EJJI'S FAMILY
An Eccentric Family That Has No Rivals
THE FAMILY TREE (Sapling has been planted. Needs time to grow! Still being corrected.Last updated 30th Dec.2007)
Comprehensive family tree can be viewed at http://ejjifamily.tribalpages.com
Ejji's family:
Ejji born 17th. Oct. 1948 picture No. 9 (father P.Krishnan aka PK., mother Janaki aka Jani) married July 10th 1975 to Shyamala, [Yes I'm younger than her- Ejji] picture No. 11 (father Chandran Natesan, mother Jayalakshmi), 2 daughters picture No. 12 Rasika born 11th Oct. 1976 (married Karthik 25th March 2007 picture No. 14) and Sarika born 22nd. Oct. 1978 (married 12th. July 2001 to Rishipal Singh picture No. 13).
P.Krishnan 21st March 1922 till 6th. Sept. 2001 (father Pattabhi, mother Pattammal aka Pattu picture No. 2) married 29th Oct. 1944 to Janaki born 29th. Nov. 1930 (father Kuppuswamy, mother Bagirathi picture No. 7) 3 sons Ejji, Sriram & Ravi (picture No. 10)
P.K.'s family:
Father Pattabhi 1886? till 14th. August 1926 (father Agneeswaran, mother Valambal) married to Pattammal 24th. Dec. 1897 till 14th. August 1991 (father Sattanathan, mother Chellammal picture No. 1), son Krishnan and daughter Rajee aka Valambal picture No. 5 28th. Feb. 1919 till 9th. Nov. 1933.
Jani's family:
Father Kuppuswamy 7th February 1892 till 2nd. April 1963 (father T.N. Subbier 1854 till 1944, 2nd wife Janaki ? till 1924) married 1921 to Bhagirathi 1907 till 5th. July 1976 (father C.P. Venkataraman, mother Meenakshi), 2 daughters Janaki, Shyamala, and 2 sons Viswanathan picture No. 8 and Sainath.
Shyamala's family
G.A.Natesan, Shyamala's grandfather, was the publisher of "Indian Review". A self-made man who came to Madras and studies under the street lights, he was singularly responsible for introducing Mahatma Gandhi to the south of India. Gandhi was a regular guest right from his humble home in Thambu Chetty Street till he built and lived in one of Madras' palatial garden houses in Mylapore called "Mangala Vilas".
G.A.Natesan (1873 till 1949) married to Mangalam, 2 sons Manian Natesan (1905 till1982) and Chandran Natesan (1907 till 1990). Manian Natesan married to Parvathi (1912 till 2001) no issues. Chandran Natesan married to Jayalakshmi (1917 till 2005), 4 daughters Rukmani, Vimala, Kamala, Shyamala, 4 sons Krishnan, Narayanan, Shankar, Prem.
Rishi's family:Father Indrapal Singh 1945 till 2001(father late Major Daryao Singh died 1983, who was ADC to Lord Mountbatten, and son of Shobha Singh, Jagirdar Ajaigarh, Madhya Pradesh, mother Bhoj Kumari born...... ) married 7th.March 1969 to Bina Singh 1948 till 2001(daughter of Rajkumar Shivdev Singh 1910 till 1998, and grand daughter of Raja Raghunath Singh 1851 till 1918 of Jaswan Princely State ), 2 sons, Rishipal Singh born 24th. October 1970 and Adityapal Singh aka Miki born 12th. Jan. 1976 (married 3rd March 2006 to Gitanjali aka Gitu). Jaswan State family history at www.uq.net.au/~zzhsoszy/ips/j/jaswan.html
Karthik's family:
Father P. Manickavasagam, wife M. Pichammal, 2 sons Kumar (wife Joanna, married on 28th Januray 2007), Karthik.
No. 1. Chellammal: Pattammal's mother
No. 2. Pattabhi and Pattammal: PK's parents
No. 3. Pattammal with 5 month old PK
No. 4. PK with sister Rajee
No. 5. PK's sister Rajee
No. 6. PK in college
No. 7. Kuppuswamy & Bhagirathi: Jani's parents
No. 9. PK and Jani with Ejji 1948
No. 10. FAMILY PORTRAIT. Sitting from left: Pattammal, PK, Jani. Standing from left: Ravi, Ejji, Sriram Circa 1962
No. 11. EJJI'S WEDDING. From left: Manian Natesan, Chandran Natesan, Jayalakshmi Chandran Natesan, Parvathi Manian Natesan, Shyamala, Ejji, (Raghu Raman in front), Mohan Raman, PK, V.P.Raman, (Kalpakam Raman in front) 1975
It was a wedding with a difference: No rituals, no religious ceremonies, no musicians, no priests, no falling at feet and to top it all no Ejji's mother! (She was working in Moscow at that time.) I had just 10 guests from my side, very close friends. I did not invite any of my other friends or relatives. The registrar came with the marriage register to the venue at New Woodlands Hotel, Mylapore, Madras. Shyamala and I signed the register. V.P.Raman (Bala) and Manian Natesan signed as witnesses. Of course, Shyamala's family had invited all their relatives and friends (which nearly equaled the population of a small town in India), who were served lunch. So ended the wedding with a difference, at a total cost to me, which was a grand Rs. 60-00 that I paid for registration of the marriage!!!!
And, my office worked that day!
No. 12. Shyamala, Rasika, Shyamala's mother with Sarika, and Mani 1978
No. 13. Sarika and Rishi wedding 2001
No. 14. Rasika and Karthik wedding 2007
No. 8. Jani with brother Viswanathan
More about the family..... and their eccentricities
We can claim to be a rather eccentric family. Sure you would have known other eccentric families. But our family has two very special advantages. We have been consistently eccentric for more than three generations. And we have no rivals!
Right from the word go, things have always been different with us. We had a great-great grandfather who was a tax collector for the British East India Company who always traveled by a palanquin. It is said that since he never walked, hair grew on the soles of his feet!
There was a great-grandfather who was a land tilling “Brahmin” land owner, at a time when specific castes were there for tilling land and this great-grandfather was a “Brahmin” who was not supposed to till the land. We had a grandfather who donated all his wealth on his death to "the dogs of Madras", and as his will read, ".......since I have scant faith in human beings, I leave all I have to the dogs of Madras!"
There was yet another grandfather who went as a stowaway on a ship to Rangoon (which then was part of India), and went on to own a shipping and trading empire. When his brothers wanted a share of the wealth he had made, he closed his business and gave a substantial portion of the shipping company to his Muslim cook!
In this generation, me Ejji, who did not think twice about quitting working life early. And my family where children call parents and grandparents by first name. The list can go on. But one thing we are proud of, "We are eccentric, and very happy at that!". Period.