My thatha, Mr.A.Ramaswami was born on Feb 19th, 1924 in British India. He has told me so much about life and given me so many advice and taught me a lot.
A natural born engineer, could fix things from a plastic toy to the most complex of machinery there was nothing that this great man could not do.
My great-grandfather wanted him to pursue and study Commerce so that he would also become a Banker like him. But when my thatha told him off saying his interes was in engineering he was told off by his father. So to prevent his father from ruling his decisions he failed his final school exams making it impossible to ever study to become a banker.
Starting from scratch he rose to a prominent position at Royal Enfield, Madras, so prominent that when they laid him off during a depression they got hit more for they lacked the magic that was Ramaswami.
I remember him showing me the article he had written about smoking. He had asked his uncle (with whom he was living at a point of time when he was in school) money to smoke cigarettes. When his uncle told him no, not knowing what a real cigarette is, my thatha rolled a paper into a cylinder and lit it and hence burnt his mouth.LOL.
Till the end I am happy that he didn't know that I smoke or drink, if he had known that I would have sent him to an earlier grave.
Believe it or not he lived a long 88 years 2 months and 9 days he had never tasted alcohol or ever smoked a single cigarette in his life.
A strict disciplinarian and a big fan of Hitler (as a ruler) but hated the man for the bad person he was. He has told me stories about the ways he disciplined my father, my uncle and my aunt and every single nephew and niece of his. To us the grandchildren he was always gentle but from the descriptions I have received from the previous generation, he is the last person you wanna get caught being a brat ;)
Well things apart. Different people have different opinions about the same person. My views about him were sky high. He was an idol. he taught me how to use tools and the basics of repairing things when I was in primary school. Me and him had a connection which was much deeper than probably anything he had with anyone else ( I am sorry if I offended any1 but I really mean this part). he has never ever said no to me in his life. My mom would somewhat agree with being said I am the brat I am because of thatha.
I started driving a two wheeler in my class 11 after obtaining my student's driving licence. By then thatha already had gone through and survived a stroke and an open heart surgery and could not drive, so there I was his designated driver.
He would summon me to him and tell me "We need to go to this place and I need to get this/that thing (mostly was bulbs, wires, ICs and etc) can you spare me a few hours" and I would agree. We have had so many quality hours of grandpa grandson time from the time I was 16 till I was about 20. And the part where I said I was a brat. Well he would always get me anything I wanted, so I never held back my requests (DUH!! I did make sure the cost was not too much always).
I close my eyes I can feel all those things from a few years back. I feel like I am on my old scooty with thatha behind me going around places and him giving me tips on improving my driving. I still feel him around me. Our most regular spots of visit where Basheer's shop at Burma-bazaar or Southern Electonics at Ritchie street or Singhvi Traders, Luz. He introduced me to a lot of people in those places who respected him and held him at high regards.
I can't think of any1 in the world who would have complaints about him (minus Advaith Ramaswamy, his great-grandson, for not being around a wee bit longer to spend a few hours with him).
A fun fact about his life was, he is extremely accident prone but never was he ever seriously injured, even till the day he died. I mean he did have a skull fracture which made him a shadow of the man he was. He just carried on, he always told me always pray "jai anjanaya jai anjanaya" when you can coz then the lord anjanaya will protect you.
I do have to include he loved every single person in the family. He loved his siblings. Him and his younger brother were inseparable.
He left all of us behind in this cruel world on the 8th of May (I got the news maybe an hour after I finished my last exam) 2012. he passed away on his throne (his recliner chair which was a gift to him from his younger brother).
Someway or another all our lives revolved around him, I had gone home for exactly 2 weeks for easter and I spent most of it staying up all night and taking care of him. Truth be told I have not slept properly in over a month and I still can't sleep.
I close my eyes I see him in front of me with his smiling blue eyes and full set of teeth. The man he was a few years back. My buddy, my mentor, my gradpa, my life. The one with whom I spent so many joyous hours. I am gonna miss u gravely and I wish you could have stuck around a wee bit longer to see me start working atleast.
I love u thatha. U can never be replaced...
Love
Abiishiek Vijaykumar RAMASWAMI
(this article shall be continued later.......)
A natural born engineer, could fix things from a plastic toy to the most complex of machinery there was nothing that this great man could not do.
My great-grandfather wanted him to pursue and study Commerce so that he would also become a Banker like him. But when my thatha told him off saying his interes was in engineering he was told off by his father. So to prevent his father from ruling his decisions he failed his final school exams making it impossible to ever study to become a banker.
Starting from scratch he rose to a prominent position at Royal Enfield, Madras, so prominent that when they laid him off during a depression they got hit more for they lacked the magic that was Ramaswami.
I remember him showing me the article he had written about smoking. He had asked his uncle (with whom he was living at a point of time when he was in school) money to smoke cigarettes. When his uncle told him no, not knowing what a real cigarette is, my thatha rolled a paper into a cylinder and lit it and hence burnt his mouth.LOL.
Till the end I am happy that he didn't know that I smoke or drink, if he had known that I would have sent him to an earlier grave.
Believe it or not he lived a long 88 years 2 months and 9 days he had never tasted alcohol or ever smoked a single cigarette in his life.
A strict disciplinarian and a big fan of Hitler (as a ruler) but hated the man for the bad person he was. He has told me stories about the ways he disciplined my father, my uncle and my aunt and every single nephew and niece of his. To us the grandchildren he was always gentle but from the descriptions I have received from the previous generation, he is the last person you wanna get caught being a brat ;)
Well things apart. Different people have different opinions about the same person. My views about him were sky high. He was an idol. he taught me how to use tools and the basics of repairing things when I was in primary school. Me and him had a connection which was much deeper than probably anything he had with anyone else ( I am sorry if I offended any1 but I really mean this part). he has never ever said no to me in his life. My mom would somewhat agree with being said I am the brat I am because of thatha.
I started driving a two wheeler in my class 11 after obtaining my student's driving licence. By then thatha already had gone through and survived a stroke and an open heart surgery and could not drive, so there I was his designated driver.
He would summon me to him and tell me "We need to go to this place and I need to get this/that thing (mostly was bulbs, wires, ICs and etc) can you spare me a few hours" and I would agree. We have had so many quality hours of grandpa grandson time from the time I was 16 till I was about 20. And the part where I said I was a brat. Well he would always get me anything I wanted, so I never held back my requests (DUH!! I did make sure the cost was not too much always).
I close my eyes I can feel all those things from a few years back. I feel like I am on my old scooty with thatha behind me going around places and him giving me tips on improving my driving. I still feel him around me. Our most regular spots of visit where Basheer's shop at Burma-bazaar or Southern Electonics at Ritchie street or Singhvi Traders, Luz. He introduced me to a lot of people in those places who respected him and held him at high regards.
I can't think of any1 in the world who would have complaints about him (minus Advaith Ramaswamy, his great-grandson, for not being around a wee bit longer to spend a few hours with him).
A fun fact about his life was, he is extremely accident prone but never was he ever seriously injured, even till the day he died. I mean he did have a skull fracture which made him a shadow of the man he was. He just carried on, he always told me always pray "jai anjanaya jai anjanaya" when you can coz then the lord anjanaya will protect you.
He left all of us behind in this cruel world on the 8th of May (I got the news maybe an hour after I finished my last exam) 2012. he passed away on his throne (his recliner chair which was a gift to him from his younger brother).
Someway or another all our lives revolved around him, I had gone home for exactly 2 weeks for easter and I spent most of it staying up all night and taking care of him. Truth be told I have not slept properly in over a month and I still can't sleep.
I close my eyes I see him in front of me with his smiling blue eyes and full set of teeth. The man he was a few years back. My buddy, my mentor, my gradpa, my life. The one with whom I spent so many joyous hours. I am gonna miss u gravely and I wish you could have stuck around a wee bit longer to see me start working atleast.
I love u thatha. U can never be replaced...
Love
Abiishiek Vijaykumar RAMASWAMI
(this article shall be continued later.......)
