Father was convalescing! He was enterprising! Had gone to the forests to survey and bid for trees and also look for land near there..! But alas, at the first instance itself he was taken by the allergy caused by a tree called "Cheru". The allergy of 'cheru' starts with severe attack on the skins and connected fever and body pain etc. He was down and was getting back after ayurvedic treatment for a month by the family Ayurvedic physician, who brought him back in a month.
The household silver were all out by this time!
We seven children and the convalescing father and the strong mother, like all mothers of old Kerala, got together one evening to see if we can survive. It was holiday time from school. The meeting brought up the great idea making use of the 'venneer' (ashes from buring dry leaves) which can be sold for money (very little money, indeed)!
Father was weak, but he won't sit idle. Straight away he started sweeping under the abundant and thick bamboo clusters with a broom he made himself! We were over joyed to collect the dry leaves in huge baskets and bring to one spot to make a huge maund! In between there was a huge snake which father said would go away by itself! We believed him. The cobra looked at all of us for a while, put its head down and slowly went into the bamboo cluster. Father turned to us all and said: "You all saw where the large snake has gone to take rest. So, don't go near there and disturb it!"
By the evening, we all stood around the huge maund of dry bamboo leaves which made a sort of camp fire. Once the fire was over father disbursed the crack team to rest for the day informing us that the ash can be collected next day morning only, after it cools, for which we have to give the night.
Mother called us in with the command to bring ripe jack-fruit tree leaves, only ripe ones for having our kanji (rice porridge)which was ready by then. We were told not to pluck green leaves (and make a short cut, instead of collecting the ripe leaves) as this would bring great poverty and we will not get to anything to eat, suggesting famine in the land..! (Even though this would have been a great "Green Peace" advice of that times sixty years ago, we as children laughed a lot of that suggestion saying "Who can be poorer than us.....?!!")
Once we took it to Mother. She said, "We are not poor, we lack riches, but we are Rich in our homely love and we stay together! How so ever money you earn, that does not make you rich, unless you stay together in love"!
The next day we took small bagfuls of the ash to a house half kilometre away where a grand old lady supervised the measurement of the same in a tin and counted out the money. She was a very kind women and very rich owning a lot of cultivable land and paddy fields. We as small children never thought that people can have that much of land and richess. She was always very well dressed and came out at the first door bell. She had a benign look all the time as if we are doing her a favour. Every tin was around fifty naya paise or so. If a tin was slightly incomplete she considered that too a full tin and paid us. We sometimes mentioned it to her that the last tin was not full. She dismissed it with a wave of her hand and a smile saying : "That doesn't matter. It was almost a tin and that is good enough". I thought she was an angel.
We walked back with whatever little money we got for this trade and it was Little fish and little water animal which we called 'njounikka' was plenty in the water and we caught the njounikkas to be boiled and their flesh taken out when we reach home. There were plenty of frogs and froglings too which we despised. Every once in a while there will be a 'neerkoli' a kind of water snake swishing past ..! Most of them are lost now. The paddy fields became housing plots! The water animals and fish lost their lives too, some due to loss of paddy fields and some due to excessive use of detergents and pesticides!
We brought the money home and were given the 'thotti' (kind of wicker basket, made out of bambu lines which were used widely to carry household items from shops) to go and buy the everyday things needed and which would come under the money for the day! We happily went and got them and if there is any little loose change we purchased sweets (small orange sweets, which we called orange mittaayi). At home the seven children and the parents sat down for a hearty meal at lunch and dinner as if it was a feast and savored a great meal every time! We knew the value of money and labour!
Slowly, father regained his health and was becoming the 'he man' that he once was! One day he told mom: "Get me my dress well ironed, I want to go to the market" Mom objected: "Not yet, you still have to recover"! Father replied: "I know it is time that I moved! I have to find something for these little birds and make them able to fly. I really feel better now!"
Next day he went to the market. He never said he is going to work. He always said 'going to the market' In the evening he came back with a bundle made out of his second cloth, which is a kerala towel in which he had rice and groceries and held a beautiful fish in one hand which was pretty large to make the neighbours jealous!
At the night meal he spoke to us and pondered and deliberated about a future course of action! He said the first easy, but he could make it as he was resolved to find some thing. He said he had to do odd jobs to earn as much for what ever he brought and said until he found something better, he would have to continue with it and the firm resolve that he will not rest until something better is found and will support us. His only request was that we concentrate on our studies and not worry of household things which he said he would provide by all means and that he did!
One day father came home early with groceries and rice and declared "Tomorrow onwards I am going to take up a new job! A friend of mine is brokering the sale of wood and he has offered to help me out to do the same business"! That was a new beginning for father and a new beginning for all of us too, who started to school in strict earnest! Life was once again back to normal..!
After the great meal of the evening, we all relaxed and mother told stories at bed time. Of course, first thing in the evening is always our prayer, the family prayer which lasted forty five minutes or more which if left to us children, we drove at a hectic speed! But mother never allowed us to over-speed and made us go at a slow pace!
Then was the great meal which kept us going those days! Since it was the only meal of the day, it always tasted great and we all thought it to be a feast! Then we all spoke on different subjects, sometimes read stories from books bought or brought from the nearby libraries etc. Then was bed time, when mother told us stories from her repository! The story always had the ending that "my son, like the hero of the story, you will bring us the best times when you cross the seven seas and bring riches where after we will have no dearth of anything and there shall no more be any scarcity!
Her great hope and expectation prodded me in my pursuits and ambitions in life! That is a great expectation which prods me on even now..!
The household silver were all out by this time!
We seven children and the convalescing father and the strong mother, like all mothers of old Kerala, got together one evening to see if we can survive. It was holiday time from school. The meeting brought up the great idea making use of the 'venneer' (ashes from buring dry leaves) which can be sold for money (very little money, indeed)!
Father was weak, but he won't sit idle. Straight away he started sweeping under the abundant and thick bamboo clusters with a broom he made himself! We were over joyed to collect the dry leaves in huge baskets and bring to one spot to make a huge maund! In between there was a huge snake which father said would go away by itself! We believed him. The cobra looked at all of us for a while, put its head down and slowly went into the bamboo cluster. Father turned to us all and said: "You all saw where the large snake has gone to take rest. So, don't go near there and disturb it!"
By the evening, we all stood around the huge maund of dry bamboo leaves which made a sort of camp fire. Once the fire was over father disbursed the crack team to rest for the day informing us that the ash can be collected next day morning only, after it cools, for which we have to give the night.
Mother called us in with the command to bring ripe jack-fruit tree leaves, only ripe ones for having our kanji (rice porridge)which was ready by then. We were told not to pluck green leaves (and make a short cut, instead of collecting the ripe leaves) as this would bring great poverty and we will not get to anything to eat, suggesting famine in the land..! (Even though this would have been a great "Green Peace" advice of that times sixty years ago, we as children laughed a lot of that suggestion saying "Who can be poorer than us.....?!!")
Once we took it to Mother. She said, "We are not poor, we lack riches, but we are Rich in our homely love and we stay together! How so ever money you earn, that does not make you rich, unless you stay together in love"!
The next day we took small bagfuls of the ash to a house half kilometre away where a grand old lady supervised the measurement of the same in a tin and counted out the money. She was a very kind women and very rich owning a lot of cultivable land and paddy fields. We as small children never thought that people can have that much of land and richess. She was always very well dressed and came out at the first door bell. She had a benign look all the time as if we are doing her a favour. Every tin was around fifty naya paise or so. If a tin was slightly incomplete she considered that too a full tin and paid us. We sometimes mentioned it to her that the last tin was not full. She dismissed it with a wave of her hand and a smile saying : "That doesn't matter. It was almost a tin and that is good enough". I thought she was an angel.
We walked back with whatever little money we got for this trade and it was Little fish and little water animal which we called 'njounikka' was plenty in the water and we caught the njounikkas to be boiled and their flesh taken out when we reach home. There were plenty of frogs and froglings too which we despised. Every once in a while there will be a 'neerkoli' a kind of water snake swishing past ..! Most of them are lost now. The paddy fields became housing plots! The water animals and fish lost their lives too, some due to loss of paddy fields and some due to excessive use of detergents and pesticides!
We brought the money home and were given the 'thotti' (kind of wicker basket, made out of bambu lines which were used widely to carry household items from shops) to go and buy the everyday things needed and which would come under the money for the day! We happily went and got them and if there is any little loose change we purchased sweets (small orange sweets, which we called orange mittaayi). At home the seven children and the parents sat down for a hearty meal at lunch and dinner as if it was a feast and savored a great meal every time! We knew the value of money and labour!
Slowly, father regained his health and was becoming the 'he man' that he once was! One day he told mom: "Get me my dress well ironed, I want to go to the market" Mom objected: "Not yet, you still have to recover"! Father replied: "I know it is time that I moved! I have to find something for these little birds and make them able to fly. I really feel better now!"
Next day he went to the market. He never said he is going to work. He always said 'going to the market' In the evening he came back with a bundle made out of his second cloth, which is a kerala towel in which he had rice and groceries and held a beautiful fish in one hand which was pretty large to make the neighbours jealous!
At the night meal he spoke to us and pondered and deliberated about a future course of action! He said the first easy, but he could make it as he was resolved to find some thing. He said he had to do odd jobs to earn as much for what ever he brought and said until he found something better, he would have to continue with it and the firm resolve that he will not rest until something better is found and will support us. His only request was that we concentrate on our studies and not worry of household things which he said he would provide by all means and that he did!
One day father came home early with groceries and rice and declared "Tomorrow onwards I am going to take up a new job! A friend of mine is brokering the sale of wood and he has offered to help me out to do the same business"! That was a new beginning for father and a new beginning for all of us too, who started to school in strict earnest! Life was once again back to normal..!
After the great meal of the evening, we all relaxed and mother told stories at bed time. Of course, first thing in the evening is always our prayer, the family prayer which lasted forty five minutes or more which if left to us children, we drove at a hectic speed! But mother never allowed us to over-speed and made us go at a slow pace!
Then was the great meal which kept us going those days! Since it was the only meal of the day, it always tasted great and we all thought it to be a feast! Then we all spoke on different subjects, sometimes read stories from books bought or brought from the nearby libraries etc. Then was bed time, when mother told us stories from her repository! The story always had the ending that "my son, like the hero of the story, you will bring us the best times when you cross the seven seas and bring riches where after we will have no dearth of anything and there shall no more be any scarcity!
Her great hope and expectation prodded me in my pursuits and ambitions in life! That is a great expectation which prods me on even now..!
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