Page 179 - Demo

of assertion, after the Court of Wards%u2019 oversight of the estate was done away with in 1945. Later he would further break with caste norms in his personal space, requesting a political associate Gantlana Suryanarayana, a Dalit MLA to sit at his table and eat with him. Those who served at the Vizianagaram Fort were higher up in the caste hierarchy and found it offensive but he insisted upon it and gradually it was accepted, changing attitudes and behaviour for the better.PVG Raju's lodgings at Simhachalam were situated near the Gaushala. He stayed with his wife Madhuri in this single bedroom cottage for about ten years. As hereditary trustee, he had access to this cottage which had one room with four beds, a bathroom and a small ante-room which could be used as a kitchen. A couple, Ramakrishna Raju and his wife Annapurna lived close by. Ramakrishna worked in the Simhachalam Devasthanam and Annapurna used to cook food and send it across for PVG Raju. He liked the Kshatriya style of cooking with its spices. People remarked that Annapurna prepared food for him with much devotion, as if she was preparing naivedyam for the gods. PVG Raju was mostly alone, the only other person was a devoted care giver, affectionately called Thatha by everyone. He would sit in the veranda of his cottage in the green surroundings reading or meditating. It's possible that the meditation he began his days with, allowed him to acknowledge the beauty of the journey and even accept transience.PVG Raju rarely travelled outside Vizag. At best, he would go to his son Alak's house in Delhi or make a trip to Madras or Calcutta. The Howrah Mail and the Madras Mail, cross each other at Vizag at the same time, because Vizag is the centre point. One of them gets platform number one, and the 165