Pulacode
Veeraraghavan Visweswaran - My
dearest friend and elder brother
By
P.R.Ramachander
When I
was about 8 years old , due to the Razakkar movement in Hyderabad , me along with my little sister , brother
and mother moved back to my native place , Chelakkara. Being
brought up in a town, every body looked
very strange to me. One day my father
brought home a young , white and very thin boy who was 3-4
older than me . His laughing face and innocent out look of life made him my friend immediately. My father
told me that he was also studying in my
school and that boy was his incle’s son. Next day
Veeramani mama came to our home
and took me and my sister to
their village which was called Pulacode
. Mama had some skin problem and to a young boy like me
he looked strange . He was the
son of one of those richest person in our
village , well known as Pulacode
Rama Pattar but fate somehow took away all the riches that he
inherited.When I saw him , he was able
to maintain himself only because my father was sending him money every month. .We were both treated as royal guests and enjoyed our stay in Pulacode . Along with him
there was his sister Cauvery , My
father’s chithi . Visweswaran then
became a regular visitor to my place.
After few months my father informed
me that his uncle is no more and he is taking Visweswaran along with him to Hyderabad to work in his hotel. I did not
know the implications much at
that time.
A few years
later my father took my mother who was very sick to Hyderabad . Me and my sister were left
in care of another family in the village .Later when my mother came back cured , she
told me that Visweswaran took care of
her in the hospital completely , A
few years later I went to Hyderabad to
study in English Medium School . Visweswaran was working in our hotel. I was staying with Visweswaran along with
several boarders , who were all middle
aged men. My only friend of my age
was Viswesawaran. The next four years we both grew
up together , went to same pictures , went to the zoo together , went to Golkonda fort together, learnt how to fly kites together , learnt how
to spin tops together, ate food
together in different hotels on weekly
holiday of our hotel . Four years later my father had to sell the hotel and go back to our village .My father arranged
for the marriage of his sister
with his uncle in Trichy ,Visweswaran
started working for his uncle in
Trichy. It was at this time my mother
underwent another operation in
Trichy and it was again my
Visweswaran who looked after my
mother. After three more years I
joined for my studies in
Annamalai university and had to travel through Trichy four times a year , I enjoyed those unforgettable visits to
Trichy and at one time I came to know that Visweswaran left Trichy and had gone to Madurai .He wrote to me that
most of the days he could eat
only temple Prasadams in the noon and nothing else . At that time Sri
A.R.Sethumadhavan who considered my
father as Guru came to our native place
to get my father’s blessings for
starting a hotel at Vizag, I suggested
to father to send Visweswaran to Vizag and he started working in Hotel Ooty, there , It was at this time that I started studying in Calcutta. Again during vacations I could spend lot of
time with my friend. Once when he was admitted to hospital due to
Jaundice , I went to Vizag from
Calcutta and took him to my native
place . He was cured and returned back to Vizag . He was made a partner
in that big hotel and later
started his own business. There was
nothing in the world that he did
not know about me and there was nothing
I did not know about him. .After studies I was appointed as a gazette officer in a
small village near Mangalore . At
that time my father arranged for marriage of Visweswaran with Mohanam who was my sister’s class mate and my play mate when I was a child . They lead a happy life
and every year both of them used to come to Vittal. Visweswaran had a
daughter followed by a son. I got married and I also had a boy and a girl. At that time I got
transferred to Rajamundry. Almost every month we used to meet each
other , By that time, my younger
brother got married and settled in Mumbai.
By his influence , he arranged
for the marriage of Vsweswaran’s
daughter . By that time Visweswaran
had struggled and educated his
son. Visweswaran and Mohanam shifted to Mumbai. They were struggling really hard. It was at this time
that the son of Visweswaran got employed in USA. One of those
unfortunate days Mohanam breathed her lost . In spite of very severe back ache I reached Mumbai travelling in a Bus . We cried togather a lot
,This was fourteen years back
.Once Visweswaran asked me to write poem on his Mohanam so that
he can paste it below her picture
,I did it.
I advised
Visweswaran to get his son married
, almost immediately after
his dear wife’s death and he
agreed to it and the marriage was
celebrated within a year of her death.
The USA govt
did not give VISA to Visweswaran to visit his son. Possibly no one knows
except my family and my brother’s
family about the struggle called
life that he underwent then on.
His kidney started failing and he breathed his last about 3 years back .
The only person
whom I can call as my own elder brother is no more there. All my cousins used to call him Ammanchi and
for my nephews and my children he was
Bheema Mama, His infectious smile which used to keep me happy , now remains
only as a dream .Though no one notices , within my heart I cry for my greatest friend. The cane chair
that he painted, the Dosai Kal which he
got cut and almost
everything in my home reminds
me of him. Tears flow from my eyes , when I see them. When my wife wants
to repair or paint some thing,
without realizing I tell her ,
“Visweswaran will come soon and do it.”
My elder
brother definitely must be in heaven and I am sure he makes
it a habit to bless his younger
brother Raja . His daughter who is in Mumbai considers me as her father’s brother and
never fails to call me every month . I also consider herself as my elder daughter .Life goes on. Rarely God sends
such angels like Visweswaran
to this world .His greatest contribution is that he added
joy and happiness in the
life of
many people of this world.Had he been alive next year he would be celebrating his 80th Birthday.
