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A Life to Remember
Glimpses
She arrived in Singapore as a young bride, on a ship that plied between Nagapatinam and Singapore then, from a village called Melanatham, Manarkudi Thaluka, Tiruvarur District, Tamil Nadu, just after her marriage to Mr. Ponnusamy, around the year 1915. She was barely 14 years old then, when she left behind her birthplace and parents, two younger sisters, and a brother. Mr. Ponnusamy had already arrived in Singapore earlier and joined the PWD as a 'Mandor', working under his brother, who was serving as a senior mandor. Mdm. Bethayee soon became a mother of five. She nurtured the spirit of independence and aspired for her own land to stand on and a roof of her own over her head. With her enterprising spirit and hard work, she bought a piece of land, took care of the household as well a small home-based dairy business, and made Singapore her home.
Her Life
Family and the Home-based Enterprise
Initially, Mdm. Bethayee lived in a joint family set-up in the PWD quarters along Upper East Coast Road close to the junction of Upper East Coast Road and Woo Mun Chew Road, in immediate proximity to her husband's older brother and his family. Egged on by the circumstances in the household, it was here that she aspired for a land and place of her own. A property was at that time available for rent nearby, along Woo Mun Chew Road. The couple then moved into this premises on rental. It was here that all her children were born. Of her five children, four were girls, namely, Sivapakiam, Nagammal, Ponnumani and Anjalai and an only son, Nadarajan. As her family grew, she was convinced that instead of living in a rented property, she should acquire her own piece of land. The Chettiar who own the land advised her to acquire that very same piece of land she had moved into. She lost no time in getting down to work towards the realisation of this aspiration.
Besides looking after the household, she started doing what she knew best from lessons from back home - household animal husbandry. She looked after cows and goats for fresh milk. After seeing to the household needs, fresh milk was bottled and sold to customers in the neighbourhood. Eggs from chicken and geese were collected and sold. Turkeys were fattened up on time to meet the Christmas demand for turkeys. She started small and never short-changed her customers, giving them the best she had at a reasonable price. Her clientele began to grow. Coupled with a frugal lifestyle, she was able to keep her family comfortable. She was able to safe up some amount of money. At one point in time, this was enough to get her to invest in that same property. With the aid of trusted associates, including a lawyers' clerk named Mr. Jacobs, a close associate from the same village of Melanatham, Mdm. Bethayee was able to procure that piece of land of an area of 10, 000 sq. feet. for the sum of S$1,000. Mr.Jacobs helped with the paper work and sealed the deal amicably.
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The family established itself there. The small-scale diary business continued in this way till the rules became stringent and keeping cattle was no longer viable.
There were many hardships that Mdm. Bethayee faced throughout her life, but with her strengths, she was able to raise her family, providing for them sufficiently and saving up enough to get each of her children married. She continued, till her last days, to contribute actively to the well-being of the ever-enlarging family with all the grand children to follow.
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Till her last days, Mdm. Bethayee stayed with her son, Nadarajan and his family and with her daughter, Ponnumani. Another daughter and her family were immediate neighbours. Her eldest daughter's family lived close by in Opera Estate. She enjoyed the close company of all her children throughout her life. Her four daughters, especially, remained her best friends throughout. Besides her five children, she left behind 3 sons-in-law, a daughter-in-law, 21 grand-children and about 7 great-grand children at the time of her death in 1973.
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