From Delhi, we came to work in Rasayani near Mumbai. I joined the Hindustan Organic Chemicals Ltd., a public sector company where we had a large circle of friends. Both our son and daughter joined LKG classes and my wife used to teach in the same school.
We lived in Rasayani proper for some time. Snakes were plenty in Rasayani. One night a snake entered our quarters. It went inside the small room and I tried to kick it out with a long aluminium stick but it wouldn’t go out of the house. I had become a devotee of “Ahimsa” and felt abhorrent to kill any living being. I had read plenty of Malayalam poems, in which poet Vallathol sings that his family is as big as the world and all living things are his family members. But here was the situation where I had to protect myself and my family members from snake bite. I kept vigil but I failed to kick the snake out. For the next time he emerged, I killed it and felt sorry for him. In the morning the body of the snake killed was examined by neighbours. They said that I was lucky because it was a snake with great poison, named viper.
Soon we changed house from Rasayani to Panvel near the railway station and on the Bombay-Pune express highway. Here there was a larger colony and near a township where we could buy things. Panvel was also forest but was cleared long ago and there was no fear of snakes as in Rasayani. Here we had brought a servant girl from Kerala who came by train and dropped by her father. She used to take care of our children Francis and Anna, while my wife resumed teaching in the local LKG School. There were theatres nearby and buses used to ply to Mumbai for sightseeing and came back by evening. We started enjoying life.
My wife liked teaching especially LKG classes and she loved little children very much. I had a lot of time at my disposal and it was here I translated “Ara Nazhika Neram”, a novel about the brevity of human life compared to God and eternity. I completed the translation but it was published only recently by Avanti Publications in Panampilly Nagar. I also started writing poems in English.
Among the new circle of friends special mention should be made of Mr Jayaprakash and his wife Latha. Mr Jayaprakash is our neighbor in Ernakulam. He became the Managing Director of Hindustan Organic Chemicals Ltd. and retired years ago.