My life till the 1970s

I am my mother's 14th child. She lost 5 daughters in her prime age and wanted girls. Her prayers yielded Kamakshi chechi. Going to Rameswaram, they again prayed for another girl. God made me and gave them and the priest blessed them to have a SALputhran (good son), it seems. True to their word, I could look after my mother till she left at 92. I felt a big void after she left, in spite having been with her for long .Everyone feels the same when they lose their mother.

I lost my father in 1950 when I was in the seventh standard. The headmaster gave me permission to write one exam on the pindam day (12th day ceremony) in his office. Father had some depression due to money loss and was feeling guilty for not saving much for the children, especially the last two, Chechi and me. Father was a mild Diabetic too (no proper tests then - they used Fehling's solution to test sugar??). Treatment was based on clinical signs and doctors' guesses. Achan was under Dr Vaidyanatha Iyer, one of the two practitioners of those days, the other being Krishna Iyer. Our doc had an old Oldsmobile - a large car. When he would come near, a combined smell of antiseptics, dettol etc could be smelt! We Pisharoties have burial after death (similar to sanyaasis). My father, mother, grandmother, Valiachan, and some brothers, all had burials. We were 7 brothers and 2 sisters. All my brothers have expired now, only my immediate elder sister Kamakshichechi is still alive now. Both of us were very close throughout. My eldest sister Padmavathi was a Kochi thampuran's nethyaramma. She and her two children died many years ago. A perfect loving lady with always a pleasant smile and a large Kumkumappottu on her forehead. She was an angel.

My mother brought me up properly to be God fearing. When father died, mother had no income except some nonyielding paddy fields . So she asked me to pray to Vadakkunnathan. That became a Thapas for me - for five years, morning and evening - 4.30 am Neyyabhishekam, 9 pm Thrippuka every day as a thapasya for 5 years. After SSLC, I went to Kerala Varma college, and was in the first science batch there. I took up Biology, 2nd group, as per Balagopalachettan's wish. Two years flew by. Ettan was particular that I should go for medicine, and so it was. Incidentally, I was first in class for SSLC and then also for Intermediate, and got some books as prizes.

Applied for BSc in Kerala Varma and BSc hons in Madras Xian college and then to the only one Medical college in Kerala in 1955, Trivandrum Medical college. I got admission for Medicine. We had financial difficulties but Mother never told me that she was managing somehow. Brothers had just enough income for their own families, and they could not help much. Still, Machettan, Balagopalachettan and Sreechettan contributed small amounts.We carried on like that till 4th year. I was not a very bright kid - just ordinary. Still, I could get through every exam without flopping. In 1958 I think, God sent help through Parukutty Nethyaramma - Rs 100 every month as a scholarship. That was a really large amount then. In the early months, our Hostel mess bill used to be only Rs 45-50. But by 4th year, it had more than doubled. In the 1st year, I was a day scholar for some time, just to tide over the Ragging period. One or two weeks later, I joined the hostel. By that time, all the good rooms were allotted. We three - Narayanan Nair, Balaraman and I - were allotted a dark corner room in the 2nd floor, along with 4th and final years. Since they were very senior, they didn't bother us much. It was difficult to get books then - very costly too. I got an old tattered Cunningham from Sarojinichechi. Anyway, we friends managed dissection and lectures somehow. Occasional library trips were not very successful. We mainly depended on class notes and Laboratory notes. Only self-study was the way. Organic chemistry exam after 6 months - got through, then after 1 1/2 years, Anatomy and Physiology with Biochemistry. I still don't know how I got through all these without owning any textbook. We shifted from old hostel to new hostel - it was cleaner. Only the middle and lower floors were allotted. Narayanan Nair was my room-mate for a long time.

We used to have a common room with only a radio where we used to gather for the Binaca geethmala at 8 pm up to 9 pm. That was the main entertainment then. The common room used to have newspapers. Basketball was the one game I was interested in. Once when I jumped to shoot, I sprained my left ankle and had to be in BK plaster for 3 weeks. After that, no more games for me. The three hostels had hostel days celebrated, then there was the college day once a year, and a sports day with dinner. On the whole, celebrations galore! Once I took part in a wild cross country race from hostel to college touching the ladies' hostel on the way.

Soon we were in the final year. Our Prof of Surgery was Dr C. Raghavachari, who retired from Stanley Medical college, a close friend of our Dr Ammaman (Prof KN Pisharoty). By then, Pisharoty was special officer to start Calicut Medical college. Both of them came for a hostel dinner and went on talking about many subjects. Dr TK Raman was the principal then. Gynae head was Prof Thanban. We used to call them thrimoorthikal - excellent dedicated teachers. Once you attend their classes, you don't require any textbook for review. The final exam was in Dec 1959. Compulsory internship started in Jan 1960 for one year, rotating all departments. After this, we got the degree, but to get Registration, one year House-surgeoncy (6 months surgical and specialities and 6 months medical and specialities). Finally we were ripe enough to join service. Got appointment order to join as medical officer in charge of 8 bedded Desamanagalam Dispensary with 5-6 staff. 

OP used to be heavy - up to 200-300. Not enough medicines. Nearest town was Shoranur, only about 10 kms away by bus. I worked there for one year and a day. Got fed up of walking along paddy fields full of snakes. Had a quarters-like building just adjacent, where Mother and I stayed comfortably. Had a good servant. We used to get milk from our Thrissur house by bus - the bus used to go in front of our house and its shed was adjacent to the hospital. Rema's proposal was mooted for the first time when I was here - in a letter from her father (I used to call him Ramettan though he was much older than me). But nothing was settled then - it went into incubation. Later, after my first year of the MS course, this subject again popped up. I was not much for it because of immature thoughts - I had funny ideas like having one's wife as a house wife and not a working professional one. Anyway, my mother asked me to come to Thrissur for PENNU kaanal at PTHouse where Rema and her mother had come. Machettan also came with me. Then the routine PENNUkaanal took place. I liked her and I thought she liked me also. 

That was the time when we had only letters as communication, no land phone even. So we started exchanging letters and our closeness increased. We had no secrets from each other. Both of us were eager to get the letters. Rema was undergoing House surgeoncy then. The non-availability of phone calls made me frantic to inform Rema of my MS result, which was unofficially out by evening. The amount of happiness and relief after the success in the MS exam was indescribable. I was elated and  walking on air. I thought I will never have to study subjects again. But after 8 years, I again had to sit in front of books - that was for the Fellowship exams - first for Primary in Dec 1973 and then for Final FRCS in Mar-Apr 1974.

I was working in Maidstone General Hospital in Ortho+Accident unit under Mr Shephard - he was already nearing 65 then, and about to retire. I was able to do quite a lot of surgery alone and could assist some Hip transplantation - he used Mckee Arden prosthesis for hip at that time. Life in the UK was slowly coming to an end by end of Oct 1974. Dr Ayyappan Pillai and wife Vijayalekshmi were of great help for sending us off comfortably - by train to Heathrow where we had booked a flight by Kuwait airlines. Only one stop, for two hours in Kuwait. Trip was comfortable. Hari didn't give any trouble at all - consumed all 64 small disposable bottles of milk on the way.

We reached Bombay and hopped to Ahmedabad, we were dying to see our precious molu Anjali - our princess. At Sejal Apartments, Anjali was the favourite of all the neighbours, and she was like a queen there. She showed me how to jump down from a sofa - she used to say, "Achaaa njan jump karatte" - a jumble of Hindi, Malayalam and English.