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Regular-article-logo Thursday, 01 May 2025

HUNT FOR NEW MATE AFTER FOUR WIVES & 34 CHILDREN 

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FROM G.S. RADHAKRISHNA Published 14.11.01, 12:00 AM
Hyderabad, Nov. 14 :    Hyderabad, Nov. 14:  He is a brahmachari, but only in name. Brahmachari, a municipality contractor, has fathered 34 children, has four wives and is looking for a fifth who could help fulfil his dream of siring 50. And, as proof that all is well within the teeming family, all his four wives have joined in the search so that their husband's prolific run does not peter out. The intermediate dropout, who began his spawning spree in 1970, has made sure that the generation rate does not dip. His youngest offspring - a son from his fourth wife Changu Bai - was born in January 2001. 'If (chief minister) Chandrababu Naidu is a role model for something, I am also a role model for living in peace in spite of a large family,' says the 47-year-old, who has become the toast of Afzalsagar Nagar, Mallepally, in the old city where he is hailed for his 'prowess'. A stickler for conjugal discipline, Brahmachari has kept three days in a month free for his would-be fifth wife as he has already set aside six days in a week for each of his four existing wives. There is no 'saas or bahu' tussle, Bhahmachari told this correspondent who met him last Saturday. The families of his one son and two daughters also live with him under the same roof. Besides siring 37 children over 30 years, Brahmachari, a Yadav, also notched several 'firsts'. Three of his wives gave birth to four children (one twin) in the same hospital on alternate days. Asked why he had opted for polygamy, Brahmachari said his first wife, Kamini Bai, did not bear him any child in the first five years of their marriage. So he took another wife, Kausalya Bai, who bore him four daughters and five sons. This marriage was a miracle. Two years after his second marriage, his first wife Kamini also bore him four sons and six daughters. Brahmachari was on his way. The third wife, Subita Bai, a relative of Kausalya, came willingly when both Kamini and Kausalya were in hospital. It was a short step to the nuptial bed, after both agreed that a third wife wouldn't dislodge them from their position. Subita has given Brahmachari four sons and four daughters, the best educated of the lot, some of them graduates and IT engineers. The fourth wife has four daughters and three sons. Brahmachari's two-storeyed house has the appearance of a residential school with all the children living in the hall. With so many mouths to feed, the food bill is also huge. Average requirement for a day is 20 kg rice, a minimum 6 kg vegetables and 15 litres milk. When the menu is non-vegetarian, that is once a week, it takes around 12 chicken or 5 kg of meat. Brahmachari buys the basic ingredients on a yearly contract basis - 15 kg salt and 20 kg sambar powder - and has never defaulted in his payments, which run to around Rs 32,000 a month, according to Bansilal & Gopilal where he buys all the stuff from. Brahmachari says he maintains his huge family with rentals from ancestral property in the city and districts in neighbouring Maharashtra. He makes around Rs 30,000 a month from his job. 'I can hardly save any money,' he says, 'but is never short of any basic necessities for my family.' Not surprisingly, his family is a major location for test-marketing consumer goods as well as for politicians. His house accounts for 23 votes. In fact, every visitor comes with some donation - clothes or eatables. Brahmachari finds it difficult at times to remember the names of his children. So for his children born after 1990, he has given them names of film actresses. The one born last year has been named Kargil. Some of the others are Rekha, Shilpa, Karishma, Kajol, Hemamalini, Jayaprada, Meena, Soudarya and Rambha.    
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