My eldest brother late A R Raman

My eldest brother late A R Raman was born at Cherukunnu at my grand mother's (mother of my mother) house as was the custom of those days. Normally in our community the practice of naming is such that the eldest son will be having the same name of his father's father (grand father). My eldest brother was the most intelligent and humane person of our family. He had two phase of life. One very aggressive and mischievous period up to his going to college studies. After that he was a totally different person. He was very gentle, wise and advising us, his younger siblings about the life and how to adjust. In his childhood be was very mischievous and was careless about studies. Father was a person who wanted all his sons to study as much as possible. Father was prepared to spend any amount on the sons who study. In fact he likes all children who study well. He used to have one poor boy always with him at the place of his business and meet all the needs of the boy as long as he wants to study without failing. He will provide the food, dress, books and fees and also send some money to the family of the boy as a compensation for the loss to the family of the earnings of the boy under him. So he was very particular of the education of his 1st son late A R Raman.  Father was not worried about the 2nd son (A R Krishnan) as he was studious student passing with fairly good marks in all examinations.

Brother's education

Father used to request the class teachers and Head Masters of the schools where his children were studying that they should take special attention and report periodically as to how the children are in their studies. My eldest brother did not write the S S L C examination in the year when he should have. Brother went to the school as usual and just climbed down into the school well and sat there. When after lunch children wanted draw water from the well they noticed brother in the well and reported to the H M. The H M brought out brother and in turn informed father who was in a far away place, Parvathipuram a town in Andhra Pradesh near to the border of Orissa. Father temporarily closed his business and came home to make brother write the S S L C examination. After passing the same brother informed father that he is not interested in further studies and would join some service. My eldest brother in law late R Srinivasan was in police department in Tamilnad and he arranged a job in police department for brother.In the meantime the 2nd brother competed his S S L C and joined college and passed the exam. On seeing this eldest brother might have felt bad and informed father that he is interested in further studies, if allowed. Father was very happy. After this incident the brother was a different person. His mischief element was completely gone and became a wise person. His younger brother was studying in St Joseph college, Trichy, Tamilnad (at that time Madras province) for arts. Those days arts and science were the popular college subjects. Eldest brother joined the same college for science.  Both brothers passed the degree course with good marks. After B Sc eldest brother went for engineering course. In those days there were not many technical education institutions in South. Just at that time at Madras (present Chennai) in Chromepet  a college with the name of M I T (Madras Institute of Technology) styled on the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) was started. Brother got admission in the same. Since it was new and fees cannot be high the authorities were struggling to meet both ends. The students will go to their respective places during the vacations and collect donations from all and sundry to help the authorities to maintain the college. He graduated from that Institute. On completion he went to Bombay (Mumbai) where his younger brother A R Krishnan had secured a job in a Government Department. Brother Krishnan had Government quarters. My brother was the first engineer in and around our village in Kerala. Thereafter many from the village became engineers and some of them used to tell me when we meet that my brother was the inspiration and encouragement for their engineering career.

Eldest brother's services - jobs

Eldest brother got job in Premier Automobiles Limited (PAL) as quality control engineer. He was promised a car, promotion and salary jump after completion of 3 years. But nothing of this was kept up by the company. So he left and joined the Motor Cycle company in Chennai who were making the bullet brand motor bikes. Shortly there after he got a job in Heavy Engineering Corporation  (HEC), Ranchi. In this employment he had opportunities to go to Moscow for further training as HEC was having USSR collaboration. He did not avail of the opportunity. In HEC my brother Raman founded a new section HMBP (Heavy Machine Building Plant). A sign plate with his name as the founder is still there in the HMBP.

Marriage of brother

In the meantime he got married to A A Rajam (daughter of late Sri & Smt Akhileswara Iyer) of Kalpathy Gramam in Palakkad. At the time of marriage the family was staying in Nurani another Gramam of Palakkad. Brother was in Premier Automobiles Limited, Bombay at that time and both went to Mumbai and were with the 2nd brother who had not married. After a year or so brother got a job in Madras (now Chennai) in a company manufacturing Royal Enfield motor bike. After 1 year there he got a job in Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC), a Public Sector Company at Ranchi. Brother has accommodated my last 2 brothers A R Venkatachalam and A R Sarvajith during their college eduction at Ranchi. After death of eldest brother, as per the practice a job was offered by HEC to his wife but she did not want to serve and instead suggested to give the job to the youngest brother Sarvajith and he got a job there in the accounts department. Brother had 2 children eldest one a boy Ramesh Raman and next one a girl Seetha Raman Vijayan. Both of them are married and settled around Mumbai and have 1 son each. Sister-in-law is with the son Ramesh at Dombivli, an outskirts town to Bombay. 

Terminal illness of brother 

While working in HEC, brother Raman had brain tumor and was operated at Madras General Hospital. The doctor had informed father and other brother attending brother Raman that the tumor is malignant and will recur. After that he went to Ranchi. Within 1 year of the operation at Madras, the tumor again started and the brother neglected it telling that he has no escape. After the first operation he was buying and reading available literature on brain tumors. In those days the treatments were primitive and chances of survival was very less. Again he was taken to Madras General Hospital and the doctor who had already indicated this possibility suggested that there is no treatment available for this stage anywhere and the only thing can be done is to take the patient home and arrange for a home nurse. By that time brother was already in coma state. However father and all others thought to take a chance of treatment at Bombay and taken him to Bombay. He was immediately admitted in Bombay hospital which was the most reputed hospital at Bombay at that time. He was there for about 2 days and passed away before even investigations could be done. By that time I was also at Bombay employed and was helping other 2 brothers in attending to   brother Raman in Bombay Hospital. Sister-in-law and children came to Bombay where her parents and brothers were staying. She joined their family which was near to the place where we were staying at Bombay.