I The decade was a violent one for the country. However, Bhagyam and Vaithy were busy
emptying the nest. Kannan was the first one to tie the knot. Vaithy received
the proposal from an acquaintance who had been head of the gun carriage factory
in Jabalpore. The gentleman had retired and had moved to Bangalore. The
marriage was solemnized and the couple moved back to America. Kannan would
become one of the first professors at
Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science, under its famous dean Raj Reddy.
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| Kannan and Vinodini at their wedding |
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| Meena and Dinesh at their wedding |
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| Chuppam and Mahesh at their wedding |
Meena married a young
entrepreneur in Bangalore a year later, and joined a bank. Chuppam moved to
Chennai, after marrying a classmate from Chepauk Medical College a couple of
years later. The groom’s father was a leading cardiologist, and he would
encourage both his son and daughter-in-law to follow in his footsteps. A year
later, Papa would marry and continue in his position as a doctor at the Army
Research and Referral Hospital. He would go on to specialise in Oncology and
become the head of the department at JIPMER.
Dorai would go to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy and receive
his first posting as Assistant Collector of Kottayam district. He would go on
to become one of the first Joint Secretaries from his batch.
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| Pappa and Gowri at their wedding |
It was a Wednesday
morning when Thangam rang Vaithy in his office. Rumours were rife and staff and
students had been asked to go home. Within an hour, Nachhattar Singh, his
godown manager burst in, his breath heaving. Trucks were being burnt in
Burrabazar and mobs were attacking gurudwaras. He was distraught, Jagat Sudhar Gurudwara[i]
had been attacked. His father-in-law was granthi[ii]
there. Vaithy turned on the radio,
but there was no news, and there would be none, until an announcement on
Doordarshan and AIR late in the afternoon. He rang the godown and instructed
the supervisor to shut the gates and stop all deliveries going out. Then, he
instructed the driver, Biren to drive Singh home, and make sure he carried his
kukri. It would take a day or two before the full import of the events of the
day would become clear, but Calcutta would escape the worst violence.
A few months later,
Vaithy was in Bombay. It was
a rainy day, and he was waiting for an audience
with the bureaucrat whose nod he needed to finish a large project. The firm had
invested a lot of time and money in it, and further delays would turn it into a
liability. Mr. Kapur was with him. When they had finished, Mr. Kapur took him
home for dinner. It was a pleasant
evening for them all, and Mrs. Kapur was very glad he could come. Later, as
they relaxed together, watching Buniyaad[iii]
on TV, Mr. Kapoor became reminiscent. “We left our home in Lahore with only
the clothes we were wearing. At first, we drove, then the car broke down, and
we walked. When we came to Delhi, we had to stay in a camp for months. But
people helped us. You know KV, life is full of second, third chances. One door
closes, another opens. Never say die! Cheers.”
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| Mrs. Kapur with her daughters, nephew and mother-in-law |
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| Alok Nath and Kiran Juneja in 'Buniyaad' |
II Vaithy
looked around at the paltry congregation in St. Gregory’s Church[i]
in Park Circus, and as the priest intoned his eulogy, the coffin before the
altar, his mind went back to his first meeting with Mrs. Heather Chater. It was
on one of the first runs of the Howrah-Rajdhani
Express[ii]
in 1969. The elderly lady opposite
him lit a cigarette and puffed away. They fell into a conversation, and she
asked him about his family. She was an Armenian, widowed and living alone. Her
ancestors had arrived from Iran as traders, prospered and stayed on. She was
childless and spent her time with a dwindling community. There were less than a
hundred of them left in the city. She couldn’t abide the thought of leaving.
He forgot about her, until
Christmas was around the corner and it seemed appropriate. He pulled out her
card and dialled the number. She
recognized him, and invited him to visit her. Would he like to bring his wife
along? She opened the door to her flat in Russell Street, looking immaculate.
She had prepared tea and they chatted. The minutes turned to hours, and when it
was time to leave, they promised to visit again.
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| Heather Chater |
That was many years
ago. They had since become fast friends, and Vaithy her outlet to the world. He
put her in touch with a lawyer and persuaded the landlord to extend her lease.
Made sure she was attended to by the doctor. Towards the end, he helped find a
nurse for her, as she became increasingly incapable of taking care of herself.
A year-and-a-half
after the burial, he received a telephone call from Mr. Mittra. Could they
meet? Would Wednesday afternoon be convenient? Mr. Mittra was a lawyer, a
partner at Victor Moses & Co. He
received Vaithy at his office, with a friendly smile. Preliminaries over, he
began - “We are executors of the late Mrs. Chater. Very fine lady. Our firm
have been her lawyers for more than fifty years.” He paused. “Your see, she
has left a large sum to you in her will. We have just completed the probate. We
have received the Court order. Her properties will go the Armenian Charitable
Trust and the Church. You are receiving the contents of one bank account. There
are some other papers to be signed, some documents we need. Please look at
these. If you need a lawyer, we can be of service, or perhaps you have your
own? Anyway, we can proceed after we have satisfactorily completed the
formalities.”
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| Jorashanko, Calcutta |
A few weeks later, Mr.
Mittra and Vaithy went to the Jorashanko branch of the bank. The manager took his time, fidgeting as he went through the
file with the probate order and the documents before him. Finally, satisfied he
looked up. “We have some forms you must fill up before we transfer the account
to you. Ordinarily we ask for an introduction to open an account in our branch,
but in your case we shall not .” He giggled nervously. “Shall we say Savings or
Current Account? The account balance is…” He paused, sucked in his breath and took
a sip of water, “The balance is Rupees Sixty seven lakhs, four thousand and
seventy paise. ”
III Thangam
and Vaithy made some decisions. They would not use the money on themselves.
They made endowments to the Armenian College in Heather’s memory, and donated
some of their windfall to other charities. The rest was theirs to use. On what,
was the question. They would take their own time to decide.
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| Flat 6a, Meghdoot Building, Rowland Road |
They moved into Meghdoot Building on Rowland Road. The
flat was more compact, and had all the space they needed. Thangam was tired of
teaching in the school. She wanted time to visit her children more often and
spend time with her growing family. They travelled to Pittsburgh, to visit Kannan and Vinodini.Vaithy had to return after two weeks, but Thangam stayed back for the full duration
of her visa. Her role as grandmother gave her immense pleasure. She spent more
and more time with the children, leaving Vaithy behind with Nandu to look after
him, visiting them in Bangalore, Madras and Delhi. When Dorai’s marriage was finalised, she
insisted it be held in Palghat. Vishala Patti, Aachu mama and Alamelu joined
their neighbours in two buses to attend the wedding. Afterwards, Thangam went
back to the village and spent several weeks with them. Aachu mama and Vishala
patti were showing signs of their age, and she was thankful for the time she
could spend with them.
When it happened, it
was not unexpected. It had been in the offing. MD invited him home on a
Saturday to discuss it. “Our father is semi-retired, and it is time to make a
change, nothing can last forever, don’t you think? My son is not yet ready. I
will take over as Chairman, and you have to steer the ship. I feel there is no
one else, you know that. We have big plans, the country is going to change, but
we need to make haste steadily. The company is fortunate to have you. We will
make the change in the New Year. We shall ask Ahuja to take your place. You
agree? Let us have coffee and something to eat.”
Text by Shankar A.
Narayan. Photo credit: Wikipedia, Gregory Warren, Bala Natarajan, Raghu Rai and
Reinhard Krause
[ii] Rajdhanis are fast trains connecting the Indian capital New Delhi with
major cities. Howrah Rajdhani is the first fully air-conditioned train, as well
as the first Rajdhani train.
[i] Also known as Sri Guru Singh Sabha Kolkata, supreme body of Kolkata
Sikhs.
[ii] A person, male or female, of the Sikh religion who is a ceremonial
reader of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, which is the Holy Book in Sikhism, often
read to worshipers at Sikh temples called a Gurudwara.
[iii] An Indian television drama-series that was directed by Ramesh Sippy and
Jyoti. The series was written by Manohar Shyam Joshi and dealt with the
Partition of India in 1947 and its aftermath.
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