Chelakkara -My village
in Kerala, seventy years back
By
P.R.Ramachander
(Known in the village as Raja during those times)
These are Random thoughts of an old man .There is no order
in them and by no means it is
complete .I am sure there would be
mistakes If you belong to
Chelakkara Gramam and
find any mistakes in what I write do correct it and write other facts which you remember.
My village was a part
of the Thalapilly Taluq of
Cochin state , which was
the rice granary of Kerala. The
nearest Railway station was Wadakkancherry
and the nearest town was Trichur .
It was located inside the valley of Machattu mountain. The
area where Brahmins lived in the
village was called for some
peculiar reason Chelakkara
Gramam. Chel in Malayalam means
pretty and Kara meant the place where Nair
houses were situated.It seems
before Tamil Brahmins settled there ,
the entire Chelakkara Gramam belonged to Nairs..In the middle of the
Gramam there is a very huge
Narasimhamurthy temple belonging to a
Nambudiri family .All round the temple Brahmins lived in houses with compounds round it . My father had told me that one Brahmin gentleman from a nearby village called
Thonnurkkara was the first to settle in
the village ,He it seems had seven
daughters and once they were given in
marriage the son in laws
who came from different Palakkad
agraharams preferred to stay in this pretty village . This family
was the seed family of the village. Their relations from their native villages and
teachers who came on transfer to
the old government schools settled there itself. When I was a boy there were
about 120 brahmin houses in Chelakkara
Gramam. Though most of the people were poor, some families were relatively rich. At that time I remember that there were , an engineer, a doctor ,A vertinary doctor , an overseer
, 4-5 graduates , a post
graduate in mathematics and even a doctorate in mathematics . Five brahmins in the village were having shops in the village itself , out of which two were provision
stores , one ran a cloth store and
another was a newspaper dealer as well as agent for school books and stationary, and one was running a copper vessel store. Two families were village priests , two were astrologers and atleast 3-4 families were cooks by profession. Ofcourse there was a Menon Sami(Menon is a post
in Revenue department), two were retired registrars , one was a
musician and 5-6 people were teachers in high school as well as in elementary
schools around the village
.Interestingly one Brahmin of the village
was a professor of mathematics in
Trichur, his father was the
Principal of the University college
Trivandrum,. Even at the time one Brahmin was running a
Nellu Kuthu Company (paddy pounding
company) in the outskirts of the
village and his brother was a freedom
fighter. Many of the families owned small pieces land and they were essentially absentee land lords. Large number of people were working or owning
hotels in different cities in India. The village was not electrified.
There were plenty of buses coming from Trichur which were going to
Pazhayannur. There were two doctors
practicing just outside the village . There used to a gentleman called Nondi Asan who used to come to all homes and teach the young kids , Malayalam, sanskrit etc.There was a
government high school as well as
a private girl’s school . One brahmin gentleman was a famous Ayurvedic
doctor and his brother was running a
typing shorthand institute. Most of the people
used to complete SSLC in local
school , study in the typing Institute
and leave for Mumbai ,
where a Brahmin gentleman
of the village was running
a hotel. He used to accommodate
all the boys going from the village
till they get the job and collect the dues later . Thus a very large
number of people of the village became prosperous by working in Mumbai. I always think that the Brahmins of the village should erect statutes to the gentleman who ran the typing
institute in the village and to the one who ran the hotel in Mumbai , because but for them , my village would be still
poor. There was also a Kamban kudi
family which had settled down in the
village. A Psharodi family which takes care of supply of flowers to the temple and Embrandhiri family which used to do Pooja in the temple were also part of the village.
A pappada Karan (man who made Pappad for living and a chakan who expelled oils) who were both not Brahmins lived within the Gramam. It was one of the first village to have a Pakka cinema theatre called Sankar Talkis owned by a Brahmin . In the lowest class of that theatre , eople have to sit on the floor (THara ticket).After every reel is shown, there used to be a break and a cinema used to consist of several such reels.
A pappada Karan (man who made Pappad for living and a chakan who expelled oils) who were both not Brahmins lived within the Gramam. It was one of the first village to have a Pakka cinema theatre called Sankar Talkis owned by a Brahmin . In the lowest class of that theatre , eople have to sit on the floor (THara ticket).After every reel is shown, there used to be a break and a cinema used to consist of several such reels.
I still
remember an old Tailor called
Ponnusamy chettiar and a tailor for relatively rich called Damodaran in the Chelakkara Angadi who were
the only tailors used by the village,. There used to be two Barbers called Appu Kuttan and
Madhavan serving the Brahmins of
the village .There used to be two
doctors DR.Antony and DR,Madhava Menon who used to treat all the Brahmins of the village .There used to be
a maternity Nurse called Lakshmi Kutti
Amma who was always serving the village Brahmin ladies. There used to be two post
offices at that time in the village, of
which one was a post office of Cochin state
(Anchal office) and a British post office.
A Narasimha Murthy
temple which belonged to a Nambudiri family was
situated in the centre of the
village .The God was considered as a Vara Prasadhi because even at that time A sait from Gujarat had built a huge entrance to the temple .I
understand that this temple was attacked
by Tippu Sultan , who broke the statue
of the temple and threw it in the temple
tank.Later a new idol was got made and consecrated .The temple had also a Ganapathi sand Satha sub temples. All people
believed that by breaking 120 coconuts
to that Ganapathi and distributing it
to the Brahmins in the village all their
problems can be solved. Elephants never used to enter this temple as it was
believed that they would die on entering
the temple . The Brahmins had got made a small chariot which they used to draw
round the temple.The Brahmins also had a
SAmooha Madam constructed at that
time for their use . Several free feasts .Nava Rathri in the temple was being
celebrated in a grand manner .Frequently Harikathas
as well as Sampradaya Bhajans
were being held at the temple
All Brahmins used to take bath in the village tank or the THodu (stream) near by
, go to the temple and then only started
their activities.where Free feast
was being arranged at least on five to six days annually . There used to be a
temple tank and a pond belonging to the Samooham , which were
rarely used for bathing during those
times.
Adjacent to the village there was a village of Tamil speaking Muslims (called Ravuthars) and telugu
speaking Nayakkars, Outside the grammam,
there were localities where Tamil
speaking chettiars lived. Apart
from them people of all castes and religion
lived in this village .I still
vividly remember how the ladies of Pathu
Kudi (umma) used to go the forest and
bring either firewood as well as Bamboo
thorn and sell them in the evening .The male Ravuthars used to
come to village buy small quantities
of paddy, take it home , pound it
and sell to the shop owners. The Naikkars
were essentially well diggers who used
to go to any distance to dig
wells..Several Nair ladies came as maid
servants in the Brahmin house holds. We
children were very close to these maid
servants.
Water was a big
problem in the village during summer .During some seasons, only one house
in the village had water in the well and we used to go at least a km to get water. Ponds in the
village used to get dried.All people used to walk three to four km daily to take bath in the pond of the famour Temple
Anthimahakalan Kavu.
Brahmins
used to live in clusters in near
by villages caked Venganallur ,
where there used to be a huge Shiva
temple , Pulacode where there is A karthyayani temple and
Kolathur , where there used to be a Aubramanya templw.There used to a priests family
living in KOlathur
Now things g
have changed .Most of the Chelakkara
Brahmins have become prosperous .I even met a boy from Chelakkara who
had a Ph.D from Harward in law. Though there are hardly 10-15 Brahmin families
now living in Chelakkara Gramam .,the entire population of the
village assemble there during festivals in the Narasimha murthy temple.
18 comments:
Dear Sir,
Thanks very much for writing this blog. My maternal grandmother JanakiAmmal grew up in chelakkara. She is the sister of the freedom fighter Ramchandra Iyer and the rice mill owner Mahadeva Iyer. She told me her stories of growing up in chelakkara and taking bath in the temple pond. My parents are in chelakkara now attending the dwadasi villaku celebration. She lived in Trichur and was married to the youngest son of Ramchandra Iyer, R.V.Venkatarama Iyer of Trichur.
My granny taught me to cook several of the recipies that you have included in your blog and also used to say the Villaku sthothram. I started chanting the sthothram last year after reading your translation almost a year after she passed away in 2013.
My grandparents blessing has helped me make it well in life. Although not a direct chelakkara descendant, I am blesses to have connections with this village.
I am hoping to visit this village in the future.
God bless you for your memoirs.
Parvathy Iyer
[Writing from USA]
Meppadam Mahasevan Mama , Ramachandra mama etc are distant uncles of my father whose mother belongs to Placode.Meppadam Mahadevan mama's son SAnkaran is living very near my home in Bangalore .
Thank you sir for the nostalgic write-up. My grandfather AP Bharatha Pisharody was the HM of the local School SMT High before he retired in 1965. I too have wonderful childhood memories of the quaint little village of Anthimalan Kave. Thank you sir again .
Dear Sir,
all old memories are coming back while going through this blog... as far as i know in Mumbai some other Nair gentleman related to vattekad family also was running hotels and his Son Late Dr Nair was famous in Navi Mumbai (staying at sec 8 vashi).
also i remember My typing teacher who was daughter of the famous swami who started typing institute above his br0ther's aryavaidyasala.
and i think famous singer ranjini jose is also a off shoot from this Physicians family ( although through a mixed marriage)
Dear Sir,
all old memories are coming back while going through this blog... as far as i know in Mumbai some other Nair gentleman related to vattekad family also was running hotels and his Son Late Dr Nair was famous in Navi Mumbai (staying at sec 8 vashi).
also i remember My typing teacher who was daughter of the famous swami who started typing institute above his br0ther's aryavaidyasala.
and i think famous singer ranjini jose is also a off shoot from this Physicians family ( although through a mixed marriage)
That is a brilliant article.
I'm Menon Sami's Great Grand Daughter and my my vacation days where in Chelekara Gramamam.
Regards,
Lakshmi
I am Narasimhan born in Chelakkara in 1958 and after completing 10th undergone type and shirt hand left the village in 1976. The theatre Shankar talkies was belonging to us. And still I attend all Dwadasi vilakku every year and visit our temple frequently. Anyway nice write up Good luck and let Lord Narasimha Moorthy bless one and all.
I am Narasimhan born in Chelakkara in 1958completing and after completing 10th undergone type and shirt hand left the village in 1976. The theatre Shankar talkies was belonging to us. And still I attend all Dwadasi vilakku every year and visit our temple frequently. Anyway nice write up Good luck and let Lord Narasimha Moorthy bless one and all.
Please provide me your phone number
Dear Mr. Ramachander:
My friend Raghupathy in Bangalore, also hails from Chelakkara, with the same origins similar to yours. he is 79 years old and retired. I want to ask him to communicate with you, since his monograph also reads like your blog. Please let us know as to how to reach you, your email and phone number and such. I am in Spring, TX, we are here in the US since 49 years...I am retired telecom engineer. We would love to exchange info. Pl. email me at: subbyseeta@gmail.com. My phone: 281-379-6209
Thanks so much,
Subby Subramanyam (Mr.)
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Do you want to donate your kidnney for money? We offer $500,000.00 USD (3 Crore India Rupees) for one kidnney,Contact us now urgently for your kidnney donation,All donors are to reply via Email only: hospitalcarecenter@gmail.com or Email: kokilabendhirubhaihospital@gmail.com
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Am very eager to know more about your grandfather who I guess could be the mentor of my father in law,Mr KNK Elayath.would be grateful if you could share some inputs into his working years n most importantly a pic alone or class.He passed out in 1957.i am actually working on a biography on him.
Looking forward for a great response
Hatsoff for your memory, really nostalgic to all in this village🙏🏻
Actually it’s not chel it’s chela means vasthram
Hlo my name is Riya and my contact number is 9061563294 , someone who has accurate knowledge about smt shool chelakkara/ chelakkara gramam and have proper historical sources related to it please contact me. I'm doing a project related to this topic so am in desperate need of information
S
My grand father(father's father), belonged to Chelakkara. His name was C.A.Krishna Iyer. He got married to my grand mother( who was the only daughter of a very rich criminal lawyer, P.K Ramakrishna Iyer, of Coimbatore and settled in Coimbatore, ending the links of Chelakkara. I wish I get to know some one who knows our family there.
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