Me ....4

My Mother:

Uma Devi is the second Daughter of M.S.Ramakrishna & Nagarathnamma.

Ramakrishna is a successful Advocate who practised for over Fifty years, in a small town called as Penukonda (is En route to Puttaparthi) in Andhra pradesh. Ramakrishna was the Brother in law of My Grand Uncle Sheshagiri Rao. He had Inherited the Legal Lineage from my Grand mother's Fore fathers, who were lawyers for over four generations.

Nagarathnamma a proficient artist , is well known in Andhra for her Mahila Mandali Movement, taught my mother various art forms. This successfully moulded my mother & her siblings as Artists, who had full confidence & a fantastic eye for detail.This build up of Confidence, Combined with heavy load of Positive approach made my mother to get her "I can do it " attitude .

My mother Joined her elder sister placed at my Grand uncle's house for her higher Education as Penukonda did not have a Junior college those days.

As time passed by, My Grand father Dr.Venkata Ramaiah, took notice of her abilities during his umpteen number of visits to my Grand uncle Sheshagiri Rao's home. He then put a marriage proposal to Mrs.Sheshagiri Rao, which in turn worked. My parents were Married on the 20th of May'1967

Mother was 17, then changed herself from Uma Devi to Padma (Later date she renamed herself as Padma Murthy).

The "I can do it Attitude" got her into hobby stitching, Painting, Knitting etc.As time passed by her talent in Knitting came to the fore & orders for sweaters started to pour in from Near & Dear. Mechanisation in our blood prompted her to borrow little money from my father to buy herself a Knitting Machine. This machine not only gave her the joy of knitting, but her time management skills were honed too. She peaked with her knitting business in the early parts of 1980 . Things were moving perfectly well, a few circumstances forced her to quit knitting.

1. Her own health was falling down due to stress & the dust of knitting wool
2. My Father havaing a slip disk & was advised bed rest. Instead of staying home, father chose to move his bed to the Workshop.

She slowed her pace down on knitting to move into our workshop as my father's care taker. During her stay in the workshop, her personal involvement in the daily affairs increased & few Accounting, Auditing & part stock checking systems started to fall into place.

Then on she's become a part & parcel of our working system & I would attribute our entire growth to her.
If it was not for her long sight, we would have enede up as an Non Authorised , single setup workshop, & would have perished in time.

Me ..... 2

A Non Conformist:

My Grand Father Dr. Venkata Ramaiah (Eldest Son of Shyamappa) was a Rebel & a non conformist to the core. He rejected all the Three traditional Family professions to take up Medical course & went on to become a Successful Doctor with a good practise .

Most of his prime time was spent in a Small town called Chikkaballapur, which is about 65 kms from Bangalore. This Rebel had an Engineer inside him & always loved to Tinker around with his Cars & house hold equipments. A strict Disciplinarian, his obsession with the Two C's were very prouncounced.

1. Cars

2. Camera's

After the Birth of My father (His Second & last child ,only Son), My grand father who had been through life at large started to relate himself & future generations with the Theory of Heredity . There was a WHAT IF question in his mind which was the turning point which changed the entire out look of our family.

He realised that My father was intelligent,Practical. While pondering on the next generation with the same question, he realised that it was unpredictable & decided to create a system which could generate income for generations even if the same was un/undereducated.

The First Profession that came to his mind was that of a Mechanic (he had seen his father Tinker around on Cars, Tractors, Truck etc though not very educated). This Prompted him to get in touch with his roots again & get the next gen connected to their roots.

By this time My Great grand father & his nephew had run out of steam & Govt policy on Import of vehicles slowed their business out. Their succession was not in place as they had failed to plan & groom the same. This prompted the Adventurers to log out of their business by selling their Lock, Stock & barrel.

My Great Grand Father (Shyamappa) returned home at his village & restarted his farming. The Teacher in him was yet to retire. He decided to educate the younger generation. He took to teaching his grand children during the week ends when they came to the village.

As events took a turn, Shyamappa started to get a few age related aliments & was forced to camp at my Grand fathers town quite often for his Medical treatment. Seizing this opprotunity, My grand father started to making him to look at the preventive maintainance of his car , during every visit. At the Same juncture, my Father(8 years of Age) was posted with Shyamappa as his permanent unpaid assitant. These Session with my Great Grand Father Taught was a great learing Experience to my father & Shyamappa Succesfully planted the Seed of Automotive obsession in my father's heart. As per My father's words, I understand he'd wait eagerly for his mentor either to come in or go to meet him & get the Adventure spirit to experiment with machines.

This Smart move by my grand father changed ourlives entirely.

Six Years later when my Father finished his 10th std, His Obvious one course choice of Education was to get a Diploma in Automobile Engg.

Me .....3

My Father:Venkatesha Murthy

A True conformist, was groomed purposefully by my Grand father to make a come back to the industry which according to my Grand father was a profession for generations.

Grand father this time ensured that my father was well armoured to face the industry with more knowledge, Logic than the sheer emotion of passion (as it was in the case of my Great Grand father & Grand Uncle)

Venkatesha Murthy Joined his Diploma in Automobile engg from the Famous Sri Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic in Bangalore. He was the Baby of the class & was a resident in the Hostel.

On the Side track it was at the Polytechnic hostel, he found a great room mate & best friend of his life Sri. Ravi Prakash Mittal. Ravi Prakash taught my father to experiment with electrical & basic electronics. He also taught him to move around in the used material market (Fondly called as Gujree) to find a few items to recycle & reuse.Till date I've seen my father Interacting only with Sri. Ravi Mittal & doing hear to heart session with him. Incidentally Sri.Ravi Prakash Mittal is the Eldest Brother of Sri.Som Mittal Sr.Vice president of HP Asia.

Passing out of his Diploma at the age of 17 years, My father went on to Join the 515 Army base workshop as an Apprentice. Post Apprenticeship, he moved on to a Two wheeler dealership & then on to a car service station as its lube bay foreman.

In the Days When Govt Jobs were considered God Sent blessings, father suddenly got two. The year was 1965 & had to make a tough choice between the two.
1. Motor vehicles dept (RTO) as Motor vehicle Inspector
2. Central Power Research Institute as its High Voltage Lab Foreman.
He choose the later as it was research oriented to the former which was more Paperwork oriented.

1971, one fine day my Grand father asked him to quit his secure central govt job to restart the family enterprise.

Me....

Me:
Centuries ago, a small Family migrated from Maharashtra in search of peace & prosperity to settle down in the nearby surrounding of Bangalore.

They took up to Farming near the Upcoming International Airport of Bangalore. This was the main Source of all income to the Family.

As the Society grew & the formal structures started to come in, one of them got a formal education & went on to Become a Lawyer.

The Turn of the last Century, there were primarily only two professions in this Family
1. Agriculturists
2. Lawyers

In the earlier years of of 1900's, this Family which was slightly in love with innovation , this lead to the Motor Car & thus began a Love affair with a new breed of Youngsters.

3. Automobile Enthusiasts

This Passion translated to a Past time then on to a Full fledged Profession.

Passion:

Our love for the Automobile began with a Simple Desire to Mechanise Agriculture. Justice Subbanna (Grand Father of Former Chief Justice of India Padma Vibhusan Justice M.N.Venkatachaliah), One of the Lawyer turned Magistrate from our Family, called a meeting of the Family to Ask for consent to give a try to the new Concept of farming with a Machine. This Machine he said was called the Tractor.

The Year was 1918, Family consented to this Idea as the man power was an acute shortage in that era. Since the Mechanics to repair these machines were not present those years, Few Youngsters took lead in learning the Technology, working system, principles & started to tinker around the Tractor.
Experience Builds Confidence:

The new learning brought in new confidence which made the Youth to get the elders to embark on the newer adventure. They made them buy a Car... the Largest car made & sold in those years. The year was 1920.

Over the years, the Expertise grew Friends & family started to seek help, Advice on Automobiles.

This Ability to network & provide solution build the confidence in them to Procure New Automobiles for Friends & family from Madras (the old name of Chennai),  then retail them in old state of Mysore.

1928, saw the Adventurers entering the Field in a bigger way. They went ahead with their Car Dealership located in the Cant Area behind MG road. They were official Dealers For Austin Cars under the name The Mysore Provincial Motor co.

They went on to sell Cars to Who's Who of the state which included Eminent Personalities like

1. HRH. Krishna Raja Wodeyar Bhadur, The Maharaja of Mysore
2. Bharatha Ratna. Sir. M.Vishveshwariah, Dewan of Mysore (Also the Engineer who Built the Famous Brindavan Garden).
3. Sir. Mirza Ismail, Dewan of Mysore

The Car Sold to The Maharaja was Gifted to CPC Polytechnic, Mysore & Is still around there. I got to know about the history of this car during my last training imparting session at Mysore Polytechnic.

Sir. Mirza's car was in news a few years ago in the Famous Khaleeli Murder case where Swami Shradhananda was involved.

The Duo went on to Establish another Car Dealership for Studebaker cars under the name The Reliance Motor co.
These Adventurers were

Shyamappa (My Great Grand Father)


Sheshagiri Rao (My Grand uncle, Son of Justice Subbanna)

Thus started a Romance with the Automobile, which has now lasted Four generations.