SeetharaMusings

These are memories of Sri Bezawada Seetharama Reddy about his childhood, family, relatives, marriages compiled together to keep them alive 

Dr Vilasini:

In 1951-52 I was in the 1st year of B.Sc and I could not get accommodation in the college hostel and my parents left me in Reddy House under Yashodavvas care. Same time Hyma and Vilasini were studying in Evarts school and they were also under Yashodavvas care. They were the first twins in the family and Kistappa used to dress them up in identical dresses and they were very cute kids. 

Yashodavva who was our guardian angel and we were looked after like her own kids.

Very soon after Vilasini was married and within couple of years she became a Widow. She was still a teenager and Bezawada Gopala Reddy garu went out of the way and got her a seat in Medical college. After completing Medicine and serving the people of Chennai she went & joined the Ashram and did lot of service to the poor. My heartfelt condolences to the family.

Reddy house:

No comparison for Gudur house to Reddy house. Gudur house was confined to Varada tatas family whereas Reddy house was open house not only for our family members but also to many Nellore people. In fact many second hand car brokers used to crowd there in the morning's. Many taxi fellows at central stn knew Reddy house, the fixed fare was one rupee twenty five paisa. 

Dodla Varada Reddy:

Since Varada tatas name came up in our discussions I started recalling those days.

I was hardly 8 yrs old when he died. I didnot know that I was his grand son until many years later.

He was kept at a high pedestal by the family. He used to sit on Darwaja arugu in the evenings surrounded by many admirers and Tala manushulu use to stand at a distance for a call.

Kids used come out of the school and who had an eye contact with him was shown his index finger and the kid would run to Rukkinavvas room who would promptly hand over a cigarette to be given to Tata. I was one of the regulars and I used to feel that my day was made.

One day there was a buzz and the talk was abuot a photo session of Tata. MANY CURIOUS kids were there to watch the proccedings. Some photografers came from Madras and Tata was dressed for the occasion and he was seated with his right elbow on a bundle of books. later I found that photo in all his progenies houses. Another day there was a big commotion in the house and the people were talking about serious deterioration of his health and he was to be taken to Nellore. Many anxious family Members gathered at Talavakita lncluding some of us kids. Just as Tata was being seated in the car Bhasker, tatas eldest sons eldest son sneezed. Every body looked daggers at him as if he committed a big crime. At that time Penna river was in spate and vehicles could not cross the river and the only way was on the railway brige. later I learnt that my father spoke to the collector got permission to take the car on the rail way brige. 

Flying Officer Dodla Ranga Reddy:

Kotimreddy Sekhar mama was great storyteller in our family

Now I recall one of his stories.

Most of our people may be familiar with Reddy house in Madras. For every small medical needs and some special requirements our family members used to go to Madras and Reddy house used to be Full all the time and most of the men used to sleep on the terrace. One midnight when everyone was sleeping during war time suddenly they heard boots sound coming up the stairs. Since the doors closed nobody could enter the house and they were scared that it could be Ghost.

Suddenly there appeared pilot Rangamama who came to Madras airbase and he had few hours to himself and he didn't want miss the opportunity and visited the family in the dead of night. After couple of hours a jeep came and picked him up.

Tragically that was the last time any of our family members saw him.

Dodla Lakshmi Narayana (DLN):

Some reminisces of D.L.N.R.

IN 1941 MY MOTHER AND MY SIS SESHAPPA DELIVERED LEELA AND LAKHMINARANA FEW DAYS APART AT A.B.M HOSPITAL NELLORE.

AS A KID I USED TO SEE THEM LYING DOWN IN SIDE BY SIDE COTS IN BABEMAMAS ROOM IN OUR HOUSE.

Later peddabayya was sent to Bangalore for his schooling. When there was a group photo taken after the marriage of one of the brothers he was the only kid who was absent in thegroup photo of my father's progeny.

Much later in 1956 summer my brother Krishna and D.L.N came to Pilani to meet me when I just completed my post graduation in Birla scns college.

Later we all came back to New Delhi to my father's North Avenue MP's QUARTERS.

AFTER A FEW DAYS STAY THERE MY father SENT THE THREE OF us TO SRINAGAR FOR A HOLIDAY.

FROM DELHI WE WENT TO JAMMU BY TRAIN AND FROM THERE WE WENT TO SINAGAR BY A DAKOTA PLANE SINCE THERE WAS NO ROAD OR TRAIN CONNNECTION, MUCH LATER IN 60's BANNIHAL PASS CAME INTO USE.

THE RETURN FARE FOR EACH WAS 30 Rs. EACH PASSENGER ALONG WITH HIS LUUGAGE WAS WEIGHED BEFORE BOARDING.

IN SRINAgaR WE HAD VERY GOOD TIME GOING ROUND GULMARG, SONMARG,ANANTNAG, PEHALGAM ETC.

A FEW YEARS LATER WHEN I WAS WORKING IN VIzAG HE WAS MY GuEST FOR TWO YEARS WHEN HE DID HIS POST GRADUATION IN ANDHRA UNIVERSITY.

Dodla Janakappas:

Janakappas photo brought flood of memories of that time. Her marriage was a very big event and all the family members wanted to go to Penubally. All the jatkas and Onteddu bandlu were taken away for ladies and we many kids were left behind since going by open double bullock carts was infradig for reddygari pliiakayalu.Then Kodandamama who happened to be in Buchi got a brilliant idea. He enthused all the kids to take evening walk from Buchi to Penubally and all of us enthusiastically participated. 

Marriage was grandly celebrated and highlight of the evening was a dance performance by one budding actress fromMadras.

Waheeda Rehman:

Since dance came into the narrative I recollected Parvatammas marriage in Girija talkies a couple of years later.

Kesatata arranged a budding actress by NAME Waheeda Rehman ,who just became famous with her dance song Rojulumarai.

It so happened I went from Madras to attend the marriage and a bus was arranged from Santapeta for the dance troop and I could travel in the bus.

There was awe that a fabulous sum of three hundred rupees was paid to the troop and it included their travel expenses.

Joblessness is a state of Mind

Unemployment is a myth according to some, if that is the case, why are there so many who are apparently listless and jobless. At the same time there is a section who speak about lack of talented/ skilled people for the work on their hands. Where is the dichotomy.

In the Indian context, it is a noted fact that, people want things to be served on a platter literally. Was talking to a activist who is part of an NGO, which worked in certain rural districts of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, who detailed a thought process of the youth and their parents living in those places.

Thanks to the available resources, today education has been made available to all classes of people and

irrespective of their caste or social strata youngsters are completing degrees and are waiting for Government jobs. On the other side parents who have gone through the trouble of educating them, do not want to see their ward getting back in to the traditional work which the parents have been undertaking through the ages, be it farming or weaving or any other so called Chores that created the caste system in our country.

Thanks to various pay commissions, today government posts are the most sought after because, it gives the permanency for the job and very good salaries in addition to the potential of making money on the side, if one is inclined. So people are willing to stake it out by writing various talent exams and wait for the results and those who cant pass them through normal means, even are willing to buy their way through.

In spite of all these, there is a good section of people, who are 'Job Less' and they are the people whom we see getting abused at home for their status and generally cursing everyone and everything around them for their state of affairs. Are these people right, are they ever introspecting for themselves, as to why they are not able to land a job, are they simply waiting for the better job the proverbial hanging fruit which always eludes them. Most people don't introspect and those who do, generally start finding their way towards either self employment or some earning mode.

Those who don't introspect, keep cursing the system, their parents and everyone else for their state of affairs. What about these people, if you go and tell them, their plight is more to do with their 'State of Mind' will they accept it, no they wont but, that is the reality. This segment are the ones who are lured by easy money and might even end up as criminals, which could be avoided if their energies are channeled properly.

While the idea of Start up India is very ideal, like Swach Bharath, there has to be a holistic mind set change required at various levels from people, to bankers to potential investors. In addition to all these, there have to be channels for budding entrepreneurs to interact with professionals and subject matter experts, to ensure their ideas are converted into a success. Only then the job less people can become entrepreneurs and probably even provide employment to other job less people too.

In addition to all these, many people take voluntary retirements from various places including armed forces. Some of them pursue alternate employment, some people generally remain jobless because, they are yet to get a "suitable" job for themselves. This suitable job is the problem of mindset and many of them might continue to be jobless, just because they don't want to compromise on their position or earlier salary.

There are another set of people like me, who would have quit a position for pursuing enterprise or having decided to use the experience to deliver knowledge services. In the event we want to pursue a career once again we will suddenly face the lack of "qualifications" and most of the time experience does not get counted. Now, the unemployment becomes a matter of choice once again, as wanting to land up a job equivalent what was performed earlier, may or may not materialise.

If one seriously makes an effort, there are avenues to make money by either working for someone or themselves. It is that effort that is needed and of course right channelising of these efforts. Look

Various kinds of self employment on display across the world

around us we will find many a person, who makes vending his job and makes an effort to reach to people, if you don't give up you will find success, but, learning on the job is a must.

Copyright of all pictures used in this blog rests exclusively with the respective owners

Screwed by the Government

This is an interesting story of a prime property in Hyderabad city, which has seen many a twist and turn.

During the famous rule of Sri YS Rajasekara Reddy as CM, then government of AP decided to auction various properties of Hyderabad and it's surroundings by public auction for development into various categories. Only issue, as realised much later by the successful bidders, with these auctions was the lack of clarity on the background of these properties and or no clear vision on the likely impediments for the planned development.

LANCO hills has the issue of WAKF land sitting around its neck, where politician after politician using the blackmailing tactics on the developer irrespective of the fact it was a government auctioned site, which is supposed to be a clean sale. Similarly the land that was auctioned in Kokapet by the government, which got later embroiled in litigation on ownership, the buyers are not even able to get their monies back from the government for the reasons best known to all of us 'Speed money demand'.

I am more keen to discuss the famous triangular plot in the heart of the city. Here lies a plot measuring about 6 acres abutting the famous green corridor KBR park and positioned in the 'Çheck post' junction of Jubilee Hills.

The plot was put up for auction on 21^st Feb 2006 with offers from bidders having stopped at Rs.1,35 lakh per Sq. Mtr, they opened the sealed bids which surprisingly had a bid for Rs.1.42 lakh per Sq. Mtr (Which roughly translates to Rs. 1.18 lakh per Sq. Yard), which was the highest transaction value in those days in the given area.

Government having got a sale value of Rs.333.70 crores from this sale, was quite happy. The successful bidders were told they can do any kind of development in that place. Bidding consortium being Nagarjuna Construction Company, Maytas, ICICI. The consortium then started working on the project and wished to build a high rise commercial complex.

Problem 1: Being a prime piece of land that was auctioned with a 'Áll Go' statement by the government, the bidders went without a worry and offered the highest price. Once they firmed up their plans and sent the plan for approval to the competent authorities, they were told they cannot have a building higher than 3 or 4 floors, this being in the funnel of the air traffic of Begumpet airport, the then primary airport of the city.

Problem 2: One of the consortium partner Maytas went into a huge turmoil after its associate company Satyam founder chairman B Ramalinga Raju, confessed to accounting malpractices in Jan 2009 in a letter t the SEBI.

Google Earth Images of the said property from 2005 to 2015

The Begumpet airport became only a VIP and Air force airport from March 2008 after the opening of the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Shamshabad. However considering the 'Funnel' route there was no improvement in the plan sanction. Meanwhile Maytas started going into further problems with its accounts being seized and assets being attached etc. Maytas was taken over by IL & FS and named as IL&FS Engineering company.

Finally Mantri Developers of Bangalore walked into the consortium as a developer in December 2011 and decided to change the plan to a high end residential complex and targeted a price of 13 to 15 k per sq. Ft of constructed area. Building height was reduced to the statutory needs and construction work started in right earnest. Other builders / developers were waiting for the success of this project as it would have created a new benchmark for pricing in the heart of the Hyderabad city, the much wanted improvement in a city which went through the separate state agitation and suffered in brand image.

Luckily the pace of work picked up in 2014 as the new Telangana state was formed and the new government was in place. Here started the travails for the consortium. The new government had its own vision for the city and the new state. In the process the CM of the state Sri K Chandrasekar Rao wanted to make the city of Hyderabad a no signal city by building flyovers across the city where today there is congestion.

Jubilee hills near the Check post^th of May 2015 asking for stoppage of work at all projects where (Including the ones where plan approvals are in place) these flyover projects are proposed to come up.

junction happens to be one such place where government wants a new flyover. They issued a fresh GO on the 30

Now this project is one of those affected by this GO, for the consortium as they are licking their wounds of 2006 this bolt from the blue, is a bigger threat, as until government decides on the design of the flyovers, they cannot progress on their plans. Even some of the luxury apartments they managed to sell will get delayed.

Would you call this triangular plot a 'Jinxed' plot or something else and would you not categorise it under the 'Government f**ks me' category as far as the developers are concerned. They could be big and might be able to manage their way, but the interim delay cannot be compensated by anyone.

(This article is based on inputs from industry players)

Government – Schools – Students – The Aadhar connection

When i got the circular from my daughter's school seeking her Aadhar number, the immediate thought that came to my mind was , why couldn't they adopt a similar method which was adopted by the Election commission, PAHAL the LPG subsidy site.

Apparently there is a huge gap between the above two programs and the schools info. First two are more or less Central govt projects and there is some primary data available, where as the schools coming under state subject education, we have to go through a long process of making this info connected.

However, if it was done the way the central issues were linked with Aadhar, there could have been lot more transparency for the parents. Not that they are providing some confidential information. What i have in mind is simply the following.

Government will first list out all the recognised schools in a designated website, listing out the permissions granted up to which class they can operate, category (Aided, Unaided, partly aided etc), which board (State board/CBSE/ICSE etc) they are authorised to offer, medium of education permitted and location where the school is situated in, The organisation which runs the school (usually trusts if the school is private) etc. After this the school would be provided access to the website to upload their student data.

Schools, on obtaining the access to the govt website, will start uploading the data of their pupils, class, section wise. Since the data will be based on school records it will be more or less accurate. Once this exercise is done, the schools will ask the parents to link the child's Aadhar number in this website. Parents can authenticate the input through a OTP (One Time Password) that will be sent from this site while updating the child's Aadhar number.

Parents will visit the site and select the school, class, section and identify their ward name and input the Aadhar number after getting a OTP. After doing this, it would be easier for the parents to verify the permissions the school has got and whether they got the permissions where their child is studying in specific. There are instances in Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, where schools have been operating branches with one single license, a status which can put the child's education in danger if the authorities decide to disallow students of the branches which are not permitted.

This Govt. website can also capture the info and Aadhar number of the teaching staff. It is possible many a Govt. Teacher is teaching in a private school drawing double wages and depriving the Govt. school students of a proper teaching. Particularly it is more likely to happen in rural areas. Even parents can verify this info, if photographs and education qualifications are also listed.

This whole exercise will help bring in transparency in the education system, where parents can verify the schools permissions, staff qualifications. Govt will have total input on the schools admission process, RTE admissions (they could ask the schools to categorise the admissions) even fee structure prescribed to that particular school could be displayed, helping the parents to know whether they are being over charged by the school.

When a student is leaving the school, both transfer certificate (TC) and Marks list can carry the child’s Aadhar number, so that next institute can record the same while admitting the children be it at school level or higher studies. Even for a Banker while disbursing education loans this school record would be handy to know, whether the loan seeker has the required qualifications to pursue the next level of studies.

What i am writing about may not be too far from implementation and could be easily done under Digital India as visualised by the PM.

Song on present state of affairs in Andhra Pradesh, my home state

నీ బిడ్డ కోసం కల గన్నవా సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
మేమంత నీ బిడ్డలం కాదా ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
రెండు సార్లు నీ పార్టీకి ఓట్లెసి గెలిపించినాం ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
మా ఎంపీల దన్ను తొ చేసావు దోపిడి ఈ దేశాన్ని సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో

మా పెద్దొల్లు చెప్పారు తెలుగు మీ ఇటలీయన్ అంత తీపని, ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
మా అమయాక తెలుగు జనం నమ్మారు అదే నిజం కాబోలు అని, ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
నువ్వు ఇటలీ మేము తెలుగు ఆహ కుదిరింది మంచి లింకు అని, ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
ఆడావుగదా మహా తల్లి, ఓ ఆట మా తెలుగు వాళ్ళ బ్రతుకులతో ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో

బాశారు అశువులు, మా తెలుగు బిడ్డలు వెయ్యకు మించి, ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
వేశావు కమీటులు లెక్కకు మించి, ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
కాని ఏ కమిటి చెప్పింది మా బతుకులతో ఆడమని, ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
తొక్కావు తుంగలో శ్రీ క్రిష్న కమిటీ నివేదికని ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో

ఎక్కారు రోడ్డు పై మా ఆడవాళ్ళు, మా చంటి బిడ్డలు ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
వీధికేక్కారు మా చదువుకునె బిడ్డలు, ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
ససేమిరా అన్నారు మా ఉద్యోగ సొదరులు   ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
మా కలల మాటెమిటీ ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో

నా బిడ్డకు నేను గన్న కలే ముఖ్యం అన్నావు ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
మీ బిడ్డలు, మీ కలలు ఎటు పొతే నా కేమిటి, అన్నావు ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
మీ అత్త ఇందిరమ్మ నమ్మింది మేమంతా ఒకటిగా బతకాలని ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
అత్తా లేదు దుత్తా లేదు నా మాటె ఇక పై చెల్లు అన్నావు ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో

డూడూ బసవన్నలు మా మంత్రులు, ఎంపీలు ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
ఆడారు నీ మాటకు నాట్యం, చేసారు నువ్వు చెయమన్నదల్లా, ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
పాపం చూసారు ఈ రోజు, ప్రజా ఆగ్రహం   ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
ఇల్లు ఎక్కడొ, వాళ్ళు ఎక్కడో దిక్కు తొసక ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో

మా చంద్రన్న, జగనన్న తిట్టుకున్నరు నువ్వేంత నువ్వేంత ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
మా కిరణన్న ఎగరేసిండు తిరుగుబాటు జెండా ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
నీ కాడ తోక ఊపిన సత్తెన్న పెట్టిండు పోలీసుల్ని ఇంటికి కాపలా ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
ఈ నాయకుల్ని నమ్మిన మా బతుకుల్ని కాలరాయకె ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో

మాది తెలుగు, నీది ఇటాలి, బాషలు రెండు గొప్పవే తల్లి ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
చెయవే మా బతుకులు బాగు బాగు ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
విడదీసి న్యాయం చేస్తవో, కలిపుంచి బాగు పరుస్తవో ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో
కాని చూడకే తెలుగోడి కోపాన్ని, బగ్గుమంటది నీ  కాంగ్రేస్సు ఓ సొనియమ్మో, అమ్మో సొనియమ్మో