My mother, Indumati, at Stella Maris College, Madras - 21 March 1961

a precious photograph from the archives - from 21 March 1961 - of my mother, Indumati Muniswamy Naidu - before her marriage and change of name to Sharada Bhushan - as a member of the Faculty at Stella Maris College, Chennai - a junior lecturer for Telugu language (if I remember correctly). She is in the front row, third from right, in what was her favorite saree, a faint brown silk saree with a dark mustard border. This saree stayed with her for many many years and she did not hand it over to her daughter, Sarala Krishnamoorthy or daughter-in-law, Dr. Thulasi Bharat.

She had just completed her studies a couple of years earlier at Presidency College, with Dr. Lalitha Peters, her classmate, and joined Stella Maris as faculty. She hated getting married and journeying to Mumbai, but agreed only after being promised that she could study further, and could continue to work as a Teacher of Telugu language, which she did until her retirement.

My mother at Presidency College, Madras 1950-1953

an absolutely rare treasure of a photograph, received suddenly from someone who was shown the photograph quite accidentally. The BA Telugu (Hons) class of 1950-1953 at Presidency College, Madras, affiliated to the University of Madras. My mother, Indumati (later Mrs. Sharada Bhushan) is 2nd lady from right in the middle row, with Smt. Adilakshmi (mother of Santishree Dhulipudi) 2nd from right in the middle row, and with Smt. Lalitha Peters (4th from left in the middle row), who was former Professor of Telugu and Rector at Queen Marys College, Madras, for many years, with their classmates and faculty.

An absolute gem of a photograph, so crystal clear, and so perfectly preserved. My gratitude, with tons of millions of thanks to those unknown who preserved this photograph for so many years somewhere, someplace, somehow. I have immediately shared the photo with my mother's two sisters and am looking forward to hear from them if they recognise any of the others. The person in the front row, 3rd from left, is Prof. G. Narayana Reddy, who was later HoD Telugu at Sri Venkateswara University for many years and later became Vice Chancellor of that University. He presented me with the Roget’s Thesaurus and my sister received the book – ‘Word Power Made Easy’ – on receiving the news that he had become Vice Chancellor. He was with our family at Bombay on that day and was very happy.

My mother, Indumati, in this photo, if taken in 1953, would have been 23 years old and I am so moved by this photograph.

My mother, Indumati (Mrs. Sharada Bhushan) later went to work for a short while in the Telugu Department at Stella Maris College, Madras before shifting to Bombay and joining the AES High School and Junior College. She retired as the Principal of the institution.

Smt. Adilakshmi later went to Petersburg University in the then Soviet Union and set up the Telugu department and also authored a book on learning Telugu for Russians. She is respected by the faculty there and her students and their students consider her with tremendous adoration.

Smt. Lalitha Peters went to Queen Marys College, Madras as faculty for Telugu language and also became the Rector of the college. She later conspired with my mother in 1985 in identifying a doppelganger to them to be wed to me. Her student, Thulasi, is now a permanent reminder of their friendship to me, after we got married in 1986.

Dr. G. Narayana Reddy retired as Vice Chancellor, Sri Venkateshwara University, Tirupati.

Sitting – front row – from left to right – 1. Maremalla Nageswararao, 3. Prof. G. Narayana Reddy, 4. Prof. Ayyappan Pillai (Principal and Professor of English), 5. Prof. B. L. N. Rao (?) (HoD, Telugu Department), 6. Mr. Sarma, 7. Prof. P. S. R. Apparao.
Standing – middle row – from left to right – q. Mr. Vakkallanka Lakshmipatirao, 2. Shri Veturi Anandamurthy, 3. Smt. Alamelu, 4. Prof. Lalita Peters, 5. Smt. Vimala, 6. Smt. Indumati (Mrs. Sharada Bhushan), 7. Smt. Adilakshmi, 8. Mr. Dhara Ramanatha Sastry

My mother, her two sisters, her maternal aunt and cousins - sometime in the late 50s or 1960

My mother, Indumati (Sharada Bhushan) her two sisters, Saraswathy and Shyamala, her maternal aunt, Rajani, and cousins - sometime in the late 50s or 1960

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 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]