ALL SMILES: For A R S Vadhyar, wife Jayasree, son-in-law Rohit and daughters Manju and Sindhu, Sunday is the day for their weekly get-together
“I’ve become what I am today, living through poverty and prosperity, through the whole gamut of emotions that life has presented me with.” A.R.S.Vadhyar turns emotional as he takes us along on a trip down memory lane.
For this man who hails from a small village, Cheppanam near Panangad, childhood has been a series of ups and downs.
“During my childhood, our family was the wealthiest in the village. I had the best silk shirt and linen mundu of the day when I was in the LP school. Magnanimous and generous as my family was, the riches gradually slipped from their hands. To such an extent that during my high school days, I went to school in tattered clothes.” Pregnant silence pervades the home.
Vadhyar himself breaks it. “If I am anything today, it’s all God’s grace,” he manages to say in a broken voice as tears well up in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he excuses himself.
Sensing that 97-year-old father-in-law R R K Kamath, wife Jayasree, daughters Manju and Sindhu and son-in-law Rohit are all disturbed, Vadhyar says with a chuckle: “But life is a mixture of joy and sorrow.’’
Vadhyar started his career in the Kerala Public Health Engineering Department (KPHED).
“I was in government service for 12 years. Later, I chose to execute private work,” he says. That is how Yasoram Builders took birth in 1977.
“His mother’s name is Yasoda and his father is Ram. Hence the name Yasoram,” explains Jayasree, who retired as a professor from Kerala Agricultural University.
We find it amusing to see Vadhyar’s youngest daughter Dr Sindhu, a dentist at Krishna Hospital, sporting braces. Vadhyar’s older daughter Manju says - “It’s unique too! People usually resort to braces to push their teeth in. Hers is to push them out!” The family shares a hearty laugh.
“One of the greatest things our parents have done for us is to put us in a government school,” says Manju.
“Till class VII, they were in Chinmaya Vidyalaya. We wanted them to get the real feel of a middle-class and below middle-class living. And that has helped them too,” says Jayasree, looking at their children.
“There, we saw starving children and children who came with just pazhanchoru and chamanthi. That showed us a new face of life, a face we had never seen before,” says Sindhu.
Vadhyar has a much talked about roof garden that abounds in home-grown fruits and vegetables. “We get most of the vegetables for our use from our terrace garden,” Manju says with pride. And each one in the family lends a hand for its upkeep.
“Do you happen to know these models here?,” she asks with a laugh, displaying the cover page of Karshakasri in, which Rohit and herself are seen posing with the ‘harvest’ from their terrace garden.
The family is proud to take us around the terrace garden rich with lush green vegetables, mangoes, flowers and even palms laden with bunches of coconuts.
Maintaining the garden is a good exercise, says Vadhyar. “If you go out for a walk in the morning, chances are that you’ll fall into one of the large-as-ditches potholes on the road. The garden is safer,” he quips.
As the ladies go inside to set the breakfast table, Vadhyar shows us the pooja room. “Every single flower here comes from our terrace garden,” he says with a smile.
Meanwhile, breakfast arrives. “We’ve all joined in today’s cooking. Rohit made the idlis, Manju made sambar, he made the kook chirdille (a curry made of mashed potatoes and curd), I made ksheera(a typical Konkani sweet) and Sindhu took care of the settings,” says a beaming Jayasree as she serves breakfast.
“Don’t mind my extra helpings. This is for the two of us, you know!,” says Manju, who is in her sixth month of pregnancy.
“Experts say that our kitchen is wrongly placed according to vaastu principles. But we turn a deaf ear to that. What matters is convenience,” says Vadhyar. Jayasree nods in agreement.
Sunday is set aside for family get-togethers. Manju and Rohit, who stay in a nearby flat, join the family every weekend. “We either sit at home and chat or go out to some calm corner in the city to spend a quiet evening,” says Manju, who is also a trustee of Yasoram Charitable Trust.
Vadhyar has high hopes about his dream project Sky City, which has already been submitted to the Government. “If the project comes into being, it’ll be the first of its kind in the world,” he says.
Jayasree adds: “It’ll be a major facelift for the city, where horizontal expansion is impossible. It’ll also be a major tourist attraction.’’
Manju shows us some of her mother’s creative wonders. “She has no background in civil engineering, but look at the things she has made using AutoCadd and 3DMax!’’
Admiring the beauty of the pieces, we take leave with the joy of having shared some lovely moments with a family that basks in the warmth of the bond of togetherness that they share.
“I’ve become what I am today, living through poverty and prosperity, through the whole gamut of emotions that life has presented me with.” A.R.S.Vadhyar turns emotional as he takes us along on a trip down memory lane.
For this man who hails from a small village, Cheppanam near Panangad, childhood has been a series of ups and downs.
“During my childhood, our family was the wealthiest in the village. I had the best silk shirt and linen mundu of the day when I was in the LP school. Magnanimous and generous as my family was, the riches gradually slipped from their hands. To such an extent that during my high school days, I went to school in tattered clothes.” Pregnant silence pervades the home.
Vadhyar himself breaks it. “If I am anything today, it’s all God’s grace,” he manages to say in a broken voice as tears well up in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he excuses himself.
Sensing that 97-year-old father-in-law R R K Kamath, wife Jayasree, daughters Manju and Sindhu and son-in-law Rohit are all disturbed, Vadhyar says with a chuckle: “But life is a mixture of joy and sorrow.’’
Vadhyar started his career in the Kerala Public Health Engineering Department (KPHED).
“I was in government service for 12 years. Later, I chose to execute private work,” he says. That is how Yasoram Builders took birth in 1977.
“His mother’s name is Yasoda and his father is Ram. Hence the name Yasoram,” explains Jayasree, who retired as a professor from Kerala Agricultural University.
We find it amusing to see Vadhyar’s youngest daughter Dr Sindhu, a dentist at Krishna Hospital, sporting braces. Vadhyar’s older daughter Manju says - “It’s unique too! People usually resort to braces to push their teeth in. Hers is to push them out!” The family shares a hearty laugh.
“One of the greatest things our parents have done for us is to put us in a government school,” says Manju.
“Till class VII, they were in Chinmaya Vidyalaya. We wanted them to get the real feel of a middle-class and below middle-class living. And that has helped them too,” says Jayasree, looking at their children.
“There, we saw starving children and children who came with just pazhanchoru and chamanthi. That showed us a new face of life, a face we had never seen before,” says Sindhu.
Vadhyar has a much talked about roof garden that abounds in home-grown fruits and vegetables. “We get most of the vegetables for our use from our terrace garden,” Manju says with pride. And each one in the family lends a hand for its upkeep.
“Do you happen to know these models here?,” she asks with a laugh, displaying the cover page of Karshakasri in, which Rohit and herself are seen posing with the ‘harvest’ from their terrace garden.
The family is proud to take us around the terrace garden rich with lush green vegetables, mangoes, flowers and even palms laden with bunches of coconuts.
Maintaining the garden is a good exercise, says Vadhyar. “If you go out for a walk in the morning, chances are that you’ll fall into one of the large-as-ditches potholes on the road. The garden is safer,” he quips.
As the ladies go inside to set the breakfast table, Vadhyar shows us the pooja room. “Every single flower here comes from our terrace garden,” he says with a smile.
Meanwhile, breakfast arrives. “We’ve all joined in today’s cooking. Rohit made the idlis, Manju made sambar, he made the kook chirdille (a curry made of mashed potatoes and curd), I made ksheera(a typical Konkani sweet) and Sindhu took care of the settings,” says a beaming Jayasree as she serves breakfast.
“Don’t mind my extra helpings. This is for the two of us, you know!,” says Manju, who is in her sixth month of pregnancy.
“Experts say that our kitchen is wrongly placed according to vaastu principles. But we turn a deaf ear to that. What matters is convenience,” says Vadhyar. Jayasree nods in agreement.
Sunday is set aside for family get-togethers. Manju and Rohit, who stay in a nearby flat, join the family every weekend. “We either sit at home and chat or go out to some calm corner in the city to spend a quiet evening,” says Manju, who is also a trustee of Yasoram Charitable Trust.
Vadhyar has high hopes about his dream project Sky City, which has already been submitted to the Government. “If the project comes into being, it’ll be the first of its kind in the world,” he says.
Jayasree adds: “It’ll be a major facelift for the city, where horizontal expansion is impossible. It’ll also be a major tourist attraction.’’
Manju shows us some of her mother’s creative wonders. “She has no background in civil engineering, but look at the things she has made using AutoCadd and 3DMax!’’
Admiring the beauty of the pieces, we take leave with the joy of having shared some lovely moments with a family that basks in the warmth of the bond of togetherness that they share.
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