In Memory of Raju

In Mylapore, nearby to PSI school, used to live some older relatives of ours – one paati and thatha. They were somewhat distant, sharing a common ancestor 7 generations above my father (and hence of the same Gothra). We used to meet them often, as they would come daily to the temple near our house – and sometimes visit us too. This thatha’s name was also Gopalswamy Iyengar, but not to be confused with my thatha on the mother’s side (the same limited set of names used to be recycled again and again during that time). It is the paati about whom I remember an interesting tidbit. This paati was convinced that all study was futile, except for the practice of shorthand and typewriting. However, she used to call it as “shotand tapeta.” She would tell us that all we had to do was to practice shotand tapeta, and then go to Bombay. We would immediately get a job. There was no need to read or study any other subject. Because of this, she became permanently known as “shotand tapeta paati.”