Sundar aka Sunduru–Born 1915 Died 1946
* Sundar had a kudumi , which when unrolled flowed
down to the butt almost and was the envy of women relatives.
When, ultimately, it had to go it was as if a requiem was called
for. I think Pathachi or someone took it to make a ‘switch’ out of it.
Sundar used to go to Loyola college in a BSA cycle (which had no brakes)
with a cap on his head till the kudumi was sacrificed at the altar of
modernity..
* Golu time was a busy time for Sundar who would personally
supervise the ‘construction of the steps which were suit cases,
boxes, trunks etc., carefully arranged. This used to be the case
till mother got regular steps made out of wood. Mother and
Sundar would get all the carefully swaddled dolls from the
make-shift loft in the iruttu room. And he would paint or repair
the damaged dolls before mother and he went to the govt.Handicrafts
outlet for buying new dolls with themes, which were added to the
impressive collection. We had perhaps one of the best golu arrangements
in Veda Vilas in the ‘Hall ULL’. A couple of times the golu was
arranged in the front hall–if there were no programmes of
Jagannatha Baktha Sabha.
Jagannatha Baktha Sabha ! that reminds me. Sundar persuaded the
Secretary-our uncle that he would like to show his talent for
Konakkol, which is a sort of verbal percussion. The artiste singing
that day was one Mrs.Sastri, mother of Lakshmi Shankar. Her song selection
being of the Hindustani style does not lend itself to Konakkol.
She obliged Sundar by singing a Tamil Thukkada song and Sundar, after an
initial timidity did a whacking great job and there was terrific applause!
Mr.Sankara Iyer the joint-Secretary in his speech praised Sundar sky-high.
* Sundar made special efforts for the golu side shows like
playground,circus, village scene, dance show etc.,.
As teen-agers we (meaning I) would dress up and check out the girls.
* In 1942 there was mass evacuation from Madras and we moved
to Tanjore where we stayed i ( I remember) Ganapathi Nagar.
Chinna Manni was also with us.But before leaving mother had a trench
dug in the iruttu room and transferred trunks and vessels and sundries
of value and got it all cemented . This was dug up when we returned
from Tanjore.
* Sundar was working in the Port Trust and mother urged him
repeatedly to come away from Madras. Instead of leaving the
job Sundar thought he would grew a beard,,which he did.
And got a certificate from Dr.Rama Iyengar. It did not work and
on the suggestion of the British CMO’s P.A. he put Rs.16/ in an
envelope and dropped it into an open drawer of the CMO’s desk,which
was kept open only for this purpose.. He got one month’s leave. Soon
the emergency eased and he went back to work in the Port Trust. While in service
(war-time) he did voluntary service doing propaganda work(to please the British
bosses with speeches in Tamil drafted with great effort.
He had a penchant for coining nick-names. A servant-maid who had practically
no teeth was nick-named ‘Queen Boks’–derived from the Tamil name BokkaVAi”. A cousin who
kept talking incessantly about Srirangam temple prasadam-s was nick-named Thirumal vadai’ and when talking to one Manickam who had come along with my cousin Raju of Namakkal referred to
winsome girls as “SuffinX’ which had no meaning but greatly amused Manikkam who kept repeating.
it. A girl whom he saw before marriage was referred to as ‘KAdhula Mayir”– not that she had grown hair in the ears –but who as a fashion device used to cover her ears with her hair.
he named our dog Tikkari– a word that rolled well on the tongue.
It was later that he was selected as Ordinance Officer,a Civilian
Gazetted post.He was doing well but fell ill with Typhoid and Rajam brought him
to Madras in a special compartment. We thought that everything will be well but
he developed Pneumonia. . In those days one had to go to Spencers for getting Penicillin
which was kept by them in refrigerator,the drug having been newly introduced in the market.
Arrangements were made to get them and we were waiting for one Dr.Arunachalam
said to be the best one in the profession in those days. I remember on that day
the Egmore High Road was dug up for tar-laying. But before Dr. could come
home after parking the car at Halls road and trudging along the dug up road,.
Sundar had expired.I was 20 years and could grasp the enormity of the loss, of
a young man just over 30 years in the prime of youth.
A sad, forgettable day for Chinna Manni. My parents too were shaken to the
core. Father practically gave up practice. The house which rang with laughter
was submerged in gloom for a long, long while.
Vasantha and Lakki were little kids of, I guess, about 4 and 2.