On thengu krishi
Achachan (Sankaran) was a advani. Used to put in lot of work.
Basically was a coconut farmer.
He got 1 acre 27 cents after partition. Then there was an extra 45 cent vadakke thuruthu and 30 cents kizhakke thuruthu.
There were around 300 thengu
Different activities used to happen. Not like today - pick coconuts, cut leaves.
In rainy season (monsoon), the activity was thadam edukkal - or thadam thurakkal. A circlular pit was dug around the tree in which rain water could stay.
In chingam, when rains would be over, the thadam will be closed. thadam moodal. After this, the parambu will look very neat.
Now, by thulam, there will be grass in the land. This grass will be cut and made into valam. before this, the grass will be ploughed and heaped into small heaps - this is called kanni koottal. Later these will be put as valam (needs clarification)
valam is put in summer. There are two types of valam - fish and pachila (needs expansion)
300 coconut trees - 2000-3000 coconuts. trees were young. there were lot of coconuts. the kanakkan's name was supran. supran used to climb the tree. after climbing the cut was with eye closed - oooi and one cut, two bunches of coconuts will be down. there were two workers - vasu and narayanan. they were permanent labourers. they used to carry the coconuts and collect in one place. (vasu and narayanana - were retired with benefits later on, after that their sons kumaru, etc used to come for work). coconuts were taken in vaari kotta and heaped in padinjaare muttam. later on the kanakkan will come and count. the counting was peculiar. one coconut ola will be broken out, and the irkil removed. achachan will hold this. kanakkan will count two at a time and push backwards. after 99, instead of 100, alare is called. alare call prompts a breaking of the ola. after 2 days thekkenu velayudhan chettan comes and puts paara kutti in the center and de-husks the coconuts.
The madal is not sold. Achachan would soak this in the thodu after taking a kuzhi. There was a thodu in the kizhakku. now road goes there. we gave it for the road. The madal was put in the thodu by the kids. around 2000 thodus. after this, keeraatha ola madnjathu nirathum. the cheli got from the thodu is put on top of the ola. this is to ensure that the thodu does not float away even if the water rises. this cover is called kidu (?). it lies there for 3 months. after 3 months people will come to take the madal. these are kayaru piri people. they will come and ask achachan "sankara chetta, paakam aaya madal edukkaan undo". then these madal will be given away. this is an extra income.
vrishchikam, dhanu, makaram, kumbham, meenam, medam are good months - yielding 2000-3000 coconuts. idavam, mithunam, karkkadam, chingam, kanni are bad. kanni-il kanji-kku idaane thenga undaavuka ullu. thondu from the good months are ready to be given away in the bad months ...
during thengu kayaral every kid keeps 10 coconuts aside for themselves. achamma will keep aside 100 for her. off the rest, 100-150 coconuts are put in the attic (thattinte mukal). this dries up. fetches more money when sold than normal. these are sold before onam for extra income. this is called varad. onamthinu varad irakki pothichu kodukkum. it fetches 2-3 rs more than ordinary coconuts. 2-3rs more for 100! when achan got job, coconut was at 18-25Rs / 100. Now it is 25 for one. mootha thenga is put for varadu - else it spoils. after it dries, it is easy to make copra out of this. as soon as it is de-husked, the copra comes out of the shell. so, it can go directly to the chakk. Thus varad was used for more money, and moreover as a savings for onam.
onam - kodi dress. chips were plenty. kizhangu varuthathu, kaaya varuthathu, chakka varuthathu were all made to fill big bharanis. kids used to enjoy these snacks. kankathi used to come during onam with poovatti - they had to be given something in kind -
kanakathi - kali kanukkathi was anjana karumbi. used to come with pure white dress. naadan mundu and flat clothe on chest tied around neck. 1 week before onam, poovatti is made of kaitha ola. this is for picking flowers. it will hung from neck (kazhuthilninnu naathi ida). they will be given nenthra kaaya, chena, ari, etc. no cash. varadu income is used for these.
kondal krishi
coconut was permanenet krishi.
pokkam - the land we have now as partition is called pokkam. there was a flood in 1999. water rose till the roof of the then house. people survived in two boats tied together. house was made with cheli katta and chenkal. the construction was affected by the flood (ilakkam vannu). after the flood, the house was broken down. and house moved to the current tharavaad. the basement was not broken down, hence the land is called pokkam.
when varsha kaalam starts, after two rains, acahchan used to plough (vaaram korum). chembu, chena, pana kizhangu(?), achinga payaru, padavalanga, paavaykka. all kondal krishis. this mostly used up, not sold. some neighbours used to take somethings. especially leaves of the payaru. there were some neighbours koonan madhavan, koonan narayan - sons of koonan krishettan(?). koonan narayanan had TB. TB had no cure in those times. leaf of payaru was supposed to be good for TB. so, they used to take it. payary leaf was made into a thoran.
some of the kondal krishi harvest was given to velyachan. even a good curry was shared, especially so because achamma and velyachan's wife were sisters. if a thirutha curry was made, one full bowl was shared. that would be as much as we make for a family now-a-days.
Achachan (Sankaran) was a advani. Used to put in lot of work.
Basically was a coconut farmer.
He got 1 acre 27 cents after partition. Then there was an extra 45 cent vadakke thuruthu and 30 cents kizhakke thuruthu.
There were around 300 thengu
Different activities used to happen. Not like today - pick coconuts, cut leaves.
In rainy season (monsoon), the activity was thadam edukkal - or thadam thurakkal. A circlular pit was dug around the tree in which rain water could stay.
In chingam, when rains would be over, the thadam will be closed. thadam moodal. After this, the parambu will look very neat.
Now, by thulam, there will be grass in the land. This grass will be cut and made into valam. before this, the grass will be ploughed and heaped into small heaps - this is called kanni koottal. Later these will be put as valam (needs clarification)
valam is put in summer. There are two types of valam - fish and pachila (needs expansion)
300 coconut trees - 2000-3000 coconuts. trees were young. there were lot of coconuts. the kanakkan's name was supran. supran used to climb the tree. after climbing the cut was with eye closed - oooi and one cut, two bunches of coconuts will be down. there were two workers - vasu and narayanan. they were permanent labourers. they used to carry the coconuts and collect in one place. (vasu and narayanana - were retired with benefits later on, after that their sons kumaru, etc used to come for work). coconuts were taken in vaari kotta and heaped in padinjaare muttam. later on the kanakkan will come and count. the counting was peculiar. one coconut ola will be broken out, and the irkil removed. achachan will hold this. kanakkan will count two at a time and push backwards. after 99, instead of 100, alare is called. alare call prompts a breaking of the ola. after 2 days thekkenu velayudhan chettan comes and puts paara kutti in the center and de-husks the coconuts.
The madal is not sold. Achachan would soak this in the thodu after taking a kuzhi. There was a thodu in the kizhakku. now road goes there. we gave it for the road. The madal was put in the thodu by the kids. around 2000 thodus. after this, keeraatha ola madnjathu nirathum. the cheli got from the thodu is put on top of the ola. this is to ensure that the thodu does not float away even if the water rises. this cover is called kidu (?). it lies there for 3 months. after 3 months people will come to take the madal. these are kayaru piri people. they will come and ask achachan "sankara chetta, paakam aaya madal edukkaan undo". then these madal will be given away. this is an extra income.
vrishchikam, dhanu, makaram, kumbham, meenam, medam are good months - yielding 2000-3000 coconuts. idavam, mithunam, karkkadam, chingam, kanni are bad. kanni-il kanji-kku idaane thenga undaavuka ullu. thondu from the good months are ready to be given away in the bad months ...
during thengu kayaral every kid keeps 10 coconuts aside for themselves. achamma will keep aside 100 for her. off the rest, 100-150 coconuts are put in the attic (thattinte mukal). this dries up. fetches more money when sold than normal. these are sold before onam for extra income. this is called varad. onamthinu varad irakki pothichu kodukkum. it fetches 2-3 rs more than ordinary coconuts. 2-3rs more for 100! when achan got job, coconut was at 18-25Rs / 100. Now it is 25 for one. mootha thenga is put for varadu - else it spoils. after it dries, it is easy to make copra out of this. as soon as it is de-husked, the copra comes out of the shell. so, it can go directly to the chakk. Thus varad was used for more money, and moreover as a savings for onam.
onam - kodi dress. chips were plenty. kizhangu varuthathu, kaaya varuthathu, chakka varuthathu were all made to fill big bharanis. kids used to enjoy these snacks. kankathi used to come during onam with poovatti - they had to be given something in kind -
kanakathi - kali kanukkathi was anjana karumbi. used to come with pure white dress. naadan mundu and flat clothe on chest tied around neck. 1 week before onam, poovatti is made of kaitha ola. this is for picking flowers. it will hung from neck (kazhuthilninnu naathi ida). they will be given nenthra kaaya, chena, ari, etc. no cash. varadu income is used for these.
coconut was permanenet krishi.
pokkam - the land we have now as partition is called pokkam. there was a flood in 1999. water rose till the roof of the then house. people survived in two boats tied together. house was made with cheli katta and chenkal. the construction was affected by the flood (ilakkam vannu). after the flood, the house was broken down. and house moved to the current tharavaad. the basement was not broken down, hence the land is called pokkam.
when varsha kaalam starts, after two rains, acahchan used to plough (vaaram korum). chembu, chena, pana kizhangu(?), achinga payaru, padavalanga, paavaykka. all kondal krishis. this mostly used up, not sold. some neighbours used to take somethings. especially leaves of the payaru. there were some neighbours koonan madhavan, koonan narayan - sons of koonan krishettan(?). koonan narayanan had TB. TB had no cure in those times. leaf of payaru was supposed to be good for TB. so, they used to take it. payary leaf was made into a thoran.
some of the kondal krishi harvest was given to velyachan. even a good curry was shared, especially so because achamma and velyachan's wife were sisters. if a thirutha curry was made, one full bowl was shared. that would be as much as we make for a family now-a-days.
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