A COTTAGE IN SWAMI HILLS
13. MR. R S SARMA
Mr. R. S Sarma was my grandfather's father's elder brother's grandson. (uncle's grandson or cousin's son). But he was almost of the same age like my grandfather possibly a year or two older. This strange relationship existed because my grandfather's father was the last son for his father and probably the eldest son got married when he was a child. A picture probably would make things clearer. The rows indicate the relationship of son to the person mentioned above.
Venkateswara Sarma alias Kuppuswami Josier
|
|||
Naganathan
|
Panchapakesan (Tanjore)
|
Rangaswami (Chennai and later sivaganga)
|
Narayansawami (Madurai)
|
Chinna Ramachandra Iyer (Pudukkottai Vakil)
|
My grandfather
|
||
R S Sarma
|
The relationship between them was not known to me because my grandfather never discussed thi relationship with me at all. My father and uncles used to call Mr. R S Sarma as "ammanji" which actually meant that he is their maternal uncle's son. I thought that it was just absurd. However, another dimension emerged to the relationship which explained the reason and this is given in the table below.
Since R S Sarma is also my grandmother's maternal uncle's son my grandmother called him "Ammanji". but, why her children that is my father and uncles followed suit is not clear. To compound the existing picture, Mr.R S Sarma married my grandmother's younger sister Jayam and so he became my grandfather's co brother. Finally, Mr.R S Sarma studied in Madras Law College and so they might have been classmates too.
Since R S Sarma is also my grandmother's maternal uncle's son my grandmother called him "Ammanji". but, why her children that is my father and uncles followed suit is not clear. To compound the existing picture, Mr.R S Sarma married my grandmother's younger sister Jayam and so he became my grandfather's co brother. Finally, Mr.R S Sarma studied in Madras Law College and so they might have been classmates too.
Mr R S Sarma related from my grandmother's side
Venkateswara Sarma alias Kuppuswami Josier
|
|||
Naganathan (born circa 1820)
|
Narayanaswami (circa 1840)
|
||
Chinna Ramachandra Iyer (born circa 1850 died circa 1900)
|
His Sister married to XXX and got a daughter Nagalaksmi ammal |
My grandfather (born circa 1900)
|
|
R S Sarma (born circa 1900) |
My grandmother (born circa 1905)
|
||
My grandmother’s sister Jayam
|
With all these, my grandfather never spoke much to Ammanji Thatha (as we used to call Mr. R S Sarma.) whenever they met. Ammanji Thatha came with his wife from Pudukkottai and stayed with us for a couple of days. During the time when Ammanji Thatha was there, he used to interact with us a lot but not much with my grandfather. He was tall, fair and was always wearing white Jibba. A rough picture of Ammanji Thatha is given below.
He walked with a walking stick but was quite fast in walking. He always intrigued us with some difficult words in English. He was very good in English and of course good in matters related to Law though I was told that he did not have very active practice. He could be very blunt and at times very rude. "SCAMP ......." is the word he used when he wanted to call someone who has done a mistake.
He walked with a walking stick but was quite fast in walking. He always intrigued us with some difficult words in English. He was very good in English and of course good in matters related to Law though I was told that he did not have very active practice. He could be very blunt and at times very rude. "SCAMP ......." is the word he used when he wanted to call someone who has done a mistake.
'
In many things, he was opposite of my grandfather. He practised no Japa nor did any Puja. He spoke in such a loud voice that neighbours could easily understand what is being discussed. My grandfather told me that he groomed my Periappa and taught him to practise law. It is said that Periappa used to read "Sexton Blake" novels at the behest of Ammanji Thatha to sharpen his brain on crime and its implications.Surprisingly, when I was in Kumbakonam both had drifted apart. Once by coincidence or by design, both Ammanji Thatha and Periappa had come to Kumbakonam and they were speaking with each other for a long time.
Next day morning, I (with usual impertinence that was characteristic of my behaviour) asked Ammanji Thatha whether there was a rapprochement . Ammanji Thatha was taken aback. He probably did not expect a Tamil medium 8th standard student in Native High School to quietly drop that word. Then he said ," No.There is no question of re-approach". I almost jumped with joy. I clearly won over him because apparently he did not catch that French word. It looks childish now but I was very keen to let people know that I had developed some talent in languages thanks to my grandfather.
Ammanji Thatha had clear concept of the role of Police. When I described to him that the Police had made Lathi charge against the students, (I think, it was 1965 Hindi agitation) he was vehement in reaction. he said "Police has to guide not beat the students".
In 1970, after my grandfather passed away, I was in Bombay for a month and returned to Chennai alone. My sithappa had sent a card requesting Ammanji Thatha, who by that time had shifted to Chennai. When the train stopped in Chennai, Ammanji Thatha was there standing infront of the sleeper coach.He was 70 years old then. He was standing in that station to receive me who is a distant relative, ( I do not want to go through again the complicated relationship.). That was his unconditional affection. The moment I got down, he thrust a post card in my hands. It was already written "I have reached Madras safely". I had to just sign and post it in station. We caught an auto and reached his small rented house in Triplicane. he had a royal palatial house in Pudukkottai and here he was living in a two room portion in which he, his wife (my grandmother's sister) and his granddaughter Suguna was staying. He was least perturbed by the change in the surroundings. I felt very sorry at the way he had to face this at his old age when he should have been lording over the house at Pudukkottai. I did not know the reason for that change. I never will know. After dinner, we all adjourned to the terrace and again the session was in full swing with Suguna and Ammanji Thatha speaking in King's English. Suguna was studying M.A in Queen Mary's College and so I was no match. I got caught in the word "sans'. Now, it was my turn to eat a humble pie as I did not know that "sans" meant "without".
In 1974, I was travelling to Mumbai to join IBM as a trainee. on May 14th, Indian Railways workmen announced strike and I was stranded in Madras. i was staying in venus Colony in the house which belonged to my Sithi's uncle. One day, I went to Triplicane and met Ammanji Thatha and had a nice talk with him. Then he told me " Do not go by bus. It is a waste of money. Just walk down to Venus Colony and gave me the directions. I followed his directions and reached Venus Colony in an hour or so.
That was the last time I met him.
When I was transcribing the autobiography of my grandfather from the notes collected in Kumbakonam house, I came across many interesting details which explained the distance my grandfather kept from Ammanji Thatha.
But then, life is a strange game in which you never know who is winning at what point of time. You can only keep playing according to rules and hope that it is fair to you.
* Cottage in swami hills refers to the house in which we lived in Kumbakonam. This phrase was used once by my grandfather when I asked him that as some people go in summer to Kodaikanal and Ooty where they have a cottage whether we would also be able to go and stay like them one day. My grandfather replied that he already has a cottage near swami Hills (swamimalai) and he referred to his house as the cottage.
Next day morning, I (with usual impertinence that was characteristic of my behaviour) asked Ammanji Thatha whether there was a rapprochement . Ammanji Thatha was taken aback. He probably did not expect a Tamil medium 8th standard student in Native High School to quietly drop that word. Then he said ," No.There is no question of re-approach". I almost jumped with joy. I clearly won over him because apparently he did not catch that French word. It looks childish now but I was very keen to let people know that I had developed some talent in languages thanks to my grandfather.
Ammanji Thatha had clear concept of the role of Police. When I described to him that the Police had made Lathi charge against the students, (I think, it was 1965 Hindi agitation) he was vehement in reaction. he said "Police has to guide not beat the students".
In 1970, after my grandfather passed away, I was in Bombay for a month and returned to Chennai alone. My sithappa had sent a card requesting Ammanji Thatha, who by that time had shifted to Chennai. When the train stopped in Chennai, Ammanji Thatha was there standing infront of the sleeper coach.He was 70 years old then. He was standing in that station to receive me who is a distant relative, ( I do not want to go through again the complicated relationship.). That was his unconditional affection. The moment I got down, he thrust a post card in my hands. It was already written "I have reached Madras safely". I had to just sign and post it in station. We caught an auto and reached his small rented house in Triplicane. he had a royal palatial house in Pudukkottai and here he was living in a two room portion in which he, his wife (my grandmother's sister) and his granddaughter Suguna was staying. He was least perturbed by the change in the surroundings. I felt very sorry at the way he had to face this at his old age when he should have been lording over the house at Pudukkottai. I did not know the reason for that change. I never will know. After dinner, we all adjourned to the terrace and again the session was in full swing with Suguna and Ammanji Thatha speaking in King's English. Suguna was studying M.A in Queen Mary's College and so I was no match. I got caught in the word "sans'. Now, it was my turn to eat a humble pie as I did not know that "sans" meant "without".
In 1974, I was travelling to Mumbai to join IBM as a trainee. on May 14th, Indian Railways workmen announced strike and I was stranded in Madras. i was staying in venus Colony in the house which belonged to my Sithi's uncle. One day, I went to Triplicane and met Ammanji Thatha and had a nice talk with him. Then he told me " Do not go by bus. It is a waste of money. Just walk down to Venus Colony and gave me the directions. I followed his directions and reached Venus Colony in an hour or so.
That was the last time I met him.
When I was transcribing the autobiography of my grandfather from the notes collected in Kumbakonam house, I came across many interesting details which explained the distance my grandfather kept from Ammanji Thatha.
But then, life is a strange game in which you never know who is winning at what point of time. You can only keep playing according to rules and hope that it is fair to you.
* Cottage in swami hills refers to the house in which we lived in Kumbakonam. This phrase was used once by my grandfather when I asked him that as some people go in summer to Kodaikanal and Ooty where they have a cottage whether we would also be able to go and stay like them one day. My grandfather replied that he already has a cottage near swami Hills (swamimalai) and he referred to his house as the cottage.
No comments:
Post a Comment