"And then there shall be in the land some who welcome him with love, who lay their hands on his head, and say: Sit down with us to meat, live with us in our house, and share all that we have, for I have known your father"
..........................Multatuli @ Pratik
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If having known just your father bestows so much goodwill, one can only guess what if it were your grandfather or great-grandfather!
Therein lies the secret power of family names or surnames which Bengalis and Andhras keep religiously.
In my 40 years in Bengal I had known only about just as many surnames like Banerjee, Chatterjee, Bose et al.
But in AP there are thousands upon thousands, quite a few of them rare enough to track the forebears (for better or worse) of their bearers...almost like a DNA test for lineage, for the cognoscenti.
In my treasure hunt for suitable grooms for my half a dozen sisters I became a Pundit of AP Brahmin surnames and their gotras.
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In June 1977, I was visiting a prospective family at Anna Nagar, Madras at the invitation of the father of a groom for a sister of mine. This Andhra family had settled down for generations in Tamilnadu and so lost the custom of keeping their surnames.
The benign father of the groom welcomed me in and we were going through the 'intro' formalities. It was one of those routine things...as is well known, in these arranged marriages, so many other factors like horoscopes, photos and the dirty word starting with D matter a lot.
The Father, a chaste Brahmin HM Retiree said his name was PLS and it was obvious that none of the three letters revealed the suppressed surname.
I gently nudged and asked him what his surname was; and he replied casually:
"Munagala"
And I casually asked:
"Do you know the famous Munagala Venkataramayya, the renowned History Professor at Madras who renounced family life and became a disciple of Ramana Maharshi and wrote the definitive 500 Page Talks?"
All at once, PLS jumped up from his chair, embraced me, and in a choking voice replied:
"He is my grandfather!!!"
The marriage was celebrated within a month and is an astounding success (this B-i-L of mine wrote the wonderful Foreword to our second Ishani booklet a year ago).
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In the mid-1990s a young Andhra couple with a cute infant joined IIT KGP and were living in the FTA Qrs a stone's throw from our B-140 (of Reco Mela - 2).
They called on us as the husband knew my Project Student TRR at USC, LA.
The young wife was a bit reserved, since it was her husband's call and not hers. When asked her name she replied Ms L. But in my well-known curiosity for names and surnames, I asked her what her surname nee was.
And she casually replied:
"Neelamraju"
And I pursued:
"Do you know Sri Neelamraju Venkataseshaiah, the well-known Editor of Andhra Prabha, and a famous Devotee of Sri Kanchi Shankaracharya?"
Her face lit up like a thousand-watt bulb and she joyously replied:
"He is my grandfather!!!"
We then became fast family friends and got to know that her brother was our student of B Sc (Hons) at KGP during my youth (which persists thanx to this crazy blog).
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A couple of days back my son had to make a trip to the user-friendly Axis Bank at Greenlands here and I tagged along (as a pen-supplier). He was traveling to the GOC (right now he is in the sky) and had to request his Bankers to relax the per-diem upper limit for cash transactions online (dollar selling at 45 Rupees). The Front office dame directed us to Ms M 'there' and we found a vacant 'server' chair at a table on the other side of which were two vacant 'client' chairs, waiting for Ms M whose name plate displayed loudly:
M. Kasinadhuni.
My son took one chair and I was standing behind him lost in thought. Kasinadhuni Nageswara Rao was the idol of our childhood, with our Telugu text books having lessons on him:
A contemporary of Mahatma Gandhi, Freedom Fighter jailed in Salt Satyagraha, inventor of the ever-green Amrutanjan, Founder of the magazines Andhra Patrika, Bharati, philanthropist, and winner of the beloved titles Deshoddharaka, Kalaprapurna and Viswadaata, a legend in his lifetime.
In a few moments a bright-eyed young lady came in and took her chair and asked my son his business; and pushed a white paper asking him to write up an Application keeping the figures blank.
And he promptly borrowed my pen and got down to the long-forgotten handwriting.
And she then looked at me quizzically and I pointed to my son and she pointed to the empty chair. I said thanks, gave her one of my famous winning smiles and asked her if Nageswara Rao is related to her; not the other way, diplomatically {;-}.
And in a few moments of rejoicing, this great-granddaughter of KN gave my son like what is Biblicaly speaking:
"Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty"
.........................Mathew 13.8
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