Jayettan, Jayamama, Jaya kutty, Jayan - achane ellavarum vilicha perukal. Now reflecting on his name, I guess he was born a winner, a survivor. My favourite is Jayettan.
Born on 14 April 1948 in Kalladikode, the fifth child of Janakiamma and Gopala Menon, he grew up holding life by its horns. A humble living with his mother and seven other siblings; his father was away from home most of the time for work. Achamma used to work to feed all of them.
We have heard him speak fondly of his childhood days. Some things have faded from memory and some of them crystal clear.Like I still remember achan had studied only till 6th grade and he was his teacher's favourite student. He used to bring tea and snacks for the teacher and although he had done his exams well he was surprised to find out that he had failed. Later he realised that the teacher didn't want to lose his loyal tea bringer, so he failed him.
He was also active in the school dramatics. He had won the prize for the best actor for the role of an old lady :)
At barely 12 he left his family in search of work. Those days people hardly knew a world outside their small village or hometown. He had no money for tickets so he travelled without one, managing to slip into the toliet everytime the TTR came to check tickets. He met this slightly older boy in the train who was on a similar expedition and tagged along with him, after a few days of their adventurous journey they reached Bhilai. He started working in hotels as a waiter and slowly graduated to the Indian coffee house. Even in those early days he used to send his hard earned salary of 5 rupees by money order to his mother in Kerala. His days at the Indian coffee house brought out the culinary skills in him. He learnt a lot of the kitchen tricks which he would later pass on to us when we used to help amma and achan in the kitchen. Our favourites were french toast, scrambled egg, veg cutlet and all the umpteen innovative dishes he used to make out of left overs.
Don't know when he decided to come to Bangalore. But he ended up helping Thangappan mama , achan's older brother at a hotel. He sure did not settle for a job with the inherent entrepreneurial skills. He started a vegetable shop in the Yeshwanthpur market and supplied veggies to hotels.
Achan had excellent social skills. He would start a conversation with anybody old or young with ease. he even tried to speak their language to make them comfortable. His smile was like a reflection of his character - warm, sincere and generous.
I think he was 26 when he got married to amma(21). It was an arranged marriage. they only saw once before marriage. brought her to a single room rented house. When he went back to the shop after his return from Kerala, he had to start afresh. I know he did not even have money to buy the supplies. But he managed, the go getter that he is.
He was very hardworking. In the veggie business , the vendors have to go early in the morning to the wholesale market and bring fresh veggies for their daily supply. Since they did not have regular supply of corporation water achan woke up early to fill the water tank and then rushed to the market. Hardly took any days off work. No movies, no weekend outings.
Born on 14 April 1948 in Kalladikode, the fifth child of Janakiamma and Gopala Menon, he grew up holding life by its horns. A humble living with his mother and seven other siblings; his father was away from home most of the time for work. Achamma used to work to feed all of them.
We have heard him speak fondly of his childhood days. Some things have faded from memory and some of them crystal clear.Like I still remember achan had studied only till 6th grade and he was his teacher's favourite student. He used to bring tea and snacks for the teacher and although he had done his exams well he was surprised to find out that he had failed. Later he realised that the teacher didn't want to lose his loyal tea bringer, so he failed him.
He was also active in the school dramatics. He had won the prize for the best actor for the role of an old lady :)
At barely 12 he left his family in search of work. Those days people hardly knew a world outside their small village or hometown. He had no money for tickets so he travelled without one, managing to slip into the toliet everytime the TTR came to check tickets. He met this slightly older boy in the train who was on a similar expedition and tagged along with him, after a few days of their adventurous journey they reached Bhilai. He started working in hotels as a waiter and slowly graduated to the Indian coffee house. Even in those early days he used to send his hard earned salary of 5 rupees by money order to his mother in Kerala. His days at the Indian coffee house brought out the culinary skills in him. He learnt a lot of the kitchen tricks which he would later pass on to us when we used to help amma and achan in the kitchen. Our favourites were french toast, scrambled egg, veg cutlet and all the umpteen innovative dishes he used to make out of left overs.
Don't know when he decided to come to Bangalore. But he ended up helping Thangappan mama , achan's older brother at a hotel. He sure did not settle for a job with the inherent entrepreneurial skills. He started a vegetable shop in the Yeshwanthpur market and supplied veggies to hotels.
Achan had excellent social skills. He would start a conversation with anybody old or young with ease. he even tried to speak their language to make them comfortable. His smile was like a reflection of his character - warm, sincere and generous.
I think he was 26 when he got married to amma(21). It was an arranged marriage. they only saw once before marriage. brought her to a single room rented house. When he went back to the shop after his return from Kerala, he had to start afresh. I know he did not even have money to buy the supplies. But he managed, the go getter that he is.
He was very hardworking. In the veggie business , the vendors have to go early in the morning to the wholesale market and bring fresh veggies for their daily supply. Since they did not have regular supply of corporation water achan woke up early to fill the water tank and then rushed to the market. Hardly took any days off work. No movies, no weekend outings.
Its beautiful. I miss him much more now...
ReplyDeleteI may not be as good as wat u'v written, i'l try..
really wonderful.. the thought and the words...