These are some of the memories of my late brother Sundar.
I remember Vasantha and Lakki were eager to hear all this and
wanted more……..Vengrai
* Kudumi: Sundar had a kudumi , which when unrolled flowed
down 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.
* 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.,
outlet for buying new dolls 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.
* 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.
There is one whom I remember even now! (hope Ruks does
not see this!)
* 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 roomand transferred trunks and vessels and sundries of value and got it 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,which was kept open only for this purpose.. He got one month’s leave. Soon
the emergency eased and he went back to work.