Category: Uncategorized
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Kombur Village: Geography and Social Structure
In my ample free time, I have been recollecting the geography and social structure of Kombur village. The village is on a ½ mile winding road, close to the larger town of Velukkudi (which is much better known than Kombur, perhaps due to the famous religious lecturer Velukkudi Krishnan – who is somewhat distantly related…
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Amma’s Childhood Playmate
One brief memory about my mother and Nattu Subraya Mudali Street house, which belonged to my thatha, and was the childhood home of my mother. I was born in that house, as were many of my siblings. When my mother was growing up in that house, she used to have a close friend and playmate…
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Shotand Tapeta Paati
In Mylapore, nearby to PSI school, used to live some older relatives of ours – one paati and thatha. They were somewhat distant, sharing a common ancestor 7 generations above my father (and hence of the same Gothra). We used to meet them often, as they would come daily to the temple near our house…
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Kalyani’s Musical Talent
You may recall from Devu’s stories that we all lived in a house on Nattu Subraya Mudali street with my thatha Gopalaswamy Iyengar, who had moved there after retirement. Subsequently, when we moved to Keshava Perumal Sannadhi Street, my elder sister Kalyani went for Carnatic music classes. She was learning music from a co-tenant at…
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BigMa Botheration
Devu in his stories mentioned briefly the matter of “BigMa Botheration.” I wanted to add more colour to this story. Some of this you may have heard previously, and perhaps I am repeating some things. It is well known that my thatha (on father’s side) T. Rajagopalachariar had three wives (two of them concurrently). He…
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School Teacher Kombur Santhanam
One story I would like to tell is about our school in Kombur village. It had 5 standards, with both girls and boys going to the same school. But it had only 1 teacher, who would go to each class in turn and teach different materials based on each standard. Each class had no more…
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The Radio That Ambu Made
Appa was a very dedicated fan of Carnatic music, and of films (esp. English films). He would often spend 2 ½ annas to buy a film ticket just to get a chair. Amma never went to watch films, and the first film she ever saw was “Shakunthala” a 1965 film with G. N. Balasubramaniam and…
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My Father’s Love for TOMCO
Appa used to work at the TOMCO (Tata Oil Mills) office, and there was one D. R. Iyengar who was the manager of the office. We always thought the entire TOMCO was owned by him, but he was only a petty officer of the company. He had never even gone to school, and as a…
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Free Temple Prasadams
The house that we rented on Solaiappa Mudali street belonged to a rich man, a dharmakarta of the Keshavaperumal temple which was on the same street. This was a “tengalai” temple, though we were all more attached to the Srinivasaperumal temple (which was a vadagalai temple). However, the owner was a kind man and he…
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First Day of School
I have some memories of Srinivasachari, my father’s elder brother. He had 4 sons, but all have passed away except for Justice Ranga (alive at the time of narration – he has since passed [SR]). The reason we all moved to Solaiappan Mudali Street / Kesava Permual Sannathi Street in Mylapore was to be close…
In Memory of Ambu 