Rangannayya (Ammamma's second sister Saraswati's son) now came to stay with us as he enrolled in AMIE course at Guindy. Incidentally, he went to Polytechnic in Wanaparthy earlier. Both the courses were at the instance and assistance of Ammamma and Tatayya. Ammamma used to read the notifications and make Annayya apply and then get Tatayya to help out with the rest. He became very fond of me and Maapi. He must have been 7 or 8 years old when I was born and he remembers coming in a rickshaw alongwith his mother and the eldest Peddamma (she was always called as Swatantrapuram Peddamma because she lived there, despite her name being so nice - Pushpavati) and also her daughter Babyakka. I believe all along the way, they ate up a whole lot of goodies that were meant to be given for Tatayya and Ammamma!
Rangannayya's arrival brought us the experience of a man about the house as Tatayya was hardly ever home, except for late in the night and upto mornings before school. Ammamma was happy that she had someone to rely on for things that she had to do alone and it must have given her relief and satisfaction. For me and Maapi, he automatically became an elder sibling effortlessly and naturally. We had great fun with him as he was quite an engager in discussions and his arguments with Ammamma on several issues kept us both entertained and educated. I used to really demand his time and attention and also got it generously. Maapi was still too young to do so and she got a lot of affection from Annayya. It was he who used to run to the doctor whenever I or Maapi was ill. I remember once I threw a tantrum as if I was so unwell that I was going to die and he had to go out in the hot sun to get me my homeo medicine. After a couple of hours, when my friend Muthulakshmi came to ask me out for a movie, I happily went with her, leaving Annayya very angry with me! Ammamma scolded me in the evening.
It is from Annayya that Ammamma and me understood how cricket was played - till then I was listening to the commentary purely for being able to talk about it with my friends - 'cool' girls did it and the 'uncool' girls did not talk about cricket!! Ammamma developed an addiction for cricket that she revels in even today. She gets the same high when runs are scored now in the IPL, as she did in Madras! I also got to listening to pop music and read up about Cliff Richards, Elvis Presley, Trini Lopez, Harry Belafonte, Jim Reeves and the like. I used show off my 'coolness' quite a lot. Surprisingly, Ammamma used to be proud of my 'ubercool' knowledge! She took me to, or sent me to English films at the then swank Saphire - a Veecumsee theatre on Mount Road (now Anna Salai). For one or two movies I dragged Annayya also, though I used to usually go with my friends with the first exhilarating whiff of freedom which Ammamma gave me with a lot of caution.
She also made me enter all kinds of contests, including a painting competition (Eagle Flasks), for which I won a consolation prize of two movie tickets for a Tony Curtis and Mickey Rooney film - It's a Mad, Mad, World. Went with Annayya and felt proud that I earned something and giving somebody older than me a treat! She also made me collect a whole pile of pictures that you get when you buy Fruitee (a candy). These pictures were of pre historic animals, which you had to stick in an album, which had a full description of the animal. So Ammamma thought it was a good education for me. The scheme was that we had to find all the pics and fill up the album and mail it to them and you would get back the album and two flowery letter pads with your name printed on them. The catch is that some of the pictures were rare and you had to buy loads of Fruitee before you got your album complete. Ammamma never lost the opportunity of making me buy Fruitees whenever we were in a new location - her logic was that the company would deliberately distribute some of the pics in different localities to make it that much harder for us to fill it up! She used to be delighted whenever we found a rare one, usually the flying dinosaurs. I got fed up with eating Fruitee, but Ammamma would not let me opt out of the competition till I reached my goal. Thankfully I finally reached it and for quite some time, I had to write letters to a lot of people just because I now had my own name letter heads. Ammamma would not be happy if I did not write!
She also made me answer the market research questionnaires and because of the responses, I was put on a panel of people who would form the basis for consumer behaviour studies! Years later, when I started teaching Market Research, I smiled at the farce of the recruitment of a 14 year old girl as a Market research panelist for household goods! Ammamma of course felt quite proud. Surprisingly, whatever I did or did not do, it was a matter of pride and wonderment for both Ammamma and Tatayya - I cringe now to think that I only basked in their adulation and felt quite conceited and superior. I also used to think no end of myself on my English vocabulary, till I once read what Tatayya wrote in his impeccable English and succinct expression. After that, I sobered down a bit.
Ammamma would not let up on my writing, a desire that remained unfulfilled in her own case. She always said that she is a bit of a writer, a bit of a journalist and a teacher for some part of the time, and she felt dissatisfied with her efforts. She would therefore pressurize me and sometimes I would respond to her, but most of the time I was wanting to only play and have fun. She would give me topics mainly around my experiences in summer holidays. One of them - on the crossing of River Krishna in floods (it was quite a feat!) was published in the Children's World and Ammamma felt very happy. She also made me collect stamps and put them in order and explain to her the origin of each one (and you girls crib for anything that I ask you to do!). I had to sandpaper, varnish all furniture in summer holidays and clean and oil electrical fixtures, because she said that I had to do everything that a man or woman could do. I had to open a bank account as well. All this held me in good stead in my later life as I grew up to face any situation in life and not be dependent for anything or anybody.
Kantakka, Ammamma's student and great friend, got married and since Ammamma did not go for her wedding in Hyderabad, Kantakka came down to Madras with Neville (her husband) to seek Ammamma's blessings! I was very surprised when Ammamma bought a saree for Kantakka (a white one with roses) and Kantakka laughed when she saw my expression. She again teased me that Ammamma loves her as she is the eldest daughter and not me! Even though I was now grown up, I still had a cold fear in my heart thinking that Ammamma did favour Kantakka over me! It was at this time that Maapi, who was running around the compound, stepped over a discarded iron rod (thin one), which pierced into her foot and blood gushed out. Ammamma and me were petrified. It was Kantakka who held Maapi, took out the iron rod with difficulty by using a firm hand and tied up her wound. Then Rangannayya and me rushed Maapi to the doctor to get her dressing done and a TT injection given. Ammamma could not bear to come with us. I am surprised that Ammamma as a mother could not bear to see her children in pain, while she herself is quite stoical and has high tolerance for her own pain! (Even when Sweety was born and I had to have a Ceasarian, she cried! This lady - who is such a daredevil, is so soft when it comes to her daughters!). The same thing happened when Maapi had a huge stye on her left eye. We had been advised by the doctor to wait for it to grow and squeeze out the fluid once it erupts. Ammamma could not do it, I did it slowly and cleaned it up.
Ammamma had a peculiar habit - even when she did not know the contact addresses, she still found out by asking around and going about it in an adventurous way. She knew that her friends Durbha Hanumayamma and Krishnamurthy were in Madras and she found out that they lived in Nungambakkam. She took me and Maapi and set out to find their house! First we found out which bus goes to Nungabakkam, then we reached there and then she asked a few shopkeepers the name of her friend and saying 'Telungu karu' and finally a watchman of a school told us that there were some Telungu kar in the next street! You should have seen the family's surprise to see us visiting them! Ammamma loved giving surprises.
The same thing happened when Jhansakka and her husband Paramatma annayya came to visit us. Paramatmannayya said he had a friend who was working as an engineer in Air India, who also happened to have married a niece of Ammamma from her paternal uncle's side (one of the Kudithipudi brothers). Ammamma went off to Air India offices alongwith Paramatma Annayya and enquired their way till they caught hold of his posting, found out his home address as he had left for the day and reached there! That man was totally surprised. He is Satish Babu - Leelakka's husband, who later relocated to Kuwait and London and with whom I reconnected in 1997-98 when I went to Oxford. Leelakka and Satish Babu were all packed and ready to leave for Bombay, yet Leelakka cooked for them and was extremely hospitable and gracious, Incidentally, Leelakka shares with us her affection for Suryavati Athayya, who was very caring when Leelakka was studying in Guntur and used to visit her almost every week. She and Jhansakka are contemporaries. Everyone always raved about Ammamma's initiative, her tenacity and her determination and confidence.
In one of the ealrier blogs I did mention Ammamma's worry regarding our future. Her attempts to get Tatayya to buy a plot for a house in Hyderabad did not bear fruit. In Madras, with her own extensive searching, she purchased two plots. She hoped that they would appreciate. However, this was not to happen - one of them sold for a low price and the other was acquired by Tamil Nadu Electricity Board in the nineties for a pittance towards setting up of their facilities. Ammamma converted the pittance into two pattu sarees for me and Maapi!
We got a wedding invitation from Bellary (Kampli) for Vanakumari Pinni's daughter's marriage. Ammamma was keen to attend as this was her sister's daughter's marriage. So the wedding party consisting of Ammamma, Rangannayya, me and Maapi set out on this adventure (of course, Tatayya never visited anyone, including his parents). It meant travelling to Gooty (Anantapur district), then change to a train to Hospet (Karnataka state). From there we took a bus to Kampli. And from there took a topless and bare chassis ox cart! We finally reached Sanapuram and after a bath, we slept and slept, much to the amusement of all the people there who were cheerfully used to their hardships, day in and day out. I was surprised that Ranakka (Ramannayya's mom as you know her now) was just 15 years old, just a year older than me. I was asked to dress her up as, being from the city, I was supposed to be better initiated into such things. I do remember that I used my artificial jhumkas (eardrops) for her, which were promptly removed by her prospective inlaws as unbecoming for a 'good' girl!
My memories of the wedding are: the very low thatched roofs of their house, where you had stoop low to get in and which I remembered for only 10 minutes, with the result that I got bruised on my back very badly by a low bamboo; all cooking being done by the ladies of the house and the neighbours - all hands were required - even Ranadheer Annayya's wife who was nine months pregnant was doing a lot of hard work including grinding of dosa and idli batters and the chutneys, the working with kerosene lanterns as there was no electricity, and being constantly worried about the snakes they had as pets till just a short while back! These were two poisonous snakes that lived with them in their house and also the reason of many not visiting them. Vanakumari Pinni's husband finally killed them before the wedding, but that still scared me. I was constantly watching out for them and would not put my feet on the ground after dark. I also remember the fall that Ranakka's inlaws had, when inadvertently someone unyoked the oxen when they still hadn't got down. I laughed a lot and was shushed immediately, though everyone was hiding smiles as the mother in law and two sisters in law, who were quite plump, plonked unceremoniously on the ground. Of course only egos were hurt.
Ammamma had an interesting snippet to share with me that she forgot to record earlier but it resurfaces as an episode in Madras. While she was earning well in Repalle with tuitions, her third brother Raghavayya, advised her and made her buy an acre of land in Swatantrapuram. He promised to share crop it and give her the money, which he neglected to do. After a couple of times, she withdrew her sharecropping from him and gave it to someone else in the village, who also did not pay. She persisted, yet no one took a woman seriously. She then filed a case in the court and she was given an exparte decree for money recovery. She then sold her field. Ammamma feels that right from the beginning, she had to struggle for land as men intrinsically are inclined either to dupe and/or not take women seriously. It is a struggle that hounds her even today at the ripe old age of 83, but of course, that would come in later years when we are back in Hyderabad. However, even against this brother, Ammamma holds no rancour and looked after his wife when she was very sick and dying with cancer.
I will close the Madras chapter with an interesting snippet - her eldest brother Anjaiah, made the surprise request for a marriage proposal for me for his son Murali! I was just 15 years old and I was horrified yet felt important and my imagination went wild (I thought that would save me from slogging at school!!!). Ammamma threw the question at me - do you want to marry? I was flabbergasted but realised that she was just joking with me. She wrote to her brother that she was not interested either in getting me married at that age or in consanguineous marriages. I believe that the proposal later went to Jhansakka for her daughter Padmaja (marriage of son with a niece or a niece's daughter are both allowed conveniently in Andhra, a practice that was aimed at keeping the family property in the family and also ensuring a known household for the girl), who was even much younger. Paramatamannayya vacillated for a wee bit on the proposal because of the large property that the family had, till Suryavati Athayya blasted him to his senses for even thinking of cradle snatching.
As I told you, Tatayya was uncomfortable being confined to the editorial desk and he leapt at the opportunity for active reporting. He was posted as Special Correspondent in Delhi and thus started our next exciting phase. Ammamma was thrilled to be going so far away and the fascination of working and living in the capital. It was convenient too - I had just finished my SSLC exams in Madras with what my parents thought were flying colours, but what the school thought of as being cheated out of one more distinction to the school record by just a few marks.
So now to Chalo Delhi!
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