INTRODUCTION

PROFILE
Name : C.K.Sasikumaran Nair
Gender: male
Location : Cochin, India.
Qualification: postgraduate in Chemistry
Date of birth: 18th April, Zodiac sign, Aries

About my childhood!

I was born in a middle class Nair family at Edappally, near Cochin. My father had been working as sub inspector of police at that time. India had just become independent and most of the British officers had left. The new desi officers who had taken charge were more despotic and demanding than their predecessors, and perhaps father could not get along well with them. Soon he tendered his resignation and we plunged into real poverty. The responsibility of looking after the family fell on our grand mother.Though we had lot of lands ,there was no income and she was not rich, and so, the peculiar condition made the lives of my mother, me and my siblings miserable. An inferiority complex began to sprout out during the early stages of my life which I believe adversely influenced and retarded personality development as I grew up!

After a few years of frugal existence, my father got a job as a drill master in a private school, and he took all of us to the new location where I lived until I passed my pre-degree exam. Our life there too was not very rosy, but it was much better than living off our grandmother’s meager income. In those days the management of private schools would retrench temporary teachers during vacation, and so for two summer month’s vacation, my father would get no wages and we would spend our days counting the fast dwindling rupee coins till the school reopened. We had scanty dresses, shared umbrellas, and no foot wears. Many a time I had been sent out of the class for defaulting school fees.

I still remember one incident which indelibly stands out green in my memory. My father had purchased some clothes for us from a nearby textile shop on credit. Unfortunately he could not raise the entire amount, and so he gave me some money and asked me to hand over to the shop owner and say that he would pay the balance later. When the shopkeeper saw that my father had sent only a part of the credit he became so angry, and shouting and showering invectives, he flung out all the currency notes I had given him to the midst of a small crowd that had gathered there. I was only 12 years old then. I picked up the notes, crying, and came back home quite despondent. I was immensely sorry for my father. I could see how hard he had been trying to keep both ends meet. It also taught me the pitfall of buying anything on credit.

Another incident that remains vivid in my memory is the love and affection my father had towards me. When I was studying in the 10th standard, my frame was so lean that even a mild wind would have lifted me and flown me around. My father was very concerned, and perhaps he wished to supplement my food with something nourishing so that I could face the public examination in good health! We were five children, and it was not possible to provide everyone with milk. So he made an arrangement with another nearby family who sold milk, and every evening, after the school, I would go to their house where they would give me boiled milk to drink. At the month end my father would pay for it. Looking back, I now know how sorry he would have felt for giving milk surreptitiously to one child to make him healthy, while for others he could not afford.

I cannot recall such incidents now without tears. My life is filled with such tears and smiles. I shall write more about them on another occasion…


Some photographs