Memories of Malyasia -Part 5

We pick up the thread in 1976.
We have returned from India after a satisfying holiday and are back at the PJ section 9 house. It is some 12 months since we came to this house and this time the house change itch is hitting Sujata more than me. She does not like this house and off we go to Mrs Siew again.

This time around she takes us out to the newly developed area of Sungei Way- Subang, or SS in short, an extension of PJ really.
There are big house with plenty of space around. We choose a two story house [ our first] on a somewhat quiet road SS 3/2. The house was much closer to the highway leading to my office and also closer to the air port.
Really big house, three big bedrooms on the first floor, and living- dining- kitchen and a guest bedroom on the ground floor. A tennis court size lawn on the front. We liked it immediately- Ashwini most of all. We moved in quickly.

We liked the area, very quiet, nice roads, and big houses, quite different from the older houses we lived in. The shops were a little away, but in plenty. We particularly liked an India food place called, of all the things, Kashmir.
He made apart from the idly and Dosa, heavenly Roti chanai, a Malaysian- Indian specialty, a sort of Kerala paratha, along with vegetable kurma. This was our Sunday favourite.

There was also a Sunday market, which had several handicraft things, but also useful kitchen stuff, and of course more fruit and things to eat. Another regular was a chap on a bicycle who came to the house every morning ringing his bell and offering Idiyappam. We often bought this and Sujata made delicious Upama from that.
Another exciting experience was in the nearby shop complex where one of the small Indian food stall sold Mee Goreng [fried noodles] Indian style. That had to be really eaten to be believed. That was usually accompanied by chilled Anchor beer on a Saturday afternoon.

We got our first dog here. A dog with friends in Seramban had delivered a litter and we were given a beutiful puppy named Goldie. He was half Greman Shepherd and a beutiful dog. He grew up with Abhi and would often run with him. When he came to the house he was smaller than Abhi, but in six months the scene changed and he would run and wrestle Abhi to the ground.
To take him for walks, or a drive provided many pleasant moments for us.

We made new friends too.
Through the Gokhales, we met Sharad and Sunetra Vartak who were with the Camlin joint venture, living at Seremban, some 120 km from Kuala Lumpur.
We attended the Camlin opening ceremony and made more friends, Sharad and Neela Khedkar, Shekhar and Uma Dandekar. Madhavrao Apte- Sheelatai Apte and Arvind Apte also became well known. Vartaks, Khedkars became very close and life long friends.
Sharad was working in Canada and was invited to the Camlin job in Malaysia by his sister Rajani, wife of the Camlin boss Subhash Dandekar. For Sharad, it was something of a culture shock. His nature is jovial and always had a funny remark about any situation. His father was the well known stage artist Anantrao Vartak, and Sharad had studied classical music for some time. That became a bond too between us. He is an excellent cook and we had a many an enjoyable bar-b- q dinners at his place in Seremban. We all became so used to each others' society that we thought nothing of driving 150 km just to meet each other.

Over those years we also had some memorable New Year parties, one in particular at this house of ours. Drinking among close friends, open air spaces, wit flowing around, all this made for a lively party, and there was always Sharad Vartak.
We also had some great parties at the Camlin friends' houses. I already mentioned Sharad's b-b-q s, which were unique in that he tried out so many new things like tiger prawns wrapped in leaves, apart from those heavenly chickens.
Uma Dandekar on the other hand specialised in Chicken Rendang, a Malay specialty, something to die for on a Sunday afternoon with lots of Anchor beer.
So many times did we drive over 150 Km for these parties.
Once however such a trip proved rather unfortunate for us. Madhavrao Apte held a party at his sprawling house in Seramban, some 100 KM away. It was again a terrific party with a lot of amateur singing. That was also a night when we were thrilled to see an ant eater from the wild just strolling in to the ground with its young striding on its back. An amazing site. It was close to 2 AM when people started to talk of leaving. Madhavrao insisted that we don’t drive all the way at that hour and so we stayed the night in their guest bedroom. We left early in the morning and reached around 9 in the morning, only to find that our house had been burgled during the night.
That was our first experience of burglaries in Malaysia.
The burglars had done such a thorough job, that after packing our valuables, they found time to have drinks from the bar and even cooked some food for themselves.
We were shocked and the children in particular did not know what was going on.
Police complaints, window repairs, house cleaning took the rest of the day.
It was difficult to go to sleep that night. And for several nights after that.

We also had a memorable trip to an island off the Perak coast on the West coast.
We had to ride a ferry for an hour or so before we reached the island. What impressed me most was the total peace and quiet. At night when children slept, Sujata and I, Sharad and Neela just sat near the trees on the shore in darkness, listening to the waves for hours in total silence.
Wonderful, complete with our quota of Malaysian fruit, street food and beer of course.

All said, the period of 1977-1979 was the happiest of our first stay In Malaysia. Abhi was growing delighting all of us. Ashwini loved her school. After the hardships of the first two years, our financial position was better. We ate out a lot; we went for picnics and short outings. Our house was big, children could play on the grounds, and we could hold parties. Wonderful times.

We also had the first visit from relatives in India. Sunanda and Shamrao Palkar visited in 1978. They were with us for about 3 weeks. We had fun showing them all the surroundings and the city. We had a number of short trips plus Penang and Singapore and Genting Highlands. We also visited our Camlin friends during the visit of the Palkars.
I could see in particular how pleased Sujata was hosting her favorite sister whom she adored all her life.


Professionally too, at last I was getting real satisfaction. I was putting my heart into the marketing efforts in this challenging environment. In India we were all used to a closed market and there was no real market thrust. Here I had to learn marketing the hard way. With the initial Govt. support slowly diminishing, we had to fight hard to compete with the imported products. I traveled a great deal, to the Palm oil factories, tin mines, cement factories, to our dealers. I saw all parts of the country. I made some good friends with the customers and dealers. I came to know about how the Chinese do their business. Working with Jawadekar, I established a good market share for our products in spite of challenges. The company made profits.

Most of our people went back to India after 5 years. I completed mine in 1976 and was expecting to back then, but the tenure continued. Jawadekar came in 1976 and I imagine he needed experienced people. It was nearly more than seven years, when instead of going back, I was asked if I would be willing to head the South East Asian regional sales office of the parent company in Malaysia ! Although this was an honour, this meant another 3 years stay away from India. At that time my father Anna was 78 and my mother 67, and I had already stayed away from them for 8 years with my brother taking the brunt of looking after them. So after long deliberation with Sujata, I informed Mr. Ravi Kirloskar my reasons why I could not take it up. There was always the danger that they would take offence and would not consider me any other future assignments outside India. However subsequent events proved my fears baseless and Mr. Kirloskar apparently took my letter in the right spirit and did not hold it against me. End of 1978 saw another curious turn in my professional career.

I knew a number of people from other Indian groups operating in Malaysia, many of them close friends. One of them heading a large group in India made me an offer to head one of their units in Mumbai. Again a pleasant surprise, but a difficult decision. Sujata and I decided after much thought that our first loyalty should be to the Kirloskar group, who sent me to Malaysia in the first place. So, again, a polite rejection of the offer.

Abhi had just joined a Kindergarten near our house. His favorite pastime was start running, without regard for his attire, as soon as he found the gate open. Many times we had to run after him on open, albeit small, roads to catch him and him without any clothes on him!

And so finally the time came for us to leave in March 1979, nearly eight years after we first arrived in 1971. There were mixed feelings of course. Eight years is long time and for Ashwini and Abhi, Malaysia had become a way of life. We too had got used to the comforts of large houses, big cars, big roads, big super markets and all paraphernalia. So going back was going to be a challenge. Professionally too, I had a great deal of independence here in a small organisation and I could take nearly all the decisions myself. In a big organisation back home, it would be a question mark.

Ashwini was none too happy about the change, Abhi too young to compare the conditions. We started packing and realised how much stuff we had collected in the eight years. We had to shop for gifts, plus Sujata's 'farsighted' purchases where she bought things which were good in Malaysia in quantities to last us for the nest three years. The farewell dinners started, quite a few of them in Seremban with the Camlin friends. We had to find a home for our dog Goldie, but that was easy, because my friend Shekhar Dandekar immediately agreed to take him with them in Kuala Pilah. By this time the Hukeris and Gokhales had left in 1976. We were left really with the Camlin friends and the Pethes. Came March and it was time to say good bye or 'Selamat jalan' to Malaysia. Eight years, many memories, endless learning. And now returning to India with lots of hopes and to a new life.

Seen off by a number of friends, we boarded the flight to Bangkok on a March morning, 7 years and nine months after we first arrived in 1971.
Never to return to this part of the world, or so we thought. Little did we know.