Bhramaramba Avva

Dhulipalla Bhramaramba was my father’s paternal aunt. She was fair, beautiful, well read and highly intelligent. She was called “gouramma” (gora=fair) by the servants who could not pronounce her name.

She was married to dhulipalla sundara ramiah, who was her maternal uncle. He was no match to her in any way. It seems after the marriage he was found jumping with joy saying “where will she go now. She is mine”. She has never gone to attagari illu; instead he came and lived here. She was called by every body singampalli bhramaramba and not dhulipalla.

He used to borrow money, buy registration stamps and sell them on credit. The buyers never returned money and this resulted in bad debts. After his death she collected some of the debts ruthlessly going to villages, confiscating even a cow or crow. That made her very hard boiled .Still most of property was lost, and that is how the house next to viswams house was sold away. She was child less and bequeathed her remaing properties to my mother. They were like mother and daughter with well defined boundaries in house management.
My father was only 13when grand father died. Grand mother rangamma (after whom I was named) was very innocent and not worldly. So the burden of managing properties, educating, marrying and settling the young boy fell on her shoulders, which she did with great efficiency. They put up family in Nellore and then at Madras for his higher education (at that time the house was rented for 4or 5 years).In fact we can say that she was the pillar on which the prosperity of singampalli family rested.
She was embodiment of vyangam, terror of the street. Our friends were terrified to come to our house. The” durvasa” my father was like a pilli in front of her. Many a times we were saved from his beatings by her intervention.
There is much to be told about her and friends as remarked by gopal, but may be in a later post.
You now know from where the strong genes of all singampalli girls come!!!!!!!!!