My early years and 'Movies'

Recently, my kid - Deep noticed an ad somewhere either in the newspaper or possibly in the mobile phone of the new movies that was released - 'Penguins' and was persisting us to take him to the same. I was finally lucky to avoid the same but the rest of the family did go and watch the movie while it made my thoughts go back several years back when we were in Hubli where I spent my initial years and schooling till 4th standard at Kendriya Vidyalaya Hubli. We used to live on Koppikar road which is probably now the commercial street of Bangalore, Connaugt place of Delhi, MG road of Poona / Bengaluru in HUBLI. We used to live in Kale Chawl a small bylane on koppikar road with several rows of independent houses almost joined together typical of the early urban cities. The place was even then surrounded by all the hotels and cinema theaters that were dear to me then ..

I remember spending long times engrossed in watching the live paintings being done by picture artists on huge canvas of the new movies ( used to call picture then ) that were going to be released in our neighboring theaters - Mohan and Mallikarjun ( which incidentally do not exist now and have given way to become malls ). I was recently reading the dying profession of the painters / artists who used to be busy with all the cinema theaters in the 70s and 80s ..I thought it was great talent to draw , paint for every movie at the time of the release..I'am not even sure if our next generation can fathom the efforts and talent of such breed of people..

I have to admit that I used to be a active movie goer during my early years than what I'am now and I also remember the verbal contract / deal that I had with Pappa of seeing 8 movies during summer holidays since we used to have 8 weeks of holidays ..Ofcourse the xmas break and Dasara break and its share of 1-2 pictures as well..I was a die hard fan of Amitabh Bachhan and would have possibly seen most of the movies of the 80's..I remember being teased, pestered and chased by other elders in my family for the same. The secret to my interests in movies and the easy access to new movies was with Pappa. His student / parents fraternity across Hubli consisted of all businessman and these also included some of the owners of the film theaters  and one of the notable one was 'Apsara' theater , which was then and even now one of the best fiml theaters in Hubli..So, a small word with his students for couple of tickets to be reserved for us used to work wonders and I enjoyed and have fond remembrances of my early days of passing across the locked gates and the huge queues and hordes of people waiting for the tickets of the newly released movies. It also helped that our house was surrounded by theatres within a vicinity of 2-3 kms and 6-9 pm show and 9-12 pm show used to be the normal  walking across the streets of Hubli with probably some packet of peanuts or Puff ..

It was so different than what exists now where we can book the tickets online, go in cars, look for parking and get frustrated by the time the movie starts ..Ofcourse the technology now is great , choice is more ..but still miss that breed of movies / actors and needless to say the - ' The angry young man - Amitabh Bachan in his youthful days and my father who used to get me the 'Tickets ' .... 

Habit / Discipline

Couple of days back, while I was getting ready Deep to school, his clothes were not ironed. It was already time and the bus would come honking possibly in the next 5-10 mins. The normal temptation would have been to immediately get him into the shirt and shorts that were lying in the drawer, neatly folded..However, my immediate inclination without a hitch was to pick the clothes and run up a floor to the ironing area..I hurriedly ironed his clothes, got him ready and off Deep went in his yellow school bus, not much caring though for the ironed clothes..He probably was not aware and neither would have minded about the same..

This got me thinking as to why I was so paranoid about the ironed clothes for the school going kid and my immediate reflection was to Pappa who used painstakingly used to iron all my school clothes. I don't remember a day to school me wearing un-ironed dresses and that had become a habit for me and how could I do the same to my child ! I also don't remember pappa not wearing unironed dresses to his office ( school )..

These are some values, unknowingly are imparted from generation to generation. It may be as small as a ironed school uniform but there are deep sense of discipline, habit forming and commitment behind all this..

Indakka Atya

I just came back yesterday from Mumbai. This was another added grief to the whole family when my eldest Atya - Indakka Atya expired 13 days back in Mumbai. This was just within 3 months of Pappa's death.

In some ways, Pappa and Indakka Atya had very similar traits of being leaders and winners. She was a brave lady too, having seen tough early years and then getting married and sustaining a large family of 4 kids - 2 sons, 2 daughters in the early years. My early remembrances of her start from the solapur days where she used to live near the railway station. I remember the days when she used to play 'Gunda', 'cards' along with me when I was a kid  and I used to get surprised, amused and happy about it. Later along the years, her family grew and she saw grandkids and even a grand grand kid as well in the last few years ...

Pappa and Indkka atya used to share a very 'loving' and 'figting' relation possibly can be termed as 'Lovingly fighting; ..I say this because evertime they used to meet, there would be some arguement between them where they would differ in their views and given they are from similar traits, both of them would stick to their stands always ..I often used to wonder why this happens everytime and later in my life when I did few learnings on MBTI, emotional quotients etc, I started to realize why this could be happening..

It is also ironic that they both passed away within a span of 3 months !!! Both of their souls are probably having the same camaradrie and the familiar fights of our world ! ..

My tribute to both of them ..

Deepawali

On this day every year, Pappa used to wake the whole family very early in the morning so that we could all get ready for the 'Aarti' before sunrise. While the proceedings for Aarti would be happenings, the phones would start ringing from all across other homes wishing each other on deepawali and exchanging notes if they have completed the aarti at home or not ..Amidst all this, Pappa also would make sure to burn couple of crackers outside the house which would break the silence...It was his way of telling the world that Deepawali has arrived and people should not be sleeping. He had also continued with the tradition of giving money to put in the aarti thali to me, Deep and Diya ..

Infact, his festivities would also start a few days earlier when he would check all the twinkling light rolls that he would be putting around the house. One of the light rolls would usually not work and he would have made sure to buy a new one as a replacement. He would have made sure to put all the light rolls that would hang from the first floor to the ground..This was quite an activity and I would usually help him to put them from the first floor. This was the tradition that he had started in Saarang in the last few years.

Today is a strange day. I just woke up very early though Pappa did not call. In the last few years, he used to call up through the phone from the ground floor in case we were getting late to get up. I had not realized that there is no Aarti this year and was trying to get ready when got to know that there is no Aarti.  It started reminding me of all the Deepawali days in the bygone years and how I as a child, teenager and as adult celebrated Deepawali. In the childhood days, it was also of looking forward for the new shirt that pappa would be purchasing.

While I write this, my memories go back to the past of the all the deepawali days when Pappa was alive. This is a strange nostalgic, empty and void feeling ...There is silence around and I just took the time to write this note before the kids wake up and a new day begins again which probably will make me forget the silence that is currently pervading at the moment ...

Painting story

I'am in the middle of getting portions of 'Saarang' painted. This includes the some of the exteriors and the rooms in the first floor. This was the extension of the work that was started by Pappa. Infact, his interests in some activities were very deep. This included 'Painting' , which he was fond of doing and trying himself.

Last year, he himself painted the entire ground floor of the house. I used to pick up a fight whenever I used to see him do that standing on some stool or ladder; Later, he started doing it whenever were were not at home. While I deeply appreciated his passion , I also had fear that he might hurt himself in the process. In anycase, he would not listen to anyone and would still go about doing what he loved doing ..He started out painting the compound, gate , window grills with Black paint. It got extended for some of the interior walls and later when we were away for 10 days in Singapore, last year, he completed most of the ground floor with offwhite, clay colour. The next in his plans was the first floor, which had not got completed. This was one of the reasons I wanted to complete this activity, which was on his mind.

He would have got completely busy engrossed with the painting activity if he was alive and would have discussed his various thoughts after I used to come back from office. Infact, when I went to purchase the paints at the nearby ' Asian Paints' shop, the shopkeeper recognized our house and Pappa and narrated how he used to come daily last year and buy 1 Ltr paints in small quantities.

I'am glad that I took up the unfinished activity initiated by him and its almost getting over with shades of yellow, orange in Kids room ; shades of green, brown in master bedroom ; shades of offwhite and brown and in the guest room above ..

Attitude, Relations, Helping nature ..

In the internet world, we often hear the terms of DIY. There are several interesting companies that are based on this concept. You will soon know why I'am talking about DIY.

I have still not published and made my blog public with friends, relatives ; However, my brother in law got to read the blog and he responded saying that one of the things that he remembered very well and which he admires was Pappa's DIY attitude. He remembers his climbing to nooks and corners of the under construction building when "SAARANG' was being constructed in 2005. His comment brought me memories of that phase of the life our family.

Infact, Pappa was the one who coaxed me and convinced me to purchase our site in classic orchards in Bangalore during 2003 , which possibly is the best investment in our lives so far ..Infact, if I had listened to him earlier too during 2001-2002, we would have been better off since he actually had started some periodic monthly investment into a site in Sarjapur road in Bangalore after his retirement. We infact, had seen the site along with one other respected and elder relative and I should admit it was my mistake that I did not continue with the monthly payments for some reason ( possibly because of lack of foresight ).

In any case, I was second time lucky when Pappa convinced me to purchase our site in Classic ORchards, where we were living now in 2003 post my marriage. Possibly marriage makes one more mature and gets in the sense of responsibility :-)

We eventually started the construction in 2004 - Sept after my return from Asian Inst of Management, Manila. We eventually moved into Saarang on 25 Feb, 2006.During this time, it was quite a challenging as well as exciting project to deal with the main Architect, his trainer architects, contractors, engineers and the workers apart from the finance folks ...

Pappa was so involved in the project that he used to deal with the contractors, engineers and the workers in the site on everyday basis. He used to be waiting to pounce on me when I used to return from the office to offer his views on the feedback about the work. Honestly speaking, I did not have or still don't have as much knowledge about these construction engineering aspects. His feedback used to be crisp, candid and upfront in terms on what was going wrong be it the engineering view or the productivity of the labourers and the contractors.

It was also his second experience of building a home, the first being 'Aashirwaad' that he built in 1995 in Hubli. I have rememberances of how he managed that construction in Hubli while we used to stay in Sambra. Sometimes, he used to drive in his Priya CRL 356 sccoter from Sambra to Hubli since he required to travel a lot within Hubli. It was a lot of hardwork to manage the same with smaller comfort on finances compared to the present times, when loans are easily available. He had taken a loan from Dewan Housing giving an exorbitant interest rate of 16%, which was probably the norm that times..His goodwill was so high that for almost every piece of work, he used to get some known friend or student who helped him during this stage..I know how his Hubli students helped him towards various stages - cement, painting, grills, wood etc ..It was the goodwill that he carried amongst his known circles that he used to find help almost everywhere he went..It also reflects that life always comes full cycle..One helps others and at some other point in time, you get help from others ...

I try to imbibe the same in my life in terms of managing relationships, helping others etc.

Teacher's day ..

My dad was also my teacher for couple of years. From that perspective, all of school KV friends were also his students. This day, every year,  few of friends either would call me or my dad directly to wish him on teachers day..We all are shaped by our teachers in our school days. I too usually talk or atleast send messages to my KV teachers ( most of whom incidentally are all family friends as well ).

I got one message today from Raghu Katageri ( my senior at school, family friend ) saying that he used to call every year wishing Pappa and hence he messaged me since he was remembering. I'am sure there would be others who would have been doing the same.

In KV, we used to have a very interesting custom of the senior most class representing all the teachers in school and run the school for the day. Hence, it usually would be XII class students who would represent each teacher on 5th Sept every year and they would take all the classes for rest of the classes.

Pappa interestignly began his career with 'BSNL' ( Indian Telephones ) after his graduation and was posted to Madras ( chennai ). It would have been a great career for him considering that all those in those times rose to become very senior officers in BSNL 'Indian Telephone'. However, it was not to be because he was destined to be a teacher. Apparently, he was so unhappy with the madras weather that he decided to come back to Hubli just after few days of training because of the extreme heat in Madras..

He later was in Kundgol for a short time and later in New English Girls school, Hubli and later joined Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan as a TGT, which eventually was his organization till retirement. He used to teach Physics, Mathematics mostly and infact taught me Physics and Mathematics in 8th, 9th standard..

His students were his great assets and he often used to locate atleast one or more prominent students wherever he was ..I have seen his students range from Prominent IAS officers, Businessmen, Doctors, Engineers and even one very prominent scientist who is well known globally ( Sreenivas Kulkarni was apparently his student and is a well known and acclaimed scientist in Astrophysics and professor in CalTech, USA, who is also incidentally brother of Mrs Sudha Murthy ) Ref : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrinivas_Kulkarni

I'am sure there are many others whom possibly I may not know. 

carpenter ..

In our days in Sambra, we were getting some furniture done for our home ( or rather the quarters since we still did not have our home, that got built in 1995 in Hubli ). The seesham ( rosewood ) wood was sourced from Savantwadi forests and Pappa had travelled their in his Bajaj Priya scooter to purchase block of wood, get it cut and then get it transported to Sambra.. Later , he had got hold of a carpenter to make the chairs and tables for the living room..The funny part was that the carpenter used to take instructions from Pappa while the main carpenter seemed to be Pappa..Often he used to get down himself and start doing vrunda, hammering the nails etc ..I was young and in school and used to wonder why Pappa was doing all this ..It was his interest and passion in carpentry because of which he used to do it ..This remained true even later in life and even in Bangalore during our house constructions ..

Just lat year, 2013, he had got the polishing done for the furniture at our home and had other plans for this year.  

Pappa's birthday / Ganesha Festival ..

We just finished the Ganesha Chaturthi festival..This is the first ganesha festival or any festival for that matter for me without Pappa..It was very emotional moment since I have great remembrances of all the Ganesha festivals right from the childhood..The earlier memories are of me getting new clothes on few festivals and one of them surely was the Ganesha Chaturthi apart from the fire crackers..I remember always either burning crackers while getting the Ganesha home or playing 'Jhangti' ( the hindu metal and a small hammer usually made of wodden to create melodious sound ). Ganesha is supposed to be welcomed with sound and this was the tradition ...

Earlier we did not use to keep Ganesha at home, a tradition once started cannot be stopped. It used to be commonly kept at my uncles house. Later, while I grew up and it was sometime when I was in 6, 7th class in Sambra that we started getting Ganesha home .

Pappa also convinced few other close family friends in Sambra to keep Ganesha in their respective homes as well. His trait of collaboration with the community continued later in his life at Classic Orchards as well where was instrumental in starting the Ganesha festival. For all the years till now ( 6 years till now in classic orchards ), he was the one who used to book the Ganesha Idol and get the same to our layout. I was happy to do the same this year as well in keeping his tradition ..

He got all the families together and used to plan for festivities in advance. Sambra, being a air force station, we had to go to Balekundri, a village adjacent to get our Ganesha's in the morning. It was usually monsoon and we had to traverse the village paths adorned with all the muddy water and 'kesuru' ( Kannada word for mounds of watery mud caused because of rains ). We used to keep our chappals at home so that they dont get stuck in the mud slings :-)

Our schedule of the day used to be getting Ganesha home, doing  Ganesha pooja, burning crackers and then having a sumptuous lunch, where Modaka ( Kannada word for the sweet that is made at home which is the most loved sweet for God Ganesha )  was a mandatory preparation. The evenings used to be socializing time of visiting other homes where Ganesha idols were kept. It usually used to be 5-6 families including Anantachar sir, Nadgir sir, Pagnis uncle, Kadkol uncle's homes and there were few other families where Ganesha was not kept.

The day prior to the Ganesha festival used to be also full of action till late night because of the decorations that Pappa would be doing at home. This include complete re orientation of the furniture's and the creating a podium for the God along with the various paper decorations and some smaller interesting things like battery operated chakra behind lord Ganesha, coloured lights in the mandap etc ..I also remember him writing in his beautiful handwriting 'Shri Ganeshaya Namah' in a chart paper to be pasted above the mandap.

He also was a great carpenter and had created a wodden mandap himself that was used almost for a decade in Sambra ..This wodden mandap used to be the same but would look different each year because of the different decorations adorning it.. He had a deep interest in wood work, carpentry and often used to be carpenter himself ..


Coming back to the title of the blog,,Pappa's birthday was the day next to the Ganesha Chaturthi and this happened to be yesterday,, the first posthumous birthday ..I was remembering him and so would all his near and dear ones who used to call him every year on this day ..

Sharp Mind, Short Capital

Given the poor situation of the family, it was always difficult to pay for the early education. Though it was only government school with only minimal fees, even that was difficult for this family. Somehow, the whole family was lucky that they got the early education in a Govt School in Savanur. I think it is called Majid high school, which I had seen few times during my visit to Savanur.

I have often heard about the tough situations that existed because of which there was no money to buy books and other necessities of the school. Apparently, his schoolwork / homework used to be doing a favour by completing his friend's homework that included girls and boys in his neighborhood. In return for the favour, he used to get few 'annas', the decimal fraction of a 10 Paise coin ...I have transacted on a 5 paisa coin when I was a child but the current times, we hardly even see a 50 paise coin ..Possibly, they are already withdrawn by RBI and what we currently transact are only 1 Rs as a minimum denomination.
This in turn possibly used to be returned to the family. It is amazing that this person could survive in these tough situations,  get himself educated and later further get a degree ( which I will talk later ) and become a teacher in Kendriya Vidyalaya !

He had an amazingly sharp mind and no wonder he got his degree in Physics eventually later in life. He was all throughout a sharp student and often came out with flying colours in school despite the tough economic background. I have seen his sharp mind at work at different times in life - solving some immediate short term problem at school or family, planning for some event in advance, making the timetable for the school ( akin to a computer generated timetable done manually by a person ), mediating between his colleagues,  which were all arduous problems that requires a really sharp mind..

Born within a tornado !

My understanding is that Life in 1940's used to be tough for all Indians. This was pre independence and poverty was almost ubiquitous. Pappa was born in these tough years -  28 Aug 1941. The families were generally bigger around those times and with only 1-2 people feeding the whole family. The head of the family usually would be a government employee either in railways, posts, bank, muncipality or a teacher...Engineers, Doctors, Businessmen would be very few I would assume. This is a far cry from the life in our current times.

My grandfather used to be a Govt employee and was a highly religious person who used to donate large part of his income to the temples and maths. He also had a large family to take care in Savanur, a village near Haveri in Karnataka. In 1943, the family consisted of a young wife and 4 or 5 small kids around the age of 2 to 12 years. Couple of kids had already died because of the high mortality rates around those times. He had some agricultural lands in Tallihally, a small village near Savanur.

One fateful day in 1943, my grandfather - Raghavendra Rao Aralappanavar passed away suddenly without any ailment leaving behind a young family to take care of itself, with most of his savings already donated to the temples and maths. This was a catastrophic event that the family had no clue about and had no clue about the family's future.

Life teaches the best lessons that are not taught anywhere. This was theme for the family. In these tough times, when there was a constant requirement for money to feed the young family. In such circumstances, another event devastated the family. One of the landlords who knew the family and what it was going through, cheated my grandmother into signing off most of the lands that the family owned by giving some small short term money that the family required. My grandmother , apparently had no clue that she was actually selling the lands to this landlord. In no time, the Aralappanavar family, which was a well to do family till now was literally on the streets..

No Income, No Lands, No Father and around 10 mouths to feed ...These were the times under which Pappa's life got initiated ....

I'am dating back the timelines based on what I had heard from my father and uncle had recounted of their early years. Pappa was 2 years when his father passed away. He had not even seen the photograph of his father his entire life. I can only console myself at these times given the fact that I was lucky to spend almost 34 years of my 39 years with my father..

early rememberances

My own early remembrances date back to our days in Hubli in Kale Chawl on Koppikar road. The current koppikar road in Hubli is probably the most upmarket place in Hubli in the current times, but in 80's it used to be one of the roads that led to Durgad Bail, the main market..

Pappa had possibly made a deal with the restaurant manager because I always used to get the Idli and Sambar whenever I went to the restaurant without any questions..I have faint remembrances of myself carrying packed Idli and the hot sambar in the steel vessel. These were probably before my school going days.

I also remember my interview in school before I got admitted in K V Hubli, where Pappa was a teacher..This was the beginning of a long journey of 12 years where Pappa was a teacher as well as a father for me ..

Apparently, he had committed to his colleagues that he will get me to school , which was in Hosur area of Hubli, in the new 2 wheeler only and he stood by his commitment and had purchased 'Ramona' , very unique vehicle in those times, which was a electic+petrol vehicle.

Pappa was a person who would stick to his commitment despite any challenges, a trait that I have seen throughout his life. If something triggers in the mind, his brain would start planning for the same, and the actions would follow towards what he wanted to achieve.

Its said - Life is full of surprises. The worst surprise is one which can take away Life itself.

surprise

 

 

 

 

 

1.

to strike or occur to with a sudden feeling of wonder or astonishment, as through unexpectedness: 

2.

to come upon or discover suddenly and unexpectedly: 

3.

to make an unexpected assault on (an unprepared army, fort, person, etc.).

4.

to elicit or bring out suddenly and without warning: to surprise the facts from the witness.

5.

to lead or bring unawares, as into doing something not intended: 

All these above are true towards what happened in the last 3 weeks ..

I was imagining the next phase of life of  'Pappa' with his recently done knee replacement surgery and his extreme happiness over the outcome. He was looking forward eagerly for this next phase as much as we were. At 73 ( and officially 74), his birthday was celebrated in the hospital by the nurses on the day of his admission ( 13 July 2014 ). His first knee surgery was done on 14th and the next done on 16th of July and was eventually discharged on 21 July in normal conditions ... Who knew he would be breathing his last breadth on 24th July 2014 ? Worst surprise that Life can throw back to you..

I want do dedicate this blog towards Pappa and his life as I continue to remember.