Dr.K.G.Theyunni Menon ( 1880 - 1954 ) was a successful District Medical Officer and he retired from service while serving at Mangalore in the year 1935. Lord Shiva is known as Theyunni in Kerala.
Dr.K.G.Theyunni Menon ( 1880 - 1954 ) was a successful District Medical Officer and he retired from service while serving at Mangalore in the year 1935. Lord Shiva is known as Theyunni in Kerala.Thereafter he decided to settle down in Coimbatore along with his wife Ammu Amma (1892 - 1983) and three children.
The family moved over to Coimbatore and subsequently purchased 3.5 acres of land along with a house on the West Club Road from an Englishwoman, Mrs.Rose. Dr.K.G.T. Menon had worked in a number of places in the Madras Presidency and was a scrupulously honest doctor who had done his L.M.S from Madras. The good doctor hailed from a family of agriculturists who belonged to Cherpalcheri in Kerala.
Ammu Amma and Dr.K.G.T.Menon drew out a plan after the acquisition. They decided to construct 8 houses along with a central bungalow for themselves. A colony of six homes came up by 1942 and the rest were completed after the second world war. The main house was ready by 1951. The cluster came to be known as De Sa Ba Colony after their children Devayani, Sathyabhala and Balakrishnan.
Ammu Amma was a great energy behind the venture and she was the one behind the planning and construction. While the colony was built on 2 acres, the central bungalow ' Vilvam ' occupied 1.5 acres of land. She personally planted all the neem trees in the entire avenue. The entrance to the colony were adorned with 2 Vilvam ( bael ) trees and all the houses were made out of solid granite.
" My grandmother used to say that Lord Shiva was the architect, engineer and supervisor. She was a great Shiva Bhakta and she used to get up by 4 AM, have a bath and offer prayers to the Vilvam tree that existed in her personal residence. The three leafed tree was God for her. This particular Vilvam tree had two large divisions and were her Shiva and Parvathi. She used to pour water to the tree, take the wet mud and anoint it on her forehead. This was her Vibhuti and Chandanam (Sandalwood paste).
Granny was a powerful and strong minded woman. She was simple in her mode of dressing, for she believed in simple living and high thinking. A simple white 'Mundu' set was worn by her and she lived like a renunciate by who subsisted on vegetarian food. Lord Shiva was the source of her power. She subsisted on interest and rent income from the six houses that were on lease to Government officers under the Rent Control Act at the rate of 62 Rupees and 8 Annas per house. The Socialistic Government of the times had brought in such rules and therefore she was bound by the same. Houses were in great demand in socialist India.
Granny knew all the leaders like C.Rajagopalachariar and K.Kamaraj quite well. It was due to the fact that she was well known it was possible to get one house out of the control of the Government and it was given out to one Dr.Ammat (famous dentist) for a sum of Rs.200. This was possible due to the practical approach of C.Rajagopalachariar. Granny was greatly interested in jewellery making and much of her time was spent on getting ornaments made for her daughters, grand daughters and relatives.
The famous jeweller P.A.Raju Chettiar was well known to our family and therefore the smith from his works used to make all our ornaments in our house itself. Our family was connected to the Bhagavathi temple in the village. My granny could read English. She lived life on her own terms. Ammu Amma used to help her poor relatives and she was a source of strength for her complete family. She hardly went out of the house and was forever busy with a stream of visitors who used to call on her.Matchmaking was of great interest for her and she believed that she will earn 'punyam' due to the same," stated her grandson Shivachander from his spacious apartment at De Sa Ba Colony.
The 6 completed houses and the 2 incomplete houses were sold of over the years. The houses near the entrance were purchased by Dr.Purushottaman and his brother Vijayaraghavan. One house was got by the Zamin family of Puravipalayam while the lawyer Arivudainambi purchased one of the houses.
Lakshmi Ammal and R.R.Naidu purchased one house and G.R.Govindarajulu took one on the opposite side. The 2 incomplete houses were sold to Dr.Rajagopalan. It was during the seventies of the twentieth century that 1 acre of land was sold off as plots and these plots could be accessed from the Arts College Road. The house ' Vilvam ' stayed on until it was converted into an apartment block between the years 1996 and 1999 by C.B.S. Property Developers promoted by C.B.Suresh.
Sathyabhala who happened to be the second daughter of Ammu Amma and Dr.K.G.T.Menon was married to C.P.S.Menon F.R.A.S (one of the founding teachers of Doon School in the thirties of the last century). He was an astronomer and his son Shivachander was born in the school campus at Dehradun.
Sathyabala and her husband C.P.S. Menon was blessed with Ravindranath, Dr.P.S. Rugmini, Commodore Theyunni and Shivachander. The first daughter Devayani spent most of the time with her mother Ammu Amma while some of the grandsons including Shivachander (alumnus of the Coimbatore Institute of Technology) spent quite a few years with their aunt and grandmother. The son Balakrishnan was a foreign service diplomat and his sons are Govindkrishnan, Amarshekhar. Dr.K.G.T.Menon and Ammu Amma believed and practised gender equality.
The house 'Vilvam' which happened to be the heart of the lovely and peaceful 'De Sa Ba' Colony was known as 'Kal Kattadam' in the neighbourhood and with the drivers transporting passengers from the Coimbatore Railway Station. The colony added to the residential nature of Race Course and its neighborhood. The two vilvam trees planted by Ammu Amma have been the sentinels who have stood guard over the unique and lovely 'De Sa Ba Colony'.