Twin boys were born on the 6th day of August 1963 in kolar district of Karnataka state.  They had marble bone disease, which made their bones brittle from birth. Their father was a fisheries scientist, and their mother was a housewife. The Brittle twins started their studies in Cochin, Kerala State. They studied from kindergarten to second std at Kendriya Vidyalaya School.  

 

They stayed at Pullaipadi in Cochin. 

• While playing in the rain, one of the twins, Vijay, broke his right femur bone. He was administered a Thomas splint. As the bones were brittle, the calvarial formation was very slow. Vijay recovered in two months.  Jai was older than Vijay by four minutes. They travelled by cyclerickshaw to the kindergarten classes.
• On return from school, they used to shout Kamaraj zindabad and Indira Gandhi zindabad as processions were a common sight in Cochin. Jai and Vijay used to sit in a goldsmith shop while their mother went to a tailoring class near their house in Pullaipadi. 

 

Their father, Thulasilingam, was a scientist in the Central Marine Fisheries Department. On Sunday morning, he used to take his twin boys by cycle to the market. Both Jai and Vijay enjoyed the market. In the evening, their dad would take Jai and Vijay for a motorboat ride along with their mother, Sulochana. 

The twins enjoyed ice cream at the Selord restaurant.  

       On Fridays, both jai and vijay  

Would visit the temple at Pullaipadi. Elephants would be neatly adorned with the following 

• Nettipattam a golden decorative covering on the forehead of the elephant. 
• Alavattam a circular fan made of peacock feathers held behind the elephant. 
• Venchamaram a white fan made from yak hair waved ceremonially. 
• Muthukuda a colourful decorative umbrellas placed above the elephant during processions. 

  After completing kindergarten studies, they shifted to Girinagar. Girinagar was a very big colony.  Both twin brothers would go to school by bus. On returning from school, their neighbour's daughter, Minikutti, would wait eagerly to give Jai and Vijay chocolates in the evening. Both wins would play with her. 

 

They used to play with a jeep, a car, and an aeroplane. Ducks were a common sight in the colony.  

Both Jai and Vijay used to water the plants in their house in the evening.  They had tuition in Hindi and social studies, which were also taught in Hindi, and their tuition master would come to their home to teach. Jai used to hide the cane the tutor brought.  

Mr Noble was a close friend of Mr Thulasisingam, father of brittle twins Jai and Vijay. He gave an excellent jeep toy, which both brothers played with happily.  

 

Mother Sulochana, shortly called Sulo, used to come to school at lunch and feed both Jai and Vijay. Sulo knew Malayalam. She used to buy fish and vegetables  

In front of her house in Girinagar. Both her twin sons used to play in the ground in Girinagar. In summer holidays, Jai, Vijay, and their parents used to go to their native place in Bangalore. 

The train departs from Cochin at 2.10 PM. Both Jai and Vijay enjoyed the train journey. They used to stand on the seat and push the train. 

 

The next day, they would be in Bangalore. They will stay at Susilla's aunt's house. She used to take both Jai and Vijay to the exhibition. She worked as a curator in the State fisheries department.  

She used to take both twins to her office and to Janatha Bazar in Gandhinagar. She used to purchase toys for Jai and Vijay.    

From Susila's aunt's house, they used to go to another aunt named Saroja, whose house is in Srirampuram. Saroja's aunt serves every dish with ghee and prepares special sweets. Were both the twins enjoying it? 

After a few days at Saroja's house, they would go to Radhakrishnan (Kittu)'s house. 

 

Both twins would play with their sons, Ramesh and Uday, and their daughter, Vani. One day, while playing cricket, Vijay broke his right hand due to a slight fall. He was put on the platter of Paris. 

The elbow bone was broken. He was on rest for a month and recovered.  Now the summer vacation was over, and both the twins returned to Cochin. 

After completing the second standard, their father was transferred to Chennai. He was given a warm send-off. He was offered dinner at each of his colleagues' houses. Both the twins enjoyed the food.  They took a Herald car from Cochin to Chennai. It was a long trip of ten days.  

Both Jai and Vijay enjoyed the trip. They stayed in Mandapam, Tuticorin, and Nagapattinam. 

After reaching Chennai, the summer holidays were over. 

 

Both the twins went to the Asan Memorial School from third standard.  Everything went well. 

In the 11th standard, both the twins sustained fractures. Vijay slipped and fell in front of his house and broke his right hip bone. After a few days, Jai broke his left hip and collarbone while playing cricket in school.  Both the twins were admitted to the same hospital. 

Both their parents, Thulasilingam and Sulo, had a tough time. Tears tolled down their eyes seeing their twin children suffer in pain.father used to stay at night, and mother used to see them in the daytime. 

Both Jai and Vijay stayed in the hospital for about 5 months. 

It took a long time for them to recover. They joined school after treatment. A special calliper was put for both the Brittle twins. They attended school with the help of callipers.  

 

After completing school, they enrolled at DB Jain College to pursue a Bachelor of Commerce. They went to college on a special college bus to Thorapakam. They completed their degree and continued post-graduation in commerce. After college, they took several competitive exams in the banking sector. Jai got a job in the finance department of Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd at Hyderabad.  

Both Jai and Vijay lost their father when Vijay was working as a temporary assistant in the finance department at Engineering Projects (India) Ltd. 

Vijay got a permanent job at LIC of India. Vijay sustained a hand fracture, breaking his right hand while trying to catch a bus to the office. Both the radius and ulna were broken. He was operated on the same day under general anaesthesia.  

He recovered after 50 days.  

 

Vijay was promoted to the cadre of Senior Assistant and posted to a suburban branch office at Ponneri.  He was transferred to the headquarters in Chennai after two years.  He worked for two years and, on request, was transferred to a branch office at Chinnamalai.  He was promoted to Assistant Admin Officer and posted to branch office no. 10 at Anna Salai. 

When coming home from the office, Vijay sustained a fracture of his right ankle. He was put on plaster of Paris and was to take rest for one and a half months. Being a marble bone ( osteopetrosis), it took two months to completely heal. Vijay got married and was blessed with a daughter named Sahana. He was later tranferred to Adyar branch. After serving for two years, he was posted to the Velachery branch. He performed very well and was promoted as an Admin officer at the Villupuram branch office.  Vijay went alone and stayed in a room at Villupuram .

 

He later rented a house. After one month of joining, he sustained a right hip fracture in his house while doing exercise on top of the house, where he fell into a deep pit. The house owner Mr jaganathan help him come down from the terrace He suffered with lots of pain and agony.. He was transferred by an ambulance to Chennai, where he was operated on at Kumaran Hospital at Kilpauk. It took about three months to recover. After recovering, he returned and rejoined the Villupuram branch office.

After serving for two years, he was transferred to the head office in Chennai. After serving for three years, Vijay again sustained a fracture of his right hip while going to take a metro train at Mylapore station. He was shifted by ambulance to Dr Bharatiraja Hospital at T.Nagar. He underwent hip replacement surgery.  Vijay joined the office after about eight months. After that, he was transferred to another department. After serving for about five years, Vijay fell on the office premises and sustained fractures in both his hands. 

He was taken on a stretcher from the fourth floor of the LIC building to the ground floor. First aid was given.  

 

He was transferred by an ambulance to Prashant Hospital at Velachery. The operation was done for two hands on two different days. First operation on the right hand, and after a couple of days on the left hand. 

He recovered after six months. He joined the office a month before his retirement. He retired from service after that. 

Now he is having osteoarthritis problem which still continues for which treatment is being done. Jai passed away at the age of 60 after Vijay's retirement. Now Vijay is at home with limited mobility. Whenever an important function was held, he used to venture out.  

Thus, both twins endured many hardships in life. 

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