School Days-5

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School Days-5

During my high school years (1948-54), holidays were mostly spent either in my maternal grandfather's place Pesarlanka or paternal grandfather's place Avanigadda, one inside the river Krishna and the other on on a bank outside the bund. By this time all the uncles were in different places either in Guntur or Krishna district and sometimes there would be other aunts, uncles and cousins would also be there during holidays in one of these places. So we noticed various cousins from childhood. They were all different and later on acquired some social graces which seem to have externally smothered the differences somewhat, but differences remained. I remember one cousin from my mother's side who I saw in several places including Pesarlanka. Her's was the richest family among us having made money in business. She was acquisitive and wanted any nice thing she saw. We did not like it but put up with it since parents were always careful with the rich. This particular cousin had a good career Independent of her wealth, married for love but later suspected husband of infidelity and became addicted some drugs. She later came down with paralysis. I saw her much later with her husband taking care of her, brushing her teeth, dressing and feeding her.

My maternal grandfather Reddiah was an impressive figure, sturdy with no hint of paunch and challenging younger people to Chedugudu (later called kabadi). He was a very good farmer living in a good house with a big compound at the end of Persarlanka, adjacent to Pedalanka. His older brother also Reddiah lived on a very elevated place towards the centre of the village with a couple of other families including his son in law. That place was the refuse during floods. Grandmother Kamala was from Pedana and was somewhat fashionable wearing blouses with frilled arms. I do not know how a villager like him acquired a wife with city airs. He used to bring flowering plants and mango plants from various places. His front yard was full of crotons about 4-5 feet high, backyard some fruit plants like jambu and also sampenga. There was hand pump between the jambu plant and kitchen in the backyard and one of the workers used to fill up a pitcher with water from the pump and water the plants. 

My daily routine during the holidays, when there no other relatives was to walk after breakfast, which was regular food, to my grandfather's farm about a mile away. Some houses had elevatedplatforms outside the houses and some of the villagers would be sitting and chatting. I assumed that these were the rich and lazy ones since my grandfather left for the farm early. I used to be quite fair and one Purnachandrarao used to shout 'red dog's when I passed by. I used to call him 'black dog' and run away. Then there was Reddiah's raised house and opposite to it where one friend Venkataratnam ( later Dr. Bssava punnaiah) lived. I remember that he had eczema all over his legs. His father was communist who was underground and he grew up in his grandfather's house for some years. Just behind elder Reddiah's house was his son in law's house and M..L. Naraysna Rao, a well known communist his son. Narayana who we called Nari did a ph.d. in Chemical Engineering and taught in Andhra University before joining the armed struggle. Much later he farmed in the village, became a successful farmer and was popular with labourers. Then to the right were potter's ( Kummari) houses, from those families several children came to help us in the house, and at the end a temple the right and village munsif's elevated house on the left. I often saw the villagers Karanam sitting in the front. There was a depression and the houses of the poor and suddenly a big bunyan tree in the middle of the path (Donka) and path divided in to two to get around it. Somewhat further I had to turn right and walk another furlong or so to reach my grandfather's farm. I spent a lot hours in that farm watching lemon trees getting watered from an arrangement which used bullocks to raise water from the well. Then there was a big mango grove and a lot of vegetables grown near the well. Nearby Kantham Ramaiah (Kantham is throat, he had some growth on his throat), a big strong man used to grow vegetables watering them with a pitcher.He seemed less well to do and used to transport vegetsbles to the market on his bicycke, I think. There were a couple of sheds and my grandfather used to each lunch in one of them. Unlike Ramaiah, he did not really labour but used to supervise labourers and often tended to lemon trees removing bad growth and infected areas. His wife passed away in early forties and he used to spend his time mostly there until the evening. I remember reading books and in later years authors like Eliot and Auden there. My mother's ashes were also somewhere there. In an emotional moment, I wanted to take them to Benares for immersion but later decided it was all nonsense.

My grandfather had three daughters and son. The son was not interested in farming and used to spend his time visiting nearby towns and bringing back fancy items, it was not clear what he did in the towns. Earlier he was sent to a school in Bangalore but came back or brought back by my father. Much later he became president of the village panchayat. His taste for fancy goods did not diminish it seems. When I came back from England he took my watch.

These are the of the vague remembrances of Pesarlanka holidays. 

This series is becoming unwieldy and unpredictable. I do not know how it will develop. Next time, I plan to describe holidays in Avanigaddaand then my school days in Chintayalem from 1952-54. Hopefully only two more.