Fond memories at 102
HE MAY have turned 102 on Sunday, but Rajamanikam Pillay of Umhlatuzana, Chatsworth, prefers people not to make a fuss.
Pillay still walks tall and is able to take care of himself. He does not suffer from any medical ailments and owes his good health, he says, to a controlled healthy diet and regular exercise.
Even at his age, Pillay refuses to sit idle and let others wait on him, as was evident at his party on Sunday at Solly Manjra Caterers in Sea Cow Lake.
He enjoys walking around his home, reading newspapers, including POST, and chatting, or joking, with family.
Pillay was born on July 16, 1915, the third of four children.
They were raised by their parents, Sangapa and Mangapa, in Codemore Road, Bellair.
He told POST he had fond memories of playing outside with older siblings, Govindama and Nadas, but he could not recall his sister’s name who, like their mother, had died of influenza.
His father had later remarried. A young Pillay attended Seaview Government Aided School but had to drop out after completing Standard 4 to find work.
“I secured a job as a weaver at Consolidated Textile Mills in Jacobs in 1936 when I was 15 years old and built myself up in the company,” he said proudly.
“When I retired 48 years later, I left as a loom turner (technician).”
The company, he said, manufactured blankets and the noise from the machines had affected his hearing.
As a result, he wears a hearing aid.
While heading to work back in the day, he used to stop at a nearby tea shop and had fallen in love with the owner’s daughter, who he would later marry.
“My wife, Neelamba Naidoo, the daughter of TM Naidoo, worked at her father’s tea shop opposite Defy. I saw her and wanted to marry her. I told her I liked her and I used to visit her at her home at 192 Jacobs Road in Clairwood,” he said.
They were married in 1941 and raised their four children – Deva Krishna, Gokal, Sadaseevan and Pathma – at their home in Bellair.
It becomes evident that Pillay’s love for his wife has remained strong, despite her passing in January 2009 at the age of 90.
He still has a tie, which she had made for him, and it is among his treasured items.
Pillay said he enjoyed soccer and played as a defender for Bellair Football Club and Consolidation Textile Football Club.
His loves to watch soccer on television but does not have a favourite team.
Pillay, whose favourite meal is homemade curry and rice, has 11 grandchildren, four of whom are doctors, and five great grandchildren.