VACATION

A SHORT VACATION AT THIRUNNAVAYA Even as late as 1963, the whole Malabar region was in total darkness, except for some towns. My sister lives in the village Thirunnavaya, near Bharathapuzha. The evening local train, reaching the railway station after dusk, is the only direct transport , because of want of a road bridge over a small tributary of the river, near Kuttipuram. Myself and wife would reach there along with a kid, then walk some distance towards the rice fields, when it wuld be total darkness. The kid, used to town life, would start crying as we hear strange shrill sounds of insects. The candle light woud be blown off by the wind and sometimes we fall in the gap of very small embankments in the fields, made by farmers to collect water during rainy season. Somehow we manage to reach my sister’s house, lit up by a small kerosine lamp, which is nothing but a bottle filled with oil and closed with a perforated lid, through which a wick is insertd. As there was no phone, our arrival is a surprise and both she and her husband join in the boisterous welcome! We sit out in the sky lit with stars, enjoying the breeze from the sea, not far from the house. Inside, it is hot as there are no fans. My brother-in-law is a great story teller. I am never tired of listening to his stories of colourful characters, one of whom owned a horse.He learned horse riding at an early age. Next day it is a different world altogether, in the broad sun light. The land around the house is full of jack fruit trees and mango trees. My sister will be busy making vegetable dishes with these or frying the edible parts of the jack fruit which I like very much. We, my brother-in-law and myself, go to the river for taking bath in the clear shallow water, flowing along channels, over clean sand which covered the whole river bed. It is here, that the great Aryabhattan, the first astronomer to chart the course of all planets and to calculate the Malayalam Panchang, spent years, observing the night sky with naked eyes! So sharp was his eye sight, that he knew, if an extra sheet is placed where he lay down, looking at the sky. But the river is treacherous. Every year, a few people get drowned in this iver. Once three medical college students, all girls, came to spend a short vacation. Seeing the clear shallow water, they jumped into it. The force of the current carried them down , until one of them, who did not know swimming, was trown into a depression, from which she could not escape. Her body was located a mile down the river. Alas! Today there is no sand. Instead, wild long grass covers the river bed. Farmers grow vegetables.