My aunt, Santha kunjamma, her daughter-in-law and grand daughter had fetched up at 0140 hrs at the railway station. Earlier, I'd asked them to call me up on reaching Thrissur and therefore, I could be on time to receive them. Their's was a whirlwind tour and a lot had to be done.
After they'd caught up on sleep and breakfast, they're dropped at the temple by 10. They returned only by 1400 hrs because, though the crowd was comparatively less, it was the day of the 'Udayaasthamana pooja'(Prayers all through from sunrise to sunset) and hence, the regulation of the devotees to enter the sanctum sanctorum was on. They're, however, damn thrilled that they'd a good 'darshan' of the Guruvayoorappan.
After a quick lunch and siesta, we're off to Radhan chettan's house and to his daughter's house, thereafter. In the process of backing my vehicle at Radhan chettan's place, the rear bumper had touched a roadside hoarding but since it was made up of a bamboo-bunting combination, there was no visible damage! After leaving the mother-daughter combine at the Siva temple, Santha kunjamma and I returned home.
We'd a long chat about the events that had happened in her life and she seemed to be surprised about the fact that I knew the minute details of her life even though I was in class I those days.
* On the death of her father(P Kesava Panicker) at 60 yrs in '57, Muthachhan had brought her and
her younger sister, Sarala kunjamma to Thiruvananthapuram, to live with the family. After a few
years, she was married off to Mr. Pande, a Brahmin whose home town was in Matunga,
Bombay. He was tall, suave and handsome with hair, applied with cream and combed backwards.
* She's extremely beautiful and he was possessive, to the extent that he viewed anyone and
anybody that she interacted with, with suspicion. He used to beat her up and I remember those
evenings when my grandmother and mom used to intervene and chide him
* We'd gone off with dad to Bombay as he was posted on board a ship that was based there, in
mid '60. I remember Pande chettan of being very fond of me and he'd given me a 200 page note
book covered with a poster of the then popular radio - Murphy, with the magic eye - to list down
the names of all the railway stations between Thiruvananthapuram and Bombay, with the
promise that he'd peruse it on coming to his home town, on leave!
* I remember his visits, to our house a couple of times, but later on I'd heard dad telling that he
died a wretched death thanks to his addiction to liquor.
* Santha kunjamma and Pande chettan have a son, Unni who has been singularly unlucky in
not having received his dad's love and it's due to this reason that I've a soft corner for him. He
has not been keeping well because of the attendant problems caused by chain smoking. His
wife, Valsala, works as the librarian of the 'Sananathan Dharma' Library, started by my
Muthachhan and their daughter, Sreelekshmi, is doing her studies at chartered accountancy,
after graduation.
*Muthachhan always rued the fact that the marriage that he'd arranged for her was a failure.
He'd given her a piece of land next to his ancestral house, the Puthuvayil House, to build her
house in which she lives to this day. That possession was not backed up with title deed and
connected documents because PN Panicker's words were Gospel! No one dared question it!! The
deed and connected documents have now been made to formalise that transaction. He'd also
financed the construction of the house.
It was during our recent visit to Neelamperoor on account of the temple's annual festival(Pooram) that Lekha and I'd invited them over to Guruvayur. This visit was consequent to that interaction and the young lady wanted to visit the temple to seek the Lord's blessings to do well in her forthcoming examination, commencing 02 Nov.
Tailpiece.
A nice day that was well spent and I'd kept all my personal work pending to make sure that I did not miss out on doing things for them!
After they'd caught up on sleep and breakfast, they're dropped at the temple by 10. They returned only by 1400 hrs because, though the crowd was comparatively less, it was the day of the 'Udayaasthamana pooja'(Prayers all through from sunrise to sunset) and hence, the regulation of the devotees to enter the sanctum sanctorum was on. They're, however, damn thrilled that they'd a good 'darshan' of the Guruvayoorappan.
After a quick lunch and siesta, we're off to Radhan chettan's house and to his daughter's house, thereafter. In the process of backing my vehicle at Radhan chettan's place, the rear bumper had touched a roadside hoarding but since it was made up of a bamboo-bunting combination, there was no visible damage! After leaving the mother-daughter combine at the Siva temple, Santha kunjamma and I returned home.
We'd a long chat about the events that had happened in her life and she seemed to be surprised about the fact that I knew the minute details of her life even though I was in class I those days.
* On the death of her father(P Kesava Panicker) at 60 yrs in '57, Muthachhan had brought her and
her younger sister, Sarala kunjamma to Thiruvananthapuram, to live with the family. After a few
years, she was married off to Mr. Pande, a Brahmin whose home town was in Matunga,
Bombay. He was tall, suave and handsome with hair, applied with cream and combed backwards.
* She's extremely beautiful and he was possessive, to the extent that he viewed anyone and
anybody that she interacted with, with suspicion. He used to beat her up and I remember those
evenings when my grandmother and mom used to intervene and chide him
* We'd gone off with dad to Bombay as he was posted on board a ship that was based there, in
mid '60. I remember Pande chettan of being very fond of me and he'd given me a 200 page note
book covered with a poster of the then popular radio - Murphy, with the magic eye - to list down
the names of all the railway stations between Thiruvananthapuram and Bombay, with the
promise that he'd peruse it on coming to his home town, on leave!
* I remember his visits, to our house a couple of times, but later on I'd heard dad telling that he
died a wretched death thanks to his addiction to liquor.
* Santha kunjamma and Pande chettan have a son, Unni who has been singularly unlucky in
not having received his dad's love and it's due to this reason that I've a soft corner for him. He
has not been keeping well because of the attendant problems caused by chain smoking. His
wife, Valsala, works as the librarian of the 'Sananathan Dharma' Library, started by my
Muthachhan and their daughter, Sreelekshmi, is doing her studies at chartered accountancy,
after graduation.
*Muthachhan always rued the fact that the marriage that he'd arranged for her was a failure.
He'd given her a piece of land next to his ancestral house, the Puthuvayil House, to build her
house in which she lives to this day. That possession was not backed up with title deed and
connected documents because PN Panicker's words were Gospel! No one dared question it!! The
deed and connected documents have now been made to formalise that transaction. He'd also
financed the construction of the house.
It was during our recent visit to Neelamperoor on account of the temple's annual festival(Pooram) that Lekha and I'd invited them over to Guruvayur. This visit was consequent to that interaction and the young lady wanted to visit the temple to seek the Lord's blessings to do well in her forthcoming examination, commencing 02 Nov.
Tailpiece.
A nice day that was well spent and I'd kept all my personal work pending to make sure that I did not miss out on doing things for them!
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