My brother had a clear picture
before him of what I should achieve in my life. Denied himself of the
opportunity to go for higher studies, he had made it a point to ensure that the
same was not denied to me. The fact that I was good in studies egged him on
further. He was very particular that I should come up in my life as a highly qualified
person. He had a target of making me a
city boy who could speak fluent English. For that he first wanted me to speak pure
Kannada that was being spoken only in cities. He had observed educated boys
speaking such a language. This was quite in contrast to the rural and
colloquial Kannada spoken by us as unexposed boys.
My journey towards this end began
on the day my brother took me along with him to my sister’s house in the place
called Hokkalike. He had already brought
for me all the textbooks for sixth standard. He had specially brought an old Film Fare
magazine from his close friend. The same
was not meant for reading! The special quality paper from the magazine was used
for binding all my textbooks! My English
text was covered with a photo of Raj
kapoor and the Kannada text by Madhubala!
Other books had Dilip Kumar, Mehmood and so on!
But the most important need for
me was clothing. I hardly had two sets of dresses which could be used only for
daily wear. On our way, we went to a textile shop in Koppa. We purchased cloth
for two sets of dresses and went to the tailoring shop of Seshagiri. He was a
very famous tailor in Koppa in those days. But he was not famous for his
stitching skills! Rather he was notorious for the delay in delivering the
stitched dresses! There were times when
the dresses given for stitching in Gokulashtami were delivered in
Mahashivaratri!
Knowing this tailor fully well,
my brother did not want to take any risk. He ordered Seshagiri to stitch my
dresses on the spot and left me in the shop to monitor the progress! I had to
spend almost half a day in his shop for this. Meanwhile, my brother decided a
revolutionary step for me! In those days no person in our village, poor or
rich, used to wear chapples or shoes. My brother got me a pair of canvass
shoes. This was another step towards making me a city boy!
While sitting in the tailor shop
I had to remove my shoes to go to toilet inside the shop. I had a problem while
wearing them again. I simply could not understand how to identify the one for
the left feet and the other for the right!
Some how I thought I managed. But one of the tailors pointed out the
wrong usage to my brother and he was very much upset with me. He must have
thought that I had to go a long way before I became a city Boy! But that was me
in those days! I couldn’t help but disappoint him!
With the new dress ready, we left
for a place called Gadikal (border
stone) on a Shankar Transport bus on the way to my sister’s place. This place
is called so because it is on the border of Koppa and Thirthahalli taluks,
which again belong to Chickmagalore and Shimoga districts respectively. This
place is nowadays very famous as it is located very close to Kuppalli, the place from which ‘Kuvempu’, the famous Kannada poet hailed. From here we had to cover a distance of three
KMs by foot to reach Hokkalike. There was a middle school in Gadikal, the Head
Master of which we met on our way. He saw my marks-card and was very happy to know
that I would join his School. He told us that he would welcome a merit student
like me with pleasure. It appeared to me
that merit commanded respect everywhere!
My sister was very happy to see
me at her house. She was glad that one member from her ‘Tavarumane’ (mother’s home) would stay with her for three years.
By that time the other boy Vishnumurthy
to whom I have already made a reference had arrived in the neighboring house.
He had been admitted to 7th Standard being one year senior to me.
However, we came to know that he was admitted to the Government school at a
place called Basavani. This place was
at a distance of 5 KMs from Hokkalike as against Gadikal which was 3 KMs away.
We were told that this school had a very good faculty. Besides, being located
in Thirthahalli taluk and Shimoga district it had more facilities than our own Gadikal in Koppa taluk and Chickmagalore
district. Hearing this, my brother decided to admit me in Basavani.
We were at the Basavani School on
the next day. Again I had a nice welcome on account of the high marks I had
scored. The Head Master Varadachar was a well-known teacher all over the
Thirthahalli taluk. He had an impressive personality and commanded respect from
one and all. My class teacher was a tall gentleman called Gurushantappa (AG).
This School had one special facility. While all the Schools in Mysore State had
a subject called ‘Hygiene’ for 6th
Standard, here we had Hindi as a subject in its place. There was a part-time
teacher called Gopal for this subject. This came as a blessing to me as my
brother had already introduced me to Hindi. I could have a head start. The advantage would help later in our High
School education. The School had a subsidized canteen facility even in those
days. The funds were from the famous PL 480 funds from America. The milk powder
used to come from the USA direct.
My brother left for home after
making all the arrangements for me. For the first time in my life I had some
pocket money from my brother! I had tears in my eyes as I was to stay there
without his guidance and away from other family members. I did feel homesick
for quite some time. Of course I felt fully secured under the protective wings
of my sister. However, it took some time for me to settle down in the new set
up and environment. I had a good company of Vishnumurthy.
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