5. To Penang and back : Natesan's first job

 

To Penang and back

The year 1927!   With a certificate of proficiency in Shorthand and Type writing and his School Leaving Certificate as his educational credentials, Natesan was about to embark on his journey to Penang to take up his job with M/S Abdul Kader and Sons.  He recollected the story of Swadeshi Shipping Company he had read about during his school days!

In the early 20th century, the British India Steam Navigation Company (BISNC) had a monopoly over trade in the Indian Ocean region.  Formed in 1856, it was one of the largest companies in the British mercantile marine.  In the early twentieth Century, the merchants of Tuticorin (Thoothukudi) decided to break this monopoly as they were main users of merchant ships for import and exports of goods. . They hired a ship from the Shawline Steam Company to run between Tuticorin and Colombo, the capital of Ceylon. After the intervention of the British Government in India, the hired company withdrew the lending. During this time, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, involved in the Swadeshi movement, started a navigation company as an act of political and financial opposition to the British and not for profit but for ideals of nationalism.  . The objective of the company was to run a ship between Tuticorin and Colombo and train natives in navigation and ship building. VOC toured throughout India to raise money for the company, while poet Subramaniya Bharati wrote essays about its importance.  VOC registered the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company on 16 October 1906 with a capital of ₹10 lakh through an issue of 40,000 shares. 

The first ship, the SS Galia, was purchased from France with the help of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Aurobindo Ghose and arrived in Tuticorin in 1907. Plying between Tuticorin and Colombo, it could carry 1300 passengers and 40,000 bags of cargo. The ship bore a flag with the slogan "Vande mataram". It would later be joined by another French ship, the SS Lavo. Buoyed by the Swadeshi spirit, the Indian public and traders preferred to sail and send their cargo in these ships. Wanting to kill their enterprise, BISNC reduced the fare to one rupee for a ticket to Colombo. Not to be outdone,  VOC reduced the fare to 50 paisa. The BISNC then gave free umbrellas to passengers.  Due to nationalist sentiment, the SSNC received support from traders and passengers even when the BISNC offered free service. The BISNC, with the help of the British Raj, created obstructions in the running of the vessels of the SSNC by denying it the place and time schedule in the port and delaying the medical and customs clearance of SSNC passengers.

In 1908, VOC was part of a group that planned to celebrate the release of Bipin Chandra Pal a freedom fighter from prison as Swarajya (self-rule) day. In response, the British arrested Subramania Siva and VOC on charges of sedition. PVO Chidambaram was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment (40 years). During his jail term, the British Raj further harassed the activities of the company, and shareholders withdrew following harassment by the authorities.  The SSNC liquidated in 1911, and one of the ships was sold to its rival British company. The Steam Ship Navigation once again was the monopoly of the British!

Natesan’s elder sister Lakshmi was married to PV Subramanian, Accounts officer with the British Indian Railways at Nagapattinam. There was regular passenger steamer service from Nagapattinam to South East Asia. The ocean liners S.S. Rajula and its rival, The State of Madras, used to call at Penang fortnightly on their ‘Straits Service’ between Madras (Chennai), Penang, Port Klang and Singapore through Nagapattinam. The trip to Penang usually was of six days. Natesan leant that Rajula was certainly far more popular than its rival, The State of Madras. The Rajula, a stately lady of the seas, was  a most remarkable and long-lived ship. Built in Glasgow in 1926 for the British Steam Navigation Company Ltd (British India Line), Natesan decided to go by that ship as a third class deck passenger from Nagapattinam. There were mainly two reasons to embark from Nagapattinam as he could stay with his sister for a couple of days without having to spend on boarding and lodging were he to travel from Madras. Secondly the ticket would cost ten Rupees less! He had a small steel trunk for his earthly possessions and a small hold all. Recently married, he had a pair of trousers, a couple of full sleeved shirts, a coat and a tie and a pair of shoes to present himself when he reported for work! His sister Lakshmi was to gift him a two cubit Veshti of home spun cotton!

One fine evening he boarded SS Rajula from Nagapattinam as a third class bunk passenger! A lot of thoughts were troubling his mind! He has left his wife in Tanjore with his father in law who was a very wealthy and renowned lawyer earning in thousands and defending the Maharajas, Rajas and Peshwas. Many of those cases pertained to issues of succession or involvement in criminal cases. He would travel all over India, his major clients being the Peshwas of Satara in Maharashtra. He had a palatial three storied house in Elliamman Koil Street. His two elder brothers in law were highly qualified as Professors of Science and Sanskrit employed in St. Xavier’s College Palayamkotta and the youngest has left for Oxford University for his Master of Arts in English! His own eldest brother was in Thanjavur leading a fairly luxurious life. His eldest sister was married to a leading lawyer who would be called to the Bench as Sub Judge!  He remembered the famous quote of Avvaiyar that one should seek fortune even if he had to ride the rough seas to go abroad!  How long it would  be before he could call his young wife to Penang!

The bunks were dark, dank and warm due to the engine heat from below and the kitchen above. The only ventilation came from the portholes and this was hardly sufficient. The consolation was that he could befriend a Second Class passenger and had his bath in fresh water as the bunk passengers had to make do with sea water which would leave the body sticky. He was however happy with the food that was provided on board.  

 On the sixth day, SS Rajula berthed in Penang. As he had already intimated his departure date and the liner, the company had sent a guide to receive him and take him to the premises of the trader. He was given a small room close to the office where he would be working. Within a couple of days, he had gone through the account books and other correspondence related to his work and tidied up everything up to date.  The work was not taxing and he could devote his evenings to take a walk along and do some physical exercise. He earned the confidence of the owner by his sincere and hard work and endeared himself to others working in the company. Though there were many lodges and eateries in Church Street, Penang Street, King and Queen Streets for the Indians´ palates, he started cooking for himself after a few days! His assistance to his blind mother in his younger days for cooking came very handy! He could send a part of his salary to his wife living with her father in Tanjore for her sundry expenses.    Though she stopped schooling after her III Form (Eighth grade), she continued to keep up with studies at home. Those days no male vocal music tutor would teach music to girls and it was unthinkable to get female tutors! The girls were taught Carnatic music only by exponents of Nadaswaram. TR Rajakumari (A very famous future cine artist of those times was staying in a bungalow close by in that aristocratic neighborhood. She was being tutored by a Nadaswaram Vidwan. Dharmambal’s father arranged the same man to teach Carnatic music to her.  Endowed with a sweet voice, she picked up the nuances of Carnatic music. Her younger maternal cousin Kesi had by now become a very good flautist. Dharmambal also had flair for story writing and a few of her stories for children were getting published in the well circulated Tamil weekly Ananada Vikatan every now and then. She kept herself abreast of the political events related to freedom struggle headed by Mahatma Gandhi through the articles in that weekly and the news paper Swadesamittiran! Life was running smoothly and she was expecting eagerly to join her husband. 

A lot many events of great political importance were taking place in India during his stay in Penang. While most of the British papers gave scant coverage for these events, news continued to trickle carried by natives by word of mouth  and trough vernacular papers and magazines brought by travelers. Letters from home which took more than fifteen days to reach were censored and hence people were sacred of writing any political news.  Mahatma Gandhi was involved in Kalifat movement, Disobedience movement and the like. There were many of his arrests , fasts and  releases. The historic Dandi Yatra in March –April 1930 against the salt tax imposed by the British got a prominent coverage by the American press and tabloids. Gandhi was on the covers of Time magazine! The arrest of Gandhi and almost a Lakh of volunteers for breaking the salt law was the talk of the town everywhere. When Gandhi left for the Round table Conference in 1931, many felt that the deliverance of India from the British yoke would be round the corner! Natesan was   dreaming   that he would probably set foot on free India when he returned home! Little he imagined that it would take another great war and another four and half decades for India to be free!

Natesan had given the postal address of his father in law for any communication regarding his appointment from the Government of Madras Public Service commission. On 15 October 1932, he received cable from his father- in- law of his appointment as a Typist by the Government of Madras asking him to return forthwith as he was directed to join the duty immediately.  ( Copy of the letter at Appendix 1). Natesan was in a quandary. He had established himself well in the company and his salary was neither too high nor too low. The propreritor  had immense confifidence in his work and integrity. The other workers gave him due regards. But how long he would remain there having to cook for hhimself and away from his young wife. With great trepidition, he broke the news to the owner that  he intended to return to India . Abdul Kader promised to raise his salary in due course if  he felt that the salary was inadequate. He told him that it was not in consideration at all in his mind.  He had to tell him that his father was becoming frail to look after almost sixty acres of fertile lands as his eldest brother was practising law in Tanjore and his next brother already has a large family. Apart from that his young wife was staying with her parents. Though the salary offered by the government was no mach for the one he was getting in Penang with other perqisites,he felt that a Government job had its own advantages.   However he  also promised him that in case he was not satisfied with the work in the Government Department, he would revert to his job in Penang if there was a vacancy . As he had trained his lower staff in the intervening period in office work , he convinced the owner to relieve him immediately so as not to miss the opportunity. Abdul Kader was gracious enough to promise him that his establishment would take him in any time he walked in anywhere in the world! Never once Natesan imagined that these would prove prophetic almost a decade later!

He booked his passage to Nagappattinam which was leaving Penang in five days time . Except for a few clothes and a few vessels for his cooking , he had not  accumulated much possessions. Two or three days prior to the ship’s departure, the port area and the Indian enclave of Penang Street, King Street, Queen Street and Church Street , collectively called as “Little India” would discard its humdrum existence and take on an exuberant festive atmosphere!  Passengers and their relatives from Selangor, Perak, Kedah and Perlis converged there for their shopping. The popular items usually snapped up were Mengkuang mats and baskets, tins of biscuits and Milo, gold ornaments, Raleigh bicycles, perfumes, children’s clothes, baby products, toys,   watches, clocks, luggage trunks, bags, shaving items and tins of cigarettes! A round tin contained fifty cigarettes!

Natesan bought a few items of perfumes for his wife, a pocket watch, a Parker fountain pen and a Raleigh bi-cycle,  keeping enough reserve for a few months expenditure after returning home and for a passage back to Penang should the need arise!  His Raleigh bicycle and Parker pen were his highly guarded and preserved possessions which he would not lend to anyone during his lifetime!

The return voyage was much more comfortable and enjoyable! Home comings are always sweet! After disembarking at Nagapattinam, he caught the first train to Tanjore to the waiting arms of his beloved wife!  On 03 November, three days after he reached Tanjore, he left for Karur to take up his job as a Typist in the Sub-Collector’s office on receiving a Memorandum from the Collector of Trichinopoly! The Memorandum is at Appendix “B”.

 The Irony! The letter from a Sub Collector of Karur dated 19 October is acted up on after ten days by the Collector’s office at Trichinopoly. But the warning says that if the candidate does not report for work within three days, he would forfeit not only the job but also his selection for any appointment under Madras Service Commission in future!  The British sense of attention to details and Justice!

Appendix A 

Appendix B