Twenty five and a half - 1a (Abridged of Buddha/Crab Nebula )

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(Two versions - long and short - may exist. Also Pl bear with me since Piks getting lost occasionally
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(If interested , Pl see Tainadu.blogspot.com for more info/photos about my family)
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I . INDIA (1942-1967)

(A) Bangalore (1942-62)
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Top left : 25 July 1942 my birth (my father's diary)











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INDIA:
This is the India I was born into. There were esentially two divisions : (a) British India and (b) Princely States. The well known cities of those days were all in British India. There were about 550 Princely states with the smallest having few squarekilometer area where as the Bigger ones were the size of countries in Europe. Examples were Hyderabad, Mysore, Kashmir etc.

(1) Quit India movement (one of the most turbulent times in India) starts Aug 1942




My father's (Sri P.R.Ramaiya)diary
(a) Nehru and Gandhi (b) The movement
(c) My father's diary - Aug 7: AICC meeting inBomayGandhi's address to Cong CC
(d)Aug 9: Gandhi, Nehru, Azad and WC(working committe ) members arrested this morning at Bombay and taken to Poona----------




(2)1947 Aug 15 : India becomes independent
1948 Jan 30:Mahatma Gandhi assasinated
(in Kannada newspaper Tainadu run by my father)
India becomes a republic 1950 Jan 1:











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THE WORLD:

1945 August 6 : America drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima






The II World war ends


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1950s

HOME:
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(This was the masthead of Tainadu - the Kannada paper founded by my father P.R.Ramaiya) Probably the most important and influential newspaper during the freedom struggle . It is important to remember that newspapers played their role in improving literacy in the country
1952 The first ever general elections in India-Father
wins the elections and becomes a member of the Mysore state assembly
1957 : Mother (P.R.Jayalakshamma) becomes a Corporator of the city of Bangalore;also involved in various social welfare activities
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1955 :
Brother P .R. Brahmananda
writes ' The Planning for for an expanding

Economy ' an important book in Indian economic thinking

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Life in School etc:

I did my primary and middle in New Model Middle school( known as Gurukula) in gandhi Bazar area. We used to sit on narrow and long flat wooden planks. The teaching was in Kannada.
I joined the National High School in 1952. It was a very famous school with many of its earlier. teachers playing important roles in the freedom movement.One started making friendships which would eventually last for a long time. Apart from our studies, Cricket was the major activity of our days. Played tennis ball cricket for a long time and later graduated to an occasional game with real cricket ball. But some friends really made it big later.The first big match seen/remembered : Probably 1951-1952 (I was around 9-10) when Bombay defeated Mysore in Ranji Trophy.
The earliest films one saw were all in bits. Our car used to drop off adults at theatres for films and the children used to go along with the driver to bring them back in the night. Thus we got to see part of the action at the very end.
Many World leaders visited India in the ' 50s and quite a few of them included Bangalore in their itinerary. Since my father and two of my uncles were journalists we got opportunity to see some of the leaders quite close We were also lucky that we got to see great Indian leaders including Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel. I remember seeing Nehru very close in the Carlton House in Bangalore. This is a pik of Nehru with journalists from Bangalore (also 2 CMs in the picture) The person in the front row extreme right is my father.
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Bangalore of ~ 50s:
(Pl see web site of Mr
Ron BangaloreWala for many piks)

Bangalore in the mid 1950s had a population of about 7 lakhs. The prominent ' factories' were the Binny Mill, Hindusthan Aircrafts Ltd (HAL) etc. The famous Indian Institute of Science was the most prestigious institution in the city. The northernmost limit was the Indian Inst of Science and the southernmost limit was the South end in Basavanagudi. The city had several newspapers in Kannada and The only English newspaper was the Deccan Herald. The cost of a plain dosa was about 20 paise in 1955 and Masala dosa costed 25 paise.

Places :Some Piks - clockwise from top left



(1) Central college (The pik does not do justice to this nice redcoloured building. In those days the only university was the Mysore University. The post graduate sections were in Mysore (humanities and social sciences) and Bangalore ( natural sciences). Central College used to house the science departments.
(2) Town hall- This was built in mid 1930s. Even today (2007) this place hosts many events
(3) Vidhana soudha (being built)- This houses the state ministerial offices as well as the halls for holding legislative meetings. This is a magnificient structure(may be little too luxurious for this nation, at least at that time) The builidng was built in the reign of Sri K.Hanumanthaiya. He (the Chief Minister ) got lot of flak for this building
(4),Basavangudi temple - Probably the oldest temple in the city - It has a huge stone Bull( Nandi). It is very near our house in Kalappa Block
(5) Public library in Cubbonpark. An old red building
(6) Kempegowda tower- built by the erstwhle ruler Kempe Gowda in the 16th century. He is credited with founding Bangalore. 4 such towers were built by him around the city.
(7) Lal bagh - The Botanical garden. These beautiful gardens were founded by Haider Ali inthe late 18th century. What is seen here is part of the Glass House based on a famous structure in London 9Kew Gardens?)
(8) Mahatma Gandhi Road- This is the most famous road in Bangalore. In the earlier days it was called South Parade.
(9) In the centre is the old Government building called Atara Kacheri

Bangalore '50s people -

The two greatest people undoubtedly were Prof C.V.Raman and Sir M.Vishweshwarayya. .
Prof Raman, who discovered the Raman effect in Optics, was awarded theNobel Prize and Shri Vishwesharayya was trained as an engineer and was responsible for the technological progress of the state. He was also the Dewan of Mysore

Jayachamaraja Wodeyar (Maharaja of Mysore anad later Governor of the state. He was a great Sanskrit scholar also );





Kannada Writers/poets
(1) ShriK.V.Puttappa , known as KUVEMPU, probably the greatest Kannada writer of the last century (2) Sri Masti Venkatesha Iyengar -Masti - (3) Sri D.V.Gundappa- Writer, Journalist etc. These writers who were also great thinkers and Our reading in Kannada was limited to popular novels . A kannada novel would cost Two rupees ! Photos - Kuvempu, Masti, DVG








Dr H.Narasimhayya , our physics lecturer in National College, Bangalore was a very popular teacher. He was an icon of Bangalore in the latter half of the last century

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Now for a larger picture , Nehru's India:

The Big citites were (in order of population) Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmemdabad. The last three had almost same population in 50s and 60s.

(1) Politics:

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the sole mentor for most of my generation. Only later in our lives did Gandhi become important for us. The most important lessons we learnt from Nehru : (a) belief inDemocracy (b) Need for secularism in a pluralistic society. Socialism was also a concept he instilled in us ( Congress adopted the socialistc pattern for the country in 1955 Avadi resolution) but today it seems to have not been the correct path for a young nation. But most of my generation has a soft corner for socialistic ideals. Whatever his faults may be he remains an ideal for me and most of us.







(2) Cricket:


Pik shows Vinoo Mankad and Polly Umrigar, two of our favourites. Umrigar was the man who wouldhit sixers and Mankad was the all rounder par excellence. Others who caught our fancies were Hazare, Manjrekar etc. Vijay Merchant, Mushtaq Ali, Amarnath etc were before our times and did not mean much for us.
For the first time ( 1952 ) India won a Cricket test against England in Chepauk (Madras) .

(3) Films :

Next to cricket , films were the most important part of our lives. Bangalore of those days used to show films in Hindi , English and in at least 3 Dravidian languages (even at that time was probably the most cosmopolitan town).
Idealistic films one remembers : Sadhana, Do Ankhe Bara Hath, Naya Daur , Sujata, Bandini, Jagte Raho , Kagaz ke Phool etc - Romantic: Madhumati, Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje, Chalti ka nam Gadi,Kannada :School Master, Bedara KannappaThere were very few films in Kannada in the earlier years. But with Raj Kumar's entry there were more films in Kannada.



Some of the heroes and heroines of the day - Ashok Kumar, Dilip Kumar
Vyjayantimala, Nutan , Raj Kapoor and Nargis, Raj Kumar (Kannada)

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1950s - The World:

One did not know much about the world at large except the cricketing nations. We of course knew about England quite a lot since we used to follow the fortunes of the Indian Cricket team as it went from county to county. We even knew that London had two cricketing grounds - Lords (M.C.C) and Oval (Surrey) . Otherwise our knowledge of the outside world was very limited. One did not even think much about it those days. However:

What Things Cost in 1950:Car: $1,750; Gasoline: 27 cents/gal;Bread: 14 cent;
Milk: 82 cents/gal; Average Annual Salary: $3,800
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TV enters American households
1953 : Tenzing and Hillary climb Mount Everest
1955 : Death of Einstein; 1956 Problems in Mid East- nasser nationalises suez canal
1957 - Space era opens:sputnik and Leica ;
Popular author during college days : P.G.Wodehouse










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Home:
1957 : Father sells off Tainadu newspaper; starts A weekly called CHETANA ' This is published from home; All of us pitch in
1955-1959 I was a Student in National College . Gandhi Bazar (our residential area) was a major intellectual hub of Bangalore with the journalist YNK( who influenced various writers and theatre/film movement in Kannada) as one of the presiding deities.
1962 :Completed M.Sc from Central College Bangalore
1962 Dec; Joined TIFR in Bombay
1963-1964 : Mother (P.R.Jayalakshamma)elected Deputy Mayor of Bangalore

First Phase of bangalore life comes to an end
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1960s
Bombay (1962-1967): KGF(64-67)





(a)Trams had almost disapeeared from Bombay in the early 60s (b)The famous Victoria terminus
(c) One of the mining shafts in KGF
(d) The TIFR and the Durham group in KGF
(e)My Reading Habits change> Salinger,Colin
Wilson,Sartre ,Hesse ,Camus etc












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Early 60s India
1962 November - China invades India
--1964 May 27 Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (Indian Prime Minieter) dead
1966 Indira Gandhi becomes PM and rules India till 1977; GUIDE AND SANGAM representative indian films of '60s











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Early 1960s The world:

1961 : Gagarin - first man in space
PIK from left clockwise : (a) Proof for the Big bang theory - It all started one fine ' day ' in the distant past ! (1965) (b) Beatles in US (1964) (c) 1963 August = Civil Rights March (The famous " I Dream" speech by M.L.King)(d) Discovery of quasars (The Pik shows that they are very very far; also quarks, the fundamental building blocks of matter , peoposed ) (1962) (e) Gagarin (1961) (f) 1962 -Silent Spring - Rachel Carson . The first Advocate of environmental ethics












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Going away to USA - Bidding farewell at
Bangalore Railway Station (~Dec22 1967)-
What is there for him on the foreign shores ?

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