On poverty

11 kids. poverty ran high. sometimes achamma went without food. achachan used to always leave half his food in his kinnam as if it was cut with a blade!

When achan was 8 (or 10) years old, achachan used to struggle a lot for buying a kaayakola for onam.
Similarly when achan was 10 years old, achan used to go with a head load of coconut to kottapuram market for selling it. he had to do it every week to get money for daily needs at home.
Sometimes he used to go to sell them in front of shops. oro chaaya kadayude munnil-um chennu: thenga veno? aa irakku mone. irakki. avaru vila parayum. aa pattoola. avidennu kayatti. angane pala kadakalil poyittu venam oru nalla vila kitti kodukkaan.

school - every body was admitted into nearby school. no special attention from parents for school - just go to school, listen to teachers and study. poverty was high, so kids helped with lot of work. after waking up in the morning, before going to school, kids had to weave the coconut leaves. previous day the coconut leaves would have been put in water. these will be pulled out from the thodu and each kid will weave his fixed quota of leaves - bhavani this many, bhargavi this many, achan this many and so on, before going to school.

also chakiri thallal used to happen. (achan recounted this while talking about poverty, so he probably meant to say that kids helped with chakiri thallal to help the poverty situation) madalu thallunnathinidayil there is a process where you beat the madal. this beating removes lot of unwanted stuff (choru). achan remembers one time when achan was doing some other activity amid this madal thallal - (he was turning the chakiri?) - when the beating by mistake happened right on his back (by bhargavi chechi).

another memory is about cheli - ekkal from puzha. (again, achan recounted this while talking about poverty, so he probably meant to say that kids helped with this process to help the poverty situation) ekkal is the rich sediment of fish bones etc collected from the river bed. people used to come in boats and unload the cheli. (they would have been told in advance that we want this many vallams of chella. usually around 5, 10 vallams of chella would be unloaded for us. it was beautiful. cheli will dry and will crack like appa kashnams. one piece could be 10-15 kgs) To put the valam for the trees on the inside of the fence, the dried cheli used to be thrown from outside to inside. achachan may be on the outside, kids on the inside. kids will carry it to the bottom of the trees. one time achachan's throw coincided with the arrival of bhargavi velyamma to pick it from the other side. the cheli landed on her head. for a lot of time, whenever bhargavi velyamma got a neerdosham she used to say that this is because chella katta fell on her head that day ...

achan - seeing achachans poverty, running around, responsibilities - got the drive to free him from the trouble - from very young age. eventhough achan was second son, he turned out very responsible. His word had a stand. achachan used to call achan for going to market or sell coconuts or call the coconut kanakkan ...

On thengu krishi

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.

On tharavad history

On tharavad history - land

Kottapuram - name comes from cheraman perumaal-inte kotta.
his capital was thiruvanchikulam
there is a temple, with idol of cheraman
history is that he went to mecca after accepting islam
he built the first muslim palli in india (or kerala?)
the palli had a kidavilakku (nilavilakku)
Exists today as Cheraman Juma Masjid

old name of the area was Musri. It was a sea port. Biggest export of kurumulaku used to happen from here. Musri is another name for black pepper
Musri stopped being a port after sea withdrew from here to Azhikode
Kottapuram is in this area

Achan's achan's (achachan: sankaran) achan was Makotha. The area had predominantly Araya community (Dheevara, Vaalan, etc.) mostly river fishermen. Some Christians. Some Muslims. Ezhavas were less.

The tharavad was in Anapuzha desham, (thekku bhaagam) called Bunglaavin parambu. Chathuppu nilam nikathi edutha parambu. 8.5 acres

The tharavad house was earlier in pokkam. 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.

On tharavad history - people

Makotha had 5 kids - Kanappan, Raman, Govindan, Sankaran (youngest), Narayani. (? age of Narayani may not be in sequence)

Labourers were less in the time. Farming using labourers was not profitable. People would give away land if they could not farm by oneself.

Kannappan and Raman sold their property and moved to some other land they got towards east. Thekku bhaagam was sold.

Narayani - was fair and beautiful. Married Gopalan ammavan. He was a farmer - had punja krishi, and kondal krishi. kondal krishi is cucumber, snake gourd etc. grown between the punja krishi. he used to bring baskets of kondal krishi harvest for achachan and his brother.

Achachan used to visit pengal (Narayani). He used to come back home and tell the visheshams of the visit. kids used to sit around to listen. Achachan used to say "pengalu oru pothicha thengayolam ellu idichathu kondu vannu vechu - njaan oru punna kuruvolam eduthu thinnu".

Ellu idichathu - ellu was probably a harvest. ellu idichathu was ellu, thenga and chakkara idichathu.

chakkara is thengin chakkara. thengin chakkara comes from thengu - there are two types of chethu - thengu is given for chethu for these two types - one is for kallu, other is for chakkara kallu. after chethu if cheli is pasted we get kallu. if chunnambu is pasted we get chakkara kallu. This chakkara kallu is evaporated to get chakkara (sometimes fried rice is put during this process (may be for flavour)). sugar was not common. chakkara was used to sweeten stuff. Pathimukham ittu vellam thilappichu (becomes red in color), aattinpaalum cherthu pillerkku kudikkaan kodukkum. (PS; for chakkara kallu chethu, kooli was peculiar - one days chethu used to go to the chethukaaran, the next days used to be for the owner.)

Narayani - had 4 kids: kochu raman, kochu kumaran, narayanan, devaki.  kumaran married velyachan Raman's daughter lakshmi kutty (maadavana). Narayani wanted to marry Devaki to Sivaraman velyachan. But Sivaraman velyachan, after getting engineering certificate, wanted to marry someone with a job. Thus, narayani's wish couldn't come true - she got Devaki married to a person with same name (sivaraman). This person passed away early.

Achachan (sankaran) and Govindan velyachan married daughters of kelengezhuthu ayappan on the same day! Karthyayini and Ambujakshi

Govindan velyachan had 8 daughters.

velyachan's (govindan) house was closeby. it is where gopalakrishnan kochachan stays now. sumathi chechi and sarojini chechi were daughters of velyachan. govindan velyachan's daughters: kalyani,meenakshi,nalini,sumathi,yamuna,shantha,narmada,sarojam. as velyachan had no sons, achan was treated as their son. they used to take achan along for marriages and all. now and then, they used to give food for achan, achan used to be called over for any visheshams.

if velyachan wanted to go somewhere, achan used to take him. even after getting his job, velyachan used to go to azhikode hospital with achan. he had asthma.

sarojam and all used to be carried in arms by achan in childhood. achan recounts: annathe bandhangalkku kooduthal izha aduppam undaayirunnu. innathekaalum. like izhaaduppam of karalkada vs other stores.

there was no house where sumathi chechi's house is now (this house was made by govindan chettan, sumathi chechi's husband - sumathi chechi got it on partition. the land from west to east, like ours, was velyachan's).

On veli kettal (fencing)

Veli kettal was a big activity.
Only big houses, like palaces had boundary walls.
Most other houses had fences.

veli has to be made for 1 acre 27 cent land.
most houses had no toilets - none inside house, and not even outside.
veli makes house look good from outside, and gives necessary cover :-)

first, pathal was put in the ground. pathal is vertical members of the fence.
pathal is made using small trees - karinjotta, peenari, marotti etc.

karinjotta
medicinal
violet kaaya
beautiful to see karinjotta kaaya formed as bunches (kula kula)
kadamkatha - "chettikal chettikal, aadunna chettikal, kaathil kunukkittu, aadunna chettikal"
the wood is very light, and pest resistant. puzhu kuthilla
wood was used to make methiyadi

peenari: bad smell

marotti
medicinal
marotti oil is god for kidney diseases (?) - external application and internal use
the kaaya is as big as a ball
marotti kaaya was ground in chakku for oil

(Deviation on chakku)
Chakku - mara chakku - wooden chuck - was a rotary mechanism for extracting oil from copra, marotti kaaya etc.
It was a big wooden piece with a hole in the center. The hole had the "kozha" (the pestle). The pestle was attached to a handle, and was driven by man or bulls.
The enna aattal was done by chakkaalanmaaru (people who run the chakk). Was mostly done by chetty people

(Deviation on chakkalathil poru (fight))
when chakkaattu is going on, the wife will be near the chakku, (maybe, helping to put the material that mooves up inside the mortar back into the hole properly) and the husband will be running the handle of the pestle.
when the oil rises in the hole, the man will start a fake argument and fight. He will run behind the wife. The wife will, in the commotion, dip her saree in the oil and run inside the house, where she will wring the oil out of the saree into a container, effectively stealing oil under the nose of the person who brought the seed for pressing out the oil.
This is called 'chakkalathil poru'

After pathal is put on the ground, vaari has to be put. these are horizontal members of the fence - after the vaari is put, the fence will be pretty straight & flat. Vaari is made of old adakka maram. Once the adakka maram gets old, fruiting (kaa phalam) will be less. These are cut, soft center is removed. hard outside is cut into long, flat pieces. This is used as vaari. If the fence is 5' tall, vaari is put at 1' height, 3' and 4.5'. Vaari is tied on to pathal using coconut leaves itself (?) for this valli is got from ola - ola keerunnathinu munp vellathil ittu edukkum (?)

Now, the flat structure has to be covered with medanja ola (woven coconut leaf). This provides the privacy for the compound. Weaving the leaf is an expert affair. Coconut leaves are cut after rain. This is scientific. during rainy season, leaves are needed for the evaporation. during summer, cutting leaves is good to avoid evaporation. leaves are cut, then the two ends (kada and thumb) are removed. The approximately 6' leaf is now cut into two along the middle stem of the leaf and woven. (can expand)

Similar woven leaves were used to thatch roofs. Kottapuram tharavad needed 28 kettu ola - one kettu is 25 woven olas.

Now this woven leaves are tied on to the structure earlier made. More varis are kept and the woven leaves are tied. The leaves go on the outside of the veli to give beauty to the fence.

mula (bamboo) also called illi pathal was tied on to the fence to avoid cows etc. from eating the fence, and to discourage people from stealing the fence. the illi pathal was bought by chettys (moopanmar) during the time of veli kettal. comes as 100 kannu (1 kettu) (?). The illi pathal is pierced on to the fence.

Now, it is time for veli murukkal (tying). A soochi (needle) is used. The needle is actually a 2 cm wide 1.5' wood piece with a hole in the middle. Two people stand on two sides of the fence. A rope (?) is passed through the hole by the person on inside and the needle is pushed through the fence to the other side. He takes it around the vari and pushes it back. The person inside makes the knot.

The fence was not needed on the east side. east side had a river, it was a tributary of periyar, joining bahratapuzha. There was daily boat service through this river. The boat used to go at sandhya time to chettuva. If you get in the boat at sandhya, it used to reach chettuva in the morning. Achan used to go to chettuva like this with achachan. achachan used to go daily to guruvayoor for ekadasi. this was how they went. they will wake up in the morning in chettuva. chettuva had muslim population. they would have breakfast from a muslim's shop (tea and pathiri) and walk to guruvayoor.

achan used to go to help achachan for veli kettal even after joining for job in trivandrum. (labourers were scant)

Scribblings

Scribbling down ... need to be cut & post

On Sandhya namam at kottapuram

Prayer used to happen in 'kizhakke eraan', so people sat looking towards west. Photos of Siva, Krishna, Kodungalloor Amma etc, used to be in this 'eraan'. Achachan used to fume sambraani in the morning in this 'eraan'.

Bhargavi velyamma, being the eldest, used to sing some old prayers, carrying the current youngest baby in her arms

Achachan used to read Bhagavatham. Used to read in nice tune.

Murukan was the favourite god. Going to Pazhani was popular.

On Achachan's english

Studied till 5th. English started from "naal ara class".(?)
There were some old books.
Acahachan used to trouble 'parameshwaran ammavan" (panambukaattu achaachan) with some questions:
What is the english for "Kuthunna pashuvine kurukki kettanam", "uyartnnu parakkunna oor kuruvi paranthu aakumo" ?

Sabarimala Ayappan - old and new

Achan: Where did you get this photo from?

Me: From the room we stayed in Sabarimala

Achan: That is the photo of the old vigraham. Ayappan is a lot thinner in this one. The current one is a little fatty

(The topic drifts to the event where Sabarimala temple caught fire)

Me: How can a vigraham be destroyed in a fire, was it not made of stone?

Achan: Probably, the vigraham was mutilated purposefully ...

(...)

Achan: Sahodaran Ayappan's words on hearing the news about the temple destruction: "oru andhavishwasam nashichu"

...