Sunday, October 17, 2010

My mother Smt. Venkalakshmamma

When my daughter Janaki requested me to write a short note on my mother for the Ekamra nivas blogger I was the happiest person on the earth.For not only did I love her but I also admired her for her compassion for people, love for animals,and her great respect and sympathy for the downtrodden .Though of small build she was considered as a beautiful woman, and very charming in every way.
I shall start her story,with her wedding with my father when she was hardly eleven years old. My father had just graduated from the Madras Christian college , and had taken a part time job as tutor in history in the very same college. It might interest the reader to know Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was his pupil while he taught history.
Alladi lost his father while doing his matric and his eldest brother Seetharamiah became his guardian,Seetharamiah and my mother's father Narayana sastry happened to be very good friends, and they would meet every day at the cards table. The two friends mutually agreed that my mother was a suitable bride for my father, a prepubertal marriage was quickly arranged in spite of pandits expressing strongly the mismatch of the horoscope of the brideand the groom.Seetharamiah was no believer of horoscopes went boldly ahead with the wedding.My mother was eleven years and my father was twenty one years at that time.Events later proved the inordinate success of the marriage for over four decades,and the utter hollowness of astrological and horoscope matching.
My mother had ten deliveries and eleven children.Fourdied prematurely and seven of us survived, three boys and four girls.
Success in the legal profession came very soon to Alladi , and his practice extended up to Cochin and Travancore in the west, Mysore in the middle of the plateau, and the whole of Madras Presidency Alladi became a legendary name in law and while my father was neck deep in his profession , the responsibility of managing the house and the children fell totally on my mother’s shoulders.
My mother managed things very well at home and the entire responsibility of looking after the Alladi mansion Ekamranivas occupying about 1.3 acres fell on her. In front of the great mansion was a lovely garden,the main building had 3 storeys and in the back yard we had the garages for cars, the cowsheds and the latrine . the house employed about 20 full time servants – 3 gardeners,2 drivers,3 cooks, 2 ayaahs,2 cleaners,besides office attenders, clerks and it was a colossal job for my mother to supervise the staff. This she did with grace and charm maintaining a daily log book , and attendance register, and supervising the domestic staff.
All she did with a smile on her face , no scowling and no irritation no wonder some of the visiters to our home were recounting how my mother used to climb down the long wooden stairs at 6.30 in the morning with elegance.
What was my personal relationship with my mother? Whenever I had a semblance of fever I used to nestle to her , and never left her company. She encouraged me to form a cricket team and financed me to buy a complete cricket kit at our expense.We used to play in the vast empty grounds nearby and we formed a team of fifteen players . I looked to my mother for support for all the all my activities including outdoor and indoor monopoly. My sister Raj and I were her favourites during our entire school career. We both looked to her for guidance , love and friendship that we made. Till both our weddings she was the guiding angel and we looked to her for help. None of our brothers and sisters had the same attention, as we had.Her sweet memories will last as long as we live.-- Prof.Alladi Prabhakar

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