My Life Memoirs-5

My Life Memoirs-5

My Life, Full of Beautiful Memories

-Venigalla Komala

6. My First Job

I handled secondary grade training classes and two high-school sections apart from supervising training classes of B.Ed. students and guiding them in English Methodology.  In the hostel Ms. Vasantha and Ms. Josephine (both B.Ed. students) were my close friends.

I still remember some of my students in Guntur who studied well and became my friends, Nirmala,  Kasturi  both sisters were my students. Nirmala always stood first in the class and was – a simple, loving girl. I later met her here in America,  after many years, where she is a doctor. Her husband Raja Karanam is a business man and I meet them. Occasionally and they are -a loving couple to be friends with.

 7.My Journey to Hyderabad

After coming back from Guntur that summer, I was sitting idle at home,  having no plans for future. My friend, Vasantha Kumari Benjamin sent me an advertisement  from The Deccan Chronicle, a Hyderabad newspaper. It  said  The Narayanaguda Girls Multipurpose (10+2) school needed English Assistants and that qualified people should apply. I immediately sent my application along with my certificates to the school. They sent me a card saying I should meet them on June 4, 1961 for an interview, I was all set and ready.

My father was hesitating to send me alone to Hyderabad wondering where I would stay and how I survive in a new city. Those days we were not familiar with Hyderabad. But I was adamant that I would go there. He sought the advice of Justice  Sambasiva Rao who was spending his summer vacation in his village home who immediately  encouraged my father to send me for the interview.  His wife Jaya Prada gave me an introductory letter to the warden of a working women’s hostel, Yuvathi Mandali which was walking distance from that school.

My brother made arrangements for my travel by train. He sent a telegram to his friend, Attota Bhaskara Rao to receive me at the Nampally station. I also wrote to my friend Akhtar who was working in Hyderabad and living in Y.W.C.A. hostel. She came to the train to receive me and I went off to her room. I didn’t even look for my brother’s friend who looked in vain for me at the station.

I had taken  all my luggage with me and  it didn’t even cross my mind that there could be other candidates for the job and that  I might or might not be selected. It didn’t show my confidence just  my ignorance.

My father wrote a letter to his lawyer friend Manawala Choudary in Hyderabad about my interview. He lived near the school. I don’t know if  he put in a word to the school secretary to help me, if I deserved the job.

Luckily I was selected in the interview against six other candidates. Bhaskara Rao took me home. His wife Indira was very friendly and treated me well. The Head Clerk of the school personally delivered the appointment order to me as he lived next door to Bhaskara Rao. It was very kind of him. He happened to hail from  Amrutaluru, a village close to Mulpuru.

I will always be grateful  to Vasantha Kumari because of whose help, I  landed in Hyderabad. She also worked in a school as a Science assistant for some time but left Hyderabad after her marriage.

Seeing Ms. Jayaprada’s letter the warden gave me a place in the hostel. On 12 June 1961, I reported for duty. I was to teach English to XI and XII class girls. And did. I enjoy teaching them.

I  had many students who liked me and my teaching. Aruna Sri Pullela and Usha Raju- two close friends in my class, became very close to me and my friendship with them has been continuing ever since Aruna is an anesthesiologist in Hyderabad and Usha is a pathologist settled in Detroit.

In the hostel my close friends were- Dr. Lakshmi Kantham  and S.Savitramma,- who was then studying to be a Hindi teacher. She was a child –widow from East Godavari district. She and her cousin,M. Satyanarayana Reddy became our very close family friends. Her nephew Prabhakar Reddy is still in touch with us. We lost both Savitramma and Reddy garu a few years ago, but they left us with many good memories of their great friendship.

We lost Dr. Lakshmi Kantham and her husband, Dr. O.V. Subba Reddy in a tragic and brutal attack by dacoits. Her mother and one of her daughters were also killed in Nizamabad, where they were running a hospital. They earned a good name and money too. They had twins twice,- Chitra & Swati, Aarti and Jyoti. We heard that professional jealousy was the cause of their deaths. Whoever orchestratled their deaths deserve to be in  ‘Hell,  and no’ punishment could fit the crimes they committed. For me, there isn’t  a day when I don’t  think of those friends of mine who were very humane and helpful, very simple and affectionate souls.

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