Early Years

Prema Ram Sundar 1965-66

Soon after my arrival, the family shifted to a house in 8th street,Tatabad, Coimbatore. Tatabad as a locality name is quite a misfit in Coimbatore which has a plethora of pudurs, pattis, palayams, nagars and purams. One of stories was Tatas had bought the land to set up an oil mill unit but later changed their plans and pulled out but the name stuck. 

As a toddler the world revolves around parents. They gave everything. The Prince of the family my elder brother Ram had already prepared and seasoned them. We lived in Coimbatore far from where the rest of family was, near Chennai. 

My father was the youngest of 4 siblings and my mother the eldest of 7. As we grew up we had a eclectic mix of cousins, aunts and uncles to pamper us. There was no household help and two boys at home must have been a handful for my mother Premavati - who true to her name is all of love!. Kitchens then used to start at the floor level with kerosene wick stoves, open shelves for the vessels etc. My mother says once I started crawling I was all over the place and she would have to at times tie a rope or nada to one of my legs to limit my reach and keep me safe in the kitchen so she could cook. 

Ram & Sundar  ~1968

Our parents would with great care indulge in both of us. It is visually captured for posterity in the way we used to get similar attire regularly( esp for special occasions) something which continued till my brother became a teen. 

Chellama Paati, my paternal grandmother (Dadima) would come to Coimbatore and stay with us a few months every year and was the one who would tell stories. She had studied at home but had a rich repository of all the mythological stories and was our prime-time entertainer every evening after play or after dinner. Her stories over the years have made us imbibe values that have stuck for life. Dad too had pet stories with the popular ones involving monkey's, some of them were musical making us jump around drumming plates with spoons as the story unfolded. Mom has always been the singing nightingale in the family from then to date.

My brother used to go to school and we had a bunch of neighbourhood kids Raja, Ganga, Rama are some of the names I remember who we would play with. 

We used to have yearly trips to Chennai to visit my maternal grand parents and folks. We would take the Blue Mountain (Nilgiri) express and wait up to see the train crossing a place which had an array of radio/ trasmission towers which with their red warning lights alone shining used be a spectacle to see at night. As the train approached Chennai we would spot the cooling towers of Basin Bridge power station and stick our face to the window grill  to see who would be the first to spot one of our uncle's who would come to receive us(no a/c coaches then and the seats used to be of hardwood)

I was just over 3 and that is the first family holiday I remember. My maternal grandparents and few more family members had come and we went on a trip down south to Kuttralam falls, Tiruchendur, Kanyakumari etc. 

My first 'home alone' moment was when I woke up in Kanyakumari, locked up in a room while the family had gone to watch the sunrise! Life was simple and straight probably those days do such things which, most parents today can make a big fuss around leaving kids alone at home or in a room. I think a messenger rushed and got my Dad! A glass of Ovaltine (later Bournvita) most often was the reliable pacifier. In the family I was, unknown to me, the brand ambassador for Bournvita for  long time to come, so much so that even a few decades later when I had finished college, my relatives will on auto pilot offer Bournvita and if I say I'm will have coffee, they would think I'm saying it only to not inconvenience them.

.. to be continued..