Although days of life keeps turning, time stand still in Chengannur. Routines are the same each day and one afternoon Ammachi told me
“Nina, go and sleep for a few hours, we have to go out in the night?”
“Where are we going Ammachi?”
“It is the first day of festival at Bhagavathi temple, We are going to watch kathakali”
“We are going to a temple?”
“hmmm” Ammachi nodded her head
I stretched my neck up, straightened my shoulder and spoke like a prophet
“We are ORTHODOX SYRIAN CHRISTIANS, our church is the oldest, and our traditions go back to St.Thomas and our girls don’t even climb trees!!”
“hmmm Did I ever say we are not?” Ammachi asked me
“Then why are we going to the temple, hindus goes to the temple.”
“Nina, just because you went to a temple ground to watch kathakali,it doesn’t mean that you became a hindu.” You are not going to the temple to worship. Kathakali is our traditional dance and we watch it because, we enjoy it.
“Kalamandalam Gopalakrishnan is playing today and I don’t want to miss it.”
The only actors I know are Mammootty and Rahman in Kerala and P Ramlee in Malaysia. I had no idea who is this Kalamandalam celebrity. I thought ‘my god!what a name..KALAMANDALAM’
“Do you know anything about Kathakali?” She asked me.
I shook my head.
I have seen photographs of Kathakali in the news papers. They looked scary. The actors have long hair, wear ghastly make up and their skirts are bulging as though they wear an upside down chatti under their skirt. To me they look like another version of Goddess Kali and I am scared of Goddess Kali.
“Sit down Nina”
I obliged. I sat on the floor and Ammachi sat on my grandfather’s chair. I knew we are in for a long session when Ammachi sits on my grandfather’s chair. There is no escape. I resigned to my fate.
“kathakali is katha(story) kali (play), where the dancers tells you a story using just the facial expression and hand signals. The stories can be from Ramayana or mahabharatha. There are 4 faces.
pacca (green),kathi(knife),thadi (beard) minukku(polished)
Tomorrow I am sure Kalamandalam GopalanKrishnana is playing the pacha(green). Nobody plays pacha (green) better than him.
She then showed me all the hand signals and I didn’t understand anything. Then Ammachi showed me the bhavam (facial expression). She looked so funny and I started laughing.
“Go and sleep, I should be the one who needs to get whacked for teaching this ignoramus child the fine art of kathakali”
“Shall I whack you? you said you should get whacked”
“aiyo ente karthave I pity the guy who is going to marry this child”
“I am not getting married” I replied
“yeah, everyone say that when they are 10 yrs old, wait till you are 18”
I knew there is no point arguing with my grandmother and went to the bedroom to sleep. On the way I casually informed her
“I am sleeping on your bed”.
In the evening we could hear the beatings of the drum and Ammachi told me
“That is kellikottu. they are announcing that there would be kathakali performance today”
“What time does the performance start?”
“around 8 in the evening”
Ammachi went out and collected a bundle of dried palm leaves from the storage shed. She tied them in to a bundle.
“What are you doing?” I asked her
“I am making a torch”
“Torch with dried palm leaves?”
She nodded her head and told me ” you will see later”
After dinner, Ammachi went to get ready. She didn’t take too long unlike my mother who takes hours to get ready. She looked dignified in her pristine white chatta & mundu. Her neriyathu folded neatly and kept in place with her pink flower brooch.
Ammachi rolled her mattress and took the mat from the bottom of the bed.
“Why are you taking the mat?”
“to sit Nina”
“Won’t there be any chairs?”
“Oh Nina, you sit on the floor and watch kathakali”.
Ammachi closed the door and we started walking to the main road. I was holding the mat and Ammachi held the palm leaf bundle.
It was already dark and quiet. As we walked we didn’t see anyone on the bund. Occassionally the dogs from the houses barked as we walked. We passed the upadeshi appachan’s house. I half expected to see him sitting out side with his red and white megaphone.
“wait wait wait” someone shouted
Ammachi and I stopped in our tracks and looked back.
upadeshi appachan.
“Where is Ammachi and kochumol going in the middle of the night?” He asked
” Oh we are just going to watch the kathakali”. Ammachi replied
“Suriyani Christians like you are going to a temple to watch kathakali?
“Doesn’t it say in the 10 commandments, worship no other god but me?”
By now Ammachi was really getting mad at him and I knew he is going to be in trouble
“upadeshi, when was the last time you read the holy bible?”Ammachi asked him.
“Why do you ask such questions, I read my bible everyday, infact I read whole holy bible 5 times already.”
“Then there is something wrong with your bible, because my bible only says worship no other god but me, it doesn’t say do not watch Kathakali”
upadeshi appachan didn’t enjoy losing and he spewed out his venom.
.
“No wonder you became a widow at such young age”
“Come Ammachi, lets go. We shouldn’t waste time talking to people like him”. I pulled my grandmother’s hand and started to walk.
As we reached the junction, under the lone street light I could see a tiny tear drop on my grandmother’s face and I wanted to kill upadeshi appachan for hurting my grandmother.
my suriani christiani grandmother tried to imitate these expressions!!http://www.artkerala.com/art_forms/navarasam.asp
they wear an upside down chatti under their skirt – that is so true and funny
I remember lighting chutt to attend Easter morning worship with my appachen
hmmm.. good one!
PS: btw nw i knw hw u got that name 🙂
jithu:enne turkey nnu vilichal chutta adi tharum.k tto?
Thanu: pantham..how to traslate tht in to english?
loved the post.. i could see the scenes so clearly.. u r very talented..
pantham of pantham koluthi prakadanam fame? 🙂
mindcurry:chuttu kathichu kaiyil pidikunnathu pantham nnale vilikunnathu?
verynice. .. heard that kathakali is nice art.. but never could go to see it on the stage..!! people like upadeshi are also always present to give such rediculus statements..!!
Loved this narrative. I really like your grandmother..spunky, practical and loving at the same time. 🙂
So how was Kathakali..although I buy the clay masks and other “Kathakali” related souveniers, I never sat and attended a full session. I mean bits and pieces I have watched watch, but always thought it quite long. I rather hear all those stories straight from my grandpa.
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Have you ever read Bobbanum Mollyum comics by Toms? 🙂 I used to love them until Malayala Manorama took over..in one of them there is a very funny story about an upadeshi who comes to B&M’s town. The upadeshi in your story kinda resembles him. :)) But I don’t think the guy in the comic was as mean..so terrible to have said that to your grandmom. Some people really have a way of hurting others.
Hope and love:thank you
Sujit & Quills, Initially I hated kathakali..till Ammachi explained each and every move and the story..Then I absolutely enjoyed. I still try those facial expressions when my kids annoy me and they would ok ok ok ..don’t make football with your eyes..
Yes there are people like upadeshi everywhere in kerala.. They some how gain happiness out of tragedies
Enjoyed reading your post.My last trip to kerela was in 1993 and I can say it is Gods own country.so beautiful.
Choootu Katta….thats what u call…Pantham is more like a stick/rod (metallic)and on the tip, you cover it with cloth and dip in oil…
chootu katta is very good one…..ohh good old days…I hate torches…
Even I wanted to kill Upadeshi Appachan for hurting Ammachi’s feelings.poor thing.all she wanted to do was see kalliyattam…poor thing!I love your writing…please save this all and write a book.it will be a hit…I swear!
starry nights:thank you for visiting my blog..yes kerala is beautiful..but the kerala of my childhood was even better
Qtechdrive:translate chootu kutta to english pls..
Maya:there were many men, who pretend to be pious and god’s right hand man and yet are so very evil in their mind..
“The actors have long hair, wear ghastly make up and their skirts are bulging as though they wear an upside down chatti under their skirt”
Entammo Chirichu Chirichu Mathiyaayi..
Good One.
To your comment to Thanu : This is the problem in English, I feel, not able to map all the malayalam words. I may be wrong here as I dont consider myself very good in English. It may be because when we write we are first writing it in mind in Malayalam. Atleast That is what I do. Then we begin to translate.
BTW I am blogrolling you
Dhanush:Thank you for blog rolling. I tried to explain to my three little kids abt the choottu..they don’t know what is ‘ola’ to start with..Pinnenganaya paranju manasillakkunnathu?..
Huh?! How can a church minister speak like that?!
Arrghhh.. I really hate it when people act as if they are good Christians, but in real fact, they hardly undertsand what God wants us to know and believe!
So, did you guys enjoy the show?
What about the palm leave torch? How did she use it?
Chootu Katta to english? gosh…dont you know that my english is tooo bad? how dare you asked me to do translation? hehehe kiddin…
I am really one sandwich short of a banquet when it comes to translation…
but I will try!
can it be “burning torch made of coconut palm leaves” ?
or
“coconut leaf torches” ?
or
“country torch made of rolled coconut leaves”
LOL….
btw, pantham is cloth torche? LOL…
visit me at http://www.CyberRowdy.com
dhanush, I agree with you completely…”Marthyannu Than Bhasha Onnu Konde Shakthiyundayvarooo Shakthimathayvaroo Hridvikarathe Velipeduthan”
means..human beings can express the feelings most strongly and emotionally only in his/her mother tongue…
I think late Mp. Appan wrote these lines in the poem – Mummy…
Geetha:all through her life, my grandmother being a widow had to face these men..and fight for wht she believed…
Q8Techdrive:aa kadichal pottatha padyam eppadi padichu? Enikku vayikkan polum pattunnilla
wow !
Nostalgic!
I got into my memories about Kerala and all those kathakali and festivals…onam and it’s “sadhya” and vishu and it’s ‘kaineetam’ …
Your Ammachi looks like a great strong woman…but that ‘upadeshi’ knew how to get into ammachi’s heart…why can’t be widows live a peaceful life ? ! ! ! Heartless men ! shud send that ‘upadeshi’ to Iraq…:-)
Prash: Thank you for visiting my blog.. I think we will have to send quiet a lot of mallus to iraq..a part of Upadeshi appachan is there with most of the mallu men I have seen..
my ammachi also takes a lot of pride in being suriyani kristiyani!
Sarah, I accidentally stumbled upon ur blog yesterday and loved it so much that I read it till 1:30 at night – all ur stories of 2005 -2007. The last time I did this was when I read da Vinci code! U r too gud girl!
OH and i must say that ur ammachi really rocks! She was indeed much ahead of her time! My mom, though a generation ahead of ur ammachi, still says kathakalli is only for Hindus. she does not like going for onam celebrations- ” ena kanana? Achi marude Chandi kulukku” that is what she calls kaikottikali!
Gemini: 🙂