State Bank of India 1968-1972

I joined SBI after a tough selection process in Oct 1968 at Kakinada. Everyone was happy in the family, especially Dad and there was no hesitation in joining a bank as the position of Probationary Officer in the top Bank of India was prestigious and almost on par with Central Services like IAS. Some of my batch mates of 1968 joined as early as July as their Police clearances were received quickly. They had stayed at one place for past five years while I moved around two or three places.

I travelled to Kakinada on 17th Oct after meeting Ahmed bhai who was getting married to Mujeeb Bhabi on 18th Oct 1968.  I could not attend the wedding as my joining date at Kakinada was 19th Oct 1968. I met him in Goshamahal house and gifted him a book, I think it was Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. I also met Maqbool bhai for the first time on 17th Oct 1968 and also saw Fahmida and Mona as small kids. Ahmed bhai introduced me to Mujeeb bhabhi, the bride-to-be as she was also living in the same compound. She was his first cousin.

I stayed with Vali Amoji  ( M.A.Khan, brother of Janab Hyder Ali Khan, so Amoji to everyone in the family) in Kakinada till I found lodgings close to the Bank on the Main Road. The family of Vali Amoji were very hospitable and kind. Chachi was feeding me well. Imtiyaz was of my age and he was very friendly. Munni was a toddler aged four and she used to practise her ABCs and rhymes with me. After a few weeks, I got a room at walking distance from the bank. I met up with Munni recently in 2014 at a wedding in Hyderabad and she says she is a grandma!!! How time flies!!

Ahmed Bhai 1970

The training for POs in SBI was very structured. The Probation was for 18 months. There were two training courses- Induction course for six weeks at one of many Training Centres and Intermediate course for five weeks at Staff College, Hyderabad. Besides these courses, one had to work at three branches for three to four months each with rotation in all departments and with increasing powers of approval and responsibility.  My first week was spent in the Mailing Department which meant entering inward and outward mail in registers and getting them checked by the Branch Manager. The other duties were handling the Franking Machines, tallying the stock of postage stamps. Branch Manager explained the importance of this duty saying one would get an idea of what passes through the bank and the risks of mishandling mail. He also brought our attention to the risks such as junior staff hiding complaints, delaying presentation of checks received in Registered Post to favour clients and pilferage of Postage stamps. My first Branch Manager was Padmanabha Rao and after two months Mr. R. Narasimhan took over. I came to know from Mr. M.P. Radhakrishnan, a senior colleague of SBI when he was visiting from SBI Off-shore Unit in Bahrain, while I was with BOBK in Muscat, about a confidential report written by Padmanabha Rao. He, it seems, commented that if I continue in SBI, I had a good chance of rising to MD level!! This was a pleasant thing to know from such a reliable source but I told him that he must be joking after 23 years. He said he was not!

One of the batch mates of SBI Mr. Thampi turned up in London as a fellow BCCI Officer in 1978. So was Mr. T.M.Nagarajan who was also my batchmate from Bombay circle whose career path seems to closely resemble mine. He was a dear colleague in BCCI & BOBK. We keep in touch even now. He attended the weddings of Sameera and Badar.

Among my colleagues were T. Sreerama Murty and Satya Prasad who had extraordinary qualities. They could do any job in the bank with efficiency including balancing ledgers which could not be done by others. If they were asked to do something in 10 minutes, they would complete the task in two minutes with confidence. Once you hand over a  customer to them, you know they will make them happy. It was a pleasure working with them.

Knowing that I am a Civil Engineer, he asked me to draw pie-charts and graphs for display in the Manager’s chambers showing the growth of business and profits etc.,  He also used to call us for coffee once a month for a general chat and interacting with us. He was a keen photographer and he showed me his camera. Mr. Narasimhan later became CMD at Central Office.

Every Friday was “Balancing day” when all the ledgers had to be balanced and sometimes we had to stay late. Another day when we spent late hours was the Annual closing day which is 31st Dec for SBI. I had got home at midnight a few times. Anyway, the only machine available with the Head Clerk was a FACIT adding machine and one had to reserve his turn to use it. As I look back to banking in 60’s to present times, I seem to have seen the evolution of manual ledgers to automation to computers. The gamut of machines included the first adding machine, calculator, NCR Posting machine, low-memory stand-alone computers, and net-based on-line systems. Mr. Somayajulu, Accountant used to amaze us by his numeric skills by adding two columns of figures at a time with good speed and accuracy. New staff used to come to see him in action.

I moved to Eluru for my second branch training under Mr. B. Achyuta Kumar. Mr. Kumar later was PA to Mr. R.K. Talwar, famous banker and later rose to become CEO of ANZ Bank in Australia. He is settled in Melbourne these days after retirement. Mr. Diwakar, an ex-colleague, a close friend and a master of networking put me in touch with Achyuta Kumar when he was visiting Hyderabad in 2013. We had a good time reminiscing about our old days and he shared some events relating to Mr. Talwar. Mr. Achyuta Kumar used to spend extra time with me after all the staff left to discuss the use of statistical reports to SBI-Head Office/ Central Office and RBI.

My third branch was Guntur where I had the best time. Ahmed Bhai was already at this branch and we roomed together for three months and attended the same office, sitting across two tables. It was a busy branch with heavy volumes and we both got our signing powers here.  At the branch, Janab Abdulla and Mr. Kareemuddin were very helpful in getting to grips with Government business, ledger balancing etc.

Our evenings were nice as we used to go to watch films, mostly English movies and have nice non-veg food at Muslim hotels. Imagine Parothas with brain fry, kheema, paya etc., After coming back home, we used to be in two rooms with the door open. When one of us laughed at some passage while reading, he had to explain what made him laugh. I met Aleem here when he was about to join Syndicate Bank.

In Feb 1969, I attended the Induction course at Training Centre, Nagapattinam about 50 kms from Chennai. Nagapattinam was a small town and the Training Centre was away from whatever little hustle bustle was found in the town. So we were kept busy with lectures, group discussions and quizzes etc., Evenings were spent in indoor games as well as volley ball outside. The staff of waiters and cooks knew only Tamil and most of the Trainees were from other states who didn’t know Tamil. So we had to learn survival Tamil like Tanni, More, Morukulundu, Tair, etc.

Weekends were well planned by the training centre who booked buses for us to visit Pondicherry, Tiruchirapalli. Madurai, Nagore, Kanyakumari. We got to see the most important tourist places in the South. The trip through the state of Kerala was very enjoyable.We were passing through an unending canals, rivers and rivulets and greenery all around.

The Intermediate Course held in Feb 1970 at the Staff College, Begumpet was very fruitful. We learnt Banking in depth. The hostel with multi-cuisine food was excellent. The batch mates were from so many different states and evenings spent in exchanging thoughts were interesting.

On completion of training and confirmation in April 1970, I was posted as a Team Member under Mr. Y.Radhakrishnan who later became MD at Central Office. SBI was allocated several districts to open a large number of branches, both in urban and rural areas as per new policies of Government and under the support of RBI. All team members were provided with a Jeep, a Driver, a Census handbook and an authority letter to the Branch Manager of the allocated district. My area was Anantapur District. I travelled about 2,000 kms in the district in three weeks and met local officials, prominent citizens and held street corner meetings at more than 40 locations. I recommended 30 branches of which 21 were opened within a year and most of them are now very big branches. When the Bank's jeep stopped at a village official's office, people used to surround me in a group of 30-40 and ask me how much loan the Bank plans to give while I was trying to get some idea of their deposit-giving potential. Some places I recommended include Gorantla and Uravakonda. I met Mr. Y.Radhakrishnan in Mumbai in 1983 where he was CMD to discuss remittance business while I was with an Exchange Company in Abu Dhabi. He was very cooperative and helpful and called in two other MDs to help me.

I was posted as Second Accountant at Vizag Main Branch in June 1970 where Dad was also posted at Caltex Oil Refinery and he was provided with quarters by Caltex at Yarada Park. Later we all moved to SBI quarters closer to town in Dwaraka Nagar. I purchased my first scooter, a Vespa made in Italy here.  Mr. Vepa Kamesam was my neighbour in SBI quarters and his son Arvind, now in UK, was 3-4 years old and used to enjoy a quick ride on my scooter. More about Mr. Kamesam’s role in my marriage to Khamar later. Mr. Kamesam became CMD of SBI and then Deputy Governor of RBI and has continued to keep in touch with us over the years.

I had my first scooter accident here. On 1st January 1971, Bank staff had a luncheon party and I was riding back home. I was passing by in a narrow street with huts on my right and on the left a Central Government Office. Suddenly a three year old kid ran across the street and hit my scooter handle and I fell headlong. A few scooter parts flew around and in a few seconds, a crowd formed with village women wailing and blaming me. The kid was lying prone on the ground and I did not know if the kid was just stunned or dead. A police constable came from the office across and told me to get going to avoid trouble and they will take care of things here. I saw the kid moving a bit and after gathering what can be gathered, I started the scooter and went home. After 5 pm, Dad came home and told Ammi that there was an accident in front of his office and his constable went and helped a young driver. Ammi told him that the young man was me!!! Dad said the kid was perfectly OK. I just had a few scratches but my trousers and shirt were torn.

The job was a very responsible one, holding joint custody of the Currency Chest of a few Billion rupees or more due to the big Government establishments like Railways, Navy, Shipyard, etc., I was also in-charge of auto-cypher which involves coded telegrams transmitting huge amounts. The volumes were heavy and I had to put in long hours and used to come back home by 7-8 pm.

A serious kind of incident occurred here in late 1970. The Officer’s Association had some issues linked to service conditions, transfer of officers across regions etc., and a call for “work to rule” was given. The Officer’s association n Vizag was very aggressive. I and Mr. Abraham, Chief Cashier closed the safes at 5 pm promptly leaving some cashiers with Rs 50 crores in cash in the counting room. Of course there was a contingent of Police who guard RBI remittances which was a daily affair at this huge branch. We refused to stay late and secure all the cash.

Next day, both of us as well as three other cash-custodians at other branches were suspended. After negotiations by the Association Officials at Head Office who gave the call, the suspensions were withdrawn after two weeks and we were transferred to different branches as punishment. I was the only direct recruit holding cash who participated in the strike. 

I was transferred to Srikakulam, luckily Iqbal mama was there and I stayed with him. Javed was five and Saeed was two years old then. Iqbal mama and Zakiya mami were very kind to me. I stayed with them and played with the kids. Iqbal mama's office was close by and we used to spend some time in the evening when his staff had gone home. Iqbal mama's hobby was assembling Radios or repairing them. These Radios were of the old type with diodes and tubes (radio valves) which you don't see now. I can remember him soldering these valves with lot of concentration and in between speak to me. He was very close to me.

At Srikakulam. Mr. Govindarajulu was the Accountant. SBI was undergoing a massive country-wide reorganization and it was more customer focused and new divisions (Personal Banking, Corporate Banking, SSI, and Agriculture) came into being.  Everyone was busy and the big circulars received from Head Office were only studied by me alone as I had free time with no specific duties and I was in transition. The Manager asked me to conduct a workshop for all the staff including himself to explain in plain language. It was very successful and the staff got quite familiar with the things to come.

After three months, I was transferred to Kakinada as Manager- Personal Banking Division in June 1971 signifying that I was fully rehabilitated with five months from the strike..

Radio Valves

During this period of a few months, dad was a worried man that I got caught up in trade union activities and was misguided. He wrote to Mr. S.A.M. Satyanarayana Rao, (called SAM by us all) who was my senior and well-wisher, asking him why I was made a scapegoat.  For these two weeks, I was busy attending Association meetings and used to go home late at night to avoid facing dad. I had a few lunches at the house of Mr. R. Vaidyanathan. Association arranged a meeting at Andhra University auditorium and I was asked to speak as an old AU student. I spoke on “sons of soil” policy of encouraging local talent instead of importing people from other states which was the theme of the strike. I got a good response from the audience who were students, more so because I was an Alumnus of the university.

I had officiated as Manager for a few weeks at the University Campus branch of SBI as the Manager went on leave. It was a good occasion to meet some Professors and young people. One such visitor was a Professor of Mathematics who came in furiously complaining that the half-yearly interest credited to his Savings account was short by 25 paise. I made him sit and without any argument, got the difference credited. Those were the days when all calculations were manual and FACIT adding machines were yet to come into regular use. The Professor went back happy that he was right in principle. No point in taking panga with a Mathematics Professor of all the people.

Mr. Govindarajulu had a special practice of ensuring that no single working day passes without a Fixed Deposit entry in the General Ledger. In case no customer comes in to give a fresh deposit, he used to go round the branch asking for a staff member to deposit even if it is Rs 100/-. In my stay of three months, I had five Deposits of Rs 100/- or 500/- or 1,000/-.

I used to commute to Vizag on weekends to visit family by scooter. The highway was reasonably good but the road shoulders were rough with stones scattered. A lorry overtook me suddenly and I had to go close to the edge of the road and I hit a larger stone and toppled and skidded a good 10 meters. Luckily, I was wearing a helmet. I hit my head on the side of the road full of stones and the lorry went merrily away. Another passer-by helped and I gathered wind and took off. Thank Allah and the helmet!

Paranormal story:

One of our cousins Muneer bhai (Ameen Khalsab's nephew) told us this story. He was resident of Vijayawada and stayed near Labbipet Masjid. He was a regular at the Labbipet masjid and as he was a bachelor, he had no compulsive necessity to go home. So he used to sleep over at the masjid sometimes. One night he slept between the main door and the mimbar (pulpit). When he woke up for Fajr prayers, he was in a corner of the masjid. He asked the Muazzin how that could happen. The Muazzin told him the Jinns came to pray at odd times after midnight and their path was directly from the main door toward the pulpit and one of them must have moved him aside. Muneer bhai avoided this passage and he had no further incidents. Muneer bhai narrated this to me directly and I know and trust him and believe it to be true.

Jinns are an accepted species of Allah's creations and mentioned in Quran at many places. As among people, there are mischievous Jinn and good Jinns who pray and do good deeds. There is also an advice to avoid passing urine near trees as Jinns are said to recite Quran while sitting under trees.

University Days

Andhra University Engineering College 1965-68

Before joining Engineering in Vizag, I had an interview in Chennai at M.I.T. which had an excellent reputation for Diploma courses which were considered better than degrees at other colleges. A product of this MIT was A.L.Iqbal uncle who became GM of Bhilai Steel Plant and later GM of Coromandel Fertilizers, Vizag.

Dad accompanied me to Chennai for the interview. He wanted to meet S.V.Rangarao, an actor, who was his class fellow and close friend for support at MIT. We reached his house and met his wife as S.V.Rangarao was in Singapore for a film shoot. Mrs. Rangarao asked their Secretary to accompany us to MIT and see if my candidature can be recommended. Finally I did not get a seat here. There were a group of seniors sitting near the main entrance and they called me over and just asked me my name and where I am coming from. It was a prelude to ragging at a later stage.

S.V. Rangarao used to visit dad at home in Guntur. Once when he tried to come at 5 p.m., huge crowds prevented him entering our lane. So he planned a visit at 12 midnight which went unnoticed. Ammi woke us up to meet him. He spent an hour gossiping with dad and he asked me what I was studying. He asked me if I act in plays. I said I was not into dramas. He said it is better to follow other careers. He used to call Dad “Badru” and they were close. They were roommates for three years in Kakinada College.

Dad took me to the Mount Road and Marina Beech. To end the day, dad and I went over to Buhari Hotel (Bukhari is spelt and pronounced Buhari in Chennai) and had Biryani which came with a boiled egg on top.

While we were waiting for the selection in AU Engineering College, I had a serious discussion with dad which was rather historic. I was already serious about pursuing English literature as my profession and ending up as an English Professor. My dad was looking at me as an Engineer (I don’t know why I didn’t look like a doctor). When I mentioned that I would like to do MA (English), he said that’s not an attractive career. Even mentioning my preference in one sentence was hard for me as it was going against dad’s wishes. This was the only time I had such direct and serious kind of discussion with dad.

Strange are the ways of Allah. Eventually I fulfilled dad’s wish by qualifying as a Civil Engineer while I spent maximum time in the University Library reading English classics and Literature, shelf by shelf, author by author, thus vicariously fulfilling my desire. Soon after my Engineering degree, I had applied for Probationary Officer (Management Trainee) in SBI which were coveted posts. I had also applied for IRSE and was planning to appear for IAS. Among 120,000 candidates who appeared for SBI written examination, 110 were called for interview and 14 were selected for 1968 batch. Al Hamdulillah, I was selected along with M.A. Ahmed, who became my best friend leading to the marriage of his brother Aleem with my sister, Shammi. So finally, I was destined neither to be an Engineer nor an English Professor but ended up becoming a Banker as per Allah’s plan.

My ragging experience when I joined Engineering College was very mild. We Andhras are a mild breed, I think and we cannot compare with the violent and aggressive ragging methods of some other colleges. There was no ragging at all in the college. Whatever mild stuff I faced was at the hostel. We in the three year course were already B.Sc. graduates and looked like seniors. A few seniors called me over one evening and asked my name and demanded that I sing a song for them. Having never given any kind of audition before, I thought of some current favorites and sang the first two lines of Dil Deke Dekho and the guys said, stop stop and let me go!! When it was our turn next year to rag juniors, I never took any part in it. Overall I would say the ragging was very mild and can be forgiven.

Indian Army started sending a few Army Officers to acquire Engineering qualifications and we had two class fellows. One was Lt D.N.Sharma and the other was a tall Sardar Lt. S.S.Gill. Both were very professional and friendly, more so with me as I could speak Hindi well. The guys who were into ragging never imagined what lay in wait for them. A small group knocked on the door of Gill to try and rag him. He was 6'2'' in height and he opened the door and stood holding the two sides of the door and in his right hand was a big Khukhri. You can imagine the group melting away very fast!! We are in touch with D.N.Sharma who retired as Lt. Col via our Alumni group but there is no news of Gill.

On the hostel terrace

University life was interesting. I made lot of good friends. I stayed in sixth block hostel. My close companions were Mumtaz and Mynuddin (Ajmeeri) who were cousins from Akividu. Other friends were Turab Hussian, YVVL Prasad, among others. Sixth block was the newer and more spacious hostel, twice as big as the other five blocks. This hostel was Non-vegetarian for the first and third year and was vegetarian in the second year. When we insisted that chicken should be Halal, they said they could not get a Muslim Imam to slaughter chicken numbering around 50-60 thrice a week. We innocently offered our services. The job fell to me and Mumtaz as Mynuddin and Turab pulled out. After two days of this massacre, we could not eat the curry. So we put some pressure on the hostel cooks to hire an Imam from a local masjid to do the honors and we were happy just eating chicken and never offered to do any slaughter.

Anjaneya Varma (late) sitting extreme left, Mumtaz sitting on extreme rght, Ajmeeri (late) standing second left and me next to him.

A few tricks were successful in making the hostel food palatable. Our lunch curries during the vegetarian year were not that tasty. One fine day, our lab work got delayed and we arrived for lunch at closing time of 2 pm. The cook said they finished the tasteless curry and requested us to wait for ten minutes and he will get something. To our pleasant surprise, he brought us hot and spicy French fries and we had a good time. We tried this a few times and the cooks were cooperative but not always.

Ammi used to give me specially packed tins (Glaxo) with Khara-poosa (saltish vermicelli), Khajoor (sweet home-made cookies) and Avagaya pickle. I used to share with Mumtaz and Mynuddin but news used to spread to other hostel mates and they used to hang around and finish the big tins within a few days.

Once every term, the hostel held a special dinner where we could invite our friends /relatives. The special dish was Chicken Biryani and sweets etc. and food was served on the terrace. I had invited Madaruddin Khalsab a few times and he enjoyed the dinner with paan and State Express cigarettes.

Every Sunday we used to go in a group of 3-4 to Leela Mahal hanging on to the footboard of city buses. After booking tickets for an English movie, we used to go for a quick Masala or Rava Dosa at Chadaga’s and come back late to the hostel. They were enjoyable weekends. There were no lock-outs in the hostel those days.

I found a bookshop in town which sells used books at affordable prices for students. I used to visit this place once a month and pick up some nice books, classics, poetry collections etc.

My habit as regards books and reading was to encourage others to borrow books and read my recommendations. I either tell them to keep the book or return after reading if it was some book that I wanted to keep. During my three years at the University, I must have lent 50 books but I wanted to track down 10 of them which were precious to me. I wrote an interesting poem pleading friends to return before I left the University and pasted to on the canteen entrance. The poem started with “Neither lender nor borrower be”. Amazingly I got more appreciation for the poem than real results. (Got six books back)

My study plan was simple. Attend all the classes regularly and do the assignments fast. Devote nights till 1 am to read books of all kinds- History, biography, bestsellers, classics etc. Be a bookworm at the library and read hundreds of books from the English literature section and never visit the Engineering side of the library. We used to get 15 days for preparation for the final exams which used to stretch to 15-20 days with gaps in between papers and lab work. I used to study only during these preparation holidays. Night study needed a dose of hot mirchi bajjis and tea at the university canteen which was open till late and was crowded during prep holidays. The pressure was a great excuse to start smoking and my smoking companion was Mynuddin. I never needed mirchi bajjis or tea to read novels till 1 am every day.

Al Hamdulillah, this simple plan of mine worked very well as I scored high distinction marks and ended up third in our batch. The go-to person for helping in difficult mathematical problems was V.R.Murthy who was always ready to help, sitting in an easy chair. He is now a Professor of Aerospace Engineering in Syracuse University in USA. Murthy has authored a biography of Savithri, the legendary Telugu actress.

In our final term, we were taken on a tour of North India for two weeks by a special bogie which used to be attached to different trains and parked on a siding at the railway stations for the duration of our local trip. We covered Bhakra Nangal Dam, Hirakud Dam, Chandigarh for engineering knowledge. The tourist attractions we covered were Nainital, Hardwar and Delhi. Two incidents stand out in memory.

My dad was Deputy Superintendent of Central Excise at Hyderabad and he used to write letters to main stations where we were expected as per program. He wrote an Inland letter care of the Station Master, New Delhi and I duly received it from the Letter Box. It was a normal welfare letter. After a few hours, two Delhi wallahs came asking for me by name and my class fellows showed me where I am. We were planning to go out in an hour or so after everyone got ready. The two guys introduced themselves as Officials of Central Excise at Delhi and said they were asked by my dad to help us with anything we need. They slowly led us to foreign goods like Transistor radios, watches seized and auctioned by central Excise and they said they can get us stuff at staff rates. My class fellows who were with me showed great interest and two of them asked for a transistor and a watch. They gave money and the two guys said they will be back next day and give us the stuff. I was a passive listener. My dad’s letter did not mention anything of this nature. As you would guess, they did not turn up next day and we went to the station Master who told us this was a normal confidence trick as they got information from reading letters. The Inland letter was easy to read without opening the flaps.

The other incident was in Chandigarh from where we were to visit Shimla for a day’s visit. We had reserved a deluxe bus of Punjab Transport which we were to board at the Main Bus Depot at 9 am. By the time our group of 50 ambled along and arrived at 9.15 am, the bus had waited and cancelled. Our Team Leader, a Lecturer, went to the Depot Manager to say we were ready to go, the Manager (a Sardar) said there was no margin for latecomers and our group bus was cancelled and they could refund only 50% of the amount paid. We all left shame-faced and learnt a good lesson in punctuality. And the Shimla plan was called off.

Dilshad apa was in her Final year Medicine in Andhra Medical College and I met her and her sister Mahrukh along with Moin bhai and we all went to see Dolphin’s nose hills. Dr. Nayeem was a friend who was son of Dr. Deen. Dr. Deen was a leading Dentist of Vizag and sometime Congress MLA and a friend of my dad. He used to come to Hostel to play Table Tennis.

Madaruddin Khalsab was posted in Vizag as Asst Conservator of Forests and lived close to the University. I was close to Alia khalajan and Khalsab and used to visit them often on weekends for their company and for the excellent home-cooked food prepared by Khalajan. If I didn’t go for some time, Khalsab used to come to pick me up or send his driver. He took me for a few camping trips to forest areas like Chinta Palli, Araku Valley etc., which were enjoyable. On one trip, he brought Janab M.A.Aziz, retired Deputy Collector with us. Collector saab, as he was called, was very religious and excelled in Telugu and English and he was Imam of a small masjid in a thatched hut which later grew to be a pakka building. He used to discuss Prophet’s life and other religious topics intermixed with some funny stories form his life as Dy Collector.

A major incident happened during my first year of Engineering (1966). Alia Khalajan was married this year and Maqbool mama was posted in Kovvur and he had a big trunk full of wedding sarees of Alia Khalajan. As I was travelling from Hyderabad by train to Vizag, I was asked to take the trunk and hand over to Alia Khalajan in Vizag. The trunk was loaded into the train by coolies and as it was very heavy, they put it down near the exit door of the compartment. I was busy reading my novel sitting in the packed compartment and glance at the trunk now and then. I saw a frail old lady, may be 65-70 years old, sitting on top of the trunk and I thought it was nothing to worry about. The train stopped at Anakapalli station and there was lot of movement of passengers getting in and out. As the train pulled out of the station, I did not see the old lady neither did I see the trunk. I searched all over the compartment and after consulting with fellow passengers, did not pull the chain but waited to report the matter to Railway police at Vizag as it was the next stop and was only 45 min from Anakapalli. Khalsab came to the station to receive me and was rather shocked at the theft. The Police told us that there were some notorious gangs which operate in Anakapalli area and their Modus Operandi is to use old ladies to spot good stuff and as the other side of Anakapalli station has many rice fields, they unload the trunk in a few seconds and vanish into the fields. Police under pressure from Khalsab undertook investigation but failed to find the culprits. I was not directly blamed but innuendos were regularly made about my reading habit which resulted in this loss. I did feel guilty for a long time. Even Maqbool mama was blamed for entrusting a valuable trunk to a young 18 year old like me. During the rest of my life, specially during my Gulf stint, I made sure to bring good sarees for Alia Khalajan. Maybe this was better. Who wears wedding finery in normal life except that they are packed and kept hidden in the wardrobe?

BE Graduation

I was sent an urgent message one day to come and see Khalsab. I rushed to the house to find lot of people at the house and a number of official Government cars. Khalsab was a very honest officer and it was a rarity in departments like Forest. Some forest contractors who specialize in illegal felling of trees were caught by Khalsaab and he was not pliable like others to withdraw cases. After failing to bribe him, they chose to send a group of goondas to attack him at dead of night. Alia khalajan was in the family way. The goondas had thick wooden logs which they poked through the collapsible gates and hurt him on his head which was bleeding and I could see blood on the walls. Alia Khalajan even in her advanced stage of pregnancy came to protect him but the goondas poked the sticks into her belly. After seeing the blood, the goondas ran away. Police were called in. The Collector who was also resident of the colony came to see him. He was taken to the hospital and bandaged and released the same day.

Summer holidays during these three years were very enjoyable as I was staying in a hostel for the first time and going back home to Ammi and her tasty food was so enjoyable. Marriages in the family were mostly held during summer holidays and so I could catch up with a few marriages. My visits home were to Hyderabad, Warangal and Sirpur Kagaznagar where dad was posted at that time.

An incident about my dad is worth writing about. When he was posted to Warangal, Gold Control Order was in full force and individuals were not supposed to hold jewelry beyond certain weight. This was due to Chinese war and its effects on the economy. Dad was heading the Enforcement Team. He raided a Doctor’s house on intelligence received. The party did not find anything but dad heard flushing noise from a bathroom upstairs. He took one of the staff to investigate and suspected some jewelry was hidden in the commode. Staff was reluctant to put his hand inside. Dad unhesitatingly put his hand in the trap, which was anyway flushed a while ago and got a big bag full of jewelry. This raid was sensational and appeared in the newspapers as the .Doctor was well known in town.

Early Schooling

Schools:

My schooling started in a strange way. My first year in KG was in a girl's school-Stall Girls School in Guntur. Our neighbour in Nagarampalem, Guntur was a lady who was Headmistress of this school and she saw me with dad once and suggested that I join her school. Boys from some select families were asked to join this way among girls who were a majority. This was only for KG. She used to accompany me to the school holding my hand for some time till some alternate arrangement was made.

Stall Girls High School

Where I studied classes 1-5 is a blur as dad was moving around on postings. I then moved to Government Primary School in Medikondur for class 5 and 6 where Shakir was with me and Shammi was at home. I have a picture of Shakir and I walking to school which was not too far. I remember playing a Police constable's role in a school play. I had a three-word dialogue which was" this is the thief" in Telugu. Big deal!!!

Medikondur School (Me and Shakir)

A few of my memories here in Medikonduru. We had Shazamani apa visiting us from AttilI. She was a year elder to me but the thing that amazed me was how forward and direct she was. I now realize that the more rural area you grow up in, the more you are simple and honest. My living in a slightly larger town like Guntur left more inhibitions in us.

Medikondur is in an area of Tobacco and Chilli. Dad was taking care of Central Excise Duty on Tobacco while we kids were being introduced to Chilli. We had a maid, an old lady named Ratnamma who used to live in a small hut. One day when I went to her place to call her for work at home, she was busy grinding some reddish chutney in a stone mortar and she said she will come in a while with some nice chutney. She did come and gave Ammi a pot of chutney. We kids wanted a taste and it was made of lots of red chillies and a little tamarind. We had a burnt out tongue for a while.

Class 7 Bapatla Municipal School: Dad hardly stayed in Bapatla for a few months. It was a nice and clean town by the beach. Dad was posted to Parchuru midway in academic year and Masood chacha and I were asked to stay back to complete the year. I have already narrated our second experience of Red Chilli chutney in Bapatla in an earlier blog.

Class 8 Majety Guravayya School, Guntur: This school was opposite A C College and the only memory I have is playing Baseball during sports period. Perhaps this was the stepping stone to cricket in later years.

School & College

My school life 1957-1961

Very few memories linger on of my school life, the main reason being the short stays at many of the schools.

• Medikondur Municipal School – 2 years
• Bapatla Municipal School- 1 year
• Majety Guravaiah School- 1  year
• Danavaipeta Municipal School- 2 years

Me in 1960

Classmates in Danavaipeta School that I remember are D.V.Ramana, who was an intelligent student who came first usually and I used to be second or third in the class and rarely did I jump over him, not even in English. I heard he got his Ph.D., from IISC, Bangalore in Satellite Communications and was one of the pioneering engineers at ISRO. He has been in UK for a long time specialising in Space Communications.

Another of my classmates was Agastya Sastri, who became a Cine Writer and TV Artist in Hyderabad. While searching for Agastya on the net, I came to know that he sadly passed away in 2012 in Hyderabad and lived in Vijayanagar Colony. Had I known his address prior to 2012, I would have definitely met him. That was the first year after my retirement and I was busy settling down in Hyderabad after 35 years abroad. I also found out about another classmate Ms. Sarvamangala who was the elder sister of Agastya Sastry and she has written a book on her family while living in Mississippi, USA titled “My Journey from Godavari in Rajahmundry to Mississippi in Greenville, USA”. The book is very interesting. My memory of Agastya is that of a friendly person and he showed some early inclination towards entertainment and stage. His sister was always cheerful but the only time of my interaction with her was during the SSLC (Level -10th standard) exams held in Gurukulam School. I was a shy teenager and never spoke to her. After completing one of the exam papers, she saw me and said “ Yela rasawu paper. Neekemilay, nuvvu clever head wu kada!!” (How did you do the paper? It’s nothing for you, you are a clever head!!)  I don’t know whether I replied but that single sentence stood out in my memory as a girl talking to me direct.

I stumbled upon Dr. Rudra Narasimham, ex-Indian Army and now settled in USA who was another classmate and a top student. Dr. Rudra has won meritorious awards for his exemplary services in the Indian Army. Mahesh Babu and Ranga Prasad were my class fellows and they joined the Police Department. Nagabhushanam was a cloth merchant and was very friendly with me. I wish I could get hold of the complete list of students.

Surprisingly I, being a Muslim with Urdu as my mother tongue, was good in Telugu and the Telugu Teacher one Mr. Suryanarayana was duly impressed. I must say my basic Telugu was from various schools of Guntur and Palanadu. This was 1959-61. I had a moment of deja vu in 1974 when I was a Branch Manager of SBI, Amalapuram. The SBI staff was conducting a Cultural Festival for the Region at Amalapuram and one of the programmes was Telugu Stage plays. Among the judges was Mr. Suryanarayana and it was a pleasant meeting. I acknowledged him on the stage when I was delivering the welcome speech and he was happy. I invited him home for lunch after the programme.

I studied for PUC at Government Arts College, Rajahmundry in 1961-62. I opted for Hindi as my second language from here on. The course was a mere nine months and I can hardly remember any of my class fellows. I do remember watching a cricket match where Maqbool Hussain Hashmi uncle was batting on the college grounds. He is related to us and was an English Lecturer. I had a close relationship with him for some time. He invited me to his house during summer holidays and encouraged me to read English poetry and classical literature. He started off by discussing the English translation of Surah Fateha. This inspired me to take up reading classics seriously and I did get into poetry in a big way. I met him again in Ramachandrapuram where I was deputed to act as Branch Manager in 1973 and he was working in the college there. He was indisposed during that visit due to high blood pressure. We again discussed my reading progress. He visited me at the bank and felt happy on my career as a banker.

I remember our family visit to Dad’s colleague M.A.Wahab saheb’s house. He was Deputy Superintendent of Central Excise as was my dad. His daughter was Zarina Wahab who was perhaps 14 years old. I noticed that she used to cycle down to school which was a rare sight those days for girls. Zarina Wahab later was well known as a Bollywood actress.

Right outside the college was a tailoring shop owned by Basha Tayajan of Municipal Colony and we used to stop over for a chat with him. Beside his shop, Ziauddin chacha was running a cycle repair shop.

College days 1962-65:

Dad was transferred to Guntur in 1962 and I joined B.Sc., in Andhra Christian College. I did try to get admission in Engineering but the competition was severe and I did not get a seat. This was the time my interest in English literature was building up. I was doing well in all my English exams and in my final year, I was made the Student Editor of the college magazine to assist the English Professor to put together the annual issue. The best student in English was nominated. The Professor was Prof. M.G.Thomas who used to wear suits with a bow tie and was very serious. I believe he was a bachelor. He called me once to discuss the editorial piece I wrote. He made me sit across his chair and straightaway pointed out that one should put quotation marks for quotes. I remember this criticism always.

Andhra Christian College, Guntur (present day but looks the same)

Having spent three years at a stretch at this college, I made good friends. I was into cricket, NCC (Military style training designed for students) and library. My good friends were Krishna Reddy, the cricket captain, Mir Ziauddin, Ghalib, Vidya Sagar, Subba Reddy, Samuel (Hindi class). I lost contact with several of them but I kept in touch with Zia who retired as Colonel in the Paratroop Regiment of Indian Army. He was very keen on NCC and represented our college at the Republic Day parade in Delhi and soon after graduation, joined the Army as Commissioned Officer. I attended his wedding at Hyderabad in 1970 and he later visited me twice in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in 2000. He attended the wedding of Badar in Chennai in 2012. We also contacted him in Bangalore in 1996 when he was Chief Security Officer in Leela Palace Hotel and he hosted a dinner at his house.

Vidya Sagar became a Professor of Mathematics in Sagar University. I wanted to contact him and searched on the net but failed to find him. He was a close friend. Bhaskar Reddy became a doctor and he played cricket at Ranji level for Andhra. Bhaskar Reddy took me into the cricket team and got me to play in the Inter-collegiate tournament. I was not very regular in practice and was an off-spinner and middle-order batsman.

During this time, I had an accident on my bicycle. I was coming home from college. Two dogs were chasing each other and the leading dog passed by me, but the second one ran headlong into the front wheel. I was thrown down and I landed on my left elbow. All of it happened in a split second. My elbow was dislocated and I was moving around in a plaster cast for three weeks. After this incident, I was always on the lookout for running dogs but I could only spot very docile dogs with tongues hanging out and observing me closely!!

Immediately after graduation in 1965 when Chinese aggression resulted in huge shortage of engineers, especially Civil Engineers in Government and private sector, many universities started a three-year course for Science graduates in addition to five year courses for PUC students. Under the guidance of dad, I applied for several Universities for Engineering. During this wait period of two months, I was offered a position of Demonstrator in Chemistry department in the college. I was guiding students in the laboratory and once I was asked to fill in for an absent lecturer and teach some Chemistry topic. It was a nervous moment and somehow, I completed the period of 45 minutes.

Jandhyala Papayya Sastri was the Telugu Professor and was a well-known poet at that time. His pen name was “Karuna Sri” and his most famous poem was “Pushpa Vilapam” which used to evoke emotional tears from the readers. Though my second language was Hindi, I used to attend his Telugu class as he was known to recite poetry totally unconnected with the syllabus. I enjoyed his recitations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2qkEo8eiWs

Next post will continue with university stories.

My Roots 1947-1957

Our family belongs to a small village, now a Mandal Headquarters called AKIVIDU. This place is 20 kms from Bhimavaram and amid rich and green rice fields, fish ponds and adjacent to the famous Kolleru Lake. The following book written by Iqbal uncle has good detail about all the Muslim families of Akividu and their origins. It has references to our family.

We attempted a Family Tree showing Mollan sahib, our progenitor after whose name our family is known as “Mollan Khandan”  and six generations above me.

My memories of Akividu on a personal front are narrated here. It is currently comprised of ~160 individuals starting from Mollan sahib. Please contact me to receive a copy of this document.

Original Family tree handwritten by dad in 1971

Our Family never stayed in Akividu for any length of time. Many families got their children educated in early 40's and they took up important positions in Government. Prominent examples are Janab Sirajuddin, Janab Najmuddin, Janab Dr. Jangi, Janab Khaja Mohiuddin , Janab Hyder Ali Khan and many others. My dad was one of the earliest to step out of Akividu when he joined Central Excise department as Inspector in 1942 after graduation. He served at various places in united Andhra Pradesh ( Guntur, Ammanabrole, Bapatla, Parchuru, Medikonduru, Rajahmundry, Vizag, Warangal, Sirpur-Kagaznagar, Kakinada, Hyderabad). We used to make short trips during summer holidays.

My first memories are of a few weeks we spent in 1953 (dates are approximate) when we stayed in our family home of Azgar Hussain sahib, my dadajan which is opposite the small masjid. Though dadijan was the mistress (CEO) of the house, Jawahar tayijan was the GM.  Khamruz Zaman Tayajan was the head of the house after Dadajan. The house made of raised mud floor, Teak wood beams, mud bricks etc., As rare visitors, we were honoured guests with extra love and affection. All the relatives had large compounds on Muslim street.

I remember one breakfast I had with dadajan when we both were served rotis and dadajan told Tayijan to get Honey from the special store at home. On another occasion, Tayijan served us Mixed fruit Jam made in UK brought by Tayajan from the Railway canteen run on the lines of Army canteen.  After breakfast, dadajan took me along to the Fish Market and I was proud to be carrying a cane basket or fish creel ( empty_see pics below) which is specially designed to hold live fish like Marel. It is round cylindrical basket with a lid and u-shaped handle. He held my hand and we walked about two kilometers to the fish market. He bought a Marel which was quite active and kicking and he carried it back home.  I feel blessed that I could meet my dada and nana, even though there were very few moments in number and memories rare and far between. Our kids ( children of Shakir, Shammi, Babu and I ) did not have the good fortune of meeting my dad. On the other hand, I also feel blessed that I have the good fortune of spending some time with my grandchildren.

Kolleru fish

Dadijan took over the processing of the fish sitting on a chair near the kitchen and her Chef was Jawahar Tayijan and assistant chef was Ruhani Phuphujan and Ammi as a guest was exempt from anything. The most important kitchen tool was a “ Darati” which is a knife fixed vertically on a wooden plank and the ladies were adept at cutting fish and vegetables fast and neat.

The cousins who entertained us on our 1957 visit were Moin bhai, Khalid bhai and Naser bhai who taught us how to play cards (the card size was half the normal size) and they had some small rooms where they gathered to do this clandestine activity. They used to smoke Bidis and they asked me to try one and I did.

The gents who came to meet Dadajan met at the Diwankhana which was a detached building. It was a large room with chabutara ( just a platform) with mats to sit on. I remember Tayajan bringing some business people to discuss a deal of “Potta” sale. Pottas are dried fish bellies which are exported to Rangoon, Burma and dadajan was part of a group who traded with Rangoon by exporting Pottas and importing Teak logs. The main partners were Nazir Ahmed nana and Sadiq Hussain nana ( Sultan khalsaab’s dad).This business went belly-up when one ship carrying in Teak logs sank in the Bay of Bengal. While pottas packed in gunny bags for export, they were stored in one half of this Diwankhana.

My cousins, besides teaching us beedi smoking and cards, helped us bring down “Kaveets” ( wood apples) from a  huge tree in this house. Tayijan used to make a sweet paste out of Kaveets by mixing Gur (jaggery). The cards used by kids were half the size of normal cards.

On other summer holidays, we learnt to play “ Gilli Danda” (Gully cricket), “Goli” (marbles) but we left “ Tokudu Billa “ (Hopscotch) to the girls.

The treats we enjoyed (with a few Annas given by elderly ladies from the small knots tied at the end of their pallaus) were ice fruit on a stick ( no fruit in this baby), “panchadara chilakalu´(sugar parrots), marble candy with stripes.

A routine taught to us by Abbajan and Ammi were the visits to houses of all the relatives within the first two or three days to pay our respects to elders of the family. Dawats used to follow later. I remember visiting Soghera nani, Pathan nana,( parents of A.G.Khan a.k.a Hazrata mama),  Tahzibunnisa nani ( Sultan Khalsab’s mom), Mollan Husain dada (Azmathullah chacha’s dad) ,  where we used to given cookies or chocolates. This tradition we maintained for a long time, till say 1980’s by which time many families migrated to Hyderabad, Gulf, US etc., Sometimes we used to get a message to come soon as lunch is ready or some relatives have come to see us. The messengers were young cousins who were breathless when they came running. What a world without mobiles and SMS.

The arrival and departure to/ fro Akividu was via train journeys till 1965 or so when APSRTC buses became frequent. Train journeys were more interesting and the welcome used to be mostly by Sultan Khalsab on his bicycle (Humber) or the standard gadiwale Yaqub Ali who used to bring a bullock cart with purdah for ladies and kids were allowed to sit beside the cart-driver. On rare occasions, he used to lend us the whip to use on the bullock but we found that the whip was a very light one and doesn’t hurt at all. Yaqub Ali had a customized cry of Hut-hut to move the bullock along. Yaqub Ali passed away sometime around 1970 but hundreds of Akividu Muslims had used his cart. He was a general handyman but mostly called in for medical emergencies, family visits etc., and very reliable and knew all members of family by name. He was like a relative. Later in 1970s, we used rickshaw to come home from the railway station.

Those days

These days

Abbajan was very happy to visit Akividu and used to explain to us the relationships and some historical stories. He was always interested in eating as much fish as possible because the freshness and variety of fish in Akividu were famous. Abba used to bring in fish or request some family member to bring Marel, Padhan, Bochal, Rahu, Pandugoppa, bommidi, chandwas etc., were some of his favourites besides prawns and we still like all these when we visit Akividu but you don’t get them so frequently now. Many thanks and Jazakallahs to all the ladies starting from dadijan, and running through Jawahar Tayijan, Shereen khalajan to Nasreen (Asif’s wife) who were / are such great cooks and great hosts, standing alongside till we eat our fill. May Allah bless all of them in the here and the hereafter. Ameen.

Our later summer holiday visits to Akividu as adults and after my marriage and arrival of kids were of different level altogether and perhaps they were exciting for my children. But these childhood memories of mine are unique and pleasant.

Summer visits to other places 1953-59

Though our first place of choice for summer visits was Akividu, I also remember a few visits to Attili, Macherla, Pidiguralla, Yellamanchili, Bhimavaram, Krovvidi, Rajahmundry, Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, Srisailam Dam. A few memories follow.

We visited Attili in 1957 to see our Phupha and Hurani Phuphu (parents of Shah Zamani apa). Salarjung was our phupha who married my second eldest phuphu. I do remember phupha’s face but have vague memory of phuphu but I had seen her picture. She was very beautiful and resembled Abbajan. She was an active supporter of phupha’s Congress party and she was respected by the fellow members of Women’s wing. She passed away very early. The street where they lived was named after Salarjung Phupha. Nawabjan Mama ( Yaqoob Hussain ) was the younger brother of phupha and was very close friend of Abbajan and used to visit us very often. Nawabjan mama’s compound was literally a mini-zoo with so many different pets and birds. We used to stay with phupha but spent most of the day time with the children of Nawabjan mama running after chickens, goats, rabbits, The Manager of Royal talkies in Attili was Hussain sahib and good friend of my dad. So we had royal treatment when we wanted to watch a film with the theater staff escorting us to the best seats.

Rest of our summer visits were to Ameen khalsaab and Bade Khaljan. Khalusaab was Inspector of Police and like my dad, was often transferred from place to place, mostly in Guntur district. He used to visit our house frequently in Guntur where my dad was posted for a long time. He was very kind to me and used to encourage and appreciate whatever English I wrote or spoke. He used to write to me often (his letters were type-written on Post cards or Inland envelopes). During Diwali, he used to bring or send through a constable, a gunny bag full of Diwali crackers and patakas. We used to be thrilled.

Our visits to Bade Khalajan’s house were quite enjoyable with many cousins in the house ( Mukhtiar bhai, Anees Bhai, Khalid Bhai, Zareeef, Rabbani and Naseem apa, Kausar apa and Ghousia). We used to be close to the Police station at each place and constables used to take us to the Police station and show us petty criminals in lock up. I used to be a bit scared. A constable told us that when one of the cousins failed in a subject in school, khalsaab used to order the constable to put him in lock up for an hour or two. Strange punishment indeed. I wonder if other policemen prescribe same punishment for their children.

Khalsaab was a devoted and honest Police officer and his full attention was on his cases, where he was famous for solving murder cases. He was reportedly an expert in disguising himself as a farmer, a coolie etc., to follow suspects. In spite of his preoccupation, he was kind to the children, specially the girls. Mukhtiar bhai got special treatment as he was most successful in studies and became a Mechanical Engineer and retired as General Manager of Indian Ordnance factory (tanks)  in Medak. I was considered the next best student in the family.

Khalsaab’s family was large and as he was an honest man, their dinner table was simple except for Khalsaab who had “abbajan ka salla” (dad’s curry) which was most often Mutton fry accompanied by Khatti daal. Woe unto any of my cousins if they touched this salla. The only cousin who had special permission to share this fried mutton was Mukhtiar bhai. Rabbani used to argue with Khalajan why he is not allowed to share. Khalajan had a favourite daant for most of the children which was “pad-ko-gaya” which was used in such backchat from kids.

I used to be charmed by the affectionate way of Khalsaab calling his children and the most common request of his was to scratch his back. The places Piduguralla and Macherla were very very hot and tough on skin. Zareef was called Tadpi and Talpian, Ghousia was called Goochamma or Goochulu. I think, my dad did not do this charming nick names business. Khalsaab was fond of English and used to like for writing English well. He used to write to me letters, mostly on Post Cards and typewritten.

Bhimavaram is a larger town close to Akividu. Rumakhatun dadi was my dad’s phuphu. Nooruddin phupha was a District Educational Officer and they had a large house near Veeramma tank. Their daughter is Noorjahan chachi married to Mehdi chacha. We used to visit them for a day or two. It was a busy house with regular visitors who enjoyed the great hospitality.

Krovvidi is a canal side place close to Akividu where Essa amoji and closely related to my first dadi (Khamruz Zaman tayajan’s mom). We visited this place only once and all I remember is water in the canals and it looked like a mini Akividu.

Our visits to Rajahmundry were to meet a large number of relatives, mostly in Municipal Colony where Daisaba phupha and Roohani Phuphu were part of Essa Amoji Khandan. They were very affectionate towards our family and Khamruz Zaman Tayajan’s. I remember the evenings when all of them gathered at one place to hear Abbajan tell the latest news which sounded like exciting stories. More exciting were the real life stories narrated by Khamruz Zaman Tayajan which covered diamond hunting in Godavari River beds, hunting for tigers and Sambhar in jungles. The audience used to feel the excitement and terror sometimes as if the tiger was lurking around. There were two special people Nizamuddin chacha and Chotima Phuphu who were great stand-up comedians who could make the most mundane things sound so hilarious.

Maqbool mama and Phooljan mami were great hosts and we used to enjoy holiday visits to their home. He was posted at Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam Dams when they were in the early foundation stages. He had attendants, gardeners to help out and a jeep and a driver to show us around. Mami was a great cook who used to make new and tasty dishes. Along with our family, Kamal mama, Aliya Khalajan and Mukhtiar bhai were regular visitors. My special interest was the library of books of Mama, mostly Reader’s Digest Condensed Books.

Early days 1952-58

Abbajan was employed as Inspector of Central Excise (Central Government ) and he used to be transferred every two/three years. The family moved with him and hence we studied in several schools all over the state. I started with Stall Girls School, Guntur (imagine a girl’s school with a  handful of boys). Later I went through Municipal School, Medikonduru, Municipal School, Bapatla, M.G.High School, Guntur.

Shakir with dad and me sitting in front of dad_ Ammanabrolu 1952

Abbajan was posted in Ammanabrolu when I was 5 years old. I have some memories of getting my first tricycle (a photo exists) and a visit by Aliya Khalajan and Sheerin khalajan. My mom was second eldest daughter and she looked after these two khalas for a while as my nani passed away after the delivery of Najma khalajan. I was a toy in the hands of these two khalajans during their short stay here. Abbajan was fond of Badminton and he used to play with some friends and colleagues.

We were in Bapatla for a short while when Abbajan was shifted to Parchur. Masood chacha and I were in the middle of school term, we were housed in a  room of Kamalamma, Congress MLA and our lunch and dinner was fixed up with Baig saheb’s family who used live in a hut across our room. Baig sahib was the Attender in my Nana’s (Deputy Collector) office when he served here a few years back. It is said that Nana worked alongside British Collectors but he had very simple and humble qualities. One such was his inviting Baig sahib to sit with him at the table for dinner and Baig sahib was so nervous that he declined politely. On the first day, Mrs. Baig served us rice with a very colourful curry spread on the mat on the mud floor of the hut. Masood chacha and I mixed this red curry with rice and the first morsel resulted in a flood of tears as we found it was red chilly chutney. Mrs. Baig was so sorry at the impact she lovingly caused to our delicate palates. She switched to normal curries from the next day.

My first ever beach trip was to Bapatla beach with Ammi, Aliya Khalajan, Shakir and Mukhtiar bhai. I still remember the exhilarating feeling when I waded into the waves. It was a mixture of fear and joy. I have a picture of this in 1956. I visited the same beach recently in 2013 with Khamar and it looked the same with very few changes like a resort and some eateries which were not there earlier. Here is the latest picture. (Trying to trace an old picture of 1954 with Alia Khalajan at ths beach).

Bapatla Beach

Abbajan’s stay in Parchuru was only for a few months when he was shifted to Guntur. One incident I recall is a fire accident in this small village and we could see thatched huts and houses burn a few hundred meters away. Aliya khalajan and Ammi were reading Surah Yaseen and swaying to and fro and we kids were standing around them scared. Fire engines came later and stopped the fire from spreading.

Profile from "Muslims of Akividu":

Dad and Mum 1965(?)

Badruz Zaman was the second son of Asghar Husain. He was tall fair and handsome. He studied in A.C. College, Guntur and later in P.R.College, Kakinada for his B.Sc. degree. There was a story told about his studies. He discontinued his studies after seventh Standard and started going to Timber mart with his father and grandfather, as he was not willing to study any further. After a couple of years, his elder brother Khamruz Zaman passed his S.S.L.C. examination and naturally, there was jubilation in the house. This inspired Badruz Zaman to join school and study. Since he discontinued, he had to appear for an entrance examination to get into higher class. They somehow managed to get him through. Once he joined the school, he took up the challenge, studied very hard, and passed his S.S.L.C. examination.

There was no looking back, he continued and did his B.Sc. He was selected as Inspector of Central Excise, and he was in the rank of Asst. Collector Excise and Customs, when he died. He was honest and upright, not only in official dealings but also in private life. He was generous and of helpful nature. He along with Madaruddin started the idea of renovating Anwari Masjid, which had fallen into disuse and misuse. Abdul Qadir family took it up and today it is a beautiful mosque. He was religious and a pious person. He and his wife Sultana were very hospitable people. He died at the age of 53 years. They have three sons and a daughter. Khaliquz Zaman (Zakir), Shakir Husain, Aziz Ghouse Mohi-ud-Din (Babu) and daughter Shammi (Excerpts from Muslims of Akividu).