No.24 Car Street, Triplicane

I grew up in No.24 Car Street between 1970 and 1975. Those five years were glorious years as I played lot of cricket. I had lot of friends and had a wonderful time. That is a corner building owned by Shri.S.D.Krishnamurthy Rao. He used to be Head Master of Hindu High School (the famous school which is in existence for more than 150 years).

This house was at the junction of Singarachari Street and Car Street. Next to our house there is "Gudirai Vahana Mandapam". There is a huge place at the corner which was convenient for erecting temporary stage for Political Meetings. Though I did not understand much of what was spoken I used to stand and listen to all speakers in those days. We had seen some eminent political personalities like Periyar, Sivaji, Karunanidhi, etc. in Car Street during the elections.

Car Street is one of the four Maada Veethis of Sri Parthasarathy Swami Temple and hence there was always good amount of activity.

It was a long house with one entrance in Car Street and another entrance from the back street. Shri.T.R.Rajagopal, Science Teacher of Hindu High School used to stay at the back using the entrance from the back street.

There were another six families which stayed in the front portion of the building having entrance from Car Street.

The first portion was on first floor with stair case right at the entrance to the building. That portion was occupied by Mr.Ramachandran & Family. They used to own couple of Lorries in those days. There was enough space to park their lorries outside our house.

The second portion was on ground floor occupied by Mr.Parthasarathy and family. He was working in AG's Office (Accountant General's Office in Teynampet). He was a genius and the only man that I have seen in my entire life who could total two digits with ease. Today we are all using Calculators and Computers and in early 70s when there were no calculators totalling was done manually but only one digit at a time. Shri.Parthasarathy had the unique ability to total two digits at a time that too with ease and at a fast pace. His wife Janaki Maami was a very kind hearted nice lady. They had four sons - Suresh, Kumar, Sekhar and Ravi. The most notable member of their family whom I think of very often is Baagi, the sister of Mr.Parthasarathy. She used to sing very well and had a fantastic voice. I still remember the sweet voice and the way she used to sing all P.Suseela songs. Over the last three decades whenever I hear a P.Suseela song I think of Baagi.

The next portion on the ground floor was occupied by Ganga & Family. After the death of Ganga's father they moved out and Srinivasan & Family came to that portion.

The next portion on the ground floor was occupied by our family. My father, Mother, Grandmother, sister and two brothers lived in that house. It was quite a spacious portion with a large kitchen.

Next to our portion was another staircase which lead to another portion occupied by Narasimhan, Ragothaman and family. These two brothers though much older than us used to play cricket with me and my brothers. They had two sisters and one of them was working in Reserve Bank of India and the other sister was studying.

The last portion on the ground floor which was at a slightly lower level was occupied by Shri.Chellappa and family. They had two sons Ashok and Sai who were also my cricket mates. Shri.Chellappa was working as a Sales Representative for Borosil and used to give us lot of free gifts during cricket matches.

Shri.S.D.Krishnamurthy Rao used to comes once in a month to collect the rent. If I remember right we were paying initially Rs.140/- per month which was later increased by Rs.10/- every year and finally when we left the house in 1975 we were paying Rs.180/- per month. It was a very lucky house as most of the tenants left the house to occupy their own house. Shri.S.D.K was very proud of this and I remember he once told my father "Whenever you are shifting from here, Mr.Parthasarathy, I want you to shift to your own house".

It was like one large happy family in that house though there were six different families. There was lot of affection, concern, help and joy which was shared by all. We have also had our share of fights every now and then. But the beauty is we used to forget the fights and become pally with each other the very next day. There were no Television Sets, No Mobile Phones, No Calculators, No Cameras and No Computers. We all had a Radio and the only entertainment was listening to Radio which we hardly did as there was so much of fun and entertainment within the family and friends.

If there was a fight between Mr.Chellappa and his wife Suseela then all the other families knew about it. If there was a shortage of Sugar in our house then all the other families knew that we have taken on loan basis "one karandi" sugar from Janaka Maami to be returned when we buy the ration on the 1st of the following month.

It was true community living and very happy living experience. I am glad I enjoyed it for atleast about 5 years in my entire life so far. I am very sad that I am not able to enjoy the community living for ever.

T.P.Anand
Dubai, U.A.E.
7th September 2011