It was in 1968 that 'Ratnakara' was constructed. Home of Jaya and Vemuganti Harihar Rao, Advocates, this building housed at least 15 people and a floating population. A shuttle court was part of the plan.
Construction of this beautiful house started in February 1968. Ailaiah was the contractor and Veeranna the carpenter. Jaya's brother Seetaram (Ramu), a young Engineer working for Burmah Shell, designed the building
Hari and Jaya, then 35 and 33 years old, got into it without a major financial plan, not even sure where the money would come from. The land was there - bought by Hari's father Ratnakar Rao. "We started building without any seriousness, just for fun! Somehow the house got built - with one client bringing sand and another providing cement", says Jaya. Ramu visited regularly to oversee the construction. "On one of my visits I found that Ailaiah had built the longest wall of the house (on the office side) a bit crooked. I asked him to bring it down and re-build it. He said he would 'adjust' it at the plastering stage but I wouldn't hear of it."
Ratnakara would be their home for 60 years, and Hari's favourite place in the world!
Some photos of the construction.
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| The boys who built Ratnakara |
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| Foundation being laid - Hari, Jaya, Sadhana in the picture |
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The first door being set in place
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Hari's uncle - Manohar Rao kaka (with Veeranna to his right). At left are another
uncle Venkatanna Kaka and his son Bhaskar |
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| Laying of roof -1 |
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| Laying of roof - 2 |
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| Workers on the roof |
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Construction under progress. Neighbour Subramaniam's Kerala-style house
can be seen to the right at the back |
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| View from portico side |
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| Sadhana and Ramesh on the portico |
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| The women who built Ratnakara |
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| Women working on laying the roof |
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| View of terrace and office |
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| Ratnakara gets its characteristic shape. One of the boys is in the balcony. |
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| Jaya (bottom right) watching her home coming up |
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| Front view - verandah grill in place |
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| View from the back |
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| Jaya at the construction site |
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| Painting done! |
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| Pebble dash and other design elements being added |
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| View from the front |
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Gate in place.
Seetaram, who designed the building and Srikanth and Prashanth (maybe) in the balcony |
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'Ratnakara' - All done, looking like a new bride!
Little does the house know how much it would be loved and by how many people!
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Ratnakara's grihapravesham was on 6 December 1968. Construction started in February and it was completed by December - in about 10 months. It costed Rs 1 lakh! At that time it was a lot of money, and Jaya and Hari always wondered how they had pulled it off!
Shifting began from the old ancestral house at Brahmanwadi in Hanamkonda. Hari began inviting people for the grihapravesham. Judges, doctors, lawyers, friends, relatives. On 3 Dec, he wrote in his diary: "The house is already looking empty. It is really painful to stop living in a house which was occupied by me for 30 years. I spent my childhood and youth here".
On 5 Dec, he wrote: "Very busy the whole day. Water problem was troubling us a little. Telephone was fixed. Two cars at my service. The house is looking very presentable. About 12 midnight had a headbath. It was unusually warm - clouds. Removed the deities at 1.45 am. Reached 'Ratnakara' at 2 am. Ceremony was largely attended".
6 December 1968: "Suprabhatam in the new home. Set up is strange and I am not accustomed to it. Had a bath upstairs. Received some people. Many of the invitees came. Puja at 10.30 am. Felt sleepy the whole day. In the evening PMM and Dora came. Prakash Rao annayya and others. Later Dr Vishwanadham also came. Worked for a short while in the office. Early dinner at about 9 pm".
The festivities continued. On Sunday 8 December, there was a dinner for many guests. Hari writes, "Dinner preparations in full swing. Some clients came. Worked for some time. Spent the afternoon playing literature. Preparations began at 5 pm. Nicely arranged. Very grand dinner - about 350 people came. Musical chairs. It all ended at 11.30 pm".
Work on the badminton court was started immediately and Hari and his friends and brothers began playing in the evenings. It was to be the beginning of the making of many sportsmen and some sportswomen. It was the beginning of 'Ratnakara Club'.
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