avaniaittam kovanam

Read about small boys of the village going around the agraharam on Avaniavittam day asking for small coins and komanam.. the piece of white used to be tied to the loins.

I too was such an urchin decades ago

I have a poignant tragic memory about this Avaniavittam komanam thendal..the memory is more than fifty five years old.

After going the round in the entire Agraharam my collection in half anna and one anna coins would have been about a rupee and a half.

To avoid pilferage of my precious treasury by sisters and cousins I had hidden myself behind a wooden door in the nezhi ( the dingy covered first room of an Agraharam house) of the next house.

A paatti (a very old granny) there discovered me and when I confessed about the possibility of my grand collection of money being stolen she asked me to hand over the coins to her for safe keeping.

The innocent me obeyed her instantly.

But after a couple of hours when I went to that mottai paatti to retrieve back my treasure she refused having taken the money from me and even said with a straight face that she had not seen me during the past few days.

I tried to rope in the help of all around but like water poured on hot iron my money had evaporated never to come back.

Had I shared the cash with my sisters or cousins all would have been happy.

One and half rupees could do wonders fifty five years ago.

That paatti is gone decades ago and lakhs or even crores of rupees have passed through my hands later..especially as I was a taxman often engaged in confiscating black money..but the memory of those few coins collected through virtual begging at every doorstep of all the Agraharam houses brings tears of loss and smile of amusement together in my mind.

Those were the days...

Listening to Katha Kalakshepam and Harikatha is just the KG stage..

But we should never forget certain facts of life.. For a student in the Kindergarten, some picture book and a soft talk from a teacher are all that is needed to prod him to study at his level..

But even at schools, we require textbooks and guidance by trained teacher..

In colleges and universities, the teachers lecture to us and guide us to learn more by using books, and other technical and social aids and make us have a mind of our own.

When it comes to research, our involvement exerting our own mental and intellectual faculties is much more..

And finally when we are facing life and a wife, our resources should be multifaceted, and can be put to great strains too..

Listening to Katha Kalakshepam and Harikatha is just the KG stage..

Personally I feel I am not able to get myself promoted to any higher stage that KG

That does not mean higher stages are not there.. reading, listening, speaking all have their value.. in higher stages..

There was a period when narrating stories from Puranas and Itihasas was a great art and service to god too.

There was a period when narrating stories from Puranas and Itihasas was a great art and service to god too.

( Now too there are Swamijis and Yajna Acharyas but I find more pomp and show than content in the discourses.. The list of naivedyams and presents to be offered on various occasions, the menu for the feast and breakfast in connection with the gnana yajnam take precedence over remembering God in such congregations these days.. Sad to say..)

.I used to listen to such Upanyasams and harikathakalaksehpams even a half century ago ..

The art was almost at its peak when I was just a child..

Those days, the story tellers were respected for their knowledge, way of presentation and their keen sense of humour..

The men sometimes were creative too..Including such funny anecdotes in their discourses with proper timing often used to be great crowd-pullers..

I have found that whenever I posted some ideas in my own words what I heard from such an Upanyasakara decades ago, such posts attracted learned friends everywhere, including the social media..

The credit goes to those pious and innocent souls...

Now the Upanyasakaras don the robe of Sannyasi, or some highbrow Guru, is bombastic, and indulge in many other tricks, but I have found that the innocent and straightforward bhakthi or fun is lacking in comparison..

Now such people can keep themselves afloat in the market only if they complicate all issues, and even exaggerate spirituality .. and they do it too..

I know my understanding of my religion was built up on the foundation laid by listening to such discourses and stories told by old and simple people of our agraharams..

Maybe, when reading the original texts later,and analysing them too,

I have felt that the explanations, and even perception of God in the hands of our seniors was rather too simple but then they had the faith..faith like a solid rock

I find too that whatever perceptions and insights gained later were not of the pure and simply quality as the teachings of those elders..

musings 136 chukkuvella sastry

an agraharamite can understand..

Some people talk of ostensibly simple lifestyle especially when it involves expenditure to the public treasury.

I remember of one Sastrigal (brahmin priest) whom we used to refer to as chukkuvellam sastrigal.

( chukkuvellam.ചുക്കുവെള്ളം is drinking water made aromatic and tasty by adding powdered dried ginger and our mama would have got that name because of his penchant to drink such liquid off and on)..

If he is invited for snacks.. first he will decline leaving just enough room to renew the invitation.

Once he sits to eat, he will say that he is on very frugal diet and that he requires only half a idly (the most enduring food item of South India.. usually no one takes less than two of these at a time)

So he will insist on such a small piece of food being served.

He will make a lot of fuss about eating, but in time he will persuade himself and the host also would have to serve another half idly more...

And this process of persuasion, bargaining, fake protests and all will go on ...

and by the time the sastrigal leaves his plantain leaf, he would have eaten at least a dozen idlies healthily soaked in chutney, sambar and other condiments,

and if there are a few Vadas and Dosas , would have eaten them them too, and if some naivedya payasam is available..that also would not have been rejected...

the rigmarole will go on..

That is a typical agraharamite.. yes.. you and me..

Long live chukkuvella sastry and his half idlies.

Chonnam goes to Mundur..

In our agraharam.. there is a story about Chonnam going to mundur .. Chonnam Mundoorukku pona pole..ചൊണ്ണം മുണ്ടൂരുക്ക് പോന പോലെ 

Our agraharam is in the heart of Palakkad town.. and Mundur is a place about twelve kilometers away from here.. a place en route to Mannarkad.. and Mundur is semi hilly.. and full of very fertile arable lands.
The brahmins of the agraharam in yonder years, owned a lot of agricultural lands there..

They would leave the lands in the control of tenants and a few would visit there often and stay in temporary shelters called kalappura.. Such kalappuras were used for extra curricular activities too.. That is a different story.

One brilliant mama in our village had an equally brilliant son whom he christened Swarnam (Swarnapureeswaran or something like that).. and assigned a pet name of Chonnam..


This mama had extensive areas of agriculture lands in Mundur..
He wanted to inspect the progress of agricultural activity and the activities of the tenants at Mundur and also wanted to collect something in cash or kind from them for the daily use of the family..

So one evening he called his darling son Chonnam and told him


Chonnam nee nalaikku kaarthaale mundurukku ponam..
ചൊണ്ണം നീ നാളയ്ക്ക് കാര്ത്താലെ മുണ്ടൂരുക്ക് [പോകണം

you should go to Mundur tomorrow morning.

The obedient son agreed as if the fathers order is a Vedavakyam


The next morning the sun rose, and the father was searching for the son to leave instructions as to what he should do at Mundur

He called the golden boy.. and there was no response..
Then he enquired about the whereabouts of his wise son.

No one around  had any clue.


All knew that the  august presence of Chonnam was not felt since early morning..

But by ten O clock in the morning, the son was sighted, running back after a long, long trek

Nee engeda ponaay..  നീ എങ്കേഡാ പോനായ് ? where did you go.. asked the father.

Pat came the reply... Neengal Chonna pole Mundurukku poyittu Vandaachu..    നീങ്കള്‍ ചൊന്ന പോലെ മുണ്ടൂരുക്ക് പോയിട്ട് വന്താച്ചു   I have gone to Mundur and come back as per your directions..

Enthukku daa ponaay.. എന്തുക്ക് ഡാ പോനായ് ? what was the purpose of your travel.. asked the father..

Appa, neengal athu chollalaye.... അപ്പാ നീങ്കള്‍ അത് ചൊല്ലലയെ father , you did not tell me that..

The son had obeyed his father to the dot.. but with no purpose served..

A brilliant father, an equally brilliant son whose weight is worth is gold.. and a great journey..

This anecdote might be found in the annals of many paatti stories with different heroes and dramatis personae..
But our agraharam story goes like this..

We iyers though brilliant in many ways, are capable of extremely absurd actions.. innocently but foolishly..

musings 45

Some people talk of ostensibly simple lifestyle especially when it involves expenditure to the public treasury.
I remember of one Sastrigal (brahmin priest) whom we used to refer to as chukkuvellam sastrigal.( chukkuvellam. is drinking water made aromatic with dried ginger)..
If he is invited for snacks.. first he will decline leaving just enough room to renew the invitation.
Once he sits to eat, he will say that he is on very frugal diet and that he requires only half a idly(the most enduring food item of South India.. usually no one takes less than two of these at a time) to live.
So he will insist on such a small piece of food being served.


He will make a lot of fuss about eating, but in time he will persuade himself and the host also to serve another half idly more...

And this process of persuasion, bargaining, fake protests and all will go on ...
and by the time the sastrigal leaves his plantain leaf, he would have eaten at least a dozen idlies healthily soaked in chutney, sambar and other condiments,
and if there are a few Vadas and Dosas , would eat them them too, and if some naivedya payasam is available..that also will not be rejected... the rigmarole will go on..

Long live chukkuvella sastry and his half idlies.

musings 41 childhood friends

when you are with a friend from your boyhood days, you tend to forget your age.. Living in an agraharam where I have been living all through my life with some interruptions by way of stay in distant places at different time-slots due to exigencies of job and having finally settled in my own place, many experiences prove this.

The other day I was sitting in front of my house, and a friend of mine for almost sixty years was just cutting some dried branches of a tree, exerting himself..

After some time, he was getting exhausted, but was trying to carry as if he is still very energetic.

Of course he is still slim and trim, and actually looks rather young for his age..

And I have become fluffy and paunchy..

I was just shouting at him.." Dey, do not exert yourself too much. We are not as young as we were"

My remark was spontaneous..

I was remembering the times when as small boys we were climbing trees,and running on the same street and doing many things that only boys could do..

And when we meet, and we do that almost every day, we could not see any difference in us from what we were six decades ago..

My wife and son, or his wife and children .. all of us are very close .. so close like a family, cannot understand this..

I do not know whether we can analyze such things for logic..

But a friend of boyhood days is a treasure without any substitute, especially when one is old..

bare bust

my senior friend and mentor Siva mama was writing about moving about the street with bare body...

I galloped on the horseback of my imagination in the reverse direction. 

Even today I present myself in the agraharam with open upper torso.. After bath and sandhyavandhanam, I walk upto the Ganapathy temple nearby, with a dhothi and an angavastram tied round the hip, the face and body adorned only in Vibhooti, painted all over like perhaps the stripes in the body of a tiger..and with a three into three poonal.. 

But most of us in our agraharam do that even these days

I am remembering about my childhood.. No dress of any kind up to about three years.. Running along the streets in birthday clothes was natural for small boys. No one saw anything amiss.. Girls of that age might wear some sort of gown. 

Then we get introduced to what is called Valli. or slinged trousers or knickers.. Two cylinders of clothes of any size stiched together and two long tapes of clothes attched to the two cylinders... the cylindrical part to be slipped in with the legs and the tapes to be adjusted on the shoulders.. and sometimes there will be an opening in the front portion of the two cylinders meeting in the front, and some cloth button and a hole to secure it would be provided.. We would slip into the trousers and run along the streets, often forgetting to close the "Post Office" and some strict eyes would catch us an give warning that if the post office is not closed, the crow will take away the contents..

Then when we reach third or fourth standard, the Valli of the Knicker would be an embarrassment.. So the bands would be removed, and the knicker would be secured around the hip with aranakkayaru, or even poonal.. 

Every boy would have one or two shirts, to be used only if they are to go to school, or if they are going outside the boundary of the village..

In our Sekharipuram.. there was one tailor, whom we called Thaadi.. because he sported a long white beard (his name was subramanian pillai, I came to know much later) and his trouser measurement for all would be the same.. So also the shirts..If anyone complains, Thaadi will say that the boy is growing.. so it is always good to make big shirts and trousers.. The whole material would be coarse cotton..;Black, Brown or Blue for trouser and relatively less coarse white or striped cloth for shirts.

The boys would beg Thaadi to provide two big pockets to the trouser. and additional ones if possible (the second request would be refused). |

they can store ghotti(marbles), pambaram(tops), nellikkai(Amla berries), small mangoes, some eatables.. all in these pockets..

And one boy just picking the sumptuously filled pocket of another was a usual incident. 

This would lead to quarrels and fist fights.. 

But quarrels would be settled between friends.. If the complaints reach any elders, both will get only some slaps in the buttocks.. and to give slaps, the elders need not be your parents.. any mama or mami, anna or akka of the village will do that and there will be no issue.. 

I remember I started wearing shirts on a regular basis only when I was eighteen or nineteen and wore a pair of chappals and pants when I appeared for interview as an Inspector of Income-tax..