At the age of 32 .... he fell a victim.....our elder brother Balasubramanian.....

I have written in the blog  about  pneomococi Meningitis  at the age of 32    affecting me and my survival etc after medical care,later medications,etc..

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With extreme sorrow and grief I state the story of my elder brother who fell a  victim to paratyphoid  fever leading to Meningitis..in 1960 at Bombay....

He was just 32,working in   Director of Food and Civil Supplies Department ,Bombay in 1960 and prior to that he was under Training in Customs and Central Excise Department, Ratnagiri where he was unable to continue since the Department retrenched surplus employees. .He got    married in 1958.....at Cannanore,Kerala  to C.R.Kalyani, whose father C.R.Ramanathan was a Resident Electric Engineer,Kerala Electricity Board  .In May 1960,.having fixed a rented house at Kalina ,Chembur ,Bombay for his wife and son seven months old to join ,he was eagerly waiting to see his wife and child whom he had seen for 3days after delivery......A couple of days before,we got the  news he was laid up with paratyphoid  fever..

Later it  was known typhoid, pneumonia and tuberculosis can lead to meningitis....may be  others too....leading to such a  disease affecting brain and spinal cord...It is surprising although he had typhoid earlier it occured again as  paratyphoid...possibly infection through water, milk,etc,,we donot know....

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On 7 th morning June,1960...we got the telegram  from Bombay , when we were at Trichur   .  Our chinnamanni who was with the child at Trichur, .getting ready to leave for Bombay within 2 days ....she opened  and  read  the  telegram...Kuttan passed away...7 AM today...

Sorry........ later  we heard he was  admitted  in some hospital  after his being  in bed at Periyappa"s house at Ghatkopar Rajewadi Estate  where he had gone feeling uneasy and with fever a couple of days ago.....,etc but perhaps nearest relatives  and proper Doctors  were  not with him to give proper medical care for the dreadful disease.  May be had his wife and son reached him earlier, he would have survived ..A lumbar puncture and antibiotic injections would have saved him  ...The family  was left in sorrow for years..he was second child to my parents among 13..fondly remembered by all...

I was 13 years then  and all my younger brother sisters and elders were all children studying in school who shifted to Bangalore in 1960 where our eldest  brother was working  as appa and amma were shocked and unable to live in Trichur with the shadow of son"s death at early age...Ofcourse our family grew up expanded in Bangalore  etc  and that is the  later part of history .

During his visit previous year to  Trichur I remember  my Anna telling our periya manni.....one person  in our family should study medicine and become a Doctor.... Ofcourse his wish  or desire was achieved. .. He  was a Commerce Graduate and his son is  a well placed  Chartered Accountant practising in Palakkad.I may mention his wife Chinna Manni aged 20 at the time of his death, studied B Ed , BSC , etc and  worked as a teacher till retirement in Palghat...

Time heals our sorrow  and we still remember him......

This is the sad story....

A large family...bound together by love and affection among all.. .parents went through many good days and bad days,they brought up the children.... yet they never expressed  about sorrow  or grief....  but     made us grow.. gave us education, got us married to respectable and homeloving women,....saw all daughters married .....who too encountered  problems bravely... We grow further....

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