CS PURAM-3

MY LIFE – CS PURAM-3 THUPPAN His name is Subrahmanian. In namboodiri families we never say this name. It is either Thuppan, Unni, Kunjukuttan,Aniyan or Kuttan. He is our neighbour just opposite our house. His wife is Radha, a school teacher. When she goes to the school, either he comes to our huse, or I go to him. He is a very interesting charactor and I am never bored in his company. He first went to study Rig Veda at the Brahmaswam math at Trichur. He is well versed in it and all the rituals of our caste. Then he took diploma in Mechanical Engineering. While workig in some office, he had a heated argument with his supervisor, who said something which infuriated our Thuppan, who struck him with an iron rod, so suddenly and so violently that he fell down dead. Actually, he was not dead, but fearing reprisals,our hero ran away and found some work in Bombay. There too he did not do well. As the chela (disciple) of some Sanyasi, he went to London. There he fell foul of the Guru, who he says, was a fraud, and ultimately came home to Keralam. Fell in love with the fair Radha and settled in CS puram village. At that time, he was the sole namboodiri, in this village of aiyers. Afterwards Poduvaya Vasudevan, who married my cousin sister Parvathy, and myself joined the group. The village has three temples with considerable responsibilities and enough money in the bank. So the president and the secretary and the committee members are elected. Thuppan sided with the younger, rebel group who never had enough strength to challenge the establishment, so there were always some one or other in his house, who belonged to the rebel group. His relatives at Palakad also came occasionally and I got acquaited with many of them. Another intersting charactor was Gas Murthy. No one in the village would go to the town. Tell GM, who has custody of all documents of us, his customers, and maintains liaison with the offices concerned, and he will give you a cylinder the same day. He has always twenty or so cylinders ready in his stock. He is short and looks as if he never takes bath or changes his cloths. For all my purchases, including oils, which we bought five k.kg. each of coconut oil and thil oil at a time, I went to the big bazaar at Palakad, where things are available at wholesale rates. I just enjoyd the outing, even though during rainy season it becomes cumbersome, what with your bag and umbrella, and money in various pockets, holding the steel rod of the bus for support, as invariably I have to travel standing, and giving money to the conductor, when he demands, keeping a watch all the time, lest you may miss the point where you must get down. We had more than enough coconuts and once I took it to the mill, where oil is extracted. It was on the other bank of the river and I had to ask many people before I was able to locate it. It was a small mill, but I liked the smell of fresh coconut oil and it was the first time I saw such procedure. I am always eager to see something new. In those days I used to visit Kadampuzha Devi temple. It has a romantic appeal. The pond inside the temple is fed by underground water, flowing through the rock hill above, over which a small temple township has developed and is still in the process of growing. During the rainy season, the pond over flows with clear water and one can always enjoy the bath annd swimming. There are separate portions for men and women, demarcated by a partition wall. After the evening pooja at about 7.30, the rice-jaggery pudding offered to the deity, standing at a level below that of the devotees, is distrbuted free to those present there; and the temple is locked and the whole area deserted. If I had a car, I would have stayed on till about ten, enjoying the moon light, filtered through the big tree leaves ! An European has establishhed a good dairy farm in the forest beyond the town.Visitors are not allowed inside. Whenever I go to Kadampuzha, I would go to my sister Savithry’s house, only an hour’s journey from there, before returning home. There are some KSRTC buses running direct to Kadampuzha which is famous in the Malabar region. Normally we go via Pattambi and Vallancherry.