Early Years in India

By Wobine Ishwaran

This story is about a child born in 1920 in a small agricultural village in Karnataka State, India. The boy grew up in a joint family structure with very strong ties and strict religious values.

There are no paved roads in the village, no cars or buses, no running water or electricity. The village is an independent community and has little connections with the outside world.

The father of the boy is a primary school teacher and saves pennies for the continued education of his sons. There are hardships and hard work but also the happiness of festivals and family celebrations.

The first-born son is able to receive scholarships, go to the university, and finally, go to England to graduate from Oxford and Leiden in the Netherlands. Even though he grew up in very simple surroundings, the special child worked hard and reached his goals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796012101

Wobine Ishwaran

Wobine Ishwaran is a retired kindergarten teacher. Retirement became a time to start new hobbies. Writing for children was one of the skills she developed. Her past experences with children were a valuable source of information for the stories. The illustrator Caroline Ellerbeck is a young Dutch artist. A graduate from the Art colleges of The Hague and Amsterdam, she now lives in Rotterdam and works for herself. The attractive illustrations make this book delightful

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Copyright © 2019 by Wobine Ishwaran.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2019900867 ISBN:   Hardcover   978-1-7960-1212-5

              Softcover     978-1-7960-1211-8

              eBook           978-1-7960-1210-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 03/22/2019

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Prologue

Chapter 1   The birth of a child

Chapter 2   Basawa

Chapter 3   Diwali Festival

Chapter 4   Disappointments

Chapter 5   A little brother

Chapter 6   The Cobra

Chapter 7   First day at school

Chapter 8   Going to the Fair

Chapter 9   Troubled times

Chapter 10   Ganapati Celebrations

Chapter 11   The new school

Chapter 12   Shivakumar

Chapter 13   Coming home

Epilogue

Afterword

Glossary

Bibliography

Explanation

To my

daughter Arundhati

And special mention to the Guru’s:

The late Shivakumara Swamiji

And the reigning Dr. Shivamurthy Swamiji of the Sirigere Matt, who both guided our Destiny

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

India became my second home, with it’s culture

colourful elegant clothing and its friendly people.

I was very happy living with my husband, my children and his family members, at the Karnatak University Campus in Dharwar.

My thanks go to my daughter Arundhati who copy edited my writing so carefully and encouraging me to keep at it.

My children, their families and grandchildren who always

supported me, and my niece Smita who put together the Indian family tree.

PROLOGUE

Growing up in an Indian village.

Chennappa Gouda was standing in his newly planted wheat fields, surveying the landscape.

The rains had come on time and the new crops showing the first green tips with the promise of a rich harvest.

The evening sunset glowing with radiant colours brought Chennappa a feeling of satisfaction with his day.

A melodious sound of songs, sung by the people homeward bond after the day’s hard work on the fields vibrated through the hills around the village.

Chennappa was thinking about his oldest son, Ishwaran, who came home to say goodbye to the friends and family of his village, Hiremallur.

In a few days he would leave the country to continue his studies in Oxford England. Chennappa was sad to see him go, and maybe never return, but he was a very proud father too!

It was very hard on Basawa, his wife and mother of the boy, she too thought, that goodbye, might be forever!

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CHAPTER ONE

The birth of a child

In this world, somewhere on a world map you can find India a large country; look for Karnataka, one of the states, in middle South with the Capital Bangaloru. And find Dharwad, a University town. Near Dharwad and Hubli, a small point on the map shows a small village named Hiremallur.

A tiny agriculture village of about 700 families Hiremallur was not a poor village; it was surrounded by rich black soil, growing a variety of produce: wheat, cotton, and peanuts.

On this day in November 1922, a young mother named Basawa had retuned with her fist born son to Hiremallur. She had gone home to Bettadur for the birth, as was the custom in those days, so her mother and sisters could care for her the first few weeks.

A priest was called to baptise the baby and also an astrologer would be consulted to predict the baby’s future. They gave the boy the name of: