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The postman knocked

* Reader P. Raghunath informs me that the Gosha hospital to which I referred on March 6 should correctly be called the Kasturba Gandhi hospital and not Kasturbai as I had stated. He is, of course, correct but Tamil users have long called it the Kasturbai Gandhi hospital and that's the name that must have sunk into my sub-conscious. And Lakshmi Devnath points out that it should have been Sarvadevavilasa and not Sarvadesavilasaas I had it on April 24 when my typewriter ran away with me. Reader L. R. V. Narayan also tells me that Sarvadevavilasa has been translated into English. Now that's a translation I wonder where I can get.

* About a year ago, Net-watcher Ralph Newman wrote to me from the U.K. wondering whether I had heard of a Micetich Colony in Madhavaram and whether it still existed. I had to tell him I had not heard of it and that the most detailed atlas of Madras did not show it. But just the other day, the most recent issue of that lively magazine, Anglos in the Wind,provided some answers in an article written by Celine Reghilini who had in years past visited the `colony' often. It would seem that during the Great War (1914-18), a Croatian soldier, Anton Micetich, serving the Austro-Hungarian Empire found himself and his colleagues cast adrift in Madras. He became a Port diver and in time, with his Anglo-Indian wife Grace, built himself a spacious home in substantial grounds in Madhavaram. By the 1930s, a few Anglo-Indian families also put down roots near the Micetichs. About a decade later, Anton's son Frank, after retiring from the railways, developed his property, and the Micetich home and the homes surrounding it became known as the Micetich Colony. I wonder what it is now called? Could it be the Madhavaram Milk Colony? Reghilini's article adds that Frank's son Ronald became a major figure in the Canadian pharmaceutical world. Dr. Ronald G. Micetich, who passed away a little over a year ago, was one of Loyola College's most distinguished alumni. He was both a professor at the University of Alberta as well as an entrepreneur whose SynPhar Laboratories developed the widely used antibiotic, Tazobactum.

* Reader K. Ratnam wonders whether Pandit K. Santanam (Miscellany, April 10) was in any way related to Govind Swaminadhan. I'm afraid that's way beyond my ken, but I wonder whether any reader has an answer. Reader Ratnam adds that he thinks that the Pandit married a South Indian who lived in Lahore. On Santanam's `Lakshmi of Lahore' I've also heard from Nader Junaid in the U.S., whose e-mail deserved quoting in extenso: "Lakshmi Mansion and Lakshmi Chowk (Square) is where I spent a good time of my growing up. Lahore has a rich stamp of Hindu/Sikh business, cultural as well as benevolent enterprises. Most of the old hospitals, colleges and other cultural buildings were built by Hindus and Sikhs. After Partition, there was a great deal of pressure to rename these buildings and roads. But good sense prevailed and the names of these buildings and hospitals/libraries were kept. When I was growing up in Lahore after Partition, my father used to tell us the details of these buildings and the benevolent works done by Hindus and Sikhs. He used to say that we should always be proud of our history and that Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus have the same bloodline.

"The Lahore College for Women on Jail Road was built by a Sardarji. But I have forgotten the name of that benefactor. I would appreciate it greatly if someone could brief me on that as well as about the history of the Jankee Davie hospital in Lahore. Please reply to junaidcpa@yahoo.com."

* Reader C. S. Kuppuraj tells me that "Batalagundu Sitarama Ayyar Ramaswami Ayyar" (Miscellany, March 13) in January 1912 joined the Indian Service of Engineers, a covenanted service under the direct control of the Secretary of State for India. In 1932, he was Executive Engineer, Trichinopoly Division, and in 1944, became Superintending Engineer when he received his Rao Bahadur title.

S. MUTHIAH

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