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.