Kamala’s Story--- the Saga of an Indian Woman

By
Nenmeli K Srinivasan

I knew her well from my childhood. She was my paternal aunt—my father’s cousin.her
story is typical of women of upper castes who lived almost a century ago.

I do not know the place of her birth; most probably in a small village about 50 miles
from Madras, now called “Chennai.” As a young girl she must have been very charming
—quite fair complexioned with a round face, dark eyes and always smiling. As told by
her, she was married when she was just nine years old and stayed with her parents. He
had schooling for only three grades; she could read and write local Tamil language very
well.She knew a several words in English, picked up during her ‘touring years’ with her
husband.
She joined her husband when she was thirteen---that is ,she had become a mature
woman, or attained puberty. Her husband was a land surveyor, in the state Land Revenue
department. She was proud of her husband, because he was not a clerk as most of my
male relatives were, but a technical person who can use a surveying telescope
[‘theodolite’] and go with a team of servants, measuring hills and dales, marshy fields
and craggy bush lands.
It was the days of Brtish Rule—British Raj ,as it is called now.. Any civil servant,
however low a position he may occupy, was highly respected by local people. They
respected such government employees because they held a permanent job [called
‘Company service’ in those days, when a few decades ago, it is the British ‘East India
Company” that ruled those parts, before the British Crown took over.] Further a great
attraction for young men like Kamala’s husband ,called Ramu, was the pension you can
get after retirement.
Men like Ramu were the pillars of the British establishment-- to take on myriads of
administrative duties. As I recall from Kamala’s account ,Ramu and others were honest,
upright and fair minded. Corruption and cheating among government servants is largely
a phenomenon or scourge that developed after Independence in 1947. I can say this
boldly because many of my relatives in earlier generation were civil servants. My father
and my grand father [both maternal and paternal] were in govt service in customs and
accounts. My father’s grandfather was Income tax commissioner in Chennai and so on.I
could count several others in our families.

Now to return to Kamala’s story. As a devout wife, Kamala accompanied her husband
when he was posted to different districts of Madras Presidency. This ‘touring life’ took
her to many places in present Andhra Pradesh, almost the borders of Orissa , parts of
Kerala and coastal Karnataka [Mangalore] which were part of this presidency under
British rule. This traveling life broadened Kamala’s outlook; what is more she learnt the
local languages of those parts—Telugu,Malayalam and Kannada. I benefited a lot as a
young boy from her knowledge. Kamal had a sweet voice and a good knowledge of
Karnatic [classical] music. She could recite my devotional songs in different languages

1
and explain them easily.--. I still recall her explaining a few hymns of Yogi Vemana in
Telugu or Purandaradasa in chaste Kannada.
Ramu was a loving husband. Soon enough, Kamala became a mother of one boy and
three daughters. Then disaster struck. Ramu died of an infectious fever in Andhra
Pradesh. Kamala returned to Chennai . My grand father [father’s father] , her uncle, was
the only male person who could support her . Kamala was settled in a village close to
Chennai where my grandfather and others in our family had small patches of cultivable
land. Kamala occupied a small house in a village ,called now PV Kalathur or “Pon
Vilaintha Kalathur”; literally the name means: gold-growing farm town” …Such names
were given to indicate that the rice grown were equal to growth of gold.[‘Nel vilaintha ‘
would mean “paddy growing’]. My grandfather who was a customs official in the sea-
port of Chennai gave her some monetary help. The land she had as her ‘property’ was
perhaps an acre or two only---just to get by.There was no family pension in those days.
Soon Kamala lost her son who was a school boy. She was then left with three girls.
Kamala had to get them married--- a great burden, especially for a widow with meager
income.. The birdegroom’s parents would always demand a dowry for marriage—gold
jewels, silver utensils, brocade sarees and so on. Kamala was a brave and resourceful
person. She performed the marriage of her first daughter. At that time, she sold a part of
her lands to another relative. My grandfather, who was her main support, passed away
when he was only 53 years old. My father became her main support and also a counselor.
Kamala used to stay in our house for many months every year; meanwhile she arranged
for her second daughter’s marriage.
When she stayed in our house, she used to help my mother in the kitchen in the
mornings. Afternoons and evenings were spent in singing hymns and explaining things
religious and musical to us --the kids. Kamala adored my father and was affectionate
towards him all her life. She was the UN peace-keeper when some stormy arguments
broke out between my father and my mother!

Kamala Athanga [her full name as we called her—‘Athanga’ means ‘paternal aunt’
while “athai’ would be maternal aunt] struggled hard to arrange the marriage for her
second daughter and settle her near Chennai. Her third daughter , called ‘baby’ because
she was small in height, had a different life.
One day when Baby was returning from the village school, she was lost. Kamala made
a frantic search. There were several thick wooded areas and forest near Chingleput and
Tindivanam in those days. Hunters and high way robbers were roaming those areas---in
remote forests.They used to take sandal wood and costly teak wood logs and also poach
for foxes and fawns. The British did very little to contain them, as long as they did not
attack their offices. There was one rowdy chieftain by name “Karuppaian” [literally
means “black fellow] who was notorious in those parts of these districts.
Kamala’s frantic search for her daughter yielded results after a month. The girl Baby
was seen near one of the hutments of Karuppian in a village 10 miles away. Apparently,
Baby was kidnapped while returning from school, taken by Karuppian and raped by him.
Perhaps he wanted to have this young girl in his village-style harem.. After hearing this
‘news-break’, Kamala conferred with her close elders in the village, mostly timid
Brahmins with pot bellies, who can hardly confront or fight with Karuppian…Kamala
was firm that Baby should be brought home and made to live with her, even though she

2
may be defiled. Some of the elders would not agree for this ,since the girl will have to
bear the stigma of having lived with a bandit for a month or so.
Better sense prevailed among the Brahmins of PV Kalathur. It was resolved that a team
of elderly Brahmins would go and meet Karuppian and request him to release the girl.
After a few days, the team left for the hideout of this bandit and met him in his hut at
noon time. Karuppian calmly heard the request. Baby was hiding behind a thatched mat
partition and listened to the conversation with tears in her eyes. Karuppian , in a non-
chalant manner, sternly looked at the team of elders with bright caste marks and coolly
replied:” Yes, the girl is here; She belongs to me, but you can take her if you want”. One
of the elders called out Baby. Baby stepped out of the hut in dirty skirt, and returned to
the village with her mother and the elders.

Being worldly –wise, Kamala brought baby to the big city of Chennai and put her to
school. Baby was quite bright in studies and finished her high school and received the
diploma ,called SSLC—Secondary School Leaving Certificate. Kamala, with the help of
her friends, got Baby admitted to a ‘teacher training course’ of two years duration. Baby
later became a certified elementary school teacher in a government [Board –run ] school..
Further, one who had completed SSLC, was qualified to teach in an elementary school –
those were the days.! But teacher positions were difficult to find, and Kamala again used
her influential friends to get this job for Baby.Baby was twenty years old then.

Baby soon became a popular teacher, liked by students and parents alike. She used to
visit our house in week ends, mainly to see her mother ,and would tell us her experiences
with kids in the school. Kamala used to hear such narrations with rapt attention and was
proud of her daughter, who had come out of her traumatic experience.

Baby became reasonably well off and gave monetary help to her mother. Soon she
rented a big house in a nearby temple town-Triplicane ,in Chennai .Kamala stayed there
on and off, between her trips to our home and her village. .
In those days, this temple town, full of Brahmin families, was notorious for promiscuous
behavior. Soon rumors reached my father’s ears that Baby had fallen into wayward life
and taking many lovers. My father was enraged, and one day shouted at Kamala for
letting her daughter become a slut. Kamala cried and told that she was not guilty and that
she was not aware of such behavior of Baby. After this incident, Kamala did visit our
house because of her affection for my father, but less frequently.
Kamala was getting on in years and became weaker and weaker.She was mostly in her
village—PV Kalathur. Again rumor mills were working. We heard that Baby had married
a Brahmin widower who was also a teacher in a government school , and settled nicely in
another part of Chennai.
Kamala , at the age of 82, passed way after a brief illness in one of her daughter’s
residence.
-----Finis----------------------