Bristol Quarters Memories

I  got married in 1956 and went to Bristol, UK, where Achen was working with Rolls Royce. After 3 years, Achen joined HAL Bangalore, and we have been here ever since. I am happy to say we had the privilege to be the local guardians to fourteen Nereyeth nieces and nephews, 4 of Chettan's, 5 of Chackochan's, 3 of Appachan's, Sangeetha and Lonachan and several of my sister's children.

Sundays used to be Open house at #2 Bristol Quarters, where many of them used to turn up for fellowship, lunch and cards. Beena & Kochurani with their kids and Mini Shoba, Sheena, and Deepa, Vakkachan and Johnny

Staying in Bangalore was a blessing in disguise because I built strong bonds with all of them and so did Georgie, Johnny, Tommy and Jacob, and I’m glad to see that these bonds with my nieces, nephews and the next generation have continued to grow over the years.

Bristol Quarters Stories

CATCHING A KING COBRA 

One morning Our Mali (gardener) saw a 5 feet long King Cobra. Crawling by in our garden. at  No 2, Bristol Quarters. Old Madras Road, Bangalore, India He quietly observed   its path, and saw it getting into a 3" diameter hole nearby. The snake thought it was safely hiding in the hole, but a small portion of its tail was jutting out. The Mali was very brave and he wanted to pull the snake out of the hole. So, he caught the snake by its tail and pulled it with one hand and with the other hand he tried to catch the snake’s neck as it was coming out.

In the process the snake was faster and bit the Mali on the hand.!! You could see two tiny tooth mark with a little blood on his hand. A snake bite could be fatal. But the Mali held the snake s neck tight and the snake wound itself around the Malis hand.
Now he was in a catch 22 situation, he did not know what to do. He cannot free the snake and let it go, as there was a risk of it turning back and biting him again

How long is he going to hold on to it? He thought for a moment and came to our house and rang the bell. with the snake wound around his arm. When I opened the door, I got a shock of my life seeing this frightening sight

. 

He requested me to give him a large Tin with lid so that he can put the snake in and close the lid. I gave him one. He then proceeded to unwind the snake coiled around his hand and started putting its tail first, and then the long body and lastly the head.  and close it.  But before he could put the head in, the tail starts popping out of the Tin and he could not close it. Again and again, he tried to put the snake inside the Tin and he could not do it and he gave up that idea.  

By this time some passersby started   coming   in and collected around him to watch what is going to happen. They started asking him if he was Feeling ok, was he feeling some symptoms of snake venom etc. Now he looked really   frightened 

He could die soon with the poison of the dreaded Cobra bite. 

Then I called up a professional Snake Catcher who was available around our area   and he came and took charge of the snake, held it by its neck, made it open its mouth and pulled out its poisonous fangs

From   now onwards it cannot harm any body and he curled the. Snake into a bag and tied it, He then took it to a Snake Park and released it and allowed it. to go free

Mali was sent to the Emergency Room to take treatment and to take an anti-dote injection for snake bite.  Luckily, he recovered Everything ended well at last.

Posted 16th August 2012 by Rosamma

CHAKY THE MOUSE

One day Chaky the Mouse and her Mate sneaked into our bed room when we were away on summer vacation. The room was quiet and comfortable and so She decided to make a cozy nest to have her babies there. We had gone to Alapuzha. We came back after a month to Bangalore and started spring cleaning the house. Bed covers and window curtains needed to be washed and so I started taking down the window curtains and suddenly we were taken aback by a repulsive sight. Two small mice ,the size of your thumb ,fell down from the folds of the curtain, along with 4 tiny pinkish white babies. 

The newborn babies died with the fall. , and the parents disappeared , who knows where We searched and searched , but they were not be found .We took down all the curtains and kept the windows open ,hoping the mice will find their way out .But after a few of days to our surprise ,one night , some gnawing sound of the bed room door could be heard. I switched on the lights, and z saw one mouse running behind the cupboard. O God! the mice are still in our bedroom. We have to somehow find their hiding place and get rid of them .We decided to launch. "Operation Mice ". 

The. boys got ready with their own weapons. George picked up his Cricket Bat, John brought his Tennis Racket, Tom was ready with his Catapult and little Jacob had his Belt and a Ruler in hand and the Ayah was holding a broom, all ready to swoop in. Then we searched the room for almost an hour. The mice were nowhere to be found. We called off the operation and went to sleep. The same drama. repeated a few times more and one night, in one of those combined midnight operation, one of the mice got killed. HI, Hurrah! We were happy that we. made some progress. We still have to find the other one, though. We named her Chaky. One week passed peacefully Then one morning I noticed the lace curtain in the dining room window ripped open in many places. 

Well, it is definitely the work of Chaky, she must have moved in to the dining room by now. From here, she started her midnight destruction activity with a vengeance. She ate a corner of the table mat one day, and shredded the tray cloth. Every day she will nibble at the fruits kept on the table, Bananas, guavas, mangoes etc. We were getting angry and determined, continued our vigorous search, but Chaky could not be found. We were sure she is hiding somewhere there, the tiny little Rat! Then. On a fine Sunday morning it happened. All 6 of us were sitting around the table eating our special Sunday breakfast of Thekkethala Omelets and Toast. Our pop-up toaster makes 2 toasts at a time. 

The toaster was kept on the side board next to the dining table. The 1st set of two toasts came up and were shared by 2 of us and when the next set popped up Lo and Behold! Chaky also jumped out with the toast, she fell on the floor, with burns all over, and died! Poor Chaky, she must have been hiding inside the Toaster which is used only on Sundays to make toast. . We suddenly felt sorry for her That day no more toasts were made and no one ever wanted to eat toasts made in that toaster anymore !!  

Sent from my iPadPosted 9th October 2013 by Rosamma

MONKEY MENACE

Our   garden in Bristol Quarters Bangalore, had lots of fruit trees like

mangoes, guavas, pomegranates, chikoos, papaya and banana etc. We always

enjoyed these home-grown fruits. Then one day, suddenly a bunch of Monkeys.

descended   upon our garden from nowhere. They came in as a large family

group. 

There was one large male who was the Leader/Head of the group, 4-5

females, some had babies clung on their mothers’ tummies, upside down. 8-9

teen agers and grown-up ones also. They started jumping from one tree to

the other and started vandalizing the garden, by plucking fruits. bite it

once and throw it down Again pluck more fruits.  bite and drop it down

Thus, more than half the fruits from the tree were plucked and thrown down.

They were vandalizing the garden for an hour, eating, and destroying us

fruits and then, they suddenly disappear and go to some other garden

When they are in the garden, you dare not shoot them away, because the

Leader will come charging at you, by screaming and baring his full teeth

to scare you away. They could even bite you and maul you   A monkey bite is

dangerous as it can transmit the dreaded Rabis, and we close the door and

stay inside This used to happen at least once every month until the fruit

season is over. 

All of us got very upset by   this and we were thinking of a way to

put an end to this.

I had an idea, and it was a plan to poison the monkeys. I bought some

Zinc Oxide which is a rat poison available in the market. When next time the

monkeys came, I made some sandwiches, nicely buttered some bread, spread

rat poison on it, covered it with. Another piece, cut it into four and threw

it out for the monkeys. to see.  and watched what they will do. Few monkeys

suspiciously.  looked at me, slowly, picked up the sandwiches, smelt it,

opened it, the black color poison was showing They rubbed out the poison

on grass, and ate them.  I was sure that some of them will die and the

group will not come back to visit us again. But one fine day they appeared

as usual.  As Tho nothing has happened Then, one day, a nephew was

visiting us Mon Chacko. Your dad’s cousin.

Then the monkeys appeared. I was telling Mon all that was happening. He

said if you shoot and kill one of them, they will flee away from our area

and will never come to our garden again I said why don't we try this out

. Now, Appapan had a .22 bore gun. He picked it up and went out to the

garden. Then a few monkeys came charging at him trying to dare him 

He fired a shot at them. One small monkey   lay wounded on the ground

and the rest of them ran away, climbed up the walls and sat on our roof

looking down at the wounded one. Just then Mon wanted to examine the

wounded monkey to see if he could do anything for it, He went near it and

suddenly the brave Leader jumped down and came charging at him. Screaming

at the top of its voice ready to maul and bite Mon. He immediately fired at

the Leader and Lo! He fell dead   and the wounded one also died.

Now we have Two dead bodies on our hands We started getting worried. No

one in the Colony we lived should know we have killed the Monkeys

Monkeys are worshipped here as they served   Lord Sri Rama and Goddess

Sita

He is known as HANUMAN.  and there are many Hanuman Temples around here We

don't want to hurt anybody's religious sentiments We quickly covered the

dead bodies with baskets so that no one will see it Mon.  and others

started digging two pits to bury them The Leaders body was weighing a ton

they said, and they pulled him into the

pit and covered it with earth. When the burial work was completed, all

of us heaved a sigh of relief

After this the Monkeys. Never came to visit us 

They are very intelligent animals.    Finally, our Monkey Menace was over 

And that is the story

Posted 16th August 2012 by Rosamma

A GHASTLY SHOOTING INCIDENT - TOM GETS SHOT
 

It was a school holiday. The Kapoor boys next door Rajiv & Sanjay had just received a new air gun as present    and early that morning they called up   few   friends to go around for shooting practice. Thomas was one of the invitees. The whole morning, they roamed around Bristol Quarters   looking for Squirrels, Birds, Blood Suckers and Lizards, Chameleon, Snakes etc.   for their shooting target . Since they could   not get any prey. they returned home disappointed.

Then Rajiv who was 12 years old wanted to try out his gun, and made a plan in his mind He asked his brother to call Thomas from next door, to come to their house. Thomas immediately rushed to his friend’s place. As he was walking up their drive way, Rajiv. who was hiding behind a bush suddenly came out holding the Air gun and    shouted.    "HANDS. UP ".  Thomas held up his hands   and the guy took a shot at Thomas. The pellet hit Tom on his neck and blood started flowing out. On seeing the blood.  Tom got scared and ran back home screaming and crying. He was terrified   for he thought he is going to die any moment!  That is what he has seen in movies.    -- gun shots -fall down dead.

When I heard Tom crying and saw him   with blood flowing down his neck and shirt, for a moment I did not know what to do-- call and inform Dad at the office, call. 108 for an ambulance, then suddenly I decided I am going to reach him to HAL hospital as fast as possible.  I wound a towel around his neck and the screaming Thomas   had collapsed on to a sofa, He was then carried to the front seat of the car and I drove to the hospital with a terrified.  Tom. Crying at the top of his voice clinging on to me, I tried to console him and he rested his head in my lap still crying and waiting for the inevitable to happen. !!

It took 15. Min for me to reach the hospital I carried Tom to the Emergency and laid him   on a trolley at the entrance and I was much agitated. And I screamed. "Dr, Some one   shot.  my son, please do something fast”. Dr immediately came, he then unwrapped the towel from Toms neck, looked at the wound and send him for an X Ray to find out where the   pellet is lodged.    The report came soon to say the pellet grazed through the neck and exited out. It is not there. There was relief  at last .

3 switchers  were put  on his neck  and he was  feeling  much better and ready to go home.

Meanwhile Dad called home to find out why I called him , he was in busy in a meeting. Jacob told him that -Tom Got Shot - and Mum has taken him to the hospital
Dad got panicky ,thinking Tom must have taken out his pistol and playing  with it
The pistol was kept in a safe hidden  place in the house   and how did he find it ?
He did not even want to think what could have happened to Tom with the pistol going off accidentally     When he arrived in the hospital ,he  was much relieved to know all is well Dr told us that it was a lucky escape for Tom

The pellet could have hit his eye  and he would  have lost the eyesight  or if it hit   his head , wind pipe   ,gullet. etc., it could have been fatal too

Rajiv &Sanjay went on to become Engineers and. I think they are in the US
Rajiv I know keeps in touch with Thomas

Posted 16th August 2012 by Rosamma

A FRENCH WOMAN SLAPS OUR BABE

Jacob was the youngest of   our 4kids and we stated calling him Baby   at the beginning before he started going to school. And he got to be known around as Babe (Baib)to all his friends. at Bristol Quarters. There were about a dozen kids below 12. years, living there, and they used to split into 2-3 groups, age wise, and play around, in the evenings and during weekends. All the houses belonged to HAL and were known as Bristol Quarters

Out of the 14. Houses, 2 were occupied by Germans who had come to work in HAL and then a French Couple moved into one of the houses with their 6-year-old son
I don't remember his name, but Jacob will know. He was a naughty kid, always playing some pranks or the other, on his mother. He dints go to any school as they had come. to India  for only a year   and he did not know English , so  he was having Home schooling
His mother was a little hyper ,she kept to herself , did not mix with anyone around and was over possessive of her son, would not have him out of her sight for more than a  few minutes
 

It was a Saturday morning , all the kids were outside playing and the French boy joined Jacobs group 5-7.age group  .It appears that suddenly this boy ran  back home ,and told his mother that someone  called him a -" Bugger" .The Lady was having  a bath and she  quickly came out in her bathrobe  with. a bath.   towel. wound around her. head. She came out to the road and located a few boys playing around and asked them who called her son. "-Names “. They looked at each other wondering what is happening, and started moving away from her. She quickly caught hold of Jacob and howled "You called my son Bugger?  you dirty bugger! " She then slapped him and left in a huff carrying her son. Seeing what happened to Jacob, all the boys came running to my house and told me that the French Woman slapped. Jacob. There was no injury. Jacob himself was in a daze and did not know how to react. He was the Baby of the house and no one has ever hit him.

His friends narrated the incident in detail    When I heard what happened, I was furious and fuming with anger. How dare someone hit   My child! This Woman has no business to hit my son, If Jacob called her son something, he can call him back something else -only verbal abuse. Nothing else and a grown-up person has no right to hit my child
I called Appapan at the office. And informed him what happened. I said I want to go to the Police  and register a case .She should not be allowed to go Scot free after this incident.

Appapan in his wisdom , thought about the issue and   informed the "HR"-human resource - Department of the  Company  and informed them about the incident  They swung in to action  .Soon the French Gentleman came to Appapans Office and profusely  apologized  for  his wife's mistake .He also mentioned that his wife's mental health is not good etc. .

So We decided to forget the incident . We came to know later that he sends his wife and son back to France soon after, so that these sorts of incidents will not happen
And that is the end of the story

Posted 16th August 2012 by Rosamma

JACOB GETS STUCK IN TAR

No 2, Bristol Quarters, Old Madras Road, were we lived for 28 years, was a well-protected   Residential colony. All my children grew up there and  used  to  go to school from there They are picked up from the main entrance gate  before  8am   And  they get back home around  4 pm. in the HAL. School Bus

When they reach home, they are very hungry and are served Rice and curry-whatever we had for lunch   --also a glass of milk to top up. Then they change the school uniform, and shoes and put on some home dress and go out to play. The rule is they have to get back home latest by 6-30 pm, take bath, and then it is study time up to 8-pm, have dinner which   Usually consists of Chappathy   and    Curries    and go to bed by 8.30 pm.

We had a live in Ayah/Nanny. who took care of all these. She was with us for 11 years and left only when the youngest, Jacob started going to school. She came to take care of John when he was 6 months old and stayed on to look after. Tom &Babe as well
This incident happened when Jacob was about.  4-5years old. That day when children came back from school, they saw great commotion around the colony.  10-12 workers were there spreading granite jellies on the road, heavy road rollers were being driven up and down. pressing down the jellies into position, and few Drums full of Tar was being heated on open fire and when the Tar melts, it is poured and spread over the pressed metal surface of the Road and the Road Roller is run over it once more and left it to dry up.

Children were very curious to see the work and commotion happening around the colony. They dint want to play that day and were going round and round the area, in groups observing everything. Then, some kids came to our house to say that. JACOB is crying, he got stuck in the TAR. And he cannot come out. Some seniors tried to pull him out but his feet are STUCK  and can't walk out .He cannot pull himself out of the sticky tar and he  started crying .On hearing this both Ayah and I rushed to the place and found that his slipped legs were stuck inside a puddle of tar  near a tar drum .Ayah stood outside the puddle of tar and with all her force pulled him out from the tar
The slippers were lost in the tar ,and there was tar over his feet and hands
She then carried him home. Bottles of kerosine were used to wash and remove the tar from him legs and hands. His cloths had to be discarded -you cannot get the tar off it. I think it took almost a month to get rid of the streaks of tar from around his finger and toe nails.

Posted 16th August 2012 by Rosamma

THEKKETHALA HEIRLOOM

Appapan had an OLMA wrist watch. He had used it for about 25 years
In those days Watches needed to be manually wound every day for it to function
Normally you remove the watch when you go to sleep and when you get up you pick up the watch and wind it. And then only, put it on your wrist. That is how you use the watch before it became automatic.

When Georgie completed 8th standard, Dad presented to him with his Precious Olma watch and told him he should take good care of it. He will get a brand-new watch when he completes 10th standard.

And As time went by, Georgie finished 10th he got a new watch, and the Olma.  watch was handed over to John who was in the 8th, then to Tom   When he was in the 7th and at last to. Jacob. When he was in the 7 th standard jacob was told   the watch   was Weather proof and Water proof

As soon as he got the watch, he wanted to test if it is true. So, he soaked    the precious OLMA in the bath tub filled with water over night, fished it out and   saw it was ticking away., it was working !,

And then took it to the kitchen stove to test if it is Fire proof. as well.
It just got burned and there goes the Thekkethala. Hair loom   for a spin
Ria you ask your dad to show you his marriage Video. There is a Teasing/Roasting
Session with a Haldi smearing ceremony   done by 8-10 of his cousins. in the presence of 100 odd relatives and guests. There you can hear them singing how the Thekkethala Heirloom was lost!

Posted 16th August 2012 by Rosamma

A CYCLING PICNIC 

The very first Cycling Picnic from Bristol Quarters was organized by 6 boys all in the age group of 9 - 12 They decided to go on a picnic, riding their bicycles to Whitefield about 15 Kms away from home. Their cycles were mostly smaller sized ones, as 3 of them could not reach the pedals of standard bicycles The group consisted of George &John Thekkethala, Vijay Albuquerque, Sandeep. Keshu, Dinesh Naik, and Naresh Nagia.

This picnic was just the beginning of a series of many over night and Weekend Picnics to follow the plan was to start at 7Am on a Saturday morning, cycle up to Whitefield, spend some time there, and return home by 5pm This was going to be their first outing venture on their own outside the protected area of Bristol Quarters. Naturally their mothers Rosamma, Vera, Shanthi Teresa, and Pushpa were all worried by the thought of them cycling on the main. 

NH 75 Highway on Old Madras Road all the way to Whitefield. Their only consolation was that it was one straight road all the way, so the children won’t get lost on their way back After all the hectic planning, it was decided they start after breakfast and each one will carry their packed lunch, snacks for tea time, fruits and water. And at last, one fine day, it was the Picnic Day. 

By 7 am 6 boys all excited and happy, assembled on their cycles all packed and ready and were flagged off by their anxious mothers at the gates of Bristol Quarters. After they left, the mothers looked at each other and wondered -Now we won’t have any communication with the boys until they returned in the evening. (there were no mobiles in those days) The group happily cycled for some time, passed KR Puram, one of the land marks and headed for Hoskote, the next land mark before they reach Whitefield on the way to Hoskote, they decided it was Lunch Time and stopped when they saw a large shady tree. They halted there and got out of their cycles. 

They opened their lunch boxes and shared the goodies. Sandwiches, Poori-Channa, Upma, Idly-Chutney etc. and Oranges and Bananas. They enjoyed their food and got on to their cycles and proceeded to Whitefield. After a while they decided it was Tea Time and stopped at a deserted place enjoyed all the various Snacks packed for them. Since none of them had a wrist watch, they had no idea what time it was. They did not know Kannada and so they could not talk to any villagers on the way to find out what time it was! But now, they were sure they are not going to reach Whitefield and gave up the idea and they felt if they don't turn back now, it may get dark. 

and everybody will start worrying about them. Any way all the food is over and there is no point cycling any further. So, the group decided to return It is 1 pm now and we were about to have our lunch. And the doorbell rang and Guess who? We were surprised to see Georgie & Johnny. They looked happy and tired, their legs were aching and needed rest The picnic is over, they said they never reached White field, not even Hoskote! Well, done my boys! 

Sent from my iPad

Posted 19th August 2012 by Rosamma