By the time Ammachi and I sat down to have our dinner, it was already dark. We don’t have a clock to check the time and I asked Ammachi
“What time do you think it is, Ammachi?”
The kitchen door was still open and Ammachi looked outside.
“hmmm..it is the same time as yesterday Nina.”
“Go Ammachi, I know it is the same time as yesterday, what I asked was what time as yesterday is it now?” I was grinning by now
“oh!!!”
“Must be about 9Pm”.
After dinner, I walked with Ammachi to the well and helped her to wash the dishes. It was eerily silent and the only sound I could hear was the crickets chirping occasionally. I hate crickets. In the middle of the night, when there is absolute stillness they start their orchestra.
After washing all the dishes, Ammachi walked towards the cattle shed. I didn’t want to walk with her. I thought she might be going to check on the cows.
“Nina, come here”
Ammachi was already on the other side of the cattle shed and I couldn’t see her. I looked at the ground to see if I could spot any shiny snake eyes. Each step I took the dried leaves were getting crushed under my feet. I couldn’t take anymore and ran to Ammachi by literally tiptoeing on the ground.
In the clearing near the cattle shed, Ammachi was looking at the sky.
She pointed the stars and tried to teach me how to find the north.
“When you look at the sun in the morning, your right hand is south and left hand is North., In the night look for the north star, that will point you to the north.” I quickly nodded my head, the faster I agree to all Ammachi says, the faster we can go back to the safety of our house.
All of a sudden upadeshi appachan started to speak. He stays 10 furlong away from our house. I hate him. Every time I go to the market with Ammachi, upadeshi appachan would stop us. He would then start questioning me
“Who was Hannah?”
“How many verses are in the bible?”
“what is the longest chapter in the bible?”
Ammachi always saves me by saying
“she just came from Malaya, give her time, she will learn everything in the bible soon.
Upadeshi appachan works as a layminister for the Pentecost church. He thinks he is entrusted with spreading the gospel. In the middle of the night when everyone is home and relaxed, upadeshi appachan starts his preaching. He would sit on his house veranda, use a megaphone and start his lecture.
“why can’t the fridge ammachi give her husband some medicine and make him sleep in the night? I asked Ammachi
Then it occured to me” Ammachi, why does everyone calls her fridge ammachi?”
“That is a long story Nina”
Ammachi started to laugh thinking about it and as we walked back home, she told me the story.
“One day, Joyce, wife of Mathew from the aiyroor house bought a new fridge. It was the first fridge in Chengannur. Everyone went to see the fridge. Joyce wouldn’t let anyone touch the fridge, telling it would get spoiled. upadeshi appachan’s wife Mariamma and Joyce were classmates. Mariamma couldn’t bear to see Joyce acting big and walking like a society lady and pestered upadeshi appachan to buy her a fridge. Finally upadeshi appachan relented and bought her a fridge. Fridge came all the way from Kottayam and it arrived in the late afternoon. upadeshi wasn’t home when the fridge was delivered.
That evening when upadeshi came home , he wanted to take a bath. He went to the cupboard and couldn’t find any of his clothes.
By then the news of the new fridge at Mariamma’s house spread like wildfire and all the ladies including Joyce heard about the new fridge and came to view and compare whose is bigger and better.
upadeshi appachan came out of his room screaming and asking his wife, where are his clothes?
Everyone looked at his wife and she walked with head hled high and opened the fridge door.
There inside the fridge are all his clothes neatly folded and sorted.. Jubbas on the top shelf, mundu at the bootom shelf..Powder on the side,comb and the shaver kept neatly inside the butter tray.
Daughters of Tomorrow
wow.. nice rememberence of childhood..!..
Reminds me of the story in my place where the local teashop owner had a huge fridge.One of the first Refregerators in the locality.The old junk fridge was huge but I beleive it never worked.Nobody even saw him open it ever. Later the teashop got into trouble and closed. The proprietor took the fridge home and was rumored to be using it as linen closet. By then Fridge had lost its novelty and more and more households had one.
very beautifully written. Brought back memories of my trips at my ammachi’s place. And what is with these upadeshi appachans and the kalan koda they carry
Sujit:thank you
Annam:thank you for visiting my blog.. i know the novelty of new stuff.. I remember in the early 80’s reading malayala manorama front page abt this chyakkada in an onam kera mula have the first TV..
Thanu:thank you for visiting my blog.. upadeshi appachan’s whoe ensemble isn’t complete without the nalla kasavu mundu, jubba with 2 buttons undone, gold chain, kalan koda and the bible…
upadeshi appachan and fridge ammachi…LOL…cant stop on it!
fridge ammachi….hahah
clothes in the fridge…priceless
oh am coming back for more..i know
ha ha ha.. the fridge story was awesome! and such funny names they have! so wt was ur name?
fridge story was really hilarious. Upadeshi Appachan and Fridge Ammachi..Entammo Enthu perukal … oru mankosteen shshtyle .. 🙂
So, did you end up learning the whole bible? Were you able to answer his questions after some time?
Hahahaha.. fridge ammachi was real cute.. LOL!
Who was Hannah?” Samuel’s mother. Hannah did not have baby for a long time, and she prayed and Samuel was born.
“How many verses are in the bible?” – 31,103
“what is the longest chapter in the bible?” psalms – 119
I only had to google – how many verses are in the bible?
And No, I’m not pentecostal.
Q8techdrive:when I really need to laugh, I would imagine fridge ammachi majestically walking to the fridge and opening the door saying tada!!! and displaying the clothes to everyone
Maya:thanks
Jithu:turkey is then and still ..formal name is Sarah
Dhanush:athenthoru style?
Geetha: I did answer his question once and he stopped asking me after tht..wht was the question and the answer..will blog soon
Thanu:you are good.. I was tortured in the pentecostal sunday school..I think I was the only student who never managed to rememer the verses except one…’yesu kannunir varthu’
haha
that was good.
clothes n all in the fridge ?
LOL
so when can we hear the story behind the name “turkey” 🙂
Thats was so funny! thanx fr the gud laff! 🙂
Ajay:thank you for visiting my blog
Jithu:I did blog abt how i got the name turkey..read sunday the april 9th blog..
Has to be:glad you liked fridge ammachi.. actually where you keep the ketchup bottle is where she kept the cuticura powder!! and the butter sign, she assumed was for soap and his life boy soap was kept there too..
very well written post.
Starry nights:Thank you
that is Basheerian style. Style of Vaikom Mohammad Basheer. Pulliyude kathapaathrangalude peru inganeyokkeyaa .. For Eg :Ettukaali Mammooju, Ponkurisu Thoma etc. He had a Mankosteenn Tree in his house. (Dont ask me waht it is ? May be a flavor of Mango Tree) And that was very famous. So I just equated it with him
Dhanush:My father used to read Bashir..he once told me the story of “entummakkorana undayirunnu”..
I think tht was the title. But now i can’t remember the story.
mangostein…we have plenty of them in Malaysia..Purple skin and white flesh.. We eat the king of fruit(our national fruit) Durian followed by mangostein..
….made me laugh ….this post! …