My early years in Bangalore Part 1

 I arrived in Bangalore in November 1964.

I completed my Engineering in June that year. I had a brief interview first in Pune at KOEL with the big bosses (Mr. SLK and Mr. RLK), and then a formal interview in Bangalore in August before the appointment.

I had never been to Bangalore earlier, except for a day during our educational (?) tour. My mode of arrival itself was not without drama. I had chosen the Pune-Bangalore mail to travel. It reached midway Hubli around 1 PM the next day. The scheduled stop was 50 minutes, but the train had arrived somewhat late. I thought I was smart and decided to go out to Kamat outside the station for lunch. When I returned, I found that the platform looked different. It did, because the train had left in 25 minutes! I was terrified. I ran to the station master’s office and told him my sad story. He was shocked but helpful. He sent a message to the next big station requesting them to remove my luggage from my seat. He then arranged a ticket for me on the next train due in the next 3 hours. Fortunately, his son, my age, was also travelling, so that helped even more. Together we pulled in my luggage at the next station, Haveri. Most of it was intact, including the book I was reading. So, I reached Bangalore 3 hours late, shaken, but still in one piece!

A relative had arranged for me to stay at a lodge called Ganesh Prasad on the 18th cross, Sampige Road (now no longer in existence), until I found a house. I carried my bicycle with me, which was my mode of transport for the first few years.

The next day, I landed at my workplace early, at 720 in the morning. We started work those days at 730.

First to meet the head of HRD, Mr. Rau, a short, squat man with beady eyes. Hr recited a few ground rules, gave me some written material to read. I was now sent to the Engineering dept., a 3-story building at the western end of the huge 46-acre compound which housed our complex. I first met Mr. S G Ramachandra, the Chief Engineer, a tall gentleman with gold-rimmed glasses and shifty eyes. He spoke softly, but even then, I could sense the unease when talking to him. He then sent me to V Subramaniam, my section head for Large Motors Design. A thin man, wearing thick glasses, rather humourless, brilliant as I later discovered.

My recall of the first couple of years at the office is not happy.

It consisted of unfamiliar work-making drawings by myself, and a sense of harassment from some of my colleagues. I think it arose in some measure from the fact that I was Marathi-speaking and hence an outsider. Secondly, Mr Ravi Kirloskar chose me and hence sort of forced me on them. It started with the head of the Department and then the section leader and a few others. I found the going tough as there was a lot of pressure on me.

I found several colleagues my age and made many good friends.

Nagendra Tembe was in the same Dept, and Derek D’sa was in Sales. Talwalkar, Jawadekar, and Ambekar were some of the prominent friends. We met regularly at the crowded lunch hall at 1130. (Yes, lunch was early.)

Food prices were subsidised. We used to get a full thali for 70 paise, chapati for 14 paise each, Idli for 7 paise, and so on. It suited our meagre salary perfectly.

After a year of sharing a small place on the 15^th cross with Ambekar, we came to know that the Damle family, whom we knew slightly, were vacating their house on the 11^th main road. One evening, Ambekar and I dropped in to see them about the house. The owner of that house had established a routine that he gave the place on rent to whoever the previous tenant recommended. So we wanted to make a good impression on the Damles. Our talk ended well. We shifted to this new place, No 7, 11th Main Road, by the end of 1965. This continued to be my residence till I left for Malaysia in 1971.

The house had a bedroom, a verandah, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. The house was on the first floor, and there was a balcony all around the house. The first question to be decided was who will use the bedroom and who will sleep on a bed in the living room. We decided to flip a coin to decide that. My lucky stars were on the job, and I won the use of the bedroom. I used to use the bicycle to reach the workplace, leaving the house at 715. It took only about 6-7 minutes to reach, and then the rush to reach the punching clock in my department before 730. I ate lunch at our canteen, and it was early at 1130. We finished the work day at 430 in the afternoon and thus had plenty of free time in the evening. 

That is how I was introduced to the Bridge group in Malleswaram. I had played some Bridge in my college, then with my Mama during my holidays, that was more the fun Bridge,  but never serious Bridge like the one I was about to enter in Bangalore. 

This group played duplicate team Bridge twice a week, sometimes thrice a week.

Families like Dixit, Damle, Palshikar, Shende, offered their houses to host the game. The setting of two teams playing the same boards in different rooms itself was new to me. The group had painstakingly prepared plywood boards, with slots for keeping cards and rubber bands holding the cards and directions and vulnerability well marked. 

That was a very good setup. We played typically 16 boards, 8 in each half. The host provided tea and snacks at halftime. Scores were compiled at the end, and the winner declared. The sessions typically covered about 2 hours. Most houses were within walking distance for me. The standard of play was very good, and much better than what I had encountered earlier. I was a quick learner, though, and soon managed to merge with the group with almost equal skills and was considered a decent player.

The social circle was also expanding. The Bridge couples were very hospitable. They referred to our merry band of young entrants as 'bachelors'. Often, they invited us over for high tea or meals. For all of us, starved for home-cooked Marathi food, this was a Godsend and an enjoyable evening with their families. Many had school-going children, but not sufficiently grown up for the possibilities of starting a romantic connection! Come to think of it, none of my friends married anyone from Bangalore. Brides were almost always from Maharashtra, and almost always, an arranged marriage.

I became involved almost immediately with our Maharashtra Mandal, which was located in Gandhinagar. This was the central cultural centre for all Marathi-speaking people in Bangalore. Kirloskars were very much involved in the Mandal. I joined the managing committee almost immediately and in the next year became the Secretary. Mrs Indutai Kirloskar was the President. It was a lot of fun, as a group of us used to visit the Mandal in the evenings, read Marathi newspapers, play carrom. Our dinner mess was nearby and that helped.

I enjoyed my years of working with the Mandal. 

More about my Mandal activities, events in my work life, from 1966 onwards in the next installment of this blogpost.