Pet of the family!

Prema Sandya Anandhi

In late 1972, The youngest of the family arrived and we all had our new kid sister Sandya. My father would call her the pet of the family and so she was. Me and my brother were school kids by now and the two sisters ruled home. The house was full and my mother had her hands full, even though we had a household maid Malati join us to help her manage the batalion. The most fought over toy at home used to be the wooden horse and to a lesser extent the tricycle. The wooden horse which came home first for my brother Ram lasted for all of us. It either used to be untouched as a pariah or be the one thing each one of us wanted. We would ride it two or even three of us together and toppled countless times. Swaying it to one end in the front and waiting for at roll back by balancing it was just thrilling.

By now we were well settled at this home called Kandan Karunai. For some strange reason most of the houses had a linear format A verandah in the front with steel mesh at the window level and no Windows making it the breezy area. Then was a living room, a dining & bedroom , kitchen and then bath. All connected by a doorway from front to back (like you find in Trains) and one look from the kitchen you can see who's at the front door. Toilets were built away from the house in the backyard. It was scary in the night and kids sought escort. You are a grown up if you could go alone to the toilet and get back at night - lit with a 25 watt incandescent bulb  throwing myriad shadows of trees, wind ruffling the leaves and crickets screeching away to glory.   

As we had grown up, us boys, we could go out to school and anywhere in the street on our own. We would also have to run errands to Sivalingam Stores the family grocer. The grocer's store had all rice and dal varieties displayed in open gunny sacks and picking and tossing the raw dal to taste it was an experience. Handling cash and change was a recognition of growing up. State ice cream next to the grocer and mouth watered every time one crossed it. Ice lollies were banned and the threat thrown at us was you will get Tonsillitis. Milk ice cream lolly - we called Kuchi ice (a stick with a hexagonal ice cream Lolly) was the affordable favorite. 

Piggy bank - a great saving habit

Lungi art

Good marks ensured trip to movies and now restaurants too. Chump at Oxford a Laurel and Hardy comedy was the first English movie I remember and the pair was our favourite for long. We soon realised that the movie halls got a medley of scenes, released from time to time with different titles. We did not mind as that was the only way to see them again. Annapoorna and Gowishankar restaurants were the favourites. They still are trademark Coimbatore restaurants renowned for their aromatic Sambhar. 

Dad's friend was in Syndicate bank and we had our first bank account opened (I think it was called Sanchaita kids accounts). It used to be thrilling to see ones name in the pass book. The pass book was kept in the locker in a Godrej steel almirah and could be seen only when the piggy bank got full and the amount deposited. The piggy bank itself was the first plastic toy with a lid at the bottom. Good behaviour got a Rupee and visitors also tipped us. Regular counting every week was a routine, to check if all was intact. It was a simple way to get to feel about savings and I guess made us understand how hard it was to get enough money as it could take many months or a year to get to the three digit figure of 100. 

It was an era when Lungies became popular. For us kids it was a statement of being able to look like adults. They used to come in great colours and fancy designs (look at the one in the pic here, I think it is my brother Ram). One started learning the art of tying it around and making it not slip from the waist - as always belts were the saviours. 

While we were thoroughly enjoying this compact neighbourhood, my parents were making different plans for us ...