Madras City in 1960s - Sharada Devi Primary School, Mambalam Railway Station

The area around Mambalam Railway Station in Chennai (formerly known as Madras) was bustling with activity, featuring residential colonies, markets, hotels, temples, and schools. There was even a cinema hall close to my home, making it a convenient place to live. Residents had easy access to all their daily needs. The railway station was situated at the center of a 20-kilometer suburban railway line that connected Chennai Beach to Tambaram, allowing people to travel from one corner of the city to another in about an hour. We often purchased seasonal tickets, which were discounted passes issued for three or six months, perfect for regular commuters and students.

The well-known T. Nagar Bus Stand was conveniently located near both the station and my school, making it easy to access various parts of the city. Buses operated every half hour during that period, and seasonal ticket options were available for students and others. 

My Class Group Photo

I received my primary education at Sharada Devi School from grades 1 to 7, between the years 1956 and 1962. It was only a five-minute walk from my home to the school. The school featured one solid building at the front and thatched huts in the interior. Lower primary classes, from grades 1 to 4, were held in those thatched huts, which were constructed with low mud walls and roofs made of thatched leaves supported by bamboo poles. Classes for grades 5, 6, and 7 took place inside the solid building. The urinals were located at the backside enclosed by bamboo screen walls.

The above photo was taken in front of those thatched walls. I was in Class 3, sitting there to the extreme right in the middle row. 

I enjoyed the thatched structures, which provided a beautiful natural setting. The back of the school featured a large garden filled with various trees, running alongside a railway boundary wall. This made it easy to access the fruits hanging from the trees by climbing the boundary wall at points where the glass fencing was missing. (The garden was protected by placing glass pieces on top of the boundary walls.)

Our classrooms were spacious enough to accommodate 50 to 60 students. We sat on low benches with attached desks that featured drawers for storing our bags and lunchboxes. Each bench was 3 inches high and could seat four children. The arrangement consisted of two columns of benches and a total of eight rows. During teaching hours, we kept our textbooks and notebooks open on our desks. In our primary classes, we wrote with nib pens dipped in ink, while starting in fourth grade, we switched to using fountain pens.

I was promoted to 2nd Grade within six months. There was a competitive spirit among the four of us—two boys and two girls—who were all of equal ability. Typically, any two of us would share the 1st rank at any given time. We participated in debates and science exhibitions with equal enthusiasm. This continued until our 7th Grade. After that, we went our separate ways to different high schools and lost the opportunity to meet again.

I used to play games with my classmates, although not very often. We also had physical education classes and scouts training at school. During those years, I would play cricket and other games like gully danda and hide and seek with my neighbors in the evenings or on holidays.

Later, I attended the Ramakrishna Mission High School at Panagal Park in Thyagaraja Nagar, where I completed my SSLC (11th Grade). The school was about a mile away from my home, which I would either walk or cycle to.

My College education was done in Vivekananda College, Mylapore (Tiruvallikeni). I did PUC with Commerce, Economics, Maths and then BA with Philosophy, Psychology, Logic.

Madras City Memories - West Mambalam in 1960s

I was born in Madras City, the Capital of Tamil Nadu.

I am a Telugu Brahmin (Vaishnava) who lived there until 1971, from childhood to College Graduation.

We used to live in a rented house in Kodandaramaswamy Koil Street. Our owner was also a Telugu Brahmin. There were two separate buildings within the walled compound. My residence was to the left side of the first building with one more portion to the right. It was an elevated floor as the area was a low-lying place prone to occasional floods. The entrance to our portions was a high platform with steps on the street. The backside has two more portions at ground level with access through a narrow lane by the side of our elevated portions. There was a small entrance gate to reach their portions from the street from our left side.

The owner's residence was in the other building to our left, which had elevated floors like ours. It was exactly two buildings with some path in between. They had rooms on the terrace also. Two families in one stretch and another two families in the other stretch. The main gate used to be that side with allowance for some parking on their Porch. It has some common ground for children to play both in the front and the backside of their residences.

The backsides of the buildings on our road had railway tracks separated by their compound walls in between them. It was the railways' boundary wall (not of the building owners). And, our toilets used to be adjacent to the wall. They were only partly covered by roofs to prevent direct sunlight or downpours from the skies. So, we had to bear the torture of flies while getting released. It was only during the late '60s that covered flushout-toilets emerged in our building.

Our building was located nearer to the end of the street. Three lanes towards the right side of the street provided access to another horizontal road passing behind the Kodandaramaswamy temple. The three lanes connected these streets from one end to the other end. And, both these streets had access to the railway track from both ends through other connecting roads that crossed railway gates leading to the East Mambalam side at one end and the Saidapet side at the other end. 

My elementary school was located at the railway gate that connected East Mambalam with West Mambalam. The Mambalam Railway Station was located at the edge of a small road in front of my school. So, we could approach the station either through the railway track or through the road in front of the school. It was a two-minute walk. My house from the school was a 6—to 7-minute walk via Kodandaramaswamy Temple.

There was a Ganesha Temple (PIllaiyar Koil) towards the left of our house and the Kodandaramaswamy Temple towards the right. We could approach the Kodandaramaswamy temple within 5 minutes from my house and Vinayaka Temple within 2, to 3 minutes. I used to visit the temples along with my siblings frequently to get the prasadam as well as spend some time roaming or playing in the temples.

The railway line always used to be busy with local (electric) trains passing through our backyard every 10 minutes. Other mainline trains also passed through the same tracks. There used to be a spare track that was interlinked with the main tracks for pausing trains to allow for the passage of the express trains without interruptions.

Just opposite the gate of our house owner's was a lane connecting another horizontal road. Both sides of the lane housed many labor-class people living in their thatched huts. The huts used to submerge in waters during heavy rains due to their low-level grounds. Their colony used to be noisy with fights, both verbal and physical.

Short Stories - A Travel Horror and One More Scary Story

A Travel Horror

I was traveling in a vehicle. Probably a flying bus.

 

A few seconds before, I was still deciding about stepping into it. And so, wandering around it. Suddenly everything seems active with lots of noise. Somebody thrust me onto the bus shouting "Get in, get in'. I barely stepped into it when it started flying. 

All the vehicles around are moving with great speed. It seems everybody is banging.

"Hey you, Mister, keep to your left. Else, you will be crashed off".

I bent to my left within a scratch of a second. Otherwise, my left shoulder could have been ripped off.

"Hey, you, are you not seeing. Your right side is going to be crushed now".

A bus passed smashing my bus from the right and I escaped within a fraction of a second as I bent toward my left.

"Hey, you! Bend, bend, bend. Your head is going to be ripped off now."

I realized that some strange machine was flying over my vehicle's top banging it heavily. I bent down and saved myself by opening my eyes!!!




Another Scary Story

I was wandering with some people through some unhygienic locality in a strange place.

Suddenly, I found myself amid hills, valleys, and dark burnt furnaces. And, I realized that my co-travelers were all strangers.

Making my way through the narrow paths in their midst, I found myself alone and scared of my surroundings.

 

At one point, I find myself needing a path to proceed further. Someone told me to slide down a steep valley to reach my further path. It is deep below and very frightful. I can lose my grip and fall into it anytime. I get much trembling at the sight. Some person offers to help me.

And, then, I find myself sleeping on my bed.

Independence Day and My Family's Connection With the Movement.

India's Independence was achieved after hundreds of years of great struggle by our forefathers from all corners of the country. It has cost many lives, much violence, crimes by the then rulers and their army forces. Millions of people have took part in non-cooperation movements and other protests lodged by our leaders headed by Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Maulana Azad, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose, and many other great personalities. They received much support from great musicians and poets and writers also in spreading the awareness among people. Many people got inspired by these leaders and left all their work to join the movement and contributed their efforts selflessly.

My grandfather was one among those great patriots who sacrificed his family and life for this cause during the early twentieth century. He was a teacher in a village named Taallarevu near Kakinada city in Andhra Pradesh. He left his work and joined the Non-Cooperation movement started by Mahatma Gandhi during the year 1920. He actively participated and spread the movement among nearby villages. He was jailed for participating in it and one of his sons was born during that period. That child was named as Satyaagrahacharya (one who was born during the period of Satyagraha or non-cooperation). Another child born later was named as Bharat Pataakaacharya meaning one who is born during the time of Indian Flag celebration time. The Indian Flag was first designed in 1906 and hoisted in Kolkata to declare the independence of India. The designs got changed many times later on with subsequent hoisting made time and again before the tricolor flag with Dharma Chakra was adopted as the Indian National Flag in 1947.

My grandfather used to be referred to as Kakinada Gandhi by people all around those villages. But, he received no government recognition for his sacrifices rendered. He expired even before India got freedom during his 80's.

I didn't ever met my grandfather nor heard about him through my parents as I was not born then. My father never mentioned anything about his life to me or my younger siblings. My mother expired in my early childhood and my father expired when I was in College. It is only after my marriage that I learnt about my grandfather through my father's older relatives who used to come into contact with me through my mother-in-law's house. They used to tell me that he has been a great personality and donated or sacrificed everything for our country's independence thereby leaving nothing for his next generations.

There are many other unsung heroes of our country's freedom struggle like him. We are enjoying the freedom at the cost of millions of such unselfish heroes of our country. We must salute them with awe and respect.

Horrific Memories of Childhood Incidents

It was the period when I was studying in higher secondary school at Chennai. It was Summer holidays after yearly examinations were over. Those were the days when you have no responsibilities and only enjoyment You find plenty of time and no work to do.

Most of the day time was spent playing and wandering with friends. It was the season of mangoes and sapota or chiku. These fruits used to be largely grown in almost every house or garden. They were very sweet, tasteful and alluring to your eyes. Our school also had a large garden behind it along the railway line. Fruits used to hang over from trees nearer to the boundary wall from the railway line side. Children used to prick the fruits by climbing over the walls and holding the branches of trees during hot summer day times with out the knowledge of the gardener. Some times, when he noticed them he used to shout and frighten them with sticks and they used to run away.

Some days were spent wandering along the railway track from one station to another station which used to be 1.5 km apart from one another. The locality where we lived was Mambalam station. And we used to go towards Saidapet and Guindy stations which were not densely populated in those times. Mambalam was a center of the city of Madras ( now known as Chennai ). T.Nagar was located nearer to Mambalam. Guindy was nearer to Adyar where world famous Banyan Tree of enlightenment was an attractive tourist spot.


One day it happened so.
We, 4-5 children, were walking on the railway tracks engaged in gossiping. On the way there was a bridge on a stream flowing across below it. Local people used to bathe in it and washer men used to wash clothes there.We were walking over it and most of us reached the other end. But one was lagging behind and suddenly a train came from behind before he could cross the bridge. As it approached very silently, all of us were very much shocked and frightened to see it. We immediately shouted with terror at our friend who was lagging behind. He also got nervous and immediately he got hold of the side edge of the bridge and hanged down ward the bridge till the train crossed over the track to the other end. Then any how he was managed to get over the bridge by dragging him up with the help of some passers by who scolded all of us very terrifically.

 It was a very horrific moment of our lives and we never let the event known to our parents. All of us firmly  decided never again to wander along the railway tracks from that day onward. It was a great lesson for us.

The memory of it makes tremble for a moment even now.