சின்னஞ்சிறு வயதினிலே Child hood Reminiscences

[Raji Ram]

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Here is a famous song on elandha pazham:

Yelanda Pazham

 

[Brahmanyan]

சின்னஞ்சிறு வயதினிலே Child hood Reminiscences

When I reminisce about my childhood days my memory floats back to those wonderful days when we used to get biscuits and Chocolates imported mostly from England (UK). How could I forget the "Peek Freans Golden puff" Biscuits which were packed in an orange cloured soft pack. These cracker type biscuits would be of made of thin layers, hard on the outside and soft in the middle. I have not found similar Biscuits in the market today. Another famous name in Biscuits was " Huntley & Palmers", one of the world's most famous companies during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Their assorted biscuits used to be packed in nice tins, which were in great demand among the girls for keeping their toiletries and other nicknacks.

Nestlé was the only name I had known in Chocolates. My father had a good collection of Pictures of English actors of that era which used to come in Nestlé chocolates packs. Rowntree's chocolate and Ovaltine were the Cocoa based beverages which were given to children. But I never liked the Cocoa based foods.

All the writing aids were imported ones. Those were the days we used "Slate" for writing with "slate pencils" in School. "Tiger" brand slates from Germany was considered good ones. Among the pens, how could I forget the famous names "Black-bird" and "Swan" fountain pens of England make. We used to get "Eberhard Faber" black-lead pencils made in Bavaria (Germany) which were very good.

I shall continue with more of items we were using in those days in my next posts.

Brahmanyan,
Bangalore.

 

[mskmoorthy]

TL;DR

Re: http://www.tamilbrahmins.com/chit-chat/10596-child-hood-reminiscences-5.html#post170965
I will answer PJ Sir's question without hijacking the thread.

Sri.V S Theagaraja Mudaliar (Vadapapathy-mangalam S. Thyagaraja Mudaliar ) is a big mirAsdAr or பண்ணையார் , owner of ArUrAn sugar factory and a trustee of the temple. The resurrection of car/chariot (this has a rich history with மனு நீதி சோழன்) festival (தேர்) may owe a lot to to his efforts. This happened after my time in TiruvArUr (1948-1960). (I was also told that BHEL may have helped in the running of chariot) The children of VST did not study in TiruvArur (for that matter none of the rich mirAsdArs or paNNaiyArs), Their children were sent to boarding schools elsewhere.

Some other well known people from TiruvArur include Sri. M. Karunandhi.

The last year (1960) we were there we had a theppam festival after a long time in the temple tank kamalAlayam. My siblings and I were part of a large team that cleaned the tank that year (the tank was drained completely so that we could clean the tank). We also were given a chance to ride the float that year (our father being an electrical engineer might have helped)


We lived in a company quarter (adjoining the place were my father worked) and there were no one living close by with in a couple of blocks. So it is a bit hard to go to friends house at will (and for them to come) - These are restricted during the holidays. Te games we played include marbles (கோலி), top (பம்பரம்), a simpler version of kabadi called sadukudu (சடுகுடு), killithantA?, pAndi. I was never good at any of these. We (my siblings and I ) have invented many games to entertain ourselves and to excel. Since I was the youngest, I was not even good at those! Our siblings and I created a tilkar sangam , after a famous Indian freedom fighter BalagangAdhara Tilak http://www.indiavideo.org/text/balagangadhara-tilak-577.php ( திலகர் சங்கம்) and we had sent our announcements to All India Road Trichy. On Sunday at 1:00 pm, there used to be children's our and we would be eagerly hearing our only radio to see whether our announcements get read by the announcer.

Most of our friends' parents are from Tiruvarur or neighboring area, we were out of towners (father is from New Kalpathy/Palghat/Mukkai and mother is from Nagerkoil/Trivandrum). Our nearest relative was our aunt who lived in Trichy and the rest are either in Palghat/Coimbatore or Nagerkoil/Trivandrum. My friends were either my class mates or classmates of my siblings. Some of them are life long friends - we still maintain touch with them - They are our only connection to TiruvArur now.

Common names in Tiruvarur are Thyagraja and Kamala - In fact I was given the name of ThyagarAja by my mother's mother since my parents were in Tiruvarur at that time (My birth certificate may have that name from Nagerkoil) and I was the third son (have a bit freedom to choose). However my name got changed to Krishnamoorthy! (as one son from Palghat area has to have a name Krishna, Kesava or nArayana). Since my wife also hails from Tiruvarur (their family hails from Tiruvarur), we have named our son's middle name to be TyagarAja.


We used to have a large garden (have nArthtangAi , mango, bananas, jack fruit). The fruit we used to like was the poor man's version of almond - called baadam pazham (whose nut was delicious). I have seen only two movies while I was at Tiruvarur - InsAniyat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insaniyat_(1955_film)and Jhanak Jhanak bAyal bAje http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jhanak_Jhanak_Payal_Baaje- we had two theaters at that time - named Baby and PrabhAt Talkies. Watched TV for the first time at IIT Kanpur in their closed circuit TV.

I will end with a link to a song sri mahAganapathy ravathumAm(by Dikshitar) dedicated to mattu uRaiththa pillaiyAr koil in north east corner of kamalAlayam (tiruvarUr is called sri nagaram by diskitar and ArUr in tEvArams)


http://youtu.be/_8L7pX4QFxA

From the website http://www.shivkumar.org/music/srimahaganapathi.htm

Notes by Mrs. Janaki Krishnamoothy, Albany, NY:

This krithi is sung as the invocation krithi to Maha Ganapathi before singing the Kamalamba Navavarna krithis. The Ganesa kriti Sri Maha Ganapati in Gowlai makes reference to the Ganapati known as Mattu Uraitta Pillayar. His temple is located on the bank of Kamalalayam, the temple tank in Tiruvarur. The word karsha means ‘to attract’. It also means ‘to scratch’ and a unit of weight of gold or silver.
Legend has it that Paravai Nachiyar, wife of Sundara Moorthy Nayanar, a great devotee of Lord Siva, wanted new gold jewelry. The nayanar sought the help of Lord Tyagaraja who was visiting Lord Akshaya Linga at Keevalur at that time. He was pleased with His devotee’s praise and promised him that he could take as many gold bricks as he wanted from the nearby brick kiln. The nayanar found the 5 bricks to be too heavy to carry. Lord Tyagaraja instructed him to drop the bricks, one by one at the northeast corner of the temple tank at Keevalur and that when he returned home to Tiruvarur, he would find them at the northeast corner of the tank Kamalalayam. Sundara Moorthy Nayanar returned to Tiruvarur, told his wife about his meeting with Lord Tyagaraja in Keevalur and went to Kamalalayam and found the bricks in the water in the northeast corner. He took two of them to a goldsmith and requested him to make jewelry. The bricks were so dull and dirty and the standard techniques for testing the purity of the gold (mattu uraikiratu) revealed them to be of very poor quality. The nayanar was disappointed and went to Lord Tyagaraja and complained. The Lord instructed him to go to the temple goldsmith with the bricks. As Sundara Moorthy nayanar went looking for the temple goldsmith, Lord Tyagaraja instructed His son Ganesa to help his devotee.
Sundara Moorthy Nayanar encountered a man who called himself Muthanna Achari and said his father is Siva Achari and his brother is Murugesan Achari and that the temple goldsmith is his cousin. He accompanied the nayanar to the temple goldsmith. The bricks were tested again for purity and proved worthless. Then Muthanna Achari touched the two bricks, washed them with salt water, tamarind water etc and tested it again. ( They make a scratch on the surface, I think), Now, to the surprise of all the goldsmiths who had assembled there, the bricks were found to be of the highest quality of gold that they had ever seen. Now Muthanna Achari disappeared. It is believed that lord Ganesa assisted Lord Tyagaraja in helping His devotee Sundara Moorthy Nayanar. He is known as Mattu Uraitta Pillayar.
(Sorry for the post being too long - my vacation is ending and I may have very little time left to indulge in other activities)

 

[Raji Ram]

'இலந்தை வடாம்' என்பதை நாங்கள் 'எலந்த வடாம்' என்று சொல்லுவது வழக்கம். அந்த 'எலந்த பயம்' பாட்டைக் கேட்டதும்,

நாங்கள் உலகம் அழிவதை நினைத்து, அத்தனை எலந்த வடாத்தையும் 'ஸ்கூலில்' ஒரு பாட்டியின் கடையில் வாங்கிச் சாப்பிட்டு,

அடுத்த நாள் அசடு வழிய 'ஸ்கூல்' போனபோது, அதே மெட்டில் இப்படிப் பாடி இருக்காலாமோ என்று தோன்றியது!


இதோ பாடல்:


எலந்த வடாம், எலந்த வடாம், எலந்த வடாம்....... ம்..... போடு,

செக்கச் செவந்த வடாம் - இது

மிக்க ருசி உள்ள வடாம்

எல்லோரும் வாங்கும் வடாம் - இது

நல்ல பாட்டி செய்த வடாம்

( எலந்த வடாம், எலந்த வடாம், எலந்த வடாம் )


உலகம் அழியும் என்று நாங்கள் நினைத்த அந்த நாளிலே

அழுதபடி வடாம் வாங்கச் சென்றோமே ஸ்கூலிலே

எலந்த வடாம் பத்துப் பைசா - நாங்க

அத்தனையும் தின்னோம் நைசா - இரவு

உறங்கினோம் மறுநாள் அசடு வழிய ஸ்கூலுக்குக் கிளம்பினோம்!

(எலந்த வடாம், எலந்த வடாம், எலந்த வடாம்)

 

[P.J.]

இலந்தைப் பழங்களை எடுத்து, கொட்டைகளை நீக்கி, சிவப்பு மிளகாய், உப்பு, கொஞ்சம் புளி சேர்த்து அரைத்து,

வடை போலத் தட்டி, இலந்தை வடாம் என்று எங்கள் பள்ளிக்கூட வாசலில் ஒரு பாட்டி விற்பார். உலகம் அழியும்

என்று ஒரு புரளி கிளம்பிய நன் நாளில், அந்தப் பாட்டி செய்து வைத்திருந்த அத்தனையும் காலி! நண்பர்களும்

நண்பிகளும் ஒருவருக்கு ஒருவர் வாங்கிக் கொடுத்தே காலி செய்துவிட்டார்கள். மறு நாள் வகுப்பில் எல்லொரும்

அசடு வழிந்தது இன்னும் பசுமையாக நினைவில் இருக்கிறது! :becky:

Picture courtesy: Google images.

Raji Madam

In some Ilanthai Pazathila Puzhu irukume!!! Did you eat them also?

Probably that was the reason for your அசடு வழிந்தது

 

[Raji Ram]

P J Sir,

Happy New Year! Now, I am answering your first Q to me in 2013 !!

Being a doctor's daughter, I was prohibited from eating anything bought from 'potti kadai's in school! But since my friends said

that we won't be alive the next day, because world will come to an end, I ate! Did not have any idea about 'puzhu'! The reason for

அசடு வழிந்தது is because world did NOT come to an end!! :becky:

 

[Raji Ram]

P J Sir,
Now it is my turn to ask you a Q! Did you like the 'elandha vadAm' song? :lalala:

 

[P.J.]

Raji Madam

I like most of your creative songs; it is the Gift of God to you; everyone is not bestowed with these type of Gifts.

Wish you and your family a very Happy New Year 2013.

 

[Raji Ram]

​Thank you very much P J Sir! :yo:

 

[P.J.]

Raji Madam

Have you ever heard poems written by Gitanjali Ghei?
Her poems are almost equal to The Great Rabindanath Tagore.

Please go through this link, you will be astonished to see her poems which are immortal
Gitanjali Ghei: The girl who conquered death

she sends a message through her poems.
I hope you love them

 

[sankara_sharmah]

When I reminisce about my childhood days my memory floats back to those wonderful days when we used to get biscuits and Chocolates imported mostly from England (UK). How could I forget the "Peek Freans Golden puff" Biscuits which were packed in an orange cloured soft pack. These cracker type biscuits would be of made of thin layers, hard on the outside and soft in the middle. I have not found similar Biscuits in the market today. Another famous name in Biscuits was " Huntley & Palmers", one of the world's most famous companies during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Their assorted biscuits used to be packed in nice tins, which were in great demand among the girls for keeping their toiletries and other nicknacks.

Nestlé was the only name I had known in Chocolates. My father had a good collection of Pictures of English actors of that era which used to come in Nestlé chocolates packs. Rowntree's chocolate and Ovaltine were the Cocoa based beverages which were given to children. But I never liked the Cocoa based foods.

All the writing aids were imported ones. Those were the days we used "Slate" for writing with "slate pencils" in School. "Tiger" brand slates from Germany was considered good ones. Among the pens, how could I forget the famous names "Black-bird" and "Swan" fountain pens of England make. We used to get "Eberhard Faber" black-lead pencils made in Bavaria (Germany) which were very good.

I shall continue with more of items we were using in those days in my next posts.

Brahmanyan,
Bangalore.

I do not remember much about sweets since they were not available in my village shop. Once or twice I had bought Parrys sweets in a shop near my school. Sweets shaped like fish, star etc.

About pencils I remember that there was a pencil called Perumal Chetti Pencil. If you dip it in water it will write in blue colour. Of course we used our mouth. We used slates till the 4th class. Only in fifth we were allowed to use paper and pencil. We used to run from the school with our slates held high showing the marks obtained.

 

[P.J.]

Kamar Cut was the only sweet item which i could get during my School days; I used to keep it very long time in the mouth as some are very hard; nowadays that type of quality is not available.
It is available in Ambica Stores.

 

[Raji Ram]

மிட்டாய் வகைகள்!

இது பிள்ளைப் பருவத்தில் எல்லாப் பிள்ளைகளும் விரும்பும் மிட்டாய்! ஒரு நீண்ட தடியின் உச்சியில், வண்ண வண்ணமான

வரிகளாக இந்த மிட்டாய் எடுத்து, ஒருவர் உலா வருவார்! என்ன வண்ணம் விருப்பமோ அந்த வண்ணத்தில் ஜவ்வு மிட்டாயைப்

பிய்த்து எடுத்து, கையில் வாட்ச் போல ஒட்டிவிடுவார்! பின் என்ன! நக்கி நக்கி ருசிக்க வேண்டியதுதான்! வெளியில் விற்கும்

பண்டங்களை 'வாங்கித் திங்க' எங்கள் வீட்டில் தடை! அதனால், வாட்ச் நக்கும் பிள்ளைகளைக் கண்டு மகிழ வேண்டியதுதான்!

அந்த நாட்களில் 'பாக்கெட் மனி' என்ற பெயர் கிடையாது. 'வாங்கித் திங்கக் காசு' தான்! அந்த 'இலந்த வடாம் பாட்டி', வண்ணம்

போடாமல், ச்ந்தனக் கலரில் உருட்டி வைத்த ஜவ்வு மிட்டாய்களை விற்பாள்! தடியில் சுற்றிக் கொண்டு, அவளால் எப்படி நடக்க

முடியும்? அதனால் இப்படி விற்பனை!


திருவிழாக் காலங்களில், பஞ்சு மிட்டாய் மிஷின் வந்துவிடும். 'அடிக்கும்' பிங்க் கலரில், சன்னமான குச்சியில், பெரிய பந்து

போலச் சுற்றித் தந்தால், யாருக்குத்தான் பிடிக்காது! மிஷின் சூட்டோடு, கை படாமல் தருவதால், இந்த மிட்டாய் வாங்க மட்டும்

எங்களுக்குத் தடை கிடையாது! :dance:

 

[sankara_sharmah]

Oh. Yes. I recall the Watch mittayai and other mittayais sold during the temple festivals. We were also never allowed to eat them.

There was an ice fruit vendor who used to come to the village. He will scrape the ice block, roll it into a ball, pour some sweet color over it and stick it on a stick. It was called Ice Fruit.

Later even that was banned as unhygienic. The vendor stopped coming.

 

[sankara_sharmah]

Tuitions

We had a number of tuition teachers in our village. Many of the boys/girls had tuition teachers. Till fifth class we had a old woman teaching us. She was a primary school teacher long before. The class was held in my house. Common for 3rd, 4th and 5th class. She was famous for கிள்ளுfying. The red mark will last for days. But she ensured that we got good marks in school. She used to come to the school and find out how we were doing. I was one of her favorites.

I had not seen her after I left the village. But when I got married she came for the Grahapravesam function in the village. She was real குடு குடு கிழவி then.

There were two teachers competing for tuition from 6th class onward. One of them was an excellent maths teacher. He had a பிரம்பு always with him. The other one was good in English. I was sent to the English teacher. He had to give me special coaching to prepare me for switching over to English medium since I was going out of the village. I studied two years with him and left the village in the seventh class.

In between there was a Hindi teacher who taught Hindi. We appeared for the examinations of the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha. I passed Pradhamic when I was in 6th and was studying for Madhyama when I left. Then the Hindi teacher got married and went away.

The village committee decide one fine morning to teach everyone Sanskrit. So they started a Sanskrit class. Once a week taught by a old Sanskrit pundit. He taught us the alphabet, subdas, slokas, and a whole lot Sanskrit sayings which we had to read/shout aloud. The Sanskrit class was sponsored by one of the residents who was a Lakshatipathi. They gave us free books.

The school started with all of us reciting the following.

Mathru Devo bhava

Pithru Devo bhava

Acahrya devo bhava

Athithi devo bahava

and some other things which I do not remember.

These were written in posters which were displayed around the hall where we were taught.

 

[Raji Ram]

அந்தக் காலத்தில், பள்ளிக்குச் செல்லும் வயது ஐந்து! அதுவரை, குறும்பு செய்யும் 'வால்' குட்டிகளை வீட்டிலேயே

'மேய்ப்பது' எப்படி? இதற்குக் கை கொடுத்தவர்தான் வயதான கௌரி டீச்சர்! பணியிலிருந்து ஓய்வு பெற்ற அவர்,

குட்டிகளுக்குப் பாடம் சொல்லித் தருவார். எப்போது வேண்டுமானாலும் போகலாம்; வரலாம். அம்மாக்களின்

சவுகரியம்தான் நேரத்தை நிர்ணயிக்கும்! அவரது ஜாக்கெட் மிகவும் லூசாக இருக்கும். இப்போதும், யாராவது

லூசாக ஜாக்கெட் அணிந்தால், அது 'கௌரி டீச்சர் ஸ்டைல்'!! :high5:

 

[P.J.]

Raji Madam

Being a Doctor's daughter why you did not study Medicine and become a Doctor?

 

[sankara_sharmah]

Edited out.

 

[P.J.]

P J Sir,

Happy New Year! Now, I am answering your first Q to me in 2013 !!

Being a doctor's daughter, I was prohibited from eating anything bought from 'potti kadai's in school! But since my friends said

that we won't be alive the next day, because world will come to an end, I ate! Did not have any idea about 'puzhu'! The reason for

அசடு வழிந்தது is because world did NOT come to an end!! :becky:

Raji Madam

Since you said you are prohibited to eat being a Doctor's daughter, may i know the reason for not going to Medicine and become a Doctor. This section is part of Chit Chat, , hence this .

 

[Raji Ram]

Excuse me.

This is not a question and answer/Chit Chat thread. This is for child-hood-reminiscences.

Dear S S Sir,

This thread is very much in chit chat forum! Anyway I shall answer P J Sir in 'Ideas' thread - also in chit chat!

 

[sankara_sharmah]

No problem, Maa. Please continue.

Thank You.

 

[P.J.]

Dear S S Sir,

This thread is very much in chit chat forum! Anyway I shall answer P J Sir in 'Ideas' thread - also in chit chat!

Raji Madam


When i pose a question on the details posted here by you in this tread , it is expected you answer to that here itself, not in some other 'Thread'.

Also

 

[Raji Ram]

Raji Madam

When i pose a question on the details posted here by you in this tread , it is expected you answer to that here itself, not in some other 'Thread'....

'Chit chat' திண்ணைப் பேச்சு மாதிரித்தான்!

எந்த வீட்டுத் திண்ணையில் பேசினாலும் பரவாயில்லையே!! :blah:

 

[sankara_sharmah]

I was not aware that the threads in Chit-Chat are like Chat Rooms. You learn something new every day.

 

[Raji Ram]

Please look at this, S S Sir!

Chit Chat


Talk about anything you like