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Down Memory Lane with my Father |
Jyotish Star August 2012 |
By Gayatri Devi Vasudev
We were eight of us and our childish problems and health vagaries were a hundred times as many. Both father and mother attended each of us and our endless demands with infinite patience and understanding. They always had time to listen to all our grievances. If life was no bed of roses for father during nearly the first four decades of his life, mother's lot was no better. Self-denial and austerity marked their mode of life, putting away as they did each hard-earned pie for us children. Often they denied themselves even creature comforts so that we could get the best of everything. Father and mother were a classic example of the Hindu couple � devoted in soul and spirit. While mother toiled from morning to night attending to father's needs and taking care of us children, father hardly knew the difference between day and night. Each melted away into the other as he worked at his desk at the subject he loved so much and which he was determined to restore to its rightful place in the world of science. He alternated between his desk and our beds, as one by one, each only slightly older than the other, we woke up all through the night crying for milk or on soiling the bed sheets. Mother and father tirelessly took care of their brood. Father was the perfect husband � he helped mother bring us up alongside his laborious toiling at his writing desk. Mother, in turn, kept the household problems to herself, lest they disturb father's work. There cannot be a better illustration than mother for the adage "behind every successful man, there is a woman". Father was also the dutiful son. His mother died when he was an infant and it was great- grandparents who took charge of the infant. After great-grandfather's death, father and mother continued to provide great-grandmother with her needs including periodic medical check-ups and medical care and when she died they saw to it that her funeral rites were duly performed. I have heard father recall some of the hardest days of his life on many an evening I was alone with him before my marriage. Mother would be away at her Yoga classes. Father would be lying on his bed reading the newspapers. I would go sit by his side when he would put away his paper and begin to reminisce on his younger days. Father's early life was one of responsibility. He had no childhood really. He was an infant and straightaway, an adult. No blue-eyed dreams of youth. Great-grandfather was dependent on father in many ways � physical, moral, emotional. He had to be around all the time to help and assist great-grandfather in everything. This naturally forced him to discontinue his studies in 1928. A wound on two of the toes of the left foot had disabled great-grandfather preventing him from free movement. Late at night when the day's duties were over, father would be at his bedside massaging his legs until great-grandfather finally fell asleep. He loved his little and dutiful grandson. He was intellectually as full of life as before but his earnings had literally stopped. The coffers were empty and as it invariably happens at such times, tension prevailed on the domestic front. Great-grand father suggested that father go on a tour and try to earn something through astrological consultations. This was the prelude to father's journey to Bombay. He left, not in search of fortune, but to earn some money to meet the family needs. In July 1935, father set out for Bombay accompanied by a Brahmin assistant, Sastry. He had just five rupees in his pocket. This amount was not only to provide for their fare and other expenses but was also supposed to be the capital for father's earnings. Both travelled third-class. Father's first halt was at Madhugiri where my maternal grandfather was a Government medical doctor. There he met a local advocate by name Nanjundappa, who became a subscriber to The Astrological Magazine (subject to its revival) by paying three rupees and six annas. From there, he went to Gubbi where he halted at the travelers� bungalow paying four annas (25 paise) for a night's stay. The local doctor who was said to be interested in astrology was contacted. He had just finished performing his father's annual ceremonies and was relaxing playing cards. He made father wait while he continued with the game. It was 9 o�clock in the night when the doctor finally got up and invited father to join him for supper. The next halt was at Davanagere where a mill-owner gave father twenty-five rupees for astrological counsel. Keeping ten rupees for himself and Sastry, the balance of fifteen rupees was remitted home. The next halt was at Hubli where a worker in a factory gave him a room to stay. He made the usual round, meeting lawyers, businessmen etc., and was able to earn about forty rupees, a part of which was sent home. From Hubli, he went to Dharwar where he was put up with a gentleman called Jakkar, the editor of a popular daily Visala Karnataka. From here, he went to Belgaum and stayed with a lawyer for a day. He next left for Poona where he was welcomed by an admirer of great-grandfather, the Assistant Director of Telegraphs. During his week's stay at Poona, father was able to earn the unbelievably fabulous sum of about seventy-five rupees !
Father's experience with some leading South Indians in Bombay was not particularly flattering. He was disgusted by their patronising attitude and stopped seeing any of them. Once, while commuting in a local train, he met a Parsee gentleman who was the editor of the Gujarati daily Bombay Samachar. He was a nice man interested in astrology and he carried in his paper an advertisement about father's consultations. This brought in a spate of requests for astrological guidance which he gave at Ganoo's office. During these three weeks, he earned between fifteen to twenty rupees a day. By this time, the magazine had stopped completely. Father tried very hard to persuade some local publishers to undertake publication of his A Manual of Hindu Astrology. None came forward but one well-known publisher offered to buy the copyright for Rs. 200/-.But somehow father did not accept the offer. This period was also significant in father's life as seeing him deliver his first lecture. The venue was the Bombay Astrological Society. The period was July 1935. There was a good gathering of local astrologers and the Chair was taken by a Jyotishi from Baroda. Father, of course, felt nervous but at the same time excited. He worked hard the whole night preparing his talk. The next day after he delivered his lecture and just when he was beginning to feel very proud of it, the president remarked, "We had expected a better performance from the grandson of Prof. B. Suryanarain Rao". Father felt crushed. (Exactly thirty five years and four months later father delivered the first ever lecture on astrology at the United Nations, New York. The applause he received was the greatest tribute he could have paid his beloved grandfather and the science, which was equally beloved to him). In October 1935, father undertook a trip to Madras accompanied by a Brahmin servant Gopala. He stayed in a room generously placed at his disposal by a retired official (a Mudaliar gentleman, distantly related to the late Mr. C.G. Rajan) of the Madras Horticultural Department in Bheemanna Gardens in the Luz area. A small thatched hut in the backyard served as a kitchen where Gopala cooked for father. While here, he met several local astrologers like Mr. Swamy, father-in-law of Prof. L.V.S. Mani, Pandit Kadalangudi Natesa Sastri, Pandit Kaliyur Srinivaschary and others. N. Thiruvenkatacharya, an admirer of great-grandfather and a young man only slightly older than father, who was bringing out Kasyapa Astrological Journal and who was in correspondence with him, was of much help. Thiruvenkatacharya would come to father's place every day at 10 a.m. and both of them would start on their expedition of meeting local astrologers, palmists etc. Father's stay at Madras for 3 weeks was significant and also fruitful. He met Mr. Kasturi Srinivasan, the editor of The Hindu. Mr. Srinivasan wanted father to call on him every day at his office and often used to invite him for dinner. Though Mr. Srinivasan was an elderly person, he made father completely at home and their friendship lasted till the noble man's death in 1958. Mr. Srinivasan was not only interested in astrology but knew the subject himself. He would, it seems, recall the friendship between his father Kasturi Iyengar and great-grandfather and how great-grandfather had predicted the period of Mr. Srinivasan's father's death. Mr. Srinivasan also gave a donation of a hundred rupees for reviving the magazine. He encouraged father in his astrological activities, providing him with moral support. He advertised for father free of cost. Clients began to pour in and father was soon earning between twenty-five to thirty rupees a day. With the money he sent great-grandfather, things began to improve at home. In later days, father would often refer in grateful terms to Mr. Srinivasan, who as long as he was alive, saw to it that wide publicity was given to father's speeches, lectures, presidential addresses etc., in The Hindu. Father's first child (my eldest brother late Surya Prakash) was born in November 1935. In February 1936, father moved from the village to Bangalore where he hoped better opportunities would be available to get the magazine revived. He rented a house on twenty five rupees a month on the first main road in Seshadripuram. He had worked on the manuscript of A Manual of Hindu Astrology in 1931 and Hindu Predictive Astrology during his college days and now was stuck for lack of funds. Mother was always a devoted wife. She promptly producing her wedding golden belt which father pledged for three hundred and fifty rupees and published the Manual. In March 1937, great-grandfather died. The relatives � sons, grandsons, daughters, sons-in-law and other dependants � all gathered around the bereaved widow consoling her and extolling the dead man. Most of the expenses for the obsequies were footed by my grand-uncle late B. Lakshminarain Rao, who held a good position in the Mysore Education Service then. Father, 32 years old at the time, promptly pledged the gold bracelet of his wrist watch and with this money bought a cow to be gifted away in accordance with tradition on the 11th day. The death of great-grandfather literally brought the entire responsibility of tending for a father who had lost his eye-sight some years before, step-mother, step-brothers and sisters on father's young shoulders. The magazine restarted as a Quarterly in 1936 was limping and a liability. There was no money to continue its publication. In 1938, father went to Bombay hoping he could find some help to run the magazine. He had a letter of introduction to the late Mr. G.D. Birla from Mr. Kasturi Srinivasan. Father headed straight to Mr. Birla's place, believing perhaps, the letter of recommendation would find a solution to his financial crisis. The great industrialist's patronising attitude hurt father and he resolved never to seek any favors from anyone again in his life-time. He kept up this resolution to the last day of his life, come what may. While at Bombay father met a gentleman called Rajan who was then the representative of the Mysore Government for advertisements. When he told him about the magazine and how he would appreciate if the representative could get him advertisements, he was invited to a party. Rajan assured him that many advertisement agents would attend the party where he would be introduced to them. Father got the shock of his life at the party. Wine flowed freely and the advertisements were being bartered for other kinds of immoral considerations too. Father retreated at once from the scene, disgusted with the whole thing. In later years, no matter how difficult, father managed the magazine on his own never once trying to seek advertisements at such cost.
From Lahore, father made his way back to Bombay. He had to devise some solution to his financial problems. He rented a room at Matunga where he undertook consultations for about 10 days. He earned fairly well during this period and returning to Bangalore, he used this money as capital to get The Astrological Magazine going again. Father was a sticker for punctuality. He always took care to see he was never late for meetings, appointments and other time-scheduled plans. Mother was equally so but with eight of us trailing behind her, sometimes it was quite impossible to get us all ready on time. I remember once we were to leave for Tirupati next day early morning for the darshan of Lord Venkateswara. The occasion was father's birthday. The previous evening was a very busy one with the packing and by the time we went to bed, it was nearly eleven o ' clock. We were supposed to start on the journey at six o'clock sharp next morning. Around midnight I woke up and saw father walking towards the wall-clock in the hall. I was wondering why he hadn't switched on the lights, when I saw him stealthily draw up a chair to the wall. Very quietly he set the clock ahead by one hour. He put the chair back in place and tiptoed to his bed. Next morning, we were up and ready earlier than we expected to be and on our way. Everyone in the car was keen to watch the sunrise and when even after thirty minutes' driving, we could see no signs of the dawn, some of us started getting restless. Father who was in the front seat was quietly chuckling to himself. I thought it was time to shake him out of his complacence. "Does anyone here know we started at five o' clock and that there is plenty of time for the sunrise ? And also that father put the clock back by one hour ?" I cried out. Father was taken by surprise. He hadn't expected to be caught, anyway not by his little girl. |
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