Childhood memories

24.07.02 The earliest vivid memory I have of myself is of my waking up one morning and looking for the gun on the table by my bedside and then crying because it was not there. There I was, confused between dream and reality. I am unable to date it but such memories in Beraddin Estate would have been before I was seven. I remember Thomas, my class master and me rushing towards Teachers’ Room to exclaim, upon meeting him midway, that some had “bell ringing” and then being embarrassed that I was not able to properly express myself. How quaint, I remember him tucks my palm into his hands and leading me back to where the action was. Then there was a period when I was in the house of Mrs. Mathews and I remember the day I was hit by a car and thrown off to a drain by the road. Nothing happened to me and it must have relieved the driver of that car.

Autobiography - skeletal

I was born just past mid-night on 10th May, 1955 in a rubber estate named Beradin Estate in the Southern Malaysian State of Johore, where my father was then a Rubber-tapping Conductor. The 50s were the years of communist insurgency in Malaya and rubber estates were particularly hostile territory to the British led counter-insurgency army stationed in the peninsula. The rubber estates in Malaya in those days were almost all owned by the British and had British managers and Indian staff (the pattern being, Syrian Christian Superintendents, Latin Christian Compounders, Nair tapping conductors and Tamil labourers – Nadars? Mudaliars? - almost always). My father hoped to take mother and child to the nearest town Kluang for post-natal check-up in the morning but the day of my birth coincided with a communist upsurge in the region and the local government had imposed curfew. My worried father went the British Manager to seek a way out. He agreed no risk should be taken and he asked my father to use his bullet-proof chauffer-driven limousine with an armed bodyguard. I was thus taken to the hospital in grand style.

10th May, 1955 - my date of birth
Beraddin Estate - the Estate where I was born
Kunhiraman Nair - my father - He served in the Indian Army (under the British then) and was in the Engineering Dept. Stores. A few years later he left the Army.
Padmavathi - my mother - a tireless spick-and-span-homemaker - loved to read in her afternoon breaks.
Chandramohan - my brother - worked only in one company all through his career, with a long break in-between.
Geeta - my sister-in-law (Adethiamma) - a gracious and cultured lady, in later years suffered from a sense of lack, maybe on having missed out on the material life.
Anand - my nephew - book-worm, has had a dream career run so far.
Sarath - my younger nephew
Dr. Sivaraman Nair - Adethiamma's father - a Krishna Bhakth, also seemed to have had a sense of lack.
Vijayan – Swami Janardhananda - Adethiamma's brother, who became a sanyasi at a young age.
Radha - Adethiamma's younger sister. Her family proposed her for me while fixing my brother's marriage. Lucky for her, she escaped being betrothed to a boorish me. Govind - Radha's husband.

M.R. Nair - my father often said that M.R. Nair was his best friend. He was what they called a compounder, a person who doubled up as a doctor in rubber estates.
His Telengu wife
Krishnan - He was one of the three staff who occupied three bungalows adjacent to one another in Beraddin Estate. (The other two being occupied by my father and M.R. Nair. Krishnan's bungalow was between both.)
Bukit Jalil Estate - That's the estate adjacent to Kinrara Estate.
Kluang - A small town near Johore. It was where I went schooling, staying with Mrs. Mathews.
Mrs. Mathews - she ran a boarding establishment and my brother and myself were there, my brother for six years.
Umesh - Mrs. Mathew's daughter's son.
Molly - Mrs. Mathew's daughter.
Tungku Abdul Rehman School - The school where I studied in standard one, named after Malayasia's first Prime-Minister.
Thomas - One of the masters at Tungku Abdul Rehman School. He was aslo a visitor to Mrs. Mathew's establishment.
Johore - That's the southern-most state in peninsula Malaya.
Johore Bahru - that's the town where I had my eye operation.
Eye Hospital - I recollect being tied to the hospital cot so as not to itch my just operated eye.

1963
Kinrara Estate

[Island & Peninsular has made for itself a huge name in Puchong as a middle- to upper-class developer. The flagship development, is of course, Bandar Kinrara near Bukit Jalil. This huge development is actually held under its subsidiary Perumahan Kinrara Berhad, and is set on the former Kinrara estate land and was famous for it’s military camp and hospital. PKB is actually jointly owned by Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera and Lembaga Tabung Haji, hence the military connection. (entry from internet on 22.05.06)]

Hey, it appears part of Kinrara Estate has become a cricket venue. No less than Sachin Tendulkar played at Kinrara Oval. Maybe he hit those on-the-way-to-century sixes over my home of long ago?

Philips - He was the compounder at Kinrara Estate.
Mary - his wife. Taught me how to play cards, to keep her away from boredom.
Seena - Marychechi's daughter. Was quite attached to my mother.
M.A. Nair - he was the compounder who came after Philips left.
Sandiago - M.A. Nair's foster son.
Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's enchanting capital.
La Salle Brickfields - I studied there from 3rd standard to 9th class - Form 3 (LCE). I never got into second standard because I got a double promotion from 1st standard.
Dennis Armstrong - Principal of the secondary section at La Salle Brickfields, if I am right. A muscular karate black belt.
Ratnasinggam - Principal of the whole school?.
L.A. Fernandez - Principal of the primary section? I might have got my principals at the wrong sections.
Mrs. Mahendra - One of my exquisitely beautiful teachers. My father arranged a cook for her from our estate.
Lee Kok Wan - the brightest of sparks. He got first rank in Form III.
G. Ramachandran - a heroic guy, simply called 'G'.
Peter D’Souza
Mariam Alexander - one of my heroes.
Arul - my brother's friend. His brother, it was rumoured, was invovled in a police inspector's murder during the estate festival. He stayed near the estate and I used to go to his place when I started riding the motorcycle. I first rode Yamaha and then Honda.

24th April, 1970 - the day we landed at Meenambakum Airport from K.L.
Madras
Thousand Lights - where the police quarters were.
Narayanan Nair - my 'Uncle' - was in the IB (in its political wing, was attached to MGR and even Annadurai).
Sreedharan - my cousin brother.
Usha - Sreedhara Atten's wife. Sankunni Ammama's daughter.
Chandraatten - Madras Valiyamma's eldest son. The eldest of our generation. Passed away the day my mother suffered stroke.

1st May 70 - Moved from Madras to Nellaya. Got down at Ottapalam. Got into a '54 Chrysler taxi, drove through Nellaya right upto Pattambi till my father awoke from his nostalgic reverie and did a turnabout. What a miss . . . 12 years later.
Kaikulath House - The adjunct house to the Tarawad.
Bhargavi Amma -
Kumaran Ammama - his long spells away from home were legendary in the family.
Rathanavathi
Radhakrishnan
Usha - Lata's elder sister who sadly passed away around her 8th birthday. How forlorn Radhakrishnatten must have been.
Lata
Chandrasekharan - my evergreen cousin brother.
Bhaskaran Ammama - played Lakshman to my father's Rama in real life. My father was fortunate to have had such an upright brother like him. Looked after the construction of our house and before that, when we were all in Malaysia, our paddy fields. Everyone used to day that someone else given the task would have usurped everything.
Sreenivasan - Bhaskaran Ammama's son.
Variatten - educated, but remained in the village and concentrated on farming. In calibre, he would have eventually been appointed as a Tata Director if he had joined Tatas when he was just out of school. Variatten passed away in April 07.
Prabhatten - came after me to Muscat. Ex-serviceman driver.
Eshodhachechi
Vishala edathi
Leela edathi
Indira
Sethumadhavan
Sarada edati
Dasan
Gopalakrishnan - Gobtatten - the most handsome, virile man I have ever met, with probably the exception of Mahmood Macki.
Pangajakshan


Krushithodi House
Seethaamma
Janaki Amma
Gopalan Nair
Devi
Sri Devi
Mohanann
Meenakshi Amma
Keshavan Nair
Gopiatten
Vijayadathi
Chandratten
Rajan
Indira
Padmini
Priya
Unni
Mani
Babu
Kannan
Nellaya Variam
Sree Devi Walsiar
Bhaskara Varier
Achuthanandan Master
Kunjumal Chetichiyar
Padmavathi
Vinod Kumar
Sreeja
Narayanan Kutty (Anian)
Narayanan Kutty
Padmaja
Pattambi
Dr. Unnikrishnan
Mani atedhi
Appu
Shivji

January 1975
Muscat
Muscat Overseas Agencies Company
Mahmood Macki
Douglas Clifford Drummond
Peter Drummond
Asnapath Sahul Hameed
Ahmed (photographer)
Surendran
Abdul Razak
Mathai
RC
Ruwi (opp. Al Haythem)
Taher Ali Al Jamali - son of the venerable His Excellency Ali Al Jamali, who was Oman's ambassador to India for a long time.
Sana
Laythe
Ruwi High Road
Kamal
Mohammad

Camilia



1982 – Sangha Pracharak
Vishva Hindu Parishad
Kashi Vishvanathan
Parlikad Ashram
Swami Dayananda Saraswathi
Swami Bhoomananda
Pavakulam Mahadeva Temple
Purushotam Embranthari
Kummanam Rajashekaran
Venu
Murali
Swayamsevaks
Sreekumar

Madhava Nivas
Mohanji
Bhaskar Rao Kalambe - he was verily one of Vivekananda's Man with a capital M.
Hariatten (Ranga Hari) - is there born a more brilliant man than Hariatten? Really, he ought not to have walked through the world so low-profile.

Madhvji - the man who mastered the occult sciences. I did not belive he would die.

Parameswarji - the sage of our times.

R. Venugopal - the regal pracharak. His real wealth was his positive outlook.
Kudu Sar - .... and then there was Kabadi's own Kudu Sar!
Sethuatten - the most masculine of men - would have given Jayan a run for his money had he been exposed to the mega screen. Swayamsevak incarnate.
P.P. Mukundan - Hey Mukundatten, what trouble have you got into? I know you have done it all for Sangha. But why were you not able to take others along with you?
M.A. Sar - He is the man who seizes all he surveys with his intellect and converts it to organizational relevance.

Madras
Sheshagiri Brothers
Sheshagiri
Balasubramaniam
Lakshmanan
Sreedhar
Cecilia

Hydrotech Engineers
Vinod Ahimaz
Shivakumar


19th January, 1985
Sathyabhama - a sprightly lass. My better half. Unfortunately for her, I was the worst half she could have had.
Arjun - the detached.
Ambika - she has an aura of forlon-ness.
Poomangalam Parameswaran Nair/Swami Parameshwarananda - he has discovered the truth, but his forlon-ness is that he was unable to share it with all whom he wanted to.
Koluttil Subadra -
Sivan
Sathyabhama
Sudha
Mohan
Sushma
Santosh

G.K. Shetty
Ramanna
Ivan . . .

Mumbai
B.J. Mistry
Hosi Mistry
Engineer

Muscat
Desert Line LLC
Johnny
Thomas
Sandhu Singh
Julie
Parekh
Balasubramaniam
Joy
Vasu

Mr. John
Reena
Bijesh
Sandesh

Al Hassan LLC
Vasanthan
Habeeb
Saad
Mumbai
Anand Rathi
Padmanabhan
Mahendra
Kerala
Valuvanad Vidya Bhavan
Venugopalan Thamburan
Krishnadas
Parthan
C.P. Janardhanan

Mumbai
Airoli
Jagjivan Apartments
Mishra

Pallonji Mistry

Saptarishi Apartments
Autoriksha Driver

Rajesh Khatwani


S.M. Kapoor & Co.
Shashi Mohan Kapoor
Shukla Kapoor
Vivek Kapoor
Shveta Kapoor
Vidur Kapoor
Shekhar Gulzarilal Gupta
Neelam Gupta
Tini
Mrs. Renu Kapoor
Sanjay Kapoor
Rakesh Kapoor
Naina
Eknath Mulem
Gopinath Ghadi
Sanjay Choudhary
Sanjay Godbole
Shubham
Govind Prasad Agarwal
Abha Sharma
Subhangi Pastha
Shashank
Ravi
Geeta
Radha
Icon Prints
Job
Manual
Isha Steel
Manikkam
Seth Leasing
Deepak
Surendra Gupta
Sharma
Nagarkar Associates
Gulab Singh
Kewalraj & Co.
Vedian
Orkay
Mesquita

Virat Apartments
Nigam
Sahayog Apartments
Nair - an estate agent, gentlemanly behaviour.
Sangam Apartments

Virat Apartments
Gaikwad -
Thakkur - my neighbour at Virar (second stay). Broke his leg in an accident. Was in plaster. Not in touch really. Rememeber, I am a recluse.
Shakha
Mahesh - Arjun says he is the best of organisers.
Krishnan - handsome. Would have been good a sampark, had he time away from his professional calling. Right person to influence womenfolk in the family.
Joshi - Joshi shishak - a 'to the bones' swayamsevak. Got hurt when his qualified daughter was overlooked for job in a Sangha institution for an 'outsider'.

Karyalay - that's in Churchgate.
Prabhakar Rai - was Pracharak in Churchgate and later came down to Navi Mumbai. Brought Arjun to the shakha. Will he lead Arjun to pracharakship?
Pramod - a swayamsevak from B'lore. Worked in Navi Mumbai as computer engineer.

Nagarkar Associates - Ambika got her first job here.
Bhaskaran - is a Malayalee, IRS.
Z.B. Nagarkar - owner of the company, also an IRS.
Bhagyavan - the office boy there.
Gulab Singh - the accountant - a fiery Rajput.

Mahmood Macki - what a personality he had - an invincible personality indeed.

Kashi Vishvanath - He could easily have been the chairman of a multi-national corporation. But in VHP, he was tolerated, not accepted. A good public speaker, he had a way of putting off workers.

Sheshagiri - what a smile he had. A family man. He would by now be a patriach. Wise and pragmatic.

Vinod Ahimaz - he had a swagger. Had the friendliest of partners - I forgot his name ......... ah yes, Shivakumar. They could not a moment be without each other.

G.K. Shetty - moneyed. Egoistic. Wanted to be recognised by his community as a patriach.

Parameswarji - a meld of spirituality and scholarship. A titan of thought. He ought to have become the President of India.

P.P. Mukundan, a nuts and bolts man. Could get the best out of workers. Exceedingly pragmatic. Got snared in materialism.

Bomanji Jamshedji Mistry, a rich father figure. Very shophisticated person, what with owning a 5-star hotel and all that. When the Berlin wall fell, he advised his friends there to consider the bricks as a business proposition!

Sheikh Ahmed Farid al Awlaki - said to be one of the richest persons in the Middle-East. His second wife, who was in Oman, used to charter planes to go intercontinental shopping. Sent deep sea divers to break into the strong room of a World War II sunken American ship off the Oman coast to ferret out silvor ignots. Made a killing on it.

Al Hassan, pious senior and pragmatic junior. Very upright in business. Shias.

Anand Rathi - A very charismatic person, handsome, master chartered accountant. Was President of Bombay Stock Exchange. Would have gone higher had not a sting operation seen his fall from eminence. He was not guilty of any wrong-doing in seeking to understand stock-positions, but some rule had it that he was not supposed to know that! Fancy, the President being ignorant of the goings-on under his own watch. In his case it proved that the law is an ass. I heard from his secretary Padmanabhan later that he went on to make even more money with his formidable knowledge on money-matters.

C.P. Janardhanan - hero to many - RSS legend in Malapuram. He could have been a general in any army.

Rajesh Khatwani - stylish, classy. Could keep his company running in style though major contracts were not forthcomming for a long time. His dad stacked well when the going was good.

S.M. Kapoor – Senior CA. Of the old school. Nephew of the famous Justice H.R. Khanna.

these are the folks who owned/led the company/institution where I worked.

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I am a stenographer with over 30 years experience in different types of commercial and professional companies and also with NGOs, both in India and in the Gulf. Aged 53, I now wish to work with someone interested in dictating to produce literary works. Would be willing to work as full timer if provided food and lodge.