had acquisitive tendencies and his brother Bhushiah was a mild man. But his wife stood up for their rightful share - an unexpected resistance for Anjiah. When arguments became really heated, he tried to intimidate her by bringing a stick (a very typical end to arguments between genders). However, this lady was not cowed down and she also picked up a stick and was willing to fight her way. Fortunately, the fight stopped then, but this made an indelible impression on Ammamma. She understood the power of courage and conviction and she also understood that studies are her only salvation. This was deepened when her father insisted on having a separate homestead and expected his pre teen daughters to cook and keep house for him. Ammamma naturally rebelled. Her skills were recognised, when her sisters asked her to champion their cause for getting their late mother's jewels from the Anjiah. On behalf of all, Ammamma demanded for them, however, it was in vain as he said that they were used for medical expenses of the deceased person! It is interesting to note that the separation and division of the assets left all brothers with no alternative but to seek better avenues and thus began the migration of the Kudithipudi family from Bethapudi. The first to go was the third brother Raghaviah, who first went to his in law's village and later settled comfortably in Koduru. The second brother Bhushiah first migrated to Khammam, where a malaria epidemic scared him to return. He then eventually migrated to Nizamabad and did well (this uncle of mine, during his last days - when I was doing my MBA - out of some premonition, visited all relatives in their respective places, came to our house in Hyderabad for medical check up and died in our house. When he was collapsing, he could not speak, but took leave of our Tatayya with folded hands. I remember trying to help him by pouring first water and then milk into his mouth. He died in the ambulance on way to Osmania Hospital). Satyam Mamayya stayed on longer in Bethapudi, but he squandered his share on cigarettes and vehicle (cycle - a luxury for middle income people in those days).The only person who stayed the longest was Anjiah, but he was prosperous.
Influence of Political Movements
Ammamma's further studies are invariably linked to the influence of the political awareness and social change sweeping the country then in the wake of Indian nationalism. Ammamma was influenced by several of her family members who dabbled in politics. This is where a little bit of ancestral evolution also comes into effect. It appears that five brothers came from somewhere and became settlers in Bethapudi. They all tilled large tracts of land and lives in homesteads stretching one after the other and became a dominant force in the village, alongwith the Vemulapallis, Paruchuris, Nallurus and Bobbas. Economically well off, as well as having enterprise in their thinking, which is the hallmark of settlers, they influenced all new things in the village. The younger brothers and the second generation became active in development and one of the first things was the setting up of the middle school. They also became active in politics and the events ensuing from this had an influence on Ammamma. Her cousin Pundareekakshayya (Leelakka's father!) and Ammamma's fourth brother Satyam were initially in Congress. They fell out when Pundareekakshayya continued in Congress and Satyam Tata became a communist for life later. It was the nationalist focus on development that influenced Ammamma's life from then on and had an impact on her higher education, marriage and work. It was Satyam Tata and his wife Suryavati who shaped her course and helped her continuously despite their own strained circumstances that gave her the leg up in life. In my next blog this is detailed.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
early schooling
The best thing that happened to Ammammma was that she was sent to school. Considering the fact that her oldest brother was barely literate, the next two were angootha chaaps and her fourth brother studied upto primary and her sisters went to school till the 2nd or 3rd standard, Ammamma's lucky break was that she was able to study till 8th. This was because social awareness was slowly spreading and her uncle (her babai - his son Kudithipudi Sivaramakrishnayya rose to prominence in the eighties in irrigation engineering and the people of Anantapur erected a statue of him in honour of services rendered for the parched lands there. I understand that recently, a statue has also been erected in Bethapudi for him), and others formed a committee, collected funds and opened the middle school. Till then Ammamma attended the primary school which was normally known as Veedhi badi in those days (street school!). Teachers here were not very interested in teaching and one teacher used to go to sleep in class and used to make Ammamma and others pick lice from his long hair. Others were obedient, Ammamma of course had other ideas - she used to pack some lice from the heads of people at home and add to the ones on the teacher's head on the pretext of picking lice!
In middle school, she had good teachers and she took an active interest in the subjects and also debates. There was intense competition between her and another girl called Tayaramma (interestingly, these were the only two girls in this class and one girl in the senior class in this school for a couple of years). The teachers of this school used to encourage competition and would challenge the boys to come up with more points than Ammamma and Tayaramma. The debate titles used to be things such as 'Pen or Sword - which is mightiier?', 'Do women need Education?' etc.
The optional subjects prescribed were English for boys and music for girls. Ammamma would stay back in the class for English and bunk her music class. Her favourite subject was geography, in which she used to score very high, she was good at Maths as well. Telugu debates, essays competitions used to excite her a lot. Academics was not the only reason that she was busy at school - she also served as cupid, couriering letters between her cousin Durga Prasad and another girl called Satyavati. Alas, that affair did not proceed beyond that!
During the school inspection, which was also the final test, the inspector conducted the examination and Ammamma stood first. She has however lost her certificate, which we would have loved to have laminated for posterity now! Reminiscing on this loss, Ammamma also laments the loss of her New India Insurance policy in her later life, though I don't know how she connects both!
In the middle school, she also excelled in games. These must have been the happiest days in her life, despite the tragedy of losing her mother to ill health. My Ammamma passed away on Vaikuntha Ekadasi when the chariot in the temple started on its journey and therefore is considered extremely holy day and time to die. Ammamma was in the temple when her mother passed away, because she used love all get togethers at all places and also loved the prasadam that was distributed there.
After her mother's death, Ammamma struggled a lot because her father took the adamant decision (despite being handicapped in one hand and leg due to a fall from a tree), to separate from his sons and insisted on having his own homestead with his two youngest adolescent daughters. Ammamma and Vanakumari Pinni (Ballari Chinnammamma) took the brunt of this decision by having to cook, clean and maintain buffaloes etc, a lot of back breaking hard labour. Ammamma was rebellious and she used to show it too. She used to kick and break the mud pots when she was expected to milk the buffaloes. Vanakumari Pinni was docile and she used to take on the chores, she also did not study beyond the fourth standard. In fact there were a lot of restrictions for girls in those days and Ammamma rebelled against all those. Her mother, when she was alive, used to discriminate in the allotment of food, which she used to measure and give her entire brood. For example, she used to give two measures (rendu giddelu) of groundnuts to the boys and only one each to the girls. Ammamma used to fight against this but I guess with not much success, as her mother would say that the boys are toiling hard in the fields while the girls were not doing that much work. But fight she did. Girls were forbidden to eat non vegetarian food, citing accrual of arrogance to girls if they did eat meat. So Ammamma actually tasted nin veg only much later in life. More after two days!
In middle school, she had good teachers and she took an active interest in the subjects and also debates. There was intense competition between her and another girl called Tayaramma (interestingly, these were the only two girls in this class and one girl in the senior class in this school for a couple of years). The teachers of this school used to encourage competition and would challenge the boys to come up with more points than Ammamma and Tayaramma. The debate titles used to be things such as 'Pen or Sword - which is mightiier?', 'Do women need Education?' etc.
The optional subjects prescribed were English for boys and music for girls. Ammamma would stay back in the class for English and bunk her music class. Her favourite subject was geography, in which she used to score very high, she was good at Maths as well. Telugu debates, essays competitions used to excite her a lot. Academics was not the only reason that she was busy at school - she also served as cupid, couriering letters between her cousin Durga Prasad and another girl called Satyavati. Alas, that affair did not proceed beyond that!
During the school inspection, which was also the final test, the inspector conducted the examination and Ammamma stood first. She has however lost her certificate, which we would have loved to have laminated for posterity now! Reminiscing on this loss, Ammamma also laments the loss of her New India Insurance policy in her later life, though I don't know how she connects both!
In the middle school, she also excelled in games. These must have been the happiest days in her life, despite the tragedy of losing her mother to ill health. My Ammamma passed away on Vaikuntha Ekadasi when the chariot in the temple started on its journey and therefore is considered extremely holy day and time to die. Ammamma was in the temple when her mother passed away, because she used love all get togethers at all places and also loved the prasadam that was distributed there.
After her mother's death, Ammamma struggled a lot because her father took the adamant decision (despite being handicapped in one hand and leg due to a fall from a tree), to separate from his sons and insisted on having his own homestead with his two youngest adolescent daughters. Ammamma and Vanakumari Pinni (Ballari Chinnammamma) took the brunt of this decision by having to cook, clean and maintain buffaloes etc, a lot of back breaking hard labour. Ammamma was rebellious and she used to show it too. She used to kick and break the mud pots when she was expected to milk the buffaloes. Vanakumari Pinni was docile and she used to take on the chores, she also did not study beyond the fourth standard. In fact there were a lot of restrictions for girls in those days and Ammamma rebelled against all those. Her mother, when she was alive, used to discriminate in the allotment of food, which she used to measure and give her entire brood. For example, she used to give two measures (rendu giddelu) of groundnuts to the boys and only one each to the girls. Ammamma used to fight against this but I guess with not much success, as her mother would say that the boys are toiling hard in the fields while the girls were not doing that much work. But fight she did. Girls were forbidden to eat non vegetarian food, citing accrual of arrogance to girls if they did eat meat. So Ammamma actually tasted nin veg only much later in life. More after two days!
ammamma's story- a life no less extraordinary!
Decided that today is the day I must start blogging and reaching out to you all, for many reasons - it's mother's day today and I must do something that I have put off for years; I finally realised it is also cathartic to communicate in print as we really never seem to have time anymore for leisurely chats like in the days when 24 hours in a day meant lots of things to do! Isn't it strange that we now have so many things to do and to say and we never are able to find the time? I know that you know that I always wanted to write Ammamma's story and never got to doing it. So here's hoping that I would be able to complete what I started. So here it goes - a story that may also give you some glimpses of my making too, but essentially the extraordinary story of Ammamma as I want you girls to remember. So here it goes!
Birth
Ammamma was born on the 17th of July, 1926, as a seemingly normal and innocuous little baby girl, in a household where the birth of a child had also become a routine every two years. When Ammamma was born, she had one living older step-sister, four living elder brothers, who were followed by two living older sisters (one sister, a twin of the first girl, died at birth). Her step-sister, Manikyam was already married at the time of Ammamma’s birth, and her eldest brother, Anjiah, was 16 years older than her. The birth schedule continued till Ammamma’s younger sister was born four years later (she was also a twin, but her twin died as in the case of the first sister). As a child I remember being highly fascinated with the concept of twins and hoping (at that time quite naively) that I would also have twins. In our entire family however, the genetic proclivity to twins was manifest only in one family, that is Jhansakka, who is the only child of the fourth brother, Satyanarayana. Unfortunately, of Jhansakka’s twin boys, only one survived. That is Lakshmana.
Ammamma’s brothers were named Anjiah, Bhushiah, Raghaviah and Satyanarayana and her sisters were named Pushpavati, Saraswati, (Ammamma: Savitri) and Vanakumari. Certainly the girls’ names were more interesting and imaginative than the boys’ names and I wonder why.
Ammamma’s mother’s name was Rajarathnamma (nee:Nadendla) and she was the second wife, taken after the first wife died. My grandfather’s name was Kudithipudi Krishnaiah. So Ammamma had both her father and husband with the same name!
Ammamma was born in Bethapudi, a village in Repalle taluka of
Ammamma’s first memory of her childhood is that of being clothed in dresses by her new sister in law Jaya (later Jayamma, mother of Chittattha). Till the marriage of her elder brother, which happened when Ammamma was three or four years old, in typical village fashion, all younger children were left pretty much naked, except that girls had a fig leaf like covering made of gold, silver or brass, depending on the affluence of the family and it was called ‘siggu billa’, literally meaning shield of shame! Jaya came from a progressive village and a progressive family of school teachers and was therefore considered modern and fashionable by the standards of Bethapudi, and she was educated. Her village Amrutaluru, again in Tenali taluka, was politically active as well. She therefore, insisted on the proper upbringing of the girl child, first by clothing Ammamma.
Ammamma has another memory of her early childhood which was told to her later and remained as a permanent reminder on her body. She was a crawling baby when her maternal uncle visited them. An earthen container of coals were brought for him to light his home made cigar (chutta) and Ammamma, the ever curious one, decided to take them into her hands and of course, she got burnt badly, with the middle finger (tall man) getting bent for life. I do not think that this stopped Ammamma from ever getting adventurous later in life, as later events would prove. One would have thought that this would have been enough to make her become obedient and careful. ( I really wonder what genes have made Sweety so very careful that she would think a hundred times before she would sit down to step off a small peeta!!)
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