Ranjana

  My derailment for one year advance Course in Electronics and Communication took us to Secunderabad. I was lucky to get a temporary barrack type accommodation. The Course was to start a day after Deepavali! On reaching the allotted quarters, I found the previous occupant did not vacate saying that it was inauspicious to shift during Deepavali and he would vacate only a day later! We spent the day in Secunderabad Railway station Retiring room! Vicky was upset that he could not play “Phataka”. One of my cousins   PK Seetharaman was staying nearby and we took Vicky to their house in the evening so that he could light some Sparklers and other pahatakas. We had our Diwali special lunch at ‘Taj Mahal Hotel” for a princely sum of Rs.5/ per head! Ranjana did not complain. She took everything in her stride. I was busy in my studies and we put Vicky in school and under tuition. I did fairly well in the course but getting the top rank eluded me. I was posted to Rocket Regiment Works...

  When we moved to Ambala, we had literally nothing. Our entire household kitchen items were packed in two cartons and put in the brake-van along with my scooter when we moved. The bedding and clothes were carried in hold all and a canvas bag. One of my friends has hired a portion in a house close to the workshop. It was 44 Mal Road in Ambala cantonment. A huge Koti, as they call it , it was more than a hundred years old! Those days, it used be at least two years   of waiting to get a government quarters. There were no civilian houses also for hiring nearby. Ambala Town was far away and it is next to impossible for an officer posted in a field unit to stay in town and work in cantonment. We stayed in that house only for three months as it did not have even flush toilet. The next two years we managed to stay like nomads. I used to hunt for officers staying in quarters who were going on two months leave. They would leave a bedroom, hall and kitchen. We paid them the house rent...

  Our friendship was growing and becoming more and more intimate. Unknown to me, my parents had called and short listed three prospective girls during my annual leave to Palamarneri. They had requested my elder sister Chandra to come from Bangalore to help them in selecting a deserving one. So when I reached home, these things were already tied up and though I had made up my mind to marry Ranjana , I did not disclose irt at that time and made up my mind to reject all three under some pretext or other.   Fortunately that eventuality did not arise as my parents as well as Chandra were not impressed on meeting with the girls and their parents informally. It was time for Deepavali and I took my parents to Bangalore and from there to Coorg for Deepavali bath at Thalakaveri. It was a great outing especially for my mother. On our return from Thalakaveri to Bangalore by bus, I told my mother my decision to marry Rajnjana and told her not to hunt for a girl for me ! After reaching Ba...

  It was the day of Holi , the festival of colours, the year 1951. Holi, widely celebrated throughout the subcontinent celebrates the beginning of Spring. it iss identified as a festival that celebrated agriculture, commemorated good spring harvests and the fertile land. It also marks an occasion to reset and renew ruptured relationships, end conflicts and rid themselves of accumulated emotional impurities from the past. Like Ganesh Chaturthi and Diwali, Holi is also celebrated in Maharashtra with great enthusiasm. The Parasnis mansion in Satara a famed city of Maharashtra near the confluence of the river Krishna and its tributary, the river Venna was, teeming with people enjoying the festivities with a host of visitors playing colours and exchanging sweets. Rao bahadur Dattatray Balwant Parasnis, whose mansion we are talking about , was born on 27 November 1870 in a traditional middle-class Deshastha Brahmin family. He was and continues to remain as the most authentic historia...