AFVOA Newletter August 2020

Section 5 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 02 / 2020 Page 95 of 237 9 Crossing Bridges Ms Jaya Krishnaswamy Genre: Madras Musings am a child of a generation spanning the decades from the colonial era, that of the Imperial Government of Great Britain, through the World War years, 1939 to 1945, and the period of the Freedom Movement to the present day democratic free India. They have been the years of many happenings of historic importance, national and international events, impacting the country in many ways. World War II, waged across the continents, impacting the entire British India, alongside, the waves of the Freedom Movement with Mahatma Gandhi’s clarion call for Civil Disobedience in 1942, opened the flood gates of the national pride across the Indian population, and then, the historic moment, the dawn of Independence with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru as the charismatic first Prime Minister of India, each one, individually and collectively have in more ways than one, left indelible memories, still fresh and still stirring profound sentiments in my mind. In the then Madras of the forties, there was, during the World War years, the threat of Japanese invasion. The city faced evacuation, black out and rationing of every possible commodity, fuel, food, clothing, to name a few, and several other essential items of daily use being in very limited supply. My experiences include moving away from the city, losing schooling, and exposure to infectious diseases which were common then, small pox, cholera, malaria, and plague. And there were no preventive vaccines then, no adequate medicines for cure. But home customs had taught us social distancing, practising strict hygiene for body cleanliness and managing with only essentials of daily needs. Therefore, many an illness was “treated” at home, a practical solution then. Of Madras, during the war years then, I quote the historian, Mr Venkatesh Krishnan, “Legends have been woven around the 1914 bombing of Madras by the German cruiser Emden, but little is known or remembered about the tough times the city faced during 1942 and 1943, when it lived in the fear of Japanese planes. In fact, in October 1943, the Japanese did bomb Madras, the only city in India to be bombed during the World Wars. I