Virtuousness frilled with Luxury

Rajesh Govindarajulu

Saraswathi Raghunathan was the first child of Manickkammal and P. S. A. Ramaswamy Chettiar of Madurai. Her younger siblings were Manohari, Ananta Subramaniam, and Raghunathan. Her parents Ramaswamy and Manickkammal were known to be accommodative and large-hearted. In fact, Ramaswamy Chettiar was adopted by P. S. Azhagiri Chettiar and Lakshmikanthammal. However, he shared the good fortune inherited by him with the others in his family. Similarly, he brought up his niece Banumathi along with his daughters from her childhood. Banumathi happened to be the daughter of Ramaswamy Chettiar’s elder brother Subramaniam Chettiar and had lost her mother at the time of her birth. The kind Manickkammal Ramaswamy Chettiar decided to bring up Banumathi as their own child. P. S. A. Ramaswamy Chettiar had been endowed with a good personality and was therefore known as Rama Pandu (Pandu means fruit in Telugu).

Rama Pandu’s first daughter Saraswathi was given in marriage to P. A. R. Raghunathan of Coimbatore in the year 1953. Good looking Saraswathi and handsome Raghunathan went on a holiday trip to Sri Lanka after their marriage. On her return, Saraswathi got into her family life along with her husband Raghunathan. The couple was known to be spic and span. Their large bedroom would be found in a fresh condition throughout the day. Perhaps, their toilet was the first to be fitted with a ceiling fan.

Saraswathi and her husband lived in a large suite which consisted of a big verandah, a bedroom for the afternoon nap, a changing room, toilet, and a bedroom for the night. The area was fitted with two air-conditioners and a refrigerator. The couple had collected far too many things, and this included 102 radios (Those days radios were supposed to have a license and all of them had one), dolls and miniature cars. There was a tiny pooja shelf too within the suite.

The devout lady was known for her Sathyanarayana pooja and it was performed on every successive Pournami (Full moon day). She had a collection of music in her room, and this included Carnatic compositions and prayers. She was known to be very methodical and perfect with her work. Be it kolam, be it slicing of cucumbers, or the way she would dress herself up, everything would be uniform and of a high standard. She would wear a dozen plain gold bangles in each arm. A huge pair of diamond ear studs and a diamond chain were her everyday companions.

I remember seeing her neatly attired at all times. She would wear matching jewelry while going out and carried a different radio each time. Her collection included a huge quantity of jewelry and each one of them were chosen from the best of collections. Saraswathi’s ear studs could easily fill up a small tin while her husband’s rings could fill one more. The couple had a collection of brand-new currency notes piled up in their cupboard. They were known for their extensive use of perfumes.

I particularly remember the flower and leaf diamond chain and the aesthetically made mango necklace which was endowed with the best of emeralds surrounded by diamonds. This had been made by the master diamond-smith, M. R. Meenakshi Sundaram.

The lady was very devoted to her husband. She used to stand next to him during his meal in order to remove chillies and leaves from his plate while he enjoyed his meal. A long silver spoon was used for this purpose. Raghunathan and Saraswathi lived in the family residence Raju Bhavan in Vysial street in Coimbatore. They had purchased two ambassador cars for their use. Both the cars were well maintained and could be operated with golden keys. They would block many seats in a movie theater to ensure that none sat next to them. The driver had to lock the car and handover the keys to Raghunathan and collect it again before the end of the show.

Their well-cushioned car would never speed more than 60 to 70 km/hour on the highway. They never hurried and preferred a smooth ride. I remember watching a movie that they had made at the time of their holiday in Ooty. It was in color and shot at Hotel Dasaprakash and at the lake. My granduncle Raghunathan was found rowing the boat with my grandaunt Saraswathi seated alongside. There was background music even. Of course, my grandaunt did attend to all her household chores. She would make prasadam and snacks in a methodical manner. All the murukku-s and vadai-s made by her would look very similar that one could not differentiate one piece from the other.

The pearl like handwriting of my grandaunt was another wonder. She used green ink to write. One of my aunts, Nirmala, was endowed with a poor vision, therefore my grandaunt Saraswathi would write down her prayer books in big letters for her. Her evenings were spent with Veda maami. It was when my grandaunt Saraswathi sat along with my other grandaunts, Indrani, and Shantha for learning ‘Ashtapadhi’ and ‘Soundarya Lahiri’ from my grandmother Lalitha.

Saraswathi was a person of refined taste and was good at decorating the pooja room. She had an excellent collection of pooja items made of silver. She used to have her own private flower garden and had an extraordinary talent for creating flower strands for herself and others. She would collect the morning flowers and place them inside the fridge. Later would continue to make flower strands with the afternoon flowers and wear them in the evening. She also had an enviable collection of sarees filled up her cupboards.

Saraswathi and Raghunathan celebrated their silver jubilee at Madurai in 1978. It was done in a very grand manner. Around the same time, a large palatial bungalow on the Bharathi park road was purchased by them. The original owner Neelakanta Iyer had built this fabulous mansion with the best of wood and glass. The house was known as ‘Glass House’ or ‘Kannadi Maaligai’ in Tamil. The happy couple celebrated their housewarming for three days. This house was known as Saraswathi Bhavanam and had the alphabets P. A. R. (P. A. Raju Chettiar) emblazoned on the gate. She used to often visit destitute homes and support the needy kids. Saraswathi and Raghunathan brought up a few dogs belonging to the Pomeranian breed. These dogs had their own toys, cart, and a caretaker. They led a princely life.

My grandaunt Saraswathi lived her life and was not interested in bothering others. She would never fancy a fight but would also not give up if she was pushed into one. Life moved on and my grandaunt and uncle moved over to Madurai during their latter part of their life. They spent their autumnal years in solitude. Saraswathi Raghunathan died a sumangali, and her beloved husband followed her shortly thereafter.

I still remember their affection towards all of us. Attention to the family, devotion to God, not getting into squabbles, and leading an ethical life are the takeaways from the life of my grandaunt Saraswathi Raghunathan. Her interests for details, hygiene, was of a high order. Financial challenges never came in the way of her happy matrimonial life. She stood like a rock behind her husband.

This column prompted me to talk with her nephew Venkata Subramaniam of Madurai. He happens to be the son of Ananta Subramaniam. I came to know that Lord Dhandayudhapani was the kula dheivam for my grandaunt's family and every father would name the first-born child as Subramaniam. My grandaunt Saraswathi’s father P. S. A. Ramaswamy Chettiar had accompanied my great grandparents on a trip to Kasi. They had visited several places during their travel. P. S. A. Ramaswamy Chettiar had noted down all the details of their travel, and this was used to publish a book at the time of the shashtiabdapoorthi of my great grandfather P. A. Raju Chettiar.

The life of Saraswathi Raghunathan was really unique and she looked after each one connected with her with a lot of love and care. She was particularly fond of my cousin Vishnu, and I remember her playing with him quite regularly in our family home. Steadfast approach of Saraswathi Raghunathan and her happy matrimony are sure to inspire people.

Mr. Rajesh Govindarajulu is one of the founding members of the Verandah Club Pvt. Ltd. He is a leading columnist, historian, jeweler, entrepreneur, and a heritage enthusiast who is earnestly working to revive the past in the light of the present. Experiential learning about the history of Coimbatore is his main course of interest and he is also a panel member of many colleges in the city.