The period from 1940 to 1952 saw the consolidation of South Indians, if I may say so, after the the first phase or beginning of the initial thrust/advantage. The word went around that Bombay is offering good employment opportunities to Pallakad Iyers in particular and South Indians in general and soon became a new El-Dorado to the aspiring group.

Simultaneously following developments were taking place :

Pallakad / Kerala and South India:

Because of the rise of communists in Kerala, laziness of our forefathers and Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan movement, our forefathers were slowly losing the Pattam /cultivatable land and the revenue started dwindling. Most of forefathers were employing Kudiyans or middlemen to cultivate the land. They, Kudiyans, were slowly grabbing our land and eating into our profits. Meanwhile our forefathers were playing cards named 56 and some rich ones quietly having a sambandham with Nair ladies. Please do not take it as an offense I am only stating a fact. Only of a small percentage may be 20/30 percent. But others were causal and not bothering about the dwindling returns. With the result a vast majority found it difficult to meet the ends and sincerely thought of taking up a job.

Mumbai of the early 1920/30 upto 1942 ( Pre World War Boom )( Only Hearsay Report)

My father came to Mumbai in 1930. Most of them came due to sheer desperation. They simply ran from their house with little or no money and no clothes to change. Fortunately they are received at Dadar by Crown Agents for GIP and BB and CI. GIP stands for Great Indian Peninsula. Today it is called C.R. BB and CI stands for Bombay Baroda and Central India. Today it is called W.R.

In those days there was a great demand for clerks who were paid a princely sum of 7 and 1/2 rupees. If you are not proficient in English, you are on probation for 3 months to acquire the skill in shorthand and typing. You are accommodated in Panch Mahal ( Meaning a cluster of 5 chawls) buildings ( a chawl which in Mumbai means Room only and bathroom and WC outside), opposite Asthika Samaj,Matunga at 1 and 1/4 rupees. For the less fortunate who are on probation, Trichur Mess/Society offered a cot and coupon for 2 meals in a day at 2 and 1/2rupees. They were called Meal Tickets.

An ardent reader of Matunga Musings has requested me to include a note on "Trams". I am indeed happy to do this as this mode of transport has endowed children of Matunga with unlimited pleasure. The service would start from Kings Circle just opposite the Aurora Theatre and trams would ply between Kings Circle and Colaba. There were two routes, one via Kalbadevi and the other via Mohammed Ali Road. The tram was a double-deckered affair, full of windows which allowed unrestricted view and unrestrained breeze. The driver would stand, in an impressive khaki uniform, in the front and make a clanging noise as stops arrived. The speed was medium and it would take an hour and a half to reach Colaba. The trams were resorted to on two important days rather nights-Republic Day and Independence Day. We had on these nights an impressive illumination of buildings and a tram journey by night ensured a wonderful Darshan of Heritage buildings en route-The Times Of India, The Bombay Municipal Corporation, The Victoria Terminus, The General Post Office and the Prince Of Wales Museum. Families would alight at Museum and walk down to see the well-lit Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal Hotel and some would take a midnight trip in launches. Mamas and Mamis with their own children and those of neighbours would fill the trams at starting point itself. Their luggage would include edibles of all kinds and flasks of hot coffee and stainless steel koojas with water. Conductors were a jolly lot and would halt trams en route for children to ease themselves. The ticket for an adult was four annas and for a child one anna. What a pleasant experience it was to commute by trams and see Bombay!. Even the latest Lear Jet cannot provide so much fun and joy as this illumination ride as it was called. Alas!. The trams were withdrawn in the Sixties. They do have an attenuated version in Kolkata.

The largest auditorium in India today, fully air-conditioned, with capacity exceeding 3,000 and with perfect acoustics is the Shanmukhananda Hall in Matunga. But time there was when there was no hall and we had a plethora of Sabhas catering to the needs of the Musical-Minded Matungans, during our period-the early Fifties.

The main organisation was the Shanmukhananda Sabha. A sister organisation was the Bombay Fine Arts Sabha. While the former had a large membership, the latter was quite lean. It would be a common practice for an artist to perform for one Sabha on a Saturday and for the other the next day. Two concerts on succeeding days did have a thinning effect on the second day's turnout !. Wisdom dawned on the organisers ,quite early, and the two Sabhas merged and we have the dynamic Shri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeetha Sabha, with a Hall quite near the Kings Circle Station.

If you utter the word "Matunga", the institution that strikes you is the S I E S School situated at the Brahminwada Road, abutting the Kings Circle Railway Station. This institution which commenced functioning in 1932 has already completed the Biblical span of "three score and ten years." From a School it has bloomed into an Arts College, Commerce College, College of Management and will shortly open its own Engineering and Medical Colleges.

A few South Indians set up a Society in 1932, under the leadership of Shri M.K.Venkateswaran, with one aim - to spread Education. They established a Primary School with only six children and the School was housed in a rented garage in Sanghani Bungalow near Aurora Cinema. Over the years the School had a whopping six thousand students on its rolls and an imposing building of its own at the Brahminwada Road, later christened K .A. Subramanian Road. Shortly after its Silver Jubilee, the S I E S Arts College was inaugurated in 1960, followed by the College of Commerce and Economics in 1989.The Society expanded spreading its wings to Nerul. Here it has an impressive educational complex. This is the only College in India from which a student can acquire a degree in Economics from the world famous London School Of Economics. The S I E S today has over 12,500 students and five Colleges. The S I E S boasts of very talented alumni holding high positions. Dr Kasturirangan, Chairman, I S R O, the popular singers Hariharan, Shankar Mahadevan, the Three Brothers with a Violin-Vishwanath, Narayan and Sriram Parasurams as also the Eminent Carnatic Musicologists - the Bombay Sisters -- Saroja and Lalitha --- all these and many more are S I E S students.

Adjoining the Bhajana Samaj, to the left was the "Society" run by the Iyers of Palghat. It was a co-operative endeavour and had a shop that sold all types of provisions. It had a Ration Shop too. Its clientele was, of course, Palghat Iyers. Not to be left behind, the Tamil Iyers started the "Concerns", which too had a rationing outlet and provisions shop, the patrons being Tamil Iyers. Both the organisations had tremendous business and without doubt the Committee members had their hands in the tills. The "Society" started an eating establishment, where Lunch and Dinner would be served at fixed hours. The Tamilians, who did not believe in losing a race, started their version of an Eatery. While both Hotels served food on plantain leaves, the Concerns used "Nellennai"-Til Oil as the cooking medium; the Malayalis of the "Society" resorted to "Coconut Oil"-Velichaennai. The quality of food of both was high. A Specialty was the Sunday Menu boasted of "Madras Onion Sambar" and "Potato Podimas". The Tamilians offered "Akara Vazishal" or "Sakkara Pongal" while the Palghatians presented "Pal Payasam" or Chatha Chathayam"

The Bhajana Samaj was which gave an opening to Pithukulli Murugadas whose magic voice captured and captivated Matunga residents and transported them to heaven. His rendering of Thiruppugazh was pure honey. He would, however, include in his team a mridangist and a tabla player -- whose role actually was more of a disturbance. The master would play on the harmonium and as divinely as Orpheus. A charismatic personality, Murugadas would appear in saffron clothing, even tying a saffron towel on his head. Even at night he would wear dark glasses ( I used to wonder why Rajaji, Karunanidhi and Murugadas sported dark glasses ! Anything to hide? )

They call it "Little Madras". That's Matunga for you. Reputed to be founded by the hoary sage "Matanga", Matunga is chockfull of south Indians, especially the Iyers of Palakkad, Iyers of Madras, Iyengars of Srirangam and a sprinkling of Malayalis, Kannadigas and Andhraites. B.B.Matunga abuts Matunga on the west, south by Dadar; Wadala is to its east and Sion is on the north. A little away to the north separated by the central railway line is "Dharavi"-the largest slum of Asia -it is like a suppurating boil on the face of Matunga-a boil -yellow- full of pus about to burst with its Tamil population from the lowest level of society.

About Pattars

I am speaking about Kerala Iyers some of whom would like to call themselves pattars and some not so comfortable with that word as seen from the net talk. This write up is consequent to this.

There was an interesting query about the background and Epic related to celebration of Karthikai Vilakku and how & why it is considered important and related to brothers. There is always more than one story and it differs, depending upon which part of India you come from.