2. Grand Parents and families  

2.1 Polaki village and Mandal HQ in Srikakulam Dt of AP is my mother's (late Smt Ch Sugunavathi) native place. Polaki, Srikakulam district - Wikipedia). The distance between my paternal hometown Kotabommali and Polaki is about 26 KM.  My maternal grandfather, late Sri Kasimahanthi Bhanu Murthy was working in SE Railways, in Kharagpur, West Bengal.  All his four sons (maternal uncles S/Sri Jayarama Murthy, Narasimha Murthy, Bhaskar Rao (Babu Mamayya) and Dakshina Murthy (Baba Mamayya), were employed in SE Rly. in Kharagpur.  He also had a widowed sister, whom we used to call Appa, living with them.  I remember that I visited Kharagpur in May 1964 along with my elder brother, Nageswara Rao.  I was eleven years old then, and my grandfather was no more.

In my mother's arms as a toddler 

My mother late Smt Ch Sugunavathi (1934-2016)

2.2 My mother might have been married in the year, 1949 to my father when they were 15 and 20 years old respectively.  My elder brother was born on 20 October 1950 in Bobbili both in Srikakulam Dt, AP.  Around that time, my father was working in Education Department of Andhra Government and was posted in Srikakulam Dist. During 1953, my father was selected / appointed in Medical & Health Department and was posted in Madras (now Chennai), the then combined State Capital. Madras City / State (Chennai / TN) He went alone to that far off place leaving the family (wife and 2 young children) with my maternal grandfather.  I have a photograph showing my Aksharabhyasam at my grandfather's house. I have no idea when my maternal / paternal grandfathers expired.  But I vaguely remember some stories of village life.

My parents late Sri Shanmukha Rao and Smt Sugunavathi in 1990

My grandmother late Smt Sundaramma with our daughter in 1986 in Tirupati AP

My grandmother late Smt Sundaramma 

2.3 My father had an elder sister Smt Nagarathnam and three younger brothers, Vajrala Rao, Madhava Rao and Narasinga Rao under his responsibility.  Sister was married and lived in a nearby village. She became a widow very early, with two daughters.  They had cashew plantation as property and source of income.  My three uncles were not well educated and the first one took up employment in Araku Valley near Visakhapatnam and was married.  Two younger brothers were my father's direct responsibility, besides his widowed mother, sister and of course his own family.  Later, the second brother Madhava Rao died very young, and the youngest Sri Narasinga Rao Patnaik was employed in King George Hospital, Vizag, married and settled in Pendurthi, near Simhachalam, Vizag, AP. 

2.4 In 1956, when the new AP State was formed, with a temporary capital at Kurnool, my father was shifted to Hyderabad, Telangana the permanent capital in later years. Hyderabad / AP / Telangana  In 1958-59, he was deputed to Guntur to set up a Regional Office of Medical Dept and we joined him thereat.  I faintly remember to have lived in Kankaragunta and went to some School for a year.  In 1959, he was posted back in Hyderabad and at the Directorate's Office.  We accompanied him to Hyderabad and my formal education started in Govt High School, Malakpet Colony, when as a six plus years old, I was admitted directly to Standard IV.  My brother joined Standard V in same School.  Here is a photo taken in 1964, when I was studying VIIIth Standard.  I can recall a few names like Kesavulu, Papi Reddy, Upender, Sathish, GMS Rao, M Ramakrishna, Gopala Chary, D Ramachander, P Chandrasekhar, Y Purandhar, Sathya murthy, Adinarayana, Subhadra, Suchetha, Suryakantham, Rani, Savithri, Vasundhara, Padmavathi, Padma Jyothi and others with our Class Teacher Sri Suryanarayana and HM Sri Alapati Venkateswarlu. 

Me standing in the 4th row, next to GMS Rao (at second position from left)

2.5 I studied in Telugu medium till my XIth standard (HSC), which examination I passed in first division in April 1967 at the age of 14+ years.  During my studies between 1959 and 1967, the school had worked under four Headmasters, Mrs BA Richards (1957-61), Sri Vishwapathy (1961-63), Sri Alapati Venkateswarlu (1963-65) and Sri D Rama Rao (1965-).  Sri Rama Rao taught us English in our Xth and XIth Standard classes in 1966-67.  Sri Seshagiri s/o D Rama Rao was teaching us Mathematics and Somayajulu, his other son was my junior in School.  We were good students but were also indulgent sometimes.  In 1965-66, I was singing one day in class, waiting for teacher to come.  Suddenly, new HM walked in and shouted at us. After some days, when the HM corrected our English Test papers, and announced the result, he was shocked that I was topper, which information leaked to me even before through his son Somayajulu.  Somayajulu was a brilliant student, who passed his M.Com, CA and CS with high merit and was a professional in Hyderabad.  Unfortunately, he expired prematurely.

2.6 He maintained good friendship with me till his death three years ago. We do remember some names of teachers who taught us Mathematics, Science, English, Telugu and Hindi.  In fact, some of our classmates are in touch even now after 55 years of passing out in 1967.  Prominent among students from both A and B Sections we maintain contact now are (mostly residing in Hyderabad) Ratna Mala, Purandar, Muralidhar, K. Murali Narayana Rao, Gopala Chary, GMS Rao, T. Sanath Kumar, Ramakrishna, Siva Ramakrishna, P. Chandrasekhar, S. Chandrasekhar, D. Ramachander, TP Haridas, et al thanks to Social Media Networking.   As recent as on 8th Oct 2022, our School organised a get-together for all old students, which of course, I could not attend.

Re-union of our 1967 batch in Secunderabad in October 2019

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