This happened in sometime in 1953 when I was just six years old. I was admitted to my new school in 4th Standard. Until then I was home taught by my mother who was very good at English and Maths but for some reason she did not teach me any Indian Language, not Telugu my mother tongue, nor Tamil which was the main language of Tamil Nadu where my father hails from, nor Hindi with was the language spoken in Andamans then. So I topped the class in every subject beating classmates who were even 15 year old girls, but got zero very poor for Hindi. Was not a fair situation as I was learning the alphabets whilst my classmates were doing Hindi Poetry. Rajeshwar Lal won the Best Student in Academics award for my class and Mrs Sandal the headmistress took pity on me and gave me a special award for excellence.
Modern Preparatory School started at 7.30am and finished by 1.30pm. the school was walking distance from home and my dog Tipu would accompany us to school in the mornings and would be waiting at the gate at 11.30am when we had recess and was back at the school gate again at 1.30pm to escort me and my younger sister back home. My parents were so proud of our Tipu as he did this of his own accord like clockwork every day we went to school.
Houses in Port Blair, mostly timber construction, like our family home were all built on stilts to keep the deadly creepy crawlies like the Viper and Cobra snakes, Black Scorpions and huge Centipedes away. .
Every house boasted a big broad veranda in front with a timber hand rail. I don't have photos of my home in Port Blair and the picture below is for representational purpose only
Typical House on Stilt (for Representation purpose only)
One after noon after school my sister and I were playing in the front verandah and my mother was busy inside and my dad at work.
I had been banned from riding horsies on the hand rail by my dad. He explained to me that if I fell outwards It would break my head and neck and it could kill me.
Me with my two sisters in 1953
I had been banned from riding horsies on the hand rail by my dad. He explained to me that if I fell outwards It would break my head and neck and it could kill me.
If you measured from the top of the hand rail the drop was about 3 to 4 metres. On that fatal day this is what exactly happened. I was never afraid as I sat on the hand rail hundreds of time and was always careful.
Only God Knows what happened. I do not remember anything. Jack fell down and my sister like Jill went crying to my mum, I am told, to tell her Jack fell down into the ditch
When I came around three long days later, I was on a hospital bed in one of the cells in the Cellular Jail. I was the medical superintendents only son and believe every doctor was on duty round the clock to bring me back to life. I had blacked out and went into a coma. I cannot imagine what my mother went through and how she managed to inform my dad and how I got to the hospital which was a long way away from home and there were no such thing those days as an ambulance, just military 15 hundred weights like the one below and Military Lorries
Our Typical Family Car in Port Blair in 1946 after WW II
My First school Bus in Port Blair, Andaman in 1953 resembled this army truck
When I came around all that my mother could do was cry and cry and kept saying thank you God for saving my child. Between them, my parents must have decided they will not talk about it. So I never got to find out the details. All that I know is for three days my Parents believed I was brain dead because of head injury but alive as I was still breathing.
After this incident my Father became over protective, curbing my freedom. I was allowed to play hockey only with him; but then one day trying to teach me how to hit the hockey ball he whacked it hard and straight on to my shin bone; almost broke my leg never played hockey again.
The fall from my imaginary horse almost killed me in 1953.
This was My First Escape from DEATH
This was My First Escape from DEATH
