Friendly neighbourhood

Neighbours one with family as Sandhya turns one

Outside school neighbourhood was the larger extended home. 9^th street, Tatabad was where we stayed through the 70s and probably had the most impact. Looking back it was a quaint and very comfortable neighbourhood a mix of middle class dotted with rich, a wide street, low on traffic and clean. Some houses were palatial with compound walls and there were others with fences in the front and the boundaries between many houses were open allowing easy access –reflecting the simple ways of life then.

Anandhi & Sandhya in front of house

To our left was a Chettiar family who ran a business and had this unique dialect of Tamil which was pure and musical punctuated with ‘saringa’ (haanji, yes sir) so regularly that we would count the number of times Mr. Chettiar would say it in a conversation. Our house having a telephone connection made it a frequented place for critical phone calls as there were no PCOs then and having a phone at home was a luxury.

early colour pics of us 4
Background is Teacher's house

Then there was Shri Subbiah popularly called as Hari thatha as he was Hari’s grandpa. His family had come back from Burma and settled here. Hari thatha led a retired life always carried a cloth sling bag and anytime when he saw kids would give out sweets we called ‘arisi mittai’ (sugar candies like rice grains). It was a pleasant sight to see him flocked by kids as he walked down the street.To our right we had Revathi Mami who managed a large family alone as she had lost her husband. Her elder daughters who were married and away would come during vacations with their families. Her sons and younger daughter were all ender to us and studying or just getting to work. She was closer to my grandma’s age but could easily step down a few generations and mingle with ease. Our first exposure to things about US were thanks to her daughter Vishveshwari who lived in the US and would come down for summer vacation. Be it gadgets like mixies, audio players, viewmaster slide reels or our first stock of colour photos, Polaroid instant pics or fresh stock of TDK audio cassettes
some of them recorded with classical concerts in the US it was thanks to them.

Opposite our house was Teacher as we all called and her aged father. Teacher herself was around 60 and her father was close to 90, had been associated with the theosophical society and held bhagavat gita classes for the elders.  When teacher had her cataract operation I had casually got a cloth blind (pirate like) stitched like they used to need post operation. She was so excited and made me realize how little things can make a big difference. Helping her I learnt a lesson about value I can never forget. I think for her father’s 90^th birthday she wanted a excerpts from gita printed in a small book given to everybody. I took the responsibility of taking it to the printer who will typeset and get it printed in time. A few days and weeks passed and the day was arriving and the printer was delaying (because his typesetter was sick) and there was just a week left. I got anxious and piled on to him as to why he is taking time and all this will be a sheer waste if it is not available for this old man’s birthday. The way I went on the printer could have just given up and returned the job but he did not do so. I don’t remember his name but he was a Christian and he calmly said Thambi I have heard you but I have this to say ‘ I understand your anxiety and wish to get this ready but never call this ‘a waste’. Bhagavat gita is from unknown times and I have read the excerpts to be printed. Even if delayed it has immense value. Everything is life always has value and there is nothing that is waste’. It stuck with me, I left asking to do what best he can and I think he did typesetting himself and gave a proof copy for the day.

The street had a bunch of kids and football, cricket used to be played on the street and occasionally in  aground nearby. The most exciting used to be the game of tops (bambaram – which has evolved to beyblades now). The street was the stadium. Getting the wooden top, fixing the screw nail, chopping
off its head and sharpening it, stringing it and striking other tops was fun. Picking a spinning top on to the palm, making it spin in the string were deft skills. The ultimate was when striking at another top and breaking it with the aim and impact.

As a family we did not have the tradition of keeping koluvu during navrathri then. But the many of oru neighbours kept this. It meant for those 9 evenings you could go to the neighbours houses had to give a performance mostly singing, shloka or monoact etc. and collect a packet of Sundal (sautéed and mildly cooked and spiced pulses like channa, peas, peanuts etc). Collecting as many packets and checking the variety once back home (no ziplocks then, wrapped in paper) , tracking who gave what and at times trying to predict what will be tomorrow were fun games.

Neighbours played a great role in giving feedback to parents. They also greatly reinforced positive behavior and built confidence in us kids by appreciation. So if they got to know some of us were doing something at school like a play etc. they would ask for a act at home too. I don’t think any of these happened in a planned way but it came so naturally from the belief that they had an interest in the kids of this larger home called neighbourhood. A nicely woven friendly web!!

I visited this street last in 2012 with family and how busy it has become now. All houses turned into apartments, cars and bikes parked on both sides of streets, unrecognizable and so crammed up. Revathi mami and Harithata’s son still live there.