Fading Memories

Fading memories of the land of our origin and of our lives there have been put down for the grand children.When they suddenly develop a longing for spicy chemmeen or banana chips fried in coconut oil or paladaiprathaman or boiled rice they may have been at a loss. Not after reading these fading memories.They will be able to tie up lot of their quirks.

 

                             Fading Memories

                                                    Twilight over Kerala

Why Kerala? The reason being our earliest known ancestors lived there. The Brahmin community settled down, or was invited by local chiefs, when there was need for priests in a particular area. They used their knowledge-based training and ability to memorize large amount of data in other professions also. This was a forerunner of the present day immigration to western countries for software development.

There is a strong association of Thanjavoor with the Brahmins. During the Chola and Pallava periods, there must have been a large demand for Brahmins. This dried out when these dynasties fell. Then the migration must have started .A big colony of Brahmins settled down in Palghat and migrated to other parts of Kerala.

Finally let me reiterate that this is written for my grandchildren who do not have much of an idea about of the land of their origin. Some of them stay on the other side of the world far away from Kerala. When they grow up and find they have some quirky ideas and behavior not associated with their upbringing they will realize where it all came from!   

                          God’s own Country

Even today, when you visit Kerala you are amazed at the beauty of the landscape and of what remains of the forests. Just imagine what it would have been at the turn of twentieth century! You get to Kerala from the Kovai plains through the Palakkad Gap of the Western Ghats.The immigrant Brahmins must have got through by Bullock carts. Later on came the railways and even by train the journey was awesome with the train hauled by two powerful HP Elephant class Steam engines. These engines were attached at Pothanoor and the train wended its way up at a snail’s pace with the engines belching steam and smoke.

Palakkad was a small urban center with extensive paddy fields in the old days. Here were the Brahmin villages consisting of single lanes with small houses adjacent to each other with the paddy fields nearby. The Brahmins cultivated these fields with the help of labor who were paid a pittance in money or kind. The town itself was dominated by a fort built by Tippu Sultan. Even when I first saw the place in the 30s of the last century it was breathtakingly beautiful with paddy fields and the distant mountains for the backdrop. The Brahmins lost their agricultural lands when the communist government took over in 1950s. Industrialization has claimed most of the paddy fields.

Trisoor is short distance away to the west. What is today a few hours journey by train, bus or car must have taken a few days in bullock carts in the old days.Trisoor was the home of my grandparents in the late 1800s.The town is built round Vadakkanathan temple on what must have been a small hillock. This was the center of the town with a circular road round the temple from which radiated other roads. There was a sizable Christian population and there were religious riots some times. Trisoor was also the residence of the British Resident to the Cochin State in the Colonial days. My grandfather’s house still stands at the time of writing this. It is a typical Kerala house with a street entrance on the Shornoor road leading from the temple round to Shornoor-an important railway Junction from where the railway went north to Malabar or west to Cochin and Ernakulam. There a lot of land at the back where cows were kept.

My grandfather’s house was built about 1880.

The center of Trisoor is the round in the middle of which is Vadakunathan temple dedicated to Siva. The temple is over a thousand years and was in the middle of a teakwood forest called Thekinkadu. This forest was said to have been cleared by Raja Rama Verma popularly called Sakhtan Tamburan. He is the maker of modern Trisoor.

What makes Trisoor famous and well known is the Pooram festival held usually annually between mid April and mid May depending on which day the Pooram star is ascendant. This a unique festival the likes of which is not seen anywhere in the world. A procession of caparisoned elephants from two rival temples -Tiruvembadi and Parmekavu-culminates late at night into a duel of fireworks each trying to outdo the other. The supporters of each temple are very partisan and the winning side depends on which temple you belong to. Pooram festival is very special to me as I was born on Pooram day in 1928 though fortunately not in Trichur as otherwise I might have born deaf! I have to make a confession. I have never seen the Pooram fully as I used to fall asleep every time I went!

Vasanta spent her childhood in Trisoor and is staunch supporter of Parmekavu temple in the Pooram contest. My family was in the Tiruvembadi camp. It seems to be a Romeo and Juliet situation.
     Vasanta’s house

 

    Vadakunathan temple gate

 Caparisoned elephants at Trisoor Pooram

  

Pamekavu temple

                       
a 

Tiruvembadi  temple

Basilica- Trisoor

 

My father was born in the house pictured above and lived and his schooling in Trisoor. I have spent only a little time in Trisoor, mainly during holidays. So my knowledge of our home town is rather meager. I remember playing badminton with my cousins in the backyard of my grandfather’s house, walking to the palace and museum. The Zoo next door had a big collection of snakes, which fascinated me. On the way was a huge public bathing tank, which has now been converted into a big tank for storing water for city supply. In the evenings, we went to my uncle’s textile shop next to which my father owned a small building, which had been leased to a Muslim shop owner. I enjoyed these visits as the shop owner plied me with sugar candies. Alas, these old buildings built at the turn of last century have been replaced with shopping complexes. Just a little away from the round we visited the paddy fields owned by my father and uncle. All the paddy fields have been built over. My aunt and mother took me to Tripayaar  temple near Trisoor crossing by boat to reach the temple. It left an indelible of the beauty of the temple but I had forgotten the name until I asked Vasanta a few years back. A vivid memory is watching a Douglas Fairbanks silent movie in a touring cinema under canvas tents in the round.

Vasanta says that the walk from her house to the temple took about ten minutes. Now with the traffic and potholed roads it takes three times as much. In September 2007, my daughter in law and son took Vasanta and me to Trisoor to celebrate her 70th birthday. We revisited our old haunts 
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Guruvayoor temple near Trichoor                                                   

Tripayaar temple near Trisoor

Trishoor has changed and the town with its pot holed roads and traffic is very different from the old Trisoor in my memory with verdant rice fields all around. The glorious eternal temples are still there and of course the breathtaking backwaters. Old churches are still there with new ones added.

Going north from Palakkad, you went deeper into what was called British Malabar -a hilly place with a pristine beauty of its own. Wherever the terrain allowed it there were paddy fields. This was the land of Moppalas and the coast was not far off for them to trade by boats with the Arab lands on the northwest. You could find Christian Missionaries trying to convert the local population. The village of Manjeri lay between Malapuram and Kundotti -two strong Mopalla strong holds. The anti British revolts of 1790 and the Moppalah rebellion of 1920s took place in and around Manjeri. The last I visited Manjeri was in 1983. The paddy fields and forested hills had disappeared to be replaced by an industrial estate and building complex. Near the Annakayam river where we used to play in the dry seasons a big bridge spans the river.

In the 1930s, my father practiced as a doctor here and I spent my early childhood in Manjeri. The village consisted of one dirt road above which were hills. Below paddy fields extended to the foot of the hills at the bottom. It was breathtakingly beautiful. My parents sent me to a preschool for harjans run by the Christian missionaries. Later on, I had my schooling in the Board school perched on a hill overlooking paddy fields. The way back from school was through paddy fields. The Manjeri of those days was a sylvan village with very basic faculties. We had to do with once a week postal delivery, bus service, hurricane lanterns, and petromax for lighting at night. Quite a difference from the present day bustling Manjeri with an Airport 22 kilometers away!   
 
Manjeri countryside

House in Manjeri

Winnowing paddy- Manjeri

                              
A road to the north west led to Kozhikode. Many Brahmins had settled in this old town known for its maritime traditions. They made their fortunes as doctors and lawyers during the British rule. Vasanta’s father and grandfather lived here and were well known Lawyers.

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Site of Vasco de Gamma’s landing   

         Zheg Hi navigation chart to Kozhikode 1430      

Kozhikode is a historical town with a hoary past trading in spices like black pepper and cardamom with Jews, Arabs, Phoenicians, Chinese, Dutch and Portuguese more than 500 years ago.Vasco de Gama landed in Kappad in 1498 and was received by the Zamorin.This was the beginning of the western intrusion into India which finally led to the British rule.

South of Kozhikode lay the Queen of Arabian Sea- Kochi with its twin town of Ernakulam. Kochi was home to one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world .The old synagogue is one of the sights of Kochi. There was a big Brahmin population in Ernakulam. Vasanta studied here and had her home here until she got married.


Maharajas College- Ernakulam
     
Vasanta’ mother’s house -Ernakulam

Dutch Cochin 

      

Mural- Mattancheri palace

Chinese fishing nets- Cochin

Kochi synagogue

Cheraman Juma Masjid-Trichoor district-said to be the oldest mosque in India.


The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea -1 Century AD- Showing sea routes to Kerala

Kerala has from the very ancient times seen Greeks, Romans, Phoenicians, Jews, Arabs and Christians come as refugees or traders and lived in harmony. They brought the world to Kerala. Alas, the harmony is there no more. Money has poured in from people working in Middle East and there is wealth, education but alas, it has not shown results. Fortunately, man has not been able to destroy the beauty and charm of the land.

Old temples, churches, mosques, the landscape, the hills and mountains, the backwaters preserve the old Kerala but urban areas have been taken over by concrete jungles.

The eternal beauty of the backwaters

One memory of Kerala that will never fade is the food. It is impossible to write about the food in Kerala. One has to savor it. Who can forget the timeless favorites like Chakkavaratti, Puttu, Avial, Nendranga varuval, Paladaprathaman, Jaggery payasam doused in ghee, Vegetable stew made with fresh coconut milk,  Appam made from batter fermented with fresh toddy, Kareemeen, Spicy Chemmmen. Coconut and its milk makes it way into all the Kerala dishes. If you are young, you indulge in them. If you are old, you dream about them.

A brief description of the land and the towns where our ancestors lived is a necessary background to our lives. Modern day migration has moved a lot of us out of Kerala into different parts of the world but such is the beauty of the land that it shaped us in unknown ways and keeps harking back to us wherever we are.

     RAJA RAMAKRISHNAN

The pictures in 'Fading Memories' have been taken by me or unloaded from the internet.My thanks are to various sources in internet.

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Comments

[Kamini]

Wonderful. Now I understand my love of coconuts!
Kamini

[Kamini]

Nice new photos - but some of them look blurred. I think you need to correct the resolution.
Kamini.

[Kamini]

hi thath it's aditi...love this piece, and you should write about your trip to africa in detail...keep writing!!

aditi

[Vijay]

Fascinating account!

[Ambika]

I think this deserves another contemporary piece that also mentions your adventures at Kerala, of a more recent nature -
1. the policemen who "detained" you while we searched frantically for you
2. The other temple guard who chased you as you wandered around with your camera
3. The delicious neyappams at the big temple
4. The honeymooning couple of Peechi dam
5. Your grandson's yoyo frenzy at the markets

[The_Girl_From_Ipanema]

Lovely post. Great effort in pics and descriptions.. will bookmark it for future reference.
Came here via Desipundit. :)

[Raja Ramakrishnan]

Thanks AmbiKa. One of these days you will see "Travels with Vishwanath"
Raja Ramakrishnan

[Raja Ramakrishnan]

Thanks to you from Ipanama.You might like 'In the Footsteps Of Sankara' -in the same blog.
Raja Ramakrishnan

[Raji]

I don't know how I missed this earlier. It is very interesting and illustrated beautifully. Nice to see my great-grandfather's house, too.

[Raja Ramakrishnan]

Thanks Raji.I do not know how much longer our grandfathers house will stand.I t was emotional seeing it .