strong resemblance to my filial relations.
And I said, ‘It is nice meeting you Parvati. Do you see my
car broke down? I am cold, hungry, wet and tired. You must
know, I am in no mood to indulge in dalliance with you’.
Parvati started laughing again and slowly put me to her
bosom. She ran her fingers through the shock of my hair
gently stroking the scalp. ‘Yes of course. You are such a
cute little boy. Come, I will take you home’.
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We slowly walked toward this neat little cottage. There was
firewood burning in the mud stove. She said there was hot
water in the bathroom with oil and shikapowder. I must
have a good oil bath and change to dry clothes, while she
made some nice hot meals. I did her bidding.
Even as I was drying myself in the bathroom, I could get
the aroma from ‘Murungakka’ Sambar whiff past my
nostrils. Before I sat down to eat, I started salivating at the
look of that Mysore Rasam and an array of gastronomical
delights awaiting me. She was frying for me those
inimitable Thalli and Pori Vadams. I wished so much, she
would sit by my side and keep feeding a morsel of the food
on my palm, as my mom used to do. But that would have
been so unbecoming of a big boy like me. Finally followed
Rice, Curds and Vedumangai pickle. It all tasted divine. I
have dined at some of the finest and most exclusive
gourmet restaurants across the globe you could not buy a
feast like this for the price of a King’s Ransom.
I started licking my fingers at the last course and then
finally managed to find my voice to ask her, “Who are you
and why are you so nice to me? Before we let this go any
further, do you have a husband or boyfriend or ‘Significant
Other’?”
She giggled ostensibly tickled. “You naughty boy, you are
so sweet and likeable but hardly a match for me. You and I
have never met before but we have a long and strong bond.
Yes you will soon meet him. He always works late”.
“Him? Who is he? Tell me about him”.
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I could see her face flushed pink with bashfulness and
embarrassment. She first dropped and then slowly raised
her demure face. With eyes still looking down she said,
“Well, I could not normally take his name in public. But I
could tell you. He is Veeraraghavan, I fondly call him
Veeru in private”.
“Oh Yeah? I guess he calls you Paro!”
“That is right. How did you know?”
“I am not so stupid as you think. I know all about you.
When you met this new fellow, you dumped your earlier
boy friend who is heart broken and now getting drunk in the
den of a dancing girl down the street. Right?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about. You are getting it
all mixed up. Nothing like that happened here”.
“Okay. Tell me about this Veeru of yours. How and where
did you meet him?”
“Well one day I had gone to the river. After taking a bath, I
filled this brass pot with water and was slowly walking back
home. This handsome young man came on a horseback. He
seemed lost and asked me for the way to Melalathur”.
“Oh My God! That is the oldest line in the book and you
fell for it? Then I guess he said ‘What is a good girl like you
doing in a place like this? Can I buy you a drink?’ dah dah
dah, one thing followed another. Right?”
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“Hey Kid you must shut up and not keep interrupting me.
You are wrong again. He got down from the horse and we
walked together for a distance and I showed him the way to
Melalathur. He said he was thirsty and I gave him water
from my pot. Yes we did get friendly and got to like each
other”.
“But Paro, I hope you don’t mind my calling you that, this
guy is just a passer by. You know how these men are. He
will just leave you and go away wherever he came from.
“Now it is my turn to tell you, I am not so dumb as you
think. He was coming from a very far away country called
Wallahjahpet. I told him in no uncertain terms that I was not
going to move out of Ananganellore. If he loved me, he had
to move here”.
“And he agreed?”
“Sure did. What do you think? He moved lock, stock and
barrel”.
“Bravo! He must be one full-blooded romantic hunk. But
even then, are you telling me that you fell for the first guy
that came along? Don’t you want to get to know other men
before settling down with one?”
“Oh My God! What a terrible thing to even think about?
We women in these parts don’t do things like that. We stick
with only one man with a pure heart and soul, for eternity”.
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“Now Paro darling, are you telling me that women in your
family never messed around? Then how come you have
such a light skin and brownish eyes?”
“That is because my maternal grand mother sat too long
outside on full moon nights and drank a lot of milk”.
“Oh!! C’mon Paro, do you really want me to buy that
baloney? You think you can get away with that? Haven’t
you heard of DNA testing? I can sit in the moonlight all I
want but would never get any lighter than this. Are you sure
those soldiers of Robert Clive’s army did not go on flings in
this village?”
“Of course not. We have had light skinned people for over a
few Millennia, even before the Europeans arrived on those
ships. Besides why would you want to get a lighter skin?
You look so good to me, just as you are! Hush, now keep
quiet, I hear my Veeru coming. You must meet him. He is
really great”.
Soon I could hear the hoofs of a horse. A tall, dark and
handsome young man alighted. He and Parvati were locked
in a close embrace and long drawling kiss, which seemed to
last forever. My presence did not seem to matter to them at
all. At last the young man turned around and saw me, still
interlocked with his Paro. I could see a glitter in his eyes as
he and Parvati started laughing again. Beaming with great
pride, he told her I had his nose and cheekbones. Bursting
with great love, she responded, for sure I had her eyes and
jaw. They even agreed that my good looks came from her
and the smarts from him.
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I took courage in my hands and finally interrupted. “Just a
minute you guys, cut it out. What do you think you are
doing? There is decent company here. Parvati, does your
dad know what is going on here?”
Parvati replied, “Why do you call me ‘guy’? After gong to
America you have forgotten good manners and good
English as well. You have no
t come and visited us in a long
time or bothered even to write. My dad has gone with the
army of Tippu Sultan fighting the Marathas”.
I jumped from my seat exclaiming, “Holy Molly!! So your
dad is Subedar Anantharama Iyer, is he? I have heard about
him from my brother. Why didn’t you say that sooner?”
I quickly realized my faux pas and figured, it was time for
me to beat it. Who would want to come between Paro and
her Veeru, thereby endangering his own creation?
I heard footsteps of Murugan. I woke up rubbing my eyes.
He said the weather and road had cleared. We were all
ready to head toward Vellore. I could barely pull myself
away from that dazzling Apsara.
As we were driving away, I asked, “Murugan, is this a car
or a time machine?”
He said, “How do I know Saar? I am not even alive. You
need to travel another 10 years down this road and ask
someone”.
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EPILOGUE
Following is the lineage from Subedar Anantharama Iyer
down to the Author:
Subedar Anantharama Iyer
—Daughter Parvathi/married Veeraraghavan
—Son Srinivasan/married Meenakshi
—Son Parasuraman/married Saraswati, Savithri
—Son Arunachalam/married Sundari, Sundari
—Son Subramaniam/married Sundarambal
—Son Arunachalam(SCDore)/married Chellammal
—Son Rajkumar Dore
All this is recorded on the Family’s Genealogical Table
Volumes 2 & 5.
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It is true that the clan originally resided in Wallajahpet. A
young man from there traveled and fell in love with a
damsel in Ananganellore. On her insistence he moved to her
village. With small stretch of imagination it could be
assumed that this ‘Full Blooded Romantic Hunk’ was
Veeraraghava Iyer, especially since the thread of lineage
breaks down when drawn toward his family.
For those who don’t know, Wallajahpet, Ananganellore and
Melalathur are within a radius of 15 long miles, in North
Arcot district of Tamil Nadu.
Robert Clive came to India as a GI for the British East India
Company in early 1700’s and left as the first British
Governor General. He is credited of being the architect of
the British Raj, his famous Battle of Arcot being a turning
point.
Later he was tried in the British Parliament for multitude of
wrong doings including cheating and embezzlement. He
was however acquitted of all the charges. Speeches of Lord
Macaulay in his favor and Edmund Burke against, are
considered masterpieces of English oratory.
He had attempted committing suicide twice before in his
lifetime. He tried again after his acquittal and succeeded the
third time.
Finally, I just referred to an Encyclopedia and found Tippu
Sultan acceded the throne of the Mysore Kingdom in 1782.
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This might give the Reader a milestone of time in history
when this imaginary encounter could have taken place.
THE END
167
PARADISE LOST & PARADISE
REGAINED
169
INTRODUCTION
Partition of India and Pakistan had a profound impact on
the 1st and 2nd generation Dorés. I think the brunt fell on
my middle order siblings, Gullanna in particular and Giri
next. They were in their critical formative years of their
lives and this Tornado played havoc. I escaped with minor
bruises. By the time I started growing up, our family had
weathered the storm.
In the following pages I have tried to describe those critical
days and the aftermath. This is from my perspective, in my
words, as felt and remembered by me.
I would like to make it clear that this is intended to be more
like a painting than a photograph. It is not a historical
chronicle. Just a picture of feelings. Everybody likes to see
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his /her own name mentioned while reading. Some very
important members of the family circle may find their
names absent. This is not to belittle the importance of such
people in our family relationships. That is because I am
only touching people and incidents that are pertinent to the
theme at hand. I am trying to only narrate important
milestones of the family history in the setting of the
Partition and its aftermath.
I have some times used names and nicknames for persons as
known to me. To clarify, following are the Names and
Relationships of the Characters in the narration:
Name Nickname Relationship to me
S. C. Dore “Appanna” My father
Chellammal “Akka” My Mother
Sundarambal “Amma” My father’s mother
Kalyaniammal “Kalyanathai” My father’s youngest sister
Vijayammmal “Vijayamchitti” My mother’s younger sister
Dattatri “Dattanna” My brother number 1
Vishwanath “Vichanna” My brother number 2
Ramnath “Ramanna” My brother number 3
Prem “Premanna” My brother number 4
Gokal “Gullanna” My brother number 5
Giridhari “Giri” My brother number 6
Nirupama “Roopa” My sister, Sibling number 7
Rajkumar “Babu” Myself
Mukhi Mangharam “Mukhi-sahib” My father’s Employer
& dear friend
The other names in the narration are quite self-explanatory
and consistent.
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The narration consists of following two parts:
1. PART ONE - PARADISE LOST; (Years 1940 thru
1950);
2. PART TWO - PARADISE REGAINED; (Years 1950 thru
1960);
173
PART ONE - PARADISE LOST
Pluto Discovered:
I hail from a South Indian Brahmin family. We are not
supposed to even eat eggs because it is the life of a potential
chicken. After marriage my parents had a son, then a son,
yet another son and so on. They wanted very much to have
at least a daughter in the family. After 6 sons they finally
got a daughter. They felt God had answered their prayers
and now they must stop. They started practicing ‘safe
period, rhythm method’. After a while my mom, Akka
complained of severe stomach cramps. For obvious reasons,
it was first suspected that she was probably expecting a
baby. In those days there was no sure way of knowing at
such an early stage. After preliminary exams, doctors
diagnosed it as Appendicitis. A day before the planned
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surgery, she was taken for a routine x-ray exam. It was
found that she indeed had a baby as well. She was told that
this was going to be a race between the inflamed appendix
and the baby. If the former won, it would kill the lat
ter and
also Akka. The safest course would be to abort the baby,
remove the appendix and save her. But Akka said ‘No way’.
She was willing to take the risk. In the final stages of
pregnancy, she was put on liquid diet, mostly glucose water,
so there is little pressure on the inflamed Appendix.
Akka had the baby. The Appendix was removed later. She
lived to be 90. And I am that baby.
I was born at 4:30 AM on July 29th, 1940 at Hyderabad
(Sind). According to South Indian Hindu Astrological
standards, day begins at Sunrise. So they recorded my birth
as 28th of July and that stuck all the way.
I found out recently from one of my brothers that my
parents were quite hopeful, if not confident that I was going
to be a girl. They had probably thought, they had it all
figured out the right technique of making baby girls. I could
imagine the looks on their faces when the nurse unfolded
my diapers and they found it was yet another son. Pretty
double crossed, that’s how they would have looked.
Pluto is the last of the planets in the Solar System. For quite
a while Astronomers had indirectly concluded its existence
from the gravitational effect it had on other planetary
motions. But only when very strong telescopes could be
built, that its existence could actually be confirmed.
Appanna drew a parallel and called me ‘Pluto’.