My maternal grandmother, her eldest son, Kuchela, her sister and nieces - Meera and Bhavani

My maternal grandmother, Hymavathi Naidu, her eldest son, Kuchela Naidu, her sister, and nieces - Meera and Bhavani - possibly at Villivakkam, Chennai (then Madras) - in the late seventies.

Sharada Bhushan - Indumati - my mother

My mother, Sharada Bhushan, daughter and eldest child of Muniswamy Naidu and Hymavathy Naidu of Chennai, traveled from south India, to Mumbai upon her marriage to Balapila Naga Bhushan. At the time of her first journey to Mumbai, she had never been to the great megapolis, did not know Hindi or Marathi, and had a smattering knowledge of English. She had studied M.A. in Telugu at the University of Madras, at Queen Marys College, and was later teaching Telugu at Stella Maris College.

She arrived at Mumbai, learnt the art of cooking food on a kerosene stove, and later using gas cylinders, did her house management for more than 15 years without a refrigerator, and for more than 20 years without a washing machine. She would wake up at 05.00 - 06.00 am everyday, take care of her needs, cook food for everyone - breakfast, lunch and dinner in one go - and leave home by 07.30 - 08.00 am to go to the Andhra Education Society High School and would return only around 7.00 pm.

She studied and learnt and mastered English, Hindi, Marathi, History and HR while at Mumbai. I studied Marathi along with her, getting the Pravin, Pravesh and Prabodh certificates in Marathi. She also completed her B.Ed and M.Ed degrees.

[To be continued...]

With my mother, Sharada Bhushan, sometime in 1963

My mother would sometimes speak of her early days in Mumbai... of her fear in traveling alone around and about in the big big city. She said that the fear lasted about a couple of months. Later, I remember, she would take me and my sister, even as kids in KG and primary school, and we would travel through suburban trains, buses, change over at different stations and bus stands, or sometimes we would travel by train, bus, train bus etc if we would go to Borivili to meet Rosy Aunty (Nagendra Babu's elder sister).

My parents, B. N. Bhushan and Sharada (Indumati) Bhushan, sometime in 1962

My mother's brothers and sisters

My maternal grandfather, Muniswamy Naidu and maternal grandmother, Hymavathi Naidu, had six children - three brothers and three sisters.

(1) Sharada Bhushan nee Indumati (1930 Chennai to 1996 Mumbai) - spouse Mr. Balapila Naga Bhushan (1927 Belgaum to 2009 Pune - earlier known as Balapila Navaneetha Krishna Naidu)
Children - Bharat Bhushan (b. 1962 Chennai - myself) and Sarala Bhushan (b. 1963 Chennai)

(2) M. Kuchela Naidu - spouse Pramila Kuchela Naidu
Children - Satya, Govindamma

(3) M. Gopinath Naidu - spouse Girija Gopinath Naidu
Children - Bhagyashree (?) aka Amul, Prasanna, Indira Jayashree

(4) M. Bhaskar Rao - spouse Bharati Bhaskar Rao
Children - Nagasayana Babu, Poornima aka Paapa, Raghu, Chinni

(5) Saraswathy Purushottam - spouse Purushottam
Children - Mahendra Babu, Phaneendra Babu

(6) Shyamala Nagaraj Naidu - spouse Nagaraj Naidu
Children - Yugendra, Kumar and Bharini

My mother's family

My maternal grandfather, Muniswamy Naidu, and his brother, Govindaswamy Naidu, were born in a small hamlet in the village areas near Satyavedu on the central route between Tirupati and Chennai. My maternal grandfather ran a small primary school in his village, and also had some meagre income from farming. Muniswamy Naidu and Govindaswamy Naidu settled at Nungambakkam, at 8, Village Road, and established a school - "Sri Rajarajeshwari High School", teaching in English Medium, in those days.

My maternal grandfather, Muniswamy Naidu

at an Independence Day function of the Sri Rajarajeshwari High School

at 4, Ramanaicken Street, Nungambakkam, Chennai (probably 1968-69)

From left, my sister, my grandfather, an invited guest, one of the teachers, 

and Kuchela Uncle, my mother's brother

My maternal grandfather, Muniswamy Naidu and maternal grandmother, Hymavathy Naidu (aka Akkiya or Akkayya) had six children - three sons and three daughters.
(1) Sharda Bhushan nee Indumati, (2) M. Kuchela Naidu, (3) M. Gopinath Naidu, (4) M. Bhaskar Rao, (5) Saraswathy Purushottam and (6) Shyamala Nagaraj Naidu.

My maternal great grandfather, father of my maternal grandmother, was Dr. Varada Venkata Ramanuja Naidu, in the civil services of British India, in south Andhra Pradesh areas of erstwhile Madras State. My maternal grandmother, Hymavathi Naidu was the eldest. She had more than 10 brothers and sisters. My mother, Indumati, nee Sharada, was eldest born to Muniswamy Naidu and Hymavathi.

Dr. Varada Venkata Ramanuja Naidu

My maternal-maternal great grand-father

My maternal grandmother,  Hymavathi Naidu

My maternal grandfather, Muniswamy Naidu and

my maternal grandmother, Hymavathi Naidu at Chennai

Varada Venkata Ramanuja Naidu (Seated Centre) 
Rupavati (Amani) (Seated Left) 
Krishnamurthy (Kupchanya) (Seated 2nd Left) 
Sundar Rao (Chinnanya) (Seated 2nd Right) 
Kalavati (Pedda Papa) (Seated Right) 
Nityananda Rao (Chitti) (Standing Left) 
Bhaktavatsala Rao (Buchchi) (Standing Right) 
Hari Prasad (Thamba) (Seated Ground Left) 
Rajini (Chinna Papa) (Seated Centre) 
Padmanabha Rao (Babu) (Seated Ground Right)

[My maternal grandmother - Hymavathi (Akkya) is missing in this photograph. She was the eldest.]

Shree Varadaraja Venkataramana at the temple at Gurpur, near Mangalore, Karnataka

[From - http://www.facebook.com/S.V.V.T.Gurpur]