A remarkable journey!

Was up, along with Lekha at 3 AM, thanks to the alarm. Went through the chores and by a half past 3, Abhilash arrived on his Bullet Motorcycle. He did a jugglery of the cars - Mini's car was put into the porch and our Chevy was ready for take off within no time.

Lekha, meanwhile, had given us a piping hot cup of tea while packing our breakfast of idlis, chutney and the chutney powder. Everything was put in place for the journey to Pulinkunnu Sub Registrar's office. It was Padmakumar who'd given me the right inputs about the road to take and further, went on to predict that we'd be at the venue much earlier than required!

I'd decided to leave at 4 and Mini was ready on the dot. Being the indisciplined guy that I am, we had finally set off for Kuttanad by a 26 minutes past 4! Abhilash is 39, a bachelor and is set on returning to the gulf, once the pandemic subsides. What bothers me about him is his overweight and I told him about it.

Kannan was the first to board our car from the front of Lulu Mall by around a half past 5. The poor guy waited for almost 40' at the pick up point. We, then, shaped our course towards Rema's house at Thrippunithura - the final set of lanes confused me but Padmakumar, guided me into their building. It was a quick lowering of water levels followed by a sumptuous breakfast, rustled up earlier by Lekha!

After having an early breakfast by a half past 6, we were off to Pulinkunnu after a lapse of 20'. Abhilash stayed back with the Chevy, saying that his breakfast time was much later. After having our share, we carried his back to the car, along with the lunch prepared by Rema. Going up to the house was a right idea because both my sisters found it comfortable and safe.

The Pulinkunnu Sub Registrar's office is on the AC (Alappuzha-Chenganasserry) Road. Based on instructions from Maman, we did make a chukker to ascertain the location of the office! Indira kunjamma, Suma kunjamma, Gopu, Santhi and Sindhu were in a hired Innova and had their breakfast at Kala's place, at Kayankulam. Maman, retired Sub Registrar Seena and her husband, Malik along with Sajila had come by another car and they, too, had breakfast at Kala's place. 

Kala and Unni, followed them in their car. The family was, therefore, available by a half past 11 with Aniyan reaching from Ettumanoor. The proceedings had begun in right earnest with Seena and Malik ensuring that the documents were filled correctly. Each one of us affixed our signatures and our left thumb impression. 

The legal document covering our handing over the Puthuvayil House (PN Panicker's house) and the 7 cents of land surrounding it, at Neelamperoor to the government - the Governor of Kerala, that is - for being converted into a National Monument was received by Maman from the Sub Registrar, covered by the media. The rest of the family was witness to this historic occasion! The time was about a quarter past 3 and then, we had parted and were on our separate ways.

Today's proceedings ensured that Chandramathykutty Amma (Represented by her children, Rajeev, Rema and Renjini aka Mini), Leela Kumari (Represented by her children, Gopu, Kala and Kannan), Vilasinikutty Amma (Represented by her children, Bindhu and Sindhu), Indirakutty Amma, N Balagopal, Sumangala Devi and N Krishna Kumar had consented to hand over the Puthuvayil House and the 7 cents of land around it to the government of Kerala for converting it into a national monument!

We'd our lunch by the wayside and proceeded northward, while the rest of the family proceeded southward. Dropped Rema at her place by a half past 4, had our tea and snack and continued our journey, dropping Kannan at Edappalli by 5. By the time we reached 'The Quarterdeck' it was 8. Mini had a quick wash and dinner before she, Ammu and Mithun set off back to Bangalore by a quarter to 9. My sister has been travelling continuously since yesterday afternoon.

We'd our dinner a trifle later than usual.

Tailpiece.

Abhilash has been a nice chauffeur. He saved the situation from a bad accident with a stupid motor cyclist, who'd cut across the road in front of us. Abhilash's good driving, the Chevy's new tyres and probably, Muthachhan's safety 'kavach' helped us from a very bad moment! A lovely journey altogether where all of us felt nice at having contributed to a noble cause.