Episode #24 - Kamala Raghunath

Kamala Raghunath (originally Hegde), livens this Chavadi chat with co-hosts Siddhant and Lalitha with a ‘never give up’ perspective of her journey as tennis star, entrepreneur, and proponent of women and child empowerment, while also facing the unexpected life challenges of having a premie baby in adulthood and deteriorating eyesight as an older adult.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Hi there, or as we say in Tulu, Namaskara. Welcome to Chavdi.

SPEAKER_03 0:16

Chavdi means the meaning place. Architecturally it is a veranda, sometimes outside a home, sometimes within, always to welcome guests, to swap stories, debate the news, and pass the time together.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Each episode we will bring you voices that reflect the rich tapestry of life, memories from childhood, lessons learned along the way, and the moments that stay with us forever. Some humorous, some poignant, but always special. I'm Lalita Chetty.

SPEAKER_03 0:51

And I'm Siddhan Chetty. Today we invite you to our chaoti. Today we have Kamala Raguna. She was born in Mangalur and she's been been in Bangalore for the past 50 plus years and also been married to Ragu for 40 plus years. She has a daughter, Amuya, son-in-law Sunny, and one uh baby grandson, Sumar. Welcome, Kamala Anti. Thank you for joining us today.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Thank you for having me here.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

And yes, hi Kambaka, glad you're here. Just for our uh people out there, you are my father's sister's daughter, and I am excited to see you. We've grown up together, and so maybe I'll learn some secrets about you too. So welcome.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Thanks, Nalu.

SPEAKER_03 1:46

Awesome. Let's get started. Um, so I know briefly when you were chatting about your childhood, one thing that came up was uh you were an only child, but it sounded like there was a lot of commotion in the house with the amount of animals and pets in the house, right? So uh tell us more about that and uh living with your grandmother, everything like that, and um growing up in Mangalore.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Yeah, uh Siddhanta, yes. Uh as you said, I was an only child born 20 years after my parents got married. That's a long, long time to have no children. So when I arrived, I'm sure it was celebration time. And uh yes, I grew up with my grandmother, my grandfather, uh, from my mother's side, and uh my dad and mom, and we had a whole lot of pets in our house as I grew up. So we had 14 dogs, two cows, and a pet lamb. So this was our setup and manglop.

SPEAKER_03 2:45

It was cool. Can't imagine. And you were talking about how your grandmother was a very doting and affectionate grandmother. Um, of course, until your cool cousins came down in April, May. So uh how how how how did that feel?

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Sidan, don't remind me of that because that makes me, you know, uh the jealous streak strikes again.

SPEAKER_03 3:09

So hey, at least you got her for the majority of the year, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So nine months uh in a year, I was queen of that house, and then here come my cousins from Bombay and Delhi, and uh my grandmother who doted on me all these nine months suddenly turns straighter and uh you know, yeah, absolutely just neglects me and forgets about me, and I can still not such a sob story, okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

She got everything that we got, but maybe a little attention divided. But she still had to do her music classes, even though we were all there and she she wanted to be out with us, right? Remember?

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, I couldn't miss out on any of my classes. As I said, Gant and only child, the mother needs you to do everything, you know. It's not divided between siblings, so music, uh, piano, uh, violin, and uh uh whatever. I mean, guitar was not there. Fortunately, no tabla, but um, yeah, everything there was uh class for I was there, and uh when these kids came from all over, and I wanted to play with them, but then no, you can't miss a class. The master would sit there and call me, and then they would sit near the window and make fun of me. So we were all wonderful memories, though.

SPEAKER_03 4:46

Yeah, I can imagine. Um, and before we dive more into your teen years in college, I just sort of want to give the audience um a color of sort of your mom, your dad. You mentioned that your mom was the very cool person driving in Bangalore. So give us uh some more context about how your mom and dad were like growing up.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Yeah. I would say my mom and dad were not typical uh bunts, those though they were pure buns, uh they were not the typical bun types. Um they uh my father worked in the UK for some time, and my mother was very forward in her thinking. I think all even her brothers were like that. I think they were brought up like that. So uh yeah, she drove a car in the 40s and he smoked a cigarette in the 40s, so which was all unheard of those days, you know. And she was she never hid those things, and she was a rifle shooter. She was a uh, I mean, she won the Nationals, I think, at one point in rifle shooting. She was a car rally driver.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

So these were all strong, strong woman. And my dad was also uh he was I can never call him a strong man, but he was a very learned and uh very patient guy who tolerated a lady like this for so so many years and supported all that she did. So I think that that is a very important thing here, and we have learned that the men in the family always supported the women, the women, true.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

So that was as important as the women being strong. It was the fact that the men were able to handle the strong women and they were not like no egos were hurt, and they and my dad came from a family called the Yena Gudda family from Urupi, and they are known for their brains, so and they didn't have any hair on their head, they were all bald, and I always said grass never grew on a busy street, so their brains are so busy, huh? Yeah, true, and I remember with mama when we gave him any math problems, he was even faster than a computer, like I mean, calculator. It was just that those were the calculator days, but he was just so good at math, and uh, like you said, you didn't have a very strong band influence, but do you but there y'all still celebrated some festivals? Like I know for mommy, your mother, that's what I call her mommy. Ashtomi was a big deal, right? Was that always growing up, yes? Shame that day. Yeah, the remember Siddhanta, we were talking with I don't remember which Mithali, maybe, that you would uh you had the machine that you you know you had to turn and it was a workout to bring out the shamiga, or so that was yes, yes, so that was very popular, and we loved going to Mangal for that during the vacations, mangoes. Uh yes, there was lots and lots of mangoes. So we had mango competition, mango eating competitions. Yes, yes. That and the other thing I remember was when talking about mommy was since she when she drove, we would do short road trips, but we were always singing in the car. Yes, yes, right, yeah, yeah. Okay, so is there anything here that sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

No, those road trips to Shiribagi Lu, Marakada, Palke are memorable even today, you know. We we used to sing all those she sailed away on a lovely summer's day.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Those songs, yes, lots of fun songs that are really cool. But yeah, in all this, uh, just because uh sometimes we do ask a queer uh, you know, we have talked about everyone being bunt, uh, I know not very bunt-oriented, but still, is there something that for you equates to bunt? Not necessarily in the grand scheme of things, or whichever way you want to say it, like is there anything that when you hear the word bunt, it says, Oh, okay, this is what they are.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

I would say they're very strong. Um in I mean, they're strong-minded, you know, they they can handle uh things uh in um, I don't know how to put it, but uh uh they are challenges, you mean yeah, not challenges, but I think they're very strong-willed and uh they're very um proud of their uh traditions and proud of their community. There are many people who will not say I am a bunt, I'm a gauda so uh proudly, but uh even me, I think I I say I'm a bunt and I'm from Bangalore very proudly. So I think that that's a characteristic which is there in most of the bunds, I would say.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Yeah, and it doesn't have to be an extrinsic thing, it is very intrinsic that it's in there that I am bunt. Yeah, yeah. All right, okay. So moving on, Kambok. I know uh we talked a little bit about your childhood in Mangalore, but then you landed up in Bangalore. Tell us why or a little more about that.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

Okay. When we were in Mangalore and I was about uh maybe 12 years old, my mother used to play a lot of tennis those days, and she started a small tennis camp in the Maila Seva Samaj in Mangalore, and a few of us started playing tennis, and then my mother realized that I had a little bit of a, you know, maybe I had some talent in the game, and so she thought Mangalore would not be the right place for me to pursue uh the game further. So we came, uh I mean, she decided to move to Bangalore so that I could get better training here, and it surely did me good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:09

And absolutely, and and you also talked about like growing up as a child, um, along with tennis, right? Your parents had you do a ton of other activities. Um and you mentioned that sort of honing your childhood very well. How how did you feel about sort of like having these buffets of different activities? You mentioned singing, dancing, classical music, and then of course tennis. Um, how do you think that shaped you as an individual?

SPEAKER_00 11:37

I think it made me uh one thing is learn all these things and also feel that I was good at a few things and picked those few things, and that's how I arrived at the game of tennis to pursue that further and Karnataka classical music, you know, in the culture line. So I started playing a lot more tennis and uh learning more classical music till I was 17, maybe. Once I was 17, I got into really professional tennis and I had to do I got into engineering college. I had to give up music as a hobby because there was no time for it, and I regret having done that even today. But after I was 50, I pursued music again. So that that's a different story.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

Yeah. But yeah, so sort of foreshadowing a little bit. So obviously, tennis becomes your focus. You go on to become a national champion, you play uh around uh in a lot of circuits around the world. But I'm also just curious from a very foundational level, what attracted you to the game of tennis? Was it like the the competitiveness? Uh, I don't know, the pace of play, I don't know, like double singles. What did you really like about that game? Because when I think about tennis, sort of like an active sport compared to something like carnatic music, it's almost two different poles, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:05

So but yeah, yeah, very true, Siddhanta. Um, I I don't know what attracted me to tennis, but maybe because my mother pushed me towards it, that might have been one reason for me to take up the sport. But other than that, maybe I had good ball sense. So, you know, it developed and I the first tournament I played, maybe I did well. So it sort of went on building my confidence, and also I liked challenges from the beginning. So I think I took up the challenge of you know, really training well and playing well. So maybe that that's one reason why I took up the sport as against the other. Yeah. I did play a lot of throwball and things like that, baseball, throwball in school and college, but that was at the college level, and that was just for that time. But uh tennis I pursued, and because of tennis, I did a lot of other things too.

unknown 14:09

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

And I wanted to add that you would you've talked about all these interests, but your academics kept in pace with all of this. Like nothing suffered because you had so many activities. How did you have the time for everything?

SPEAKER_00 14:24

Uh good question. If I think about it now, I wonder how I did it. I wouldn't have done it now. But yeah, I I think uh I was very focused, Lallo. Um I was uh very focused and I knew I had to do well in these two things. So when I was traveling, I would always carry my books. I was always called a nerd, geek, whatever I was named, all these things in the circuit. But um, nonetheless, I studied and did well uh till the 12th standard, after which I got into engineering college and did my electronics in engineering.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 15:07

And I think one of the nicknames you earned on the circuit was Challenge Kamala because you were extremely competitive and you excelled in both academics and sports, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_03 15:18

I had different names, uh Siddhanta, just to uh maybe some names are not so good because you were too good at tennis, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:26

No, no, I'll tell you what I was called in it. The engineering college, I was called wrestler Kamla. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Tell us why.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Because I would walk with my, I would go to the gym, come the big bag on my back. After tennis, I would go to uh college straight. So I had the big bag and I would walk like uh maybe a wrestler, I don't know. So I was called wrestler Kamla. I'll tell you all the names in one shot so that it thing. So then I was called Challenge Kamla because I would challenge everything that was around, and then uh once I started my company and my business, I was called Tiger. Okay, yeah, so everything. Um, if you see all the names, they're very rough and uh not very uh woman-like names. So I don't know. Now after 65, I'm going to change all this Siddhanta.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 16:28

I don't think so. It doesn't sound like that at all.

SPEAKER_00 16:32

Um I'm going to and my name, I I you know, I visualize a name like you know, petite sweet Kamala, something like that.

SPEAKER_03 16:42

Okay, for your for your granddaughter, you can be a sweet grandma Kamala. Grandson. Grandson. Grandson, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Um, I hope so.

SPEAKER_03 16:53

Yeah, so going uh fast forwarding a little bit, so you joined engineering college, um, you were still on the circuit, still studying, those are your priorities, and then eventually you earn a full scholarship to Yale um to play tennis.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

Not eventually, that was just after I joined the engineering college at Bangor. Just after you, yeah, just after I got a scholarship in Yale University to do my electronics undergrad. Um, so I went there, did two semesters. I was terribly homesick, gave up my I didn't give up my scholarship. I came back home during the uh vacation time and then refused to go back.

SPEAKER_03 17:30

And uh this funny story about the coach, uh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Uh Alistaim, who was my coach in uh Yale, thought I didn't have the money to come back. So she sent a ticket for me. I think that was the first time that was done in the university. So, anyway, that was a big joke, and but I refused to go because my parents, uh, as I already told you, I was an only child and they're growing old. Somehow it didn't feel good for me to go back. I was a little lonely.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

You missed all the pampering.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Yeah, I maybe I missed all the pampering, I don't know, but uh in hindsight, I've never regretted coming back. Yeah, but you play tennis in Yale, right? I was yeah, I was in the tennis team. I was the captain of the tennis team.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Wow. But did you do any kind of uh classical singing or dancing when you were at Yale? Or you stuck to tennis?

SPEAKER_00 18:30

I just stuck to tennis. There was no singing or dancing there. I had to study and play to train.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Okay, so I have a maybe it's an insight, I don't know, or a question. Because somewhere along the way you said when you were 15 or 16, you met the soon to become love of your life, and y'all were good friends. So, was that one of the reasons you came running back from Yale? Or tell us more about that romance or that uh relationship.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Um, sometimes I think maybe that was one of the reasons. But I don't know if it was the only reason, but uh and uh yeah, Ragu and I met on the Terrace Court when we I was 15 and he was 16 years old. And we have been friends since then. That's a good 50 how many years? 50 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

50 plus, yeah, nice.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

50 plus years.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

Tell us uh, was he the one? I know listeners always like to hear the romantic stories, or maybe it's a Siddhanta and I are curious about that, but and he's not one.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

So yeah, we played a lot of tennis together, we trained together, though he didn't come on the circuit very often because he was more he was supposed to be studying and had to concentrate on a career and all that. So maybe he didn't travel as much as I did, but then we realized that we were always on the same wavelength, and the we thought uh our thoughts, you know, sometimes you know, uh were aligned, and you know, we felt that yes, uh uh we are good friends. We were always the best of friends, you know, and uh never thought of marriage or anything like that. So when um the time came, you know, in 84, I finished my engineering, he had already finished, he was working somewhere, and uh uh my parents obviously at that time who she has to get married, and you know, those days it was more like that. She's 23 years old, she has to get married now, 22, that kind of thing. So yeah, so they started, and then these guys would come home, and I would be playing tennis somewhere, and I would refuse to come because I didn't really want to see any guy, but I think two came, and then my mother said, Why don't you come on time and all that? Then I realized I have his best friend, and uh maybe I should uh ask him if uh maybe we should uh uh sort of be together, but uh this guy was not like that, so he was serious type, and to ask him was very tough. So when one of these guys came home uh to see me or whatever, you know, that typical boy coming home. Yeah, that day I decided. I called this guy and I said, Will you marry me?

SPEAKER_01 21:41

Wow, I did not know that part of the story.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

So you can edit this if you want.

SPEAKER_03 21:48

But no, no, this is even better.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Will you marry me? I called him and I said, Will you marry me? He he he was shocked, I think. So he there was complete. Silence at the other end. And then she said, I will uh I will call you back and put the phone back. And after that, there were new no news. Those days there were no mobiles, no news from him for a week. Then I get a letter in a cover saying uh it's a Hindi thing. Yes, I I agree.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

So with your decision, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Yes, and that's how we got married.

SPEAKER_03 22:32

That's a nice flair in terms of how to accept so that song is very famous, Siddhanta.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

You don't know Hindi, but it goes like that.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

Yeah, so okay, that is very cool. And so then you had a wedding that was uh the Andhra style because he is an Andhra uh boy, right? Did you I don't remember? I remember the wedding, but there are some customs that are different, and I think you did more, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

It was a total Telugu style of wedding, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

Oh, okay, okay. All right. So now that we've got those details, Siddhanta will grill you on your job and career, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 23:24

Yeah, going going uh to the job career portion. So I think sort of around around what time did you sort of wrap up, I guess, your tennis circuit career and then start RK Industries. So what did that timeline look like?

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Yeah, just after finishing my after graduating, I we got married in 1985. And by then I had given up tennis, I had got a slip disk and all that. So I'd given up playing tennis. I had become a coach.

unknown 23:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

So I used to coach the state tennis players here in Bang. I continued doing that even after I got married. And I didn't uh after my engineering, I didn't think of a nine to five job at all because I didn't think I could stick on to a nine to five job. So I said, okay, now let me do think of something. So one day when I was in the dentist's clinic, I was sitting in the reception area and then I was looking at a clock that was going tick-tock, tick-tock in a soundless room. The the second hand, you know, goes on tick tock, tick-tock. So I was I kept listening to it, and then I said, I wonder how this clock works. And then I came home, opened up a clock, saw a resistor, capacitor. Uh, just and I said, Oh god, this is so easy. One resistor, one capacitor, and one two needles and a clock is made. And that's how I my first clock was assembled. I did some research, and that's how RK Industries was born in 1986. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:00

My god, I think it's the first time someone has been inspired going into the dental office.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Exactly. And Sidam should know his mother is a dentist.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

So, yeah, that's how the first clock was made. And I said, voila, this is very, very easy to make. And that's how I started making these clocks and I positioned them. Uh, you know, those days they used to give diaries. I don't know in the US what we do, but in India we give diaries and calendars during the new year. I said, Why can't they give a clock which can show them the time? So that's how I positioned these clocks in the gifting market. And um thank thanks to God or whoever, uh it just took off very well. And uh, from our K Industries, we grew into other gifting solutions. And I started Giftlings India Private Limited in 1991, and it's just been a growth story after that. We've just been growing as a company, and uh yeah, that that's it's 40 years since we started the company now.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

Oh wow, that's amazing! And how do you like how did you transition into I assume that CEO slash founder type role? Um, especially coming from your tennis background, it sounds like that's more a single sport, right? You versus you mentality. Uh, but then you're transitioning more into a CEO type management of people role. How did that work? Or how did you deal with that?

SPEAKER_00 26:33

Didn't work too good, Siddhanta, because I was still because I was still um, I would take all the decisions, I would do everything, and every I mean I would go for these entrepreneur training programs, you know, even I was younger, uh, to learn how to delegate, and I could never do that. Uh I was very bad at it. I had to do everything all the time. But then uh somewhere down the line, you know, God must have thought this thing, uh, this authority won't work too much. And my eyesight started dimming after that, and then that's when I had to really delegate and uh I learned to do a lot of uh things to other people.

SPEAKER_03 27:19

And then RK industries is that like does that become amolia or is amolia a separate company? I think you mentioned.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Amoolia is a brand of RK industries. The clocks that we manufactured were called are called amolia. But then what has happened is amolia now is one part of the business, but Giftlings India Private Limited is a big chunk because we do online stores for big uh uh uh corporates and uh we supply globally.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

So so from uh from basically from a little workshop type space or one room in the house, it has grown to a multinational company almost, right?

SPEAKER_00 28:00

Not multinational, yeah, but uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

Or supplying multinational.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

Let me put it in international.

SPEAKER_02 28:07

Yeah, yes, yes, got it.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

Okay, and I do a lot of work in the women entrepreneur space. So I go talk to college students all over. I could go across everywhere and promote women women entrepreneurship across, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

So that more and more women come into the business like workforce.

SPEAKER_02 28:32

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

Not workforce, business like business like okay.

SPEAKER_03 28:37

And are you still actively engaged? Are you still actively engaged in the day-to-day for archae industries? Are you focused more nowadays on it's now gift links uh Sidan?

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Now it's called you know, archae industry is still there, but gift links India Private Limited is a better known company. Got it, got it, and uh yeah, I'm still involved, I'm still the founder chairman, chairwoman or whatever. And umulia, my daughter has joined the company. Uh Ragu, who was with the Tatars for many, many years, very senior guy with the Tatars, he actually helped me and joined the company when I started losing my sight. And the doctor told me that I would go blind in five years, six years, ten years, whatever. And uh so that really shook us up. And uh I I I was thinking of shutting down the company after so many years, but then Ragu was good enough to quit his job and come in as the MD of our company.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

Yeah, that's amazing, and that's amazing. And I think sort of we talked about uh a segment of gift links being Amoya, but let's talk about your actual daughter Amoya, I guess. Um tell us more about Amoya. How was it? Uh I guess sort of you had this cool mother that was uh smoking and driving around in Bangalore. I assume you were you doing the same in Bangalore when Amoya was growing up, or how did that look like? You go from tennis and past engineering, start the company, and now I assume that you have Amoulia after you start the company, comparing it to what your mom was like growing up. Uh, how was that experience like?

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Okay, so my company, I started the company in 1986. Amulia was born in 1987, end of 87. And um as I told you, I was a sort of a one-man, not one man, we had a few people working with us, but I I had to take all the decisions, I had to run around, I had to do everything at that time. Yeah, so I would make her sleep in the afternoon and go for meetings, come back before she woke up. So all this jugglery happened. And uh I think she grew up. I mean, luckily, my mother was here, my mother-in-law was here, so there was a lot of family support that was around me, which helped actually to build whatever I had set out to do. So I didn't have the pressures of looking after the house, though you have to be with your child and you want to be with the child, and that's that's uh was bit of was uh bit of a challenge, which I think uh it you get the strength to face it at that time. And uh my mother was a big supporter because she truly looked after and gave Amulia all the inputs that were needed at that age.

SPEAKER_03 31:38

Got it, got it. Um, and I think sort of a follow-up question. I know within your childhood it was a focus that you have these diverse set of activities and interests, uh, whether it's exposed to you, whether it's classical music, sports, things like that. Um curious on how your parenting style with Amuya was influenced by how your mom, dad, grandmother, grandfather was uh raised you.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

Yeah, I think I did exactly what my mother did to me. Because I think that's an automatic, you know, that's the only thing you know. So as soon as Amulia was five years old, I said, Oh no, no, she has to go for swimming classes, she has to go uh karnatic music. She did all that I did at five, six, at um seven, eight, she was into tennis. Everything was fast forward four years from what where I was, you know. I started maybe all this at 10 or 11. She started when she was uh six, five, six, seven. So uh that was the only change. But Amulia went through the whole entire cycle that I went through, and sometimes I feel guilty. Maybe I pushed her into tennis. She also went on to become a very good tennis player and played the circuit much more than what I did, and uh was ranked globally, all that she did. But somewhere I feel guilty that maybe I pushed her. And um, I don't know if my mother pushed me, I never thought of it. But I keep thinking, did I put I didn't let her party? I didn't let her, she had to train all the time, and I was very strict. So now uh all that guilt. Uh were you her coach? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:33

Were you her coach?

SPEAKER_00 33:35

Uh I coached her a bit, but I realized we fought all the time. She had a uh Norvesian coach called Jonathan Stubbs, who's quite a famous coach, and she trained in Tarragona in Spain also.

SPEAKER_03 33:50

Oh nice, nice.

SPEAKER_01 33:53

And then uh so uh Kambakad, little just taking you back just a little bit, uh, because I that's very vivid in my mind. Amulia was a premi baby, and that was another challenge thrown at you. That, like you said, your challenge, Kamala, you took it on uh in in addition to everything else you did. Do you have any thoughts about that at this point or from then?

SPEAKER_00 34:17

Not thoughts, I have memories. So uh when um I was expecting Amulia, I was in a meeting in the morning, and by evening my doctor said the child was not okay and all that, so I had to immediately have a cesarean, and she was born a premi at six and a half months, and she was one kg when she was born.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

I remember holding you said in the palm of your hand you could hold her, that's how small less than a chicken, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:49

So, yeah, that that was quite a challenging time because my company was just you know, just started, it was like not even one year old, and I had to go through all this. I think um Lalu, if you're making me actually remember things that I don't know what straight that you don't want to remember, we can move on then. I'm sorry. Remembering it's good, but I was really must have been really strong to go through that time, but within three months she was okay, and then we bounced back because we lived down the street.

SPEAKER_01 35:24

I remember we lived down the street from the nursing home where she was, so you would walk down all the time, up and down. She was an incubator for quite a while, yeah. But anyway, moving on, again, another sign of the strength, your strength. But like you said, it's a strong, strong line of women that you've come from. Uh, our grandmother was president of the Mahila Sabha in Banglaw, which is a ladies' organization. Her grandmother was also president. And so, what organizations have you taken charge of?

SPEAKER_00 35:57

I agree with too many to list. No, no, no, nothing like that, but some of the few that I'll go from now to uh back earlier days, but now I'm involved with We Connect International, which is uh a diversity-led NGO based out of Washington. So I work with them a lot, and uh so that that's one organization I'm involved with, and uh Awake Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Karnataka. So I've been very actively involved there and in the committee, all that. And now I'm involved with an organization called Children's Movement for Civic Awareness, where you educate children from the fifth standard to the tenth standard, and uh uh their civic rights and uh instigate them to get into active politics and all that. Okay, yeah, guide them properly and things like that. That's quite a big organization that does a lot of good work, and other than that, a whole lot of I'm involved with the tennis association.

SPEAKER_01 37:09

So as I said you haven't given up on your tennis, yeah. You haven't given up on your tennis.

SPEAKER_00 37:13

I don't play anymore because I can't see the ball anymore. And I tried to play tennis without seeing the ball, but it was quite frustrating, so I gave up. Why live your life being frustrated? No, so I'd rather not so yeah, that's why I took up music. I've taken up music seriously now, and um I started uh after I was 50, started music seriously, and my master pushed me to teach music, so I teach a whole lot of students.

SPEAKER_01 37:44

Then I am one of your students, not as uh regular, but uh and not as uh uh probably not as good either, but I I am one of your students, and I can attest to how well you sing and your patience. But but uh I wanted to, you know, you've talked about losing your sight. Um that's a journey that to me, like it's unbelievable the things that you do in spite of all of it. So um one of the funny stories I remember is you entered a a car race or something, but couldn't see. Do you remember that story? Can you tell us that yeah?

SPEAKER_00 38:25

So there was this car valley, and a very close friend of mine was driving, and she had the confidence in me to navigate her. We had five uh miles to go, and uh it we had to go at 20 kilometers per whatever, but I told her to go at five kilometers per hour, 20 kilometers. I did the exact opposite, and she was saying, How can I drive at five kilometers per hour? And we went slow like a jatka guy. Of course, we lost the race, but she was such a good friend.

SPEAKER_01 39:12

She didn't she asked me to be the navigator next rally, also that was funny to me, especially since for some time your uh eyesight deteriorating has gone over now 10-15 years, maybe. I don't know, I'm guessing. But I have a and you have managed it. Sorry? No, go ahead. You have managed it, is what I'm saying. Can you talk about that journey of finding out and then today yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:43

So um, I found out uh that I was having this problem in a very funny way. I was driving one day and I swore that I didn't see a lorry next to me. And your aunt Gitami was sitting next to me. I was driving. I think it was 12 o'clock in the night. We were coming from Rajajnaga from some conference, and um I didn't see the lorry at all. But I braked and there was no accident. But the next day I went to the eye doctor, and then suddenly he tells me that I have a disease called retinitis pigmentosa, and uh that I would go blind completely blind within five years, and that was like thunder, lightning, shock, everything, you know, was um uh shocking, and then yeah, it it took me a while to understand the disease and learn about it and accept it. I had two choices, Slallo either to uh you know uh get depressed, uh get into a shell, sit in the house, don't tell anyone I'm losing my sight, all that.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

Yeah, but but that's not you, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:56

But uh then you know, uh I could also live and adjust to what was happening, and I had such a good husband who would support me right through. So, and you can always get a help to my legs and uh arms, and uh everything is fine, my mind is okay. So uh yeah, I do everything except driving because driving they stopped me from driving because they're murderer. Thank God. Yeah, other than that, I do most of the things we travel, we trek, we do everything. Um, I I try not to uh say no to anything, I'm always there for everything, uh, which I I feel good about. You know, I don't want people to say, oh, she's doing this, that no. I should be feeling good that I'm doing it. And also, I have a joke with my doctor, my eye doctor. I tell him, if there's a cure, please don't tell me because I've got used to this now, and I get I have so many perks, I have I don't have to drive. The driver drives me around, I don't have to kitchen, I have go go to the uh some dinner, Raghul, get me the plate, everybody will come and help me and do stuff. So all these perks will vanish overnight. So all these things, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:22

Yeah, but you had your share of trying different uh things to extend it as long as it's extended, and even though you say now these perks, even when we came and stayed this summer, not summer in February, whenever you and Ragu, you were there making dinner and uh warming up the frying the fish and doing whatever, like you still you know, I see that I still do all that because uh you feel good, you know that you can do it.

SPEAKER_00 42:52

Yeah, so absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 42:55

Um so just wrapping up, so one thing that we like to do um for every single episode is try to ask you like what are specific values, traits that um your life that you've developed over time that may become natural to you, that you would want your kids, your um your grandkids, or other people from the next generation to pass on to. Um, and obviously, this whole conversation has been very lighthearted. We've laughed. Um, but I think what sort of underlies the whole thing is in every single aspect of your life, you've sort of been a trailblazer, whether it's like being excellent at tennis, excellent at academics, excellent at starting your own entrepreneurship venture, along with balancing with motherhood. And then even now recently, how you're sort of responding to uh the medical diagnosis, right? Um so tell us more about things that you hold dear to your heart, whether it's values, traits that you think are very, very powerful and um can serve the next generation well.

SPEAKER_00 43:58

One thing is Seddant I Say, I mean, I I can't uh advise anyone, but never ever give up on anything, you know. Just be at it. If you want to do something, you can achieve it. So never give up, never, never, never, never, ever give up. That's one thing because um at some point you'll say, Oh no, this is enough, you know. You should never reach that point. You should say, I will do it and do it, and be positive in whatever uh you want to do, just think of it positively all the time. I think that helps a lot. And uh another thing is uh eat a lot of uh uh what is bendekai? What is bendekai okra? Yeah, that keeps your mind, that keeps your mind active and sharp. So I always take the kids eat a lot of okra. That is good for you. It gives you the strength and the energy to think positively and good. So yeah, that I think that's about it. Other than that, each one's life is different, and you have to handle it differently. You can't, you know, my formula may not work for somebody else, even my own grandson. That's not going to work because he's going to be a completely different human being, and um the only thing you can do is uh, you know, do what you like, and from the heart, that's it.

SPEAKER_03 45:34

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you so much for uh hopping on the podcast. I know you had some reservations, but honestly, I think this was one of the more like probably one of the funner episodes. So thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 45:46

And before we sign off, though, before we sign off, you brought up your little grandson. He is the love of your life. I love the pictures you post on Facebook, I love the videos you send. He is smart, he's already probably now starting two years before even Amulia started. So, because he has so talk a little bit about him before we actually sign up.

SPEAKER_00 46:10

See, actually, this whole podcast should have been about him. I would have been happy to do that.

SPEAKER_01 46:17

But then we have to know what led you to become the grandma that you are, right? So we needed the background.

SPEAKER_00 46:23

No, no, yeah, I I mean, uh, grandmotherhood is the best thing that ever happened. We never thought we would become grandparents at any point of time, but then that's the best thing that has happened to us, and summer is a joy that a joy that cannot uh be explained, you know. So he plays the tabla, he does the drums, he's uh they just uh yeah, and um plays the guitar so well, and now he's playing cricket with his grandfather. So what happened at five and six may be happening at two now for him, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 47:01

So maybe learn some of the lessons that you did, and uh, but I'm sure you don't push him. He just he it's he's cute to watch and he loves it, and just like you, it's not extracurricular, he's also into explaining the at three, two years old. He has a video explaining what the heart is and where the blood goes, and uh and it's really cute, but yes, and last question, Kambaka. Uh again, back to being Bunt. Uh, do you feel Bunt culture has had any influence on your life? Do you feel moving forward you you're like because you're not Telugu, you're not Bunt, you're not following any specific things, but you're everything. So, any thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_00 47:48

No, I'm a confused human being as far as uh uh tasks and communities concerned. So, because I go to the humanity is your thing. I uh we do iftar for Shiren, and I'm involved in all sorts of religions, so I don't think uh uh there's the band influence is of course there because as soon as I see a shatti or a hegre, I will go, who is your grandfather, who's your father, who's your that uh bunt part has never left me. Yeah, so yeah, uh other than that, not much. The I still continue mommy's uh Ashtemi and Sheme Dandi, I I and uh Diwali, Di Paoli, all that. I still try and do what she used to do, but other than that, not much, just that you know I'm a proud bunt, proud bunt and the determination to keep going and doing stuff, right?

SPEAKER_01 48:53

So yeah, so Miss Challenge Kamala, Miss Tiger Kamala, Mrs. Tiger Kamala, uh whatever, nerdy, geeky, whatever it is, you are you are an amazing person, and um, you do truly uh inspire me. But I don't know, I'm sure others too, but every time I think about all the things that you do in spite of everything, especially this eyesight, it just blows my mind. So thank you for being on this podcast and good luck with Samar and everything else that's still ahead for you. Thank you, Kambaka.

SPEAKER_00 49:28

Thank you, thank you, Siddhan. Thank you, Lalu.