My Brother, Janakiram –

A Beautiful Blend Of Opposites

My brother Janakiram, the eldest of our seven siblings, was a mix of opposites from his childhood itself. He had his regular schooling, but he passed every class with just the minimum grades because studies were his bête noire.

He evinced curious interests in diverse fields of activities and gave least importance to studies. Though my father often rebuked him for his lack of interest in studies, those scoldings had the least effect on him.

He collected some utensils from our mother’s kitchen and imitated my father in manufacturing Ayurdevic medicines. He assumed multiple roles as my father, as the son and as the servant while preparing the medicines when he was seven years old. 

While we, the other children, were playing normally with our toys, he used to look at the toys critically, then disassemble and assemble them again. The same habit continued with him when he grew older and learnt to bike on our old Rally bicycle. He used to fix the chain and seat when they got old.

While he was in his third form (now eighth standard), he chose carpentry as his vocation in the class. He made a beautiful cricket bat out of freshly cut wood, with which we children played cricket for a long time till we passed out of our teens. This bat had brought us luck. When we brothers played a cricket match with this bat against our rivals, we had always scored the highest runs.

He tried his hand at repairing our pre-owned Baby Austin automobile also when he was around twenty years old. We had a car mechanic, Rathinam, with a slightly curved mouth, who descended on the scene whenever our car gave mechanical trouble. My brother befriended him by handing him spanners and screwdrivers. While he slipped under the chassis of the car, he yelled out, 'Pena kudu samy, bolt kudu sami’ (Sir, give me the spanner; give me the bolt).

My brother learnt much of the mechanism of our vintage car in no time. Once, our car gave major trouble, the engine did not ignite, and our regular mechanic failed to turn up. My brother rolled up his shirt sleeves, lifted the bonnet and buried his head into the engine. He got busy tightening some bolts and nuts for some time. But it was of no use. The engine did not start.

Then he got under the car and got busy repairing it.

On that fateful day, Chandriah, our newly joined manservant, removed the bolts of the front wheels to please our father and show off his knowledge of automobile mechanisms too.

As providence would have it, my brother just then got out from under the car to get a spanner before it crashed with a heavy thud. Otherwise, my brother would have been crushed and died under the car.

Then my father flew into a rage, beat Chandraiah severely and necked him out.

This ghastly incident happened during the morning, and towards evening my mother visited the local Muppatthaman temple and worshipped the goddess there for the longevity of my brother.

Once my friend Mahesh and I wanted to service our old bicycle. We removed the wheels successfully but did not know how to fix them again properly.

Then my brother admonished us both and fixed the wheels and the chain.

His penchant for mechanism continued even after he bought a motorcycle and later a Standard Herald automobile. He used to repair them for himself and rarely called a professional mechanic.

Despite these diverse activities, he continued to suffer poor health in his childhood and teens. He was a living example of the proverb that a cat has nine lives. My brother has also successfully passed through critical health issues. When he was in his fourth form (now ninth standard), he suffered from pleurisy (inflammation of the lining of the lungs which causes sharp pain of the chest while coughing and breathing). My father, being a physician, cured him of his disease successfully.

Again, he developed a huge lump just below the medulla oblongata which even threatened his very existence. He was operated on for the abscess at the Madras Government General Hospital in the presence of my father.

He was also affected by typhoid and paratyphoid later.

All these health issues had their ill effects on his health. His thyroid gland was affected due to these repeated illnesses, as a result of which he could not grow tall. He had to be satisfied with a short stature.

He pampered me very much when I was a boy and bought me whatever toffees I demanded, out of his pocket money given by our father. 

Once my brother and I wanted to watch 'Jimbo', a Tarzan-inspired Tamil-dubbed movie. But by the time we reached the film theatre, a ‘House Full’ board greeted us. But my brother was not disheartened. He offered the doorman one rupee instead of twelve annas, six annas being charged for each ticket. He relented after a little persuasion, pocketed the one-rupee coin and let us in. We dusted the floor with our hankies in front of the screen and happily settled down.

He was meek in his nature but stood firm in what he believed to be right. He liked his maternal cousin when he was a boy, and that intense feeling developed into an ardent love in his youth. Despite tough opposition from her father (for reasons best known to him only), my brother married her and was later blessed with a good family. 

His interest in parapsychology impelled him to attend a session of seance (communicating with the departed souls) in Ahmedabad while he was on an official tour. Later he told me that he succeeded in his attempt.

On another occasion, he sat in meditation and tried to communicate with aliens in other galaxies. But our maternal uncle Sharma came to know of it and wired my brother to desist from such a practice. My uncle explained in a letter which followed the telegram that such a practice would drive a person with family responsibilities insane. My brother obeyed my uncle out of respect for him.

On the joint family front, we, the siblings, fought a lot about sharing the money got from the sale of our ancestral property – a dilapidated house. But it never broke the bondage among our siblings, and those quarrels died in no time once a compromise was effected.

He worked as an oil technologist at an oil refinery in the public sector, and his passion for his profession made him begin a consultancy service after his retirement from service.

After a few years, he closed down his consultancy service and devoted his time to bring profits to the nearby temples which were incurring loses. He earned profits for the temples by plugging the loopholes of corruption.

Now at eighty-seven, with mellowed wisdom, he spends most of his time meditating, interfering least in the family's affairs.