The moth eaten Autograph Diary

As mentioned elsewhere, Sanskrit was our first language, English the Second and Hindi the third language in Tenth. One morning, just after we had filled up the Tenth Standard board examination forms (that was when I got two things – my date of birth and my signature, which have remained more or less intact to this day. It is strange to imagine that at that time we had the power to enter whatever reasonable date between 1st April 1964 and 31st March 1965 as our birthdates. I had, done fairly extensive research with a panchangam, an inland letter written by my maternal grandfather to my father in September 1964 and some deduction to arrive at the fact that 18th September 1964 as my birthdate.

Then one day Sr. Angelita dropped a bombshell. The Government of Karnataka had decreed that Kannada has to be a paper in Tenth. It was a gloomy day for us. The girls wept copiously and the boys sat glum. We didn’t know what to study. Fortunately the conundrum resolved itself soon and we finally wrote the Hindi paper.

And then began the ritual of collecting autographs. We begged our parents for a diary and circulated it around asking people to write. Over 120 kids from the high school and the teachers wrote words of humour and wisdom and signed the book. NRB wrote on my autograph diary, “He knows enough who knows how to learn”. How true!!! Sr. Angelita in her trademark green ink wrote “May God Bless you” and signed. Others wrote similar words. There was one master, an Anglo Indian who taught us the Guitar, a person with a very English name - Rodger Bronkhurst. He claimed to have arrived from Australia though he looked more like an Indian than even us Wadiites. Then there was Gangadhar, our librarian, who penned a verse in calligraphic Kannada script. In short, getting the Autograph Diary filled was our most important occupation during the months leading to the Board Exams. While on a recent impulsive trip to Coimbatore to see my aged parents, my brother there had decided to sell off old and moth eaten books, out of which I managed to salvage the autograph diary. Reading it gave a lot of satisfaction and solace. Rosy was there, so was Mohan, as was Anthony James. And they will remain with me till I have that book. Rosy had sketched a smiley face to embellish her words. Smile away guys, you have left all your pains behind for us to carry around. We will bear your crosses for the rest of our days, and tell the Lord to treat us with a little more humanity (or Godliness if you wish) while we are here.

Special Classes in Shahabad

Class Ten was a period of great excitement as also hard work. We didn’t know it, rather did not realize it, that we were all to part, some of us forever, some like Mohan, Rosy and Anthony James. I haven’t seen these after then and most certainly am not likely to see them till I too pass on to another world. The others, thankfully are still in this world, and who knows what will happen when? Had we known then, we would possibly have tried to live our days together with greater bonding and love. But we did, we, of the batch of 1980 were very well bonded.

There were special classes. Since the bus from Wadi didn’t run on Sundays, we from Wadi took the early morning Bargal or Janata express to Shahabad. Would you believe it, the Bargal ticket was 35 paise from Wadi to Shahabad and the Janata ticket was 55 paise. Most of the time, we didn’t buy these tickets. Reaching Shahabad early on Sunday mornings, walk along the railway line and crossed a nala which had a 2 feet wide chequered sheet walkway on one side towards ACC colony. Invariably, the trains we arrived by crossed the nala while we were walking along it, or else we waited for the train to come rumbling and thudding. Standing a foot away from the running train on the walkway with a deep nala on the other side gave us a thrill which only 15 year olds can enjoy. There was a mixed sense of fear, excitement and expectation. It was like the ‘Khatron ka Khiladi’. Some closed their eyes and years savoring the thundering vibrations, while others savoured the thrill with all senses wide open.

We emerged out into the Bajaar area and then on to ACC colony and to MCC. ACC cinema theatre fell on the way. It was mostly NRB or MSD who had called for the special classes. They were three hour long sessions. I do not know how much kids these days get to savour such experiences, but we cherished them. The classes were par excellence. If they ended at 10, we tried to take back the Bombay Madras Mail (I guess it is called the Mumbai Chennai Mail now) and if it took longer, we lunched at the Nandavan and then walked back the same way to the Shahabad station.

The Nimbu Soda there was again a delicacy. Having squeezed a rind of lemon into a glass, the vendor poured soda into the glass and then came the fun. He put in a spoon of powder, which I assume was rock salt, cumin seed powder etc., which made the liquid fizze violently. We invariable asked the vendor to pun in more ‘masala’ just to see the fuzz again and again, ending up with a drink far more salty than a decent drink should be. There was a shop near the station which had a jukebox with several LP gramophone records. Drop in a 25 paise coin and push a button and an arm chose the appropriate record and placed the stylus on the chosen track whence the selected song was played. It was mechanical engineering personified. Watching the machine go through its maneuvours, was far more attractive than the song itself, and we punched buttons which made the levers perform the most amazing contortions possible.

Thus sated, we waited for the afternoon Pune Secunderabad Pasennger, which invariably arrived a few hours late. Reaching Wadi, we walked back to our homes for another meal and went out to play in the evening. Such are the memories which keep us alive these days when classmates are passing away in droves.

Some North Karnataka Recipes

I have been stagnating badly for over a year now. No new posts. No communication with friends. No one even visits my blog. A new post afte ra long time. A tribute to Gulbarga district after a long time.
Karel Chutney (also called Gural podi) is a specialty in north Karnataka recipes especially in lingayat recipes. The chutney made with black til seeds is also very yummy. Far as I know the Black til we get in Gulbarga is not really til. It is a longer version.
Ingredients:
200 grams gural seeds, 4 medium size garlic bulbs, 1teaspoon cumin powder, 2 table spoons red chilli powder, 1 table spoon salt.
Process:
Clean and peel garlic cloves. Roast gural seeds in a shallow pan on low fire till they start making cracking noise and giving roasted smell.Mix all the ingredients and subject to grinding in a mixer grinder.Typically Served With:
The gural chutney along with curd tastes good with jowar roti, sajji roti, crisp jowar rotis and chapattis.
SHENGA CHUTNEY
Shenga chutney is something that goes well with any meal and can be stored for a long time. So on days when you don’t want to cook a variety, having this ready adds variety to any meal. Ofcourse not to mention the protein that one gets via the peanuts!
Ingredients:
200 g Rosted peanuts, 4 medium size garlic bulbs, 1teaspoon cumin powder, 2 table spoons red chilli powder, 1 table spoon salt, 1 tea spoon sugar.
Process:
Clean and peel garlic cloves.Mix all the ingredients and pound in the pounding device to obtain a sticky peanut chutney. You could also grind in the grinder which gives powdery form of chutney. In order to get slightly sticky form grind the mixture at low speed for short time of few seconds several times. Tips and Tricks:
For those of you in the US, you can get the salted roasted peanuts (planters) and use it to make peanut chutney in a grinder. It is extremely effective and easy .Typically Served With:
This chutney tasts good with chapattis, rotti, katak rotti, sajji rotti etc

Yengai – Stuffed Eggplant OR BADNIKKAI PALYA(served on Amavasya days with Jawari Roti - and puran poli - called holige hereunder or boli in tamil)
Ingredients:Cumin(Jeera) powder, Cooking Oil, fresh curry leaves, Dhania powder, Dry grated coconut, roasted, Sesame seeds, roasted ground peanuts, Asofoteda, Turmeric, Masale khara, Gural pudi, 4-6 Eggplants (small), Onions, Garlic, Jaggery, Tamarind paste, Cumin seeds, mustard seeds, cilantro.
Process:
For yengai, mix the following – jeera, dhania, dry coconut(grated), ground roasted peanuts, roasted sesame seeds, asofoteda, turmeric, some masale khara (chilly powder will do) or ground green chillies, gural powder (the black seeds powder).Stuff the eggplants with the above mixture and keep aside.Cut onions lengthwise and into three parts width wise (longer pieces). In a vessel, add oil, fresh curry leaves, mustard seeds, Cumin seeds (after mustard seeds crackle), hing and garlic pieces – cut or crushed in a paste.When the garlic pieces turn golden brown, put the onions.When the onions are transparent, put the remaining masala from above. Add some tamarind water, jaggery and salt to taste.Put the eggplants in there and cook on low heat.Garnish with cilantro.Tips:
Key is to pour quite a lot of oil.
You can also bake the above in an oven instead of cooking on low heat.
Typically Served With:
Chapatis, Rotti, Sajji Rotti, Katak Rotti, Holige, Bellad Byaali, Kadabu, Rice.
Mirchi Bhajji is another speciality of Gulbarga. For all the Gulbargiites out there, if you just say Mirchi bhajji from GUG canteen – the look on their faces is priceless!
Ingredients:
long green chillies that are not too spicy, cumin powder, salt, asapotida(hing), turmeric powder, besan (gram) flour, soda (sodium bi carbonate), veg oil.
Process:
Take about 12 chillies. Make longitudinal slit in the chillies. Mix jeera powder, hing and salt and stuff the mixture in the slits and keep aside. Take 2 cups besan flour. Add little cumin powder, salt, turmeric powder and 1 spoon baking soda to it. Mix and add water to make the batter – it should not be very thick or thin and have the consistency of idli batter. Keep oil for heating in a kadai, on low fire. Dip the stuffed chilli in the besan batter to cover it completely and fry in hot oil on low fire till golden brown. Typically Served With:
Serve hot with tomato sauce or coconut chutney or tamarind chutney though in GUG we had it with with a powder of cumin seeds and salt.

Parliamentary Democracy in MCC - Part II

Ashok Ratnam played cricket. He was a tall, lanky and very dark Telugu, whose father looked after the ABL Stores. What with M.Sriniwas’s dad Mr.Seshasai, being in charge of Wadi ACC stores, I believed that only Telugus could look after Factory Stores, (very much like only the ‘kars’ being capable of making it to the National cricket team) Ashok Ratnam was a fast bowler. He suffered from acidity, and had a pack of Gelusil tablets in his pocket. He had a peculiar bowling action. Before the runup started, he puckered the fingers of his right hand, and touched them to his lips and his stomach alternately several times, with the ball in his other hand. It was said that this was to pacify his raging acidity. He was a delicate, though a rugged sportstar. Christopher on the other hand, had the sweet Caucasoid handsomeness of Anglo Brahmin Pedigree. He was also a cricketer, and he was an allrounder like Roger Binny. Wadi students however, were second rate, and mostly excluded from such entities as cricket teams. We merely sat and watched. As a matter of fact, Wadi students mostly sat and watched, whatever the event. But with me becoming a full fledged, first time cabinet member from Wadi, and surprisingly, Saji from Wadi poised to be the next Prime Minister of MCC, very much like Barack Obama of the second decade of the twentyfirst century, people from Wadi were beginning to make their presence felt in the upmarket ABL colony of Shahabad. This trend apparently continued, and now I hear students from Shahabad travel to Wadi for their education!

Well, the election was concluded on schedule and Christopher, the candidate blessed by the Headmistress, the redoubtable Sr. Angelita, lost by a slim margin. Ashok Ratnam became the Prime Minister of over 4,500 students of MCC and Christopher the DPM, as he was called. An equal number of supporters of Ashok Ratnam and Christopher were made Cabinet Ministers, of which I was one. I got the Literary Association Portfolio, of which I was the Deputy Minister, the previous year, under Rajeev Agarwal, the third of the renowned Agarwal brothers of ABL (more about them later). More importantly, I chose Janaki as the Deputy Minister for Literary Association that year. The Cabinet assumed charge with Sr. Angelita administering the oath of office soon thereafter, and we settled down to our studies since this was the year of the Board Exams, after which we would disperse and go on to College. (Yes, the +2 system was yet to be implemented and 11th and 12th classes were taught in colleges).

A Detour to discuss Rains in Wadi-Shahabad

Frankly I was waiting for JC’s comments before I proceed. Now that he is in, let me continue. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, schools then closed for summer vacations precisely on the 10th of April every year after declaration of results and reopened on the 22nd of May. The monsoons started by the first week of June and continued till August end. Though the monsoons were not a very special season in North Karnataka because it was an essentially dry area and the farmers mainly subsisted on dryland crops, there was some excitement sometimes.

Rains were always special in Wadi-Shahabad-Gulbarga. It started in the afternoons mostly. As we stood in the balcony of our STRTs watching, the western horizon slowly darkened with the winds blowing over from that direction. Dark clouds gathered and there were a few lightnings followed by peals of thunder. What started as a drizzle, soon became a dense shower and lasted for about two hours. The first few rains of the season went into filling the huge cracks on the parched black soil, that the violent summer had inflicted. Thereafter episodes of rains ended with the whole area being flooded as the black clay was too dense to allow the water to percolate through. As people started walking through these puddles we were left with what we called “chikkad”, the rough equivalent of the Hindi “Keechad” or slush. Chikkad remained for about four months till October, by which time the ‘back to form’ sun dried it up.

The ‘excitement’ I mentioned in the earlier paragraph came about when the Kagna was flooded. The bridge across the Kagna which we had to cross to reach Shahabad was rather low and many a time the river reached upto the bottom of the bridge sometimes submerging the bridge. Drivers like Rasool were heroic enough to take the bus across the submerged bridge while the likes of Sudhakar were not. They took a circuitous route via Chitapur which took about four hours with the rains pouring outside. The darkness outside and the lights inside, with the late hours and rains adding to the adventure and romance of the journey, with some of us bursting into songs, narrating ghost stories, or sweet talking with the girl students, much to the annoyance and distraction of the already tense drivers were events that will not come again in this life or next. I am sure many people may have had similar experiences, but for us Wadi kids, these were experiences akin to a walk on the Moon on an Earthlit night. The Rains thus brought about a lot of fun, thrill and romance.

It was also the rains which brought out the frogs (or Rana Tigrina as NRB would call them). Since frogs were aplenty during this season, anatomy classes in biology, which involved the dissection of a frog was invariably scheduled for July- August. It was this dissection that prevented me from taking up biology and becoming a Physician later in life, but more about that later.

Parliamentary Democracy in MCC - Part I

While SACS had a system of introducing its students to parliamentary democracy it was rudimentary. Like monitors of a class, the authorities nominated a student they thought fit as what they called SPL or School Pupils’ Leader. He or she was the top monitor of the school, but what the SPL did was negligible. We were introduced to real school level parliamentary democracy at MCC.

MCC had a full fledged election with all the accompanying fanfare. Like the US Presidential elections, two people – OK let me be stop being gender sensitive at this point; it was invariably two boys from the 10th Standard – were proposed by the school by unanimous choice, and sanctified the blessings of the sisters of Mt. Carmel, for the top post of the Prime Minister of MCC for the year. On Election Day, the high school students duly cast their votes and the results were declared soon thereafter. In what could be a lesson to the Indian Democracy, while the victorious candidate became the Prime Minister, the vanquished became the deputy prime minister. Each had a say in choosing their cabinet. And thus it was, that I became the deputy minister for literary association, with special charge of Library, holding literary events etc., in April 1978, while I was in 9th Standard, in the cabinet of Rapheal. The Cabinet was real and did meet occasionally and did some good work, but it was always under the benign but compulsive gaze of the incumbent Headmistress, very much like the Pakistani Cabinet under Musharraf.

The batch of 1979 eventually passed out and we were at the threshold of the summit. The clash for the post of Prime Minister for the year 1979-80 was between Christopher Anil Rao, for whom I campaigned, and Ashok Ratnam. Chris was a perfect balance between brain and brawn. He was the nephew (or was he a cousin?) of the Indian Test Cricket player Roger Binny and was simultaneously a good student. Ashok Ratnam was all brawn and was at the bottom of the academic table.

MSD

Mysore S Devaraj or MSD was the other master who left an indelible impression on our minds. In some ways, especially physically and temperamentally, he was the exact antithesis of NRB. MSD taught us Physics and Mathematics. (By the way, it was in MCC that we learnt the habit of addressing people by their initials – NRB, MSD, KB etc. I was to learn that it is something that is practised widely. I am now Cr(NRI), meaning Curator N Ramdas Iyer). In some other ways, like commitment to teaching, professionalism, integrity, mastery of their subjects etc., MSD and NRB were very similar. MSD was a Brahmin and NRB a Lingayat and this is a critical difference in Northern Karnataka.

MSD being from Mysore, did not belong to Shahabad and hence was allotted a quarter in the ABL colony. This was very near MCC and he traveled the distance on foot or bicycle. He was just about five feet tall compared to NRB’s almost six feet. He resembled Sunil Gavaskar. In keeping with the times both masters wore their hair long, a sort of hippy cut, but while NRB sported a pencil line moustache, MSD was clean shaven.

MSD was precise in the lectures on Physics and Maths in the class. He was our class teacher in the 10th Standard. But he had a romantic streak in him as well. Occasionally he would spend a period telling us in graphic detail the story of Julius Caesar. At other times he would launch into a Mukesh number like “Jis gali me tera ghar na ho balma”. Mornings were strictly for serious study both with NRB and MSD. Post lunch sessions saw a lot of story telling and singing.

The way these people taught science brought home the fact that science is human too and that while science itself is rigorous, scientist are human beings. This is something which great scientists like Einstein and Feynman have always understood and advocated and what many pseudo scientists today tend to undermine. That my erstwhile top boss was of the firm belief that a scientist is one who essentially is non vegetarian, atheistic, objective to the extent of being mechanical, devoid of aesthetics and human values and who looked at people as a mixture of amino acids contained in a bag of skin, shows how far ahead of the times were MSD and NRB.

Meeting old friends

I was at Coimbatore for over twenty days from the 21st of May to 14th of June, visiting my parents. A peaceful sojourn as usual. I took two days off to travel to Kerala by road, traveling to Moovattupuzha, and then to Ernakulam, and on to Guruvayoor via Kodungalloor, and to a quaint little village called Vellattoor and back to Coimbatore. It was monsoon time in Kerala and the views were mesmerizing. But I couldn’t help noticing that the Kerala of 2008, especially the stretch from Palakkad to Thrissur is not as green as it once was. Malayalis, take care – you have inherited something beyond compare. Do not turn it into another wasteland. Of course the other regions were as beautiful as ever but the evils of development seem to be creeping in.

At Ernakulam we naturally met up with the Jayachandrans. (or is it the Panickers? After the unfortunate passing away of JC’s dad, JC seems to have become the new Naicker – Panicker rather) JC is going from strength to strength both in terms of weight (he tells me that he weighs 125 kilograms and I feel like a size 0 Karishma Kapoor before him) and in financial terms. He has quit Chettinad Cements in protest against the rising inflation rates brought on by Palaniappan Chidambaram Chettiar, and is joining Dalmia Cements at Chennai soon, where he will be reunited with Brother Ramprasad and Sister Gomathy (remember the pledge we used to take at SACS? “All Indians are my brothers and sisters”). He called up Usha Ramachandran and fixed up a rendezvous for me with her. And thereafter started a journey.

We left Ernakulam at about 3 PM and traveled north along the west coast. The waters and the greens were a feast to the eyes and we reached Guruvayoor around 5 PM. En route I fixed up an appointment with Usha Ramachandran and got the directions to reach her place. After worshipping the Lord, we left at about 7 PM and traveled towards Thrissur. All was fine till we reached Kundankulam. Then came the confusion. We strayed, got lost and at 8:30 PM reached Usha’s house. We met a lot of drunks who vied with each other to direct us to Vellattoor. After a long drive which really started to worry me and our driver, we met up with a gentleman who turned out to be Usha’s Dad, whom I had never met before.

It was a very happy occasion seeing Usha after such a long time. Her husband is a gem of a man and I only hope I am half as good a husband to my wife as he is to her. She has a kid daughter and lives a happy life in the deep interior of Kerala. I envy her, her wonderful life, but pray to God Almighty that it continues and she lives long with her wonderful husband and daughter.