ULLANNUR STORIES

My earliest memory of Ullannur - A SMALL VILLAGE IN KERALA - is when I was around three years. I was at Ullannur with amma. Chachen,my father, was in Calcutta for his MBBS and Mollyammamma in boarding school. I had a teacher coming home for tuitions early in the morning. His favorite phrase for making me study was “Madian mala chumakkum” (loosely translated… the lazy will carry the hillock on his back) pointing at the hillock opposite. I must have spent several sleepless nights sweating and imagining the scene… me with the hillock on the back. More about the hillock later.

Ponnachayan, my uncle, ammai,my aunty and Ivy,their daughter were also around at that time. Ponnachayan brought a camera to take our pictures and to prevent me from touching it he told me that it is a bomb. I was so sacred that when he took it out the next day I refused to go near. The first picture I remember he took was me on the tricycle with Ivy sitting on the handle bar.

It was in the late fifties that I spent three years at Ullannur. I studied in the Ullannur School staying with appachen, my grandfather and ammachi, my grand mother. Laila,my cousin, also was there during the same period.

It was not all fun. But it was not also that bad. I must have been a small pain in the neck for appachen with my a bit unruly ways making him lose his terrible temper once in a while.

I was not a brilliant student…..but I managed to get through with appachen’s strict schedule. It was mandatory to study English well. Laila and I must have been the only two children who had done all the exercises in the famous English Grammar Book Wren and Martin cover to cover twice over. We also discovered the fun of reading. He got for us by mail order “The Story of Jesus”- the first full colour picture book I ever had- and “Stories from the Bible” published by OLDHAMS of London. English language and English men enamored him. He used to say that by Rabindranath Tagore would not have got the Nobel Prize if his book “Gitanjali” was not published in English. He was also sad that English left India. He was not a fan of Mahatma Gandhi but appreciated his sense of purpose.

It was then I tried to learn cycling. I got one of my class mates to get an old cycle on hire- I had no money to pay him; so the deal was I would give him the raw cashew nuts I collect and he will sell it and pay the cycle shop owner. The scheme worked well for a few days till appachen found it out. Appachen was dead against my learning cycling afraid that I might break my leg or hand. I will never forget the day when my friend fled down the steps from the school with the cycle on his head with appachen chasing him with his walking stick and the two dogs – Jimmy and Dozer following him. This must have left and indelible impression on my subconscious mind. I never learnt cycling well. Later in life when I tried to learn to drive a scooter in Ullannur with all the village children running after me shouting… see…see… isaacachayan on the scooter…. the scooter landed in the paddy field and I on the road. That was the last time I rode a two-wheeler. (Now you all know why I never owned a two-wheeler).

Talking of Jimmy and Dozer (short form for Bulldozer – christened so by kunjamachen, my uncle) … they were two dogs of unknown breed. They never allowed anything moving enter the compound. But they had such a soft corner for the pet squirrels Laila and I had that they were the guardians in our absence. Dozer had some problem with his tail. It had grown right angles to his body. So when he wagged his tail it went up and down like a windshield wiper. It was such a strange sight. He had a liking for new shoes. So when kunjamachen got a new pair of shoes, it ended up as Dozer’s favorite chewing gum.

The hillock on the other side of the school was called “Kadali Kunnu”( Hillock from where you can see the sea)… It was of course a misunderstanding. You could see the backwaters from the top and may be people thought it was the sea. It was such fun climbing this hillock with a lot of wild berries to eat. We used to go climbing during weekends. Unfortunately now the whole hillock is a rubber plantation with no access for outsiders.

It was also when a movie company decided to shoot a historical movie scene near the hill. Dozer decided he must be part of the scene. Every time the hero came riding down the hill on the horse Dozer went after him with his windshield wiper tail wagging. After several tries to shoo him off, the director decided to keep him in the picture. If you can get a copy of this movie you can see Dozer chasing the hero on the horse. You can also see the overhead electric lines in the scene…. Electricity in the good old days…