AUTOBIOGRAOPHY OF
ADHYATAMA RATNA KUMBAKONAM C N GURUSWAMI SARMA (1900-1968)
CHAPTER 15
THE FALL OF THE GENTLE GIANT
From Chingleput station, all of us went straight to a big corner house in Easwaran Kovil street. (Ref 1). It was a cul- de sac and I easily picked up the names of the boys and girls there and my mother's sister and her sons and her husband came very well near to me to pinpoint my attention on them. I ought to have been a nice looking boy for all the girls flocked to me and one Padmasani (Ref 2) caught hold of me and took me away and all of us had some meal distributed I being kept at her side. I felt happy in her company and then my sister Chellammal came and took me away and gave me a bath. I was nicely dressed up again and I used to sit in the pial watching every one who was going in and coming out with great interest so that I might know how I was placed vis a vis with them and was furiously thinking as to what they all meant for me.Other things did not attract my attention. I vaguely remember a procession in a sarattu (Ref 3), Nadhawaram, songs by ladies etc but I did not know what all those things meant. I was always thereafter at the arpon of my sister or in the company of my new friend and sister Padmasani who appeared unnecessarily gaudily dressed. In about a weeks' time, all were bundled off that place with the assurance that all of them will be at Melur again for some sequence of the marriage and for my "poonul" function given a large importance by my grandfather who was proclaiming it from the housetops to all and sundry. My brother-in-law and sister said that they will be there soon and for the present I might go back to Melur. So, I did ,for I think Padmasani was also with us to Madura in the train and I had some welcome company. The same slow journey back to Madura and then trekking by bullock carts, I reached Melur house without Padmasani but with her sister. Thus ended an episode rather not painful but not also happy. The next following period was not smooth. It was of course routine work for me going for the buttermilk in the morning and then to school then to walk and then moping and then to sleep.
Soon something happened which was the first painful thing I consciously underwent. It was the paralytic stroke of my grandfather. The giant six feet tall was laid low and was confined to bed. He could not move his limbs and had to be helped for eating , bathing etc and it was no easy thing to do all that. I also contributed not because I could be of any great assistance to the elders but because in my own way I wanted to comfort that kind old man who was repeatedly calling me and stating openly to all that " Before I die, I want to see his poonal". He was a very brave man and he used to cry out " What is Dharmaraja to me! Let him dare take this Muthu away". One great admiration I had for him was because of the fact that even though he suffered, the very active man at that ripe old age never complained and almost wore a smile. In later days, when I used to have dharshan of Pallikonda Perumal in some shrines bathed in oil and dark in appearance my grandfather's recumbent stature used to come to my memory. I shed a ter for him very often. He was so kind to me and I had nobody in the world to pet me other than him. My father was too big and pothers had their own pets to draw their attention upon them. I felt I had no place in that picture and was a misfit in that frame Sometimes this fact was even articulately dinned into my ears but I had scarcely a place to go and none to whom I can communicate my unfortunate state in my life.
Soon something happened which was the first painful thing I consciously underwent. It was the paralytic stroke of my grandfather. The giant six feet tall was laid low and was confined to bed. He could not move his limbs and had to be helped for eating , bathing etc and it was no easy thing to do all that. I also contributed not because I could be of any great assistance to the elders but because in my own way I wanted to comfort that kind old man who was repeatedly calling me and stating openly to all that " Before I die, I want to see his poonal". He was a very brave man and he used to cry out " What is Dharmaraja to me! Let him dare take this Muthu away". One great admiration I had for him was because of the fact that even though he suffered, the very active man at that ripe old age never complained and almost wore a smile. In later days, when I used to have dharshan of Pallikonda Perumal in some shrines bathed in oil and dark in appearance my grandfather's recumbent stature used to come to my memory. I shed a ter for him very often. He was so kind to me and I had nobody in the world to pet me other than him. My father was too big and pothers had their own pets to draw their attention upon them. I felt I had no place in that picture and was a misfit in that frame Sometimes this fact was even articulately dinned into my ears but I had scarcely a place to go and none to whom I can communicate my unfortunate state in my life.
One bright spot in this daily routine was accompanying my grandmother to Periyar channel (ref 4) about a mile from the house. The channel was not deep but there was sufficient water flowing in and I used to jump into it from the bridge and then smear my body with mud by rolling in the road and then again jump in. When I was satiated with this sport, my grandmother also finished her washing. the wet sarees etc were saddled on my shoulders and accompanying her I used to go home. It was all really fun.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ref 1: Easwaran Kovil street today appears to be in ward no 9 in Chengalpattu but we do not know about the house.
Ref 2: As a sequel to this chapter, I wish to add that the sister-brother relationship between Padmasani, the girl mentioned here as the new acquaintance in the marriage and my grandfather continued and became stronger in the next generation. Padmasani ammal's daughter by name Kanakam ammal was married to my grandfather's first son Narayanaswamy avargal (known as Mr G N Sharma) in 1944. I was told that Padmasani ammal when she was terminally ill,got a promise from my grandfather. Emphasising her relationship as his sister she wanted to make sure that her only daughter would become the first daughter in law of my grandfather. Thus She became the sambandhi as well.
Ref 3: It was customary in those days to have the bridegroom to be taken in a procession around the town in a coach drawn by four horses. The name of the coach is Sarattu.
Ref 3: It was customary in those days to have the bridegroom to be taken in a procession around the town in a coach drawn by four horses. The name of the coach is Sarattu.
Ref 4 Periyar main channel was built between 1875 to 1885 and remains as the source of irrigation in Melur and surrounding villages.
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