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..
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..
No comments:
Post a Comment