Monday, September 21, 2015

Dedicated to Manga Kunnan of Chelakkara

 Dedicated  to Manga Kunnan of Chelakkara

By
P.R.Ramachander 


    I am again trying  to take  back to the  old Chelakkara  Gramam.  There  was a very interesting character called  “Manga KUnnan” roaming the  CHelakkara  Gramam during those days .He was a  harmless and very helpful  mad man of Chelakkara.He always used   to keep on Chanting  “Ippa THanne, Ivada Thanne”   and walk along . The Mamis of the Gramam used  to entrust him several peetty jobs like buying   things from the market. They all  knew  that Manga Kunnan was   extremely honest  and efficient . People used to say that  his name was  “Mangakunnathu  Krishnan Nair “ and he once belonged to a good family  near PLacode  village .This cherished  photo  was  Passed on to me by my cousin Babu Subbaraman , who has permanently settled in  USA.While thanking   for that  nice gesture I would  like to dedicate  this photo  to that  good old mad man , who was   the part  of the life of many of us .I am sure Manga Kunnan never  would have imagined   that  his photo would any time  come  in the internet and that  too in Facebook.

2 comments:

Rajasekhar said...

True, the saga of any Chelakarite is synonymous with the tales of Mr Mangakunnath Krishnan Nair. I remember the time when we used to come to Chelakara during vacation, he will be always seen standing in front of Vaidyan Krishna Iyer's Ayurvedic shop. And on seeing my father (CSV) alight from the bus, he will come to pick up the bag and CSV used to exchange greetings with him "എന്താ, കൃഷ്ണൻ നായരെ, സുഖം തന്നെ അല്ലേ !" (How are you, Krishnan Nair!).

I think, only CSV used to call him Krishnan Nair and it was a delight to his ears as was evident from his smile while the rest of the village called him "Mangakunnan". I am not sure whether he was a classmate of CSV at SMTHS School. I have heard, the Velichappadu of Anthimahakalan temple (the oracle) studied with CSV in the younger classes.

But I have seen Mami's of Gramam make him cut firewood with the axe and once he is on the job, he has to be told when to stop. Otherwise, when the logs are finished he will continue cutting the nearest tree. And that used to be the case with him when he was given a feast on festive occasions. He will not know when to say "enough".

He never used to take a bath but I have heard once when he had chickenpox, he used to take a bath often, that too in the temple well.

Yes, he will be long remembered by at least by our generation.

- Raja

CSB said...

Great reminiscences