Autobiographical musings

(This post has some overlap with the My autobiography post, and has some added details.) Internship Before taking up a job as a doctor, we had to finish one year compulsory rotating Internship. We get our degrees only after that. Then, to get Registration, one year senior house-surgeoncy with six months in Surgery and surgical specialities, which included Anaesthesia and ENT, and six months in Medical and medical specialities, which included Paediatrics and Dermatology. By this time Chechi and family came to Trivandrum on transfer. So I started staying with them, for home-cooked food. I began by staying in the House Surgeons' quarters near the pay wards, above the then Casualty block. No food was served there, so we would get parcels from hotels - one Viswanathan brought food for Krishna Shenoy and me, only in the evenings. Lunch was in the canteen. I used to frequent Chechi's house, mainly for food to start with, and later for stay also. Chechi was staying near the Ayurveda h...

I will be 84 this 20th Sept (2021). I feel great, and am satisfied considering the blessings God has showered on us. I cannot count the blessings Sai, our Lord, has showered on us. But still, there is a black dot in the final stage, with Rema falling ill due to some bad fate in the form of quadriplegia. But even here, He showed mercy by giving her the strength to face all problems associated with that problem. Sai gave her such strength that she never felt it as a bad fate at all, and faced all the pain and discomfort without complaint. Usually she cannot bear discomfort at all - it is a wonder how and from where she got this immense tolerance - no doubt from our dear Sai. Oh God! We are truly blessed, Baba! So far, God has always looked after me throughout my life in all adverse circumstances, even in my professional surgical experience. I have enumerated a few in my previous writings. We never dreamt that a world catastrophe like Corona will strike like a typhoon like in the present ...

My memories of my father are very scanty as I lost him in 1950 while I was in 7th std. My father was Mr KN Pisharoty, son of Mr Rama Pisharoty who was a Munsiff in Cochin state at Thrissur. Grandfather died while his children were very young. He belonged to Thonnangamath (now PT House) which is Rema's house. Achan (Father) had an elder brother K Krishna Pisharoty, who was only 12 years old when their father died. Achan must have been around 8 or so. He had three sisters too, all younger than him. They had an uncle who, fortunately, looked after all of them. Memories about their school years are blank.  Achan always respected and obeyed his Ettan (elder brother) very much. Achan studied for Law in Trivandrum with limited financial help and had to study at night under street lights. Going from Cochin to Trivandrum was tough in those days - no buses or trains - they had to cross Vembanad lake in a large country boat. Once, while travelling by boat, he developed diarrhea. Since t...

MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY - continued from the earlier post ... At the UK for FRCS   I had to go back to Kannur to sell my car, which fortunately was bought by the son-in-law of Dr Jamaluddin. That night I stayed in the RMO's quarters with Dr Gopala Menon and his wife Dr Sethulaxmi Menon who have a lovely daughter Priya. I had a few friends in Kannur - Dr Abdul Khader (surgeon), Dr Ramachandran (ENT), Dr PMK Nambiar (physician), Dr Gopi Kurup and Mrs Gouri Kurup (Gynaec), and a few others. I bid farewell to all of them.  First leg of journey to UK was to Bombay first. Then, on to Ahmedabad where I stayed to bid farewell to my little fairy Anju and Rema. Then I went back to Bombay to really leave India for the UK on 1st May 1973 by Air India. The flight had stops in Frankfurt and Paris. Frankfurt airport was a big place, like a city in itself, with elevators all over, a really nice place to see and wonder at. When I arrived at Heathrow, Murali (Chowara) had come to receive me along wit...

This is about me - Nandakumaran.  Young days An attempt at writing an autobiography!! I was born in 1937 (ME 1113 Kanni masam Sept 20th Pooroorutathi nakshathram) three years after my father's retirement as Devaswam Commissioner in 1934. Chechi was born in that year. They wanted another girl but were disappointed. Anyway - I was one among many and got care as anyone else. I grew up mostly in my Chechi's company because there was no one else. Since there were seven men as my elder siblings, I was an easy target for all of them to run errands - especially Balachettan to buy snuff powder. I remember how we, being children, used to get Vishukkettam from distant cousins and uncles and Ramuttyettan especially used to collect that money from us! Vishukkettam amount was 4 or 8 annas and very rarely Re 1.  Onam and Vishu were true festivals in those days as that whole week was enjoyment. Even when I had nothing to play and no company I would be loitering in our house compound among tre...

Prof. PR Pisharoty For me to write about him is like an ant measuring an elephant - he was such a gigantic personality with international fame. His knowledge was not confined to Physics and Meteorology alone; he was well versed in Sanskrit literature and cultural subjects. You mention a subject, he would have mastered it. His memory was stupendous and grasping power immense. Here, I will say that my son has inherited these qualities to a certain extent. The number of papers he has written is so large that he himself may not know the exact number.  His advice on many subjects was eagerly sought. Even our Ex-PM Indira Gandhi admired him and took his advice. Ex-President Abdul Kalam also admired him - that shows his greatness. He never showed off and had no pretensions. He was frank in expressing his views and so the demand for his advice on any subject under the sun was great. The first time I spoke to him personally was in Trivandrum when Thumba Rocket station was inaugurated. Sara...

This is how I see people: Remesh Here is a superlative genius of the human species. He is honest, straightforward and brave, and at the same time, very diplomatic and soft-spoken. Our relationship is not like friendship, but more like a father-son or guru-shishya one. He is wonderful and pleasant in any company. He goes out of the way to help not only his friends, but anyone who requests help, not only in money matters, but in other ways too. His capacity to work for hours on end has surprised me often. He appreciates anything good and in buying things he selects only the best and costly items. He is my best student in Surgery - learns fast and executes fast, and perfectly too. When I found that I can't stand for long periods of time, he used to come for helping me in Surgery - he used to oblige me whenever I called him. I have a very small circle of friends of which Remesh is the only friend who visits us and calls us regularly and frequently. His parents are no more. He asked the...

POP Nambiar is Padmanabhan Nambiar - my daughter Anju's father-in-law. In Arcade apartments, he was our immediate downstairs neighbour in " NALINAM ". He is from Othayoth family and was working in Indian Air Force. Joined quite early and so college education was denied. He is a store-house of interesting military stories. His wife Nalini died early due to Ovarian Ca wnen Anoop was in XIth std. They are two children - Anoop's elder sister Sreekala is in Hyderabad - she is an anaesthetist, married to Subramanyeswar Rao, a surgical oncologist. They were classmates and have two daughters - the elder one Aiswarya getting married in this June, younger Jojo now an army medical officer. POP's family is in Kannur - his sister is there. We had been to his place in Kannur, and wife's place in Cherukunnu. A side story is that when we were in Calicut and started to attend Sai Samithi, we heard about Prof Padmanabha Kurup - a great Malayalam orator. He was publishing a book...

Immediately after joining Badagara, I used to travel by taxi as I didn't own a car. I got a 4 door Standard Herald car later. We wanted to make a trip to Trivandrum, Cape Comorin etc. along with Dr MK Prabhakaran and Dr V Jairaj our colleagues there. We hired an Amassador car - the driver was good. I forgot where we stayed in Trivandrum - probably with Appuchttan. We went straight to Cape Comorin and on the way touched Padmanabhapuram palace (still keeping the antiquity), Nagarkovil and wonderful pillars ringing SAPTHA SWARANGAL (7 musical notes) in a temple there. In Cape Comorin, we spent time in the beach mostly. Rema was a bit off-mood since I spent most time with friends and not her. Returned by night, and the next day returned, on the way touched our house in Thrissur. The whole trip was only 4 days. We never made a similar trip again except when we went to Calcutta to take a new Ambassador from the company itself. We took Mohan along for that trip - went by train and drove...

During my childhood, during Vishu or Onam, in those days, we made THRIKKAKARAPPANS and MATHEVAR with clay and prayed to them. The icons were usually made by Narayanan Nair. Daily morning pooja for four days. We would all eagerly await pulikali on the 4th Onam. Of course, we children enjoyed Onam season especially due to school holidays, usually 9 days. Quarterly exams were sometimes before Onam or sometimes after. We preferred to have the exams before, for enjoying the Onam vacations.  In Thrissur, we had not only Pooram , Mandalakaalam also was important. In both Thiruvambady and Paramekav - there were vela kalamezhuthu and velichappad thullal in the evening and Thayambaka . I enjoyed Thayambaka. Finally after the 41 days of Mandala kalam, there would be a procession with Elephants - Ezhunnallath called VELA - a mini pooram - mainly at night. Balagopalachettan rarely joined Chechi and me for playing. The other brothers were too senior. I have seen Ettan and Sreechettan figh...