Recollections of Padmanabh Athimber by Malini Ram

Padmanbh athimber, my father’s special friend

By Malini Ram, New York

For the benefit of the extended family, my father is Dr. R. Bhaskaran, known within the family circle as Vasu. He is Kalpaka athai’s cousin (her chithi Ponnakka’s son). My father used to call Uncle. Padmanabhan as athimber and so did I.

My father has narrated to me several incidents regarding his visit to athai & athimber’s home in Vishakapatnam (“Vizag”) as a young man of about 22 years in age (in the late 40s), when he had gone there from Chennai for some training program. My father was thrilled to be able to visit his cousin and her husband, who took very kindly to him. They used to pick him up from his dormitory and take him home. That was the beginning of the beautiful and lasting “friendship” that my father had with his athimber. Athai took great pains to prepare delicious meals for my father who she thought would be missing his mother’s homely meals while at Vizag. My father has told me how he used to look forward to those visits to their home. During my father’s stay in Vizag, athimber would always take my father along during his camp outings. He also remembers the good time he had in the company of his nephews Siddharth (Baba), Ashok and Girdhar (Baby). (My father still calls Girdhar “Baby”). Girdhar has also shared with me his recollections of my appa’s visit to Vizag, when Girdhar was a young boy, and watching an interesting cricket match together.

Padmanabh athimber would always stay at the Cosmopolitan Club when he came to Madras from other places on short visits. He would promptly call my father at our St. Mary’s Road residence and inform him of his visit to Madras. Appa would always eagerly go and meet athimber and they’ll have lunch together in Mount Road.

When Padmnabh athimber and Kalpaka athai moved to Chennai, my father would regularly visit them. I too remember visiting athimber & athai in Madras as well as at their Bangalore residence. In Madras, when I visited them at their residence “Chandrika”, my appa and athimber would be engrossed in conversations, while I’ll be exploring their house and the garden. Chandrika was a grand and beautiful house. I recall listening to very nice trumpet jazz music from their gramophone player, operated by Ashok or Girdhar. They had a pet dog in their house with a Russian sounding name (Lushka or Nushka?) and I used to be a little nervous. Padmanabh Athimber and my father used to calm me by assuring that the dog will not harm me. I also remember seeing some pigeons in their garden. Once I excitedly went back to the room where my father & athai/athimber were conversing and exclaimed “Pura, Pura” in Tamil. Since I could not pronounce the letter “r” properly in baby tongue, I pronounced “Pura” funnily. Whenever I visited them on several occasions afterwards, even as late as into my teens, Padmanabh Athimber would affectionately smile at me and teasingly repeat with eyes wide open what I had exclaimed to him in my baby tongue for “Pura”. He had great memory and attention to detail.

In early 1962 my father was sent by the Government. of India to France for advanced training in his field. Appa had to become fluent in French within a short time. Padmanabh athimber was kind enough to lend his phonograph (gramophone record player) to enable my father to listen to French conversation learning discs which he had borrowed from Alliance Française. This shows that Padmanabh athimber was caring in nature and was interested in my father’s progress. Along with the record player, he also lent a record with very nice trumpet jazz music, which my father would play at the conclusion of his French lessons. My elder sister Premalatha, brother Ravi and I enjoyed listening to this music daily. It was a great treat for us after patiently listening to my father’s French lessons. My brother who was barely 3 years old would excitedly clap his hands and sing the tune along.

Later on when I visited athimber & athai in Bangalore with my family, they took us to a special Hanumanji temple in the outskirts of Bangalore. They also taught us a special Hanuman mantra which they made my younger brother Ravi repeat several times to perfect his Sanskrit pronunciation. Ravi recalls this incident very fondly. My father continues to chant this mantra whenever he seeks solace and peace.

I am happy to be able to contribute to this centenary blog of Padmanabh athimber and thank Girdhar for giving me this opportunity.

Malini