“Appa”, I called him as sweetly as I can
“hmm”, he mumbled while gobbling up the kanji(porridge).
“Can I ask you something?”
“hmm” another mumble
My hopeful helium balloon was now in a limbo. Is it a good time to ask my father, if I can stay tonight?
Then I remembered what my friend Siti always said in malay
Belum cuba, belum tahu, if you haven’t tried you would never know. I said a silent novena and spoke
“Can I stay here tonight?”
“No”
“Why not?”
“Because I am not going to come again tomorrow to fetch you.”
“I can take a bus and come alone”
“Aiyyedi, do you have any other bright ideas?”
“Appa, please let me stay with Ammachi tonight, please”
“Tell me one good reason, why I should let you stay here tonight and come again tomorrow all the way from Kottayam to fetch you and then I will decide.”
A thousand good reasons flashed through my mind, none good enough to convince. Then I saw the mango pickle and I knew just the reason
“I will get Ammachi to make pazhamanga moru(curry made from the pickle brine) for you.”
Ammachi was listening to our conversation and asked me
“And just how do you plan to make me cook that?.”
“Appa is your one and only son and won’t you make anything he likes for him my darling Ammachi?
“You are super panjara (butter) Nina”. Ammachi spoke and Appa nodded his head in agreement.
Appa relented finally and agreed to come and fetch me again tomorrow.
In the evening, Ammachi and I stood on the veranda and watched Appa walking on the bund towards the junction. Sun was setting and the birds were chirping probably wishing each other goodnight and I was happy to be home.
Then I remembered
“Aiyya Ammachi, I didn’t bring any clothes with me, Now what will I wear?
“Come, let us look inside the cupboard and see, if there is anything suitable”. Together we went to her bedroom to check. There was nothing, except ammachi’s chatta and mundu.
“You can wear my chatta”.
“I am not going to wear your old chatta, I will look funny.”
“oh, your husband is coming to visit you today or what ? so that you want to look pretty?”
“Go ammachi, I am not married, I am only 10 years old.”
“Well, your choice is to wear the old chatta or nothing, wear the chatta after your bath and wash the skirt you are wearing now, so it will be dry by tomorrow morning.”
Grudgingly I took the chatta and went to have my shower.
I wore the chatta after my bath. It reached just below my hip, and the sleeves reached my elbow. I knew I looked funny in a chatta, unfortunately i had already soaked my clothes in the soap water. So now I either have to wear the chatta or my wet skirt. I knew Ammachi would say something witty when she sees me in her chatta.
Ammachi was busy making the dinner. I tugged the end of the chatta so it won’t ride up as I walked. Ammachi turned to look at me and spoke
“eso mashihakku stuthi ayirikkate, When did the Kathanaru arrive?
“eppozhum eppozhum stuthi ayirikkatte. Who is Kathananru?” I asked
“Our Kadamattathu Kathanaru, the one who outwitted the devil, you remind me of him, in your flowing white robe”.
“How did the Kadamattathu kathanaru outwit the devil?”
“That is a long story, Come and eat your dinner and I will tell you.”
Ammachi placed a bowl of normal kanji for me on the table. She is having karkkidaka kanji( bitter herbal medicinal porridge, eaten during the monsoon) and i warned her in the afternoon itself, I have no intention of eating that. So Ammachi made extra normal porridge for me.
I waited for her story about Kadamattathu Kathanaru.
“This story happend in the Kollam Era.(825AD).During the time Rajashekhara Varman was ruling the land. A little boy was kidnapped by the mountain people”
“Who are the mountain people and why did they kidnap the boy?”
“The mountain people were different from us, they never had any contact with other people, they kidnapped the boy to do a human sacrifice to appease their god.”
“Then what happend, Did they sacrifice the boy?”
” No, they didn’t, the chief of the mountain people asked the boy some questions and the boy answered. He was astonished to see how intelligent the boy was when he spoke to him and decided to adopt him. He told the boy, ‘you will never be able to leave the mountains’ and taught him all the magic and witch craft, so the boy could succeed him and rule the mountain people one day. But the boy, he missed his mother and wanted to leave the mountain. One day he escaped and ran all the way, the mountain people started to chase him and the boy ran and ran with the mountain people close to his pursuit. From the distance he spotted the Kadamattom church and quickly ran inside and closed the door. Mountain people couldn’t enter the church, so they created a storm and used metal chains to break the door. The door was too strong. The metal chain marks are still on the door, even to this day.”
“Really Ammachi, the church is still there?”
“Yes Nina, it is still there and you can see the markings on the door.”
Wow.. I have never heard abt the Kadamattom church…
It was funny imagining u in a chatta…
Wow, thanks for explaining the story behind the kadamattathu kathanaar. I had only heard of him thanks to that crappy Asianet serial.(I wonder if it is still on!!). Looking forward to the next part…
And you in a chatta??
wow…awesome acount.
and am so interested in seeing this church now with it’s markings.
hahaha you in a chatta….so cute.
i love to dress my little nephew in our traditional dresses.they look super cute in them and they get this big air of all importance around them when they are dressed like that and given so much attention.
ps- nee than super panjara..lol;)
Thanu: Yep I looked extremely funny, considering the fact that, chatta was short and kakkatta was in the bucket getting soaked!!!
Mathew:Did they have a serial on kathanaru too?
Maya: The church is still there and the well, apparently is the one kathanaru used for his escape..pathalakinaru.. and yes I did look cute sans kakkatta
You must have looked cute in the chatta. Interesting story. Did you ever go to the church to see the markings.
🙂 you and your ammachi! Hope you have a pic of her,so we can all see.
I can visualise in my mind a ten year old ‘pacha kanthari’ in a ‘chatta’ and ‘mundu’ with lot of ‘vaaal’ in her backside exactly like a ‘masquamma’ in a ‘kathanar epic’
Starry nights: nalla loha mathiri irunnu
Lg:I don’t have her pictures with me here.. It is still In Malaysia.. Half the stuff is still there!
jac:enne pacha kantharinnu vilichal kachum njan…
‘enna pinne cheena mulkennu vilikkam !’
hmm nice story :).. but you are good in buttering i suppose :).. mathe neevu hegidera?
Extremely Nice, Nina!
I was not aware that Kadamattam church is real. I can not image a 10year old girl with chatta. We will try it out in our niece. And I want to take a snap too 😉
-Joju
Oh Appo Ammacheede Koode Kanjeem Moru Kareem kooti sughamaayi thattiyechu njangale kothippichirikkuvanalle 🙂
Nice Post – That Chatta Episode was hilarious
That is quite a tale!! but why couldn’ they enter the church to capture him?
Brother had got me a Kathanar book once and i read in one sitting.
But i was too afraid even to go to the loo after that. I am afraid of “pretham” 😉
Hey that was fun reading…I particularly liked the way u got ur way with ur dad (panjara!)& the chatta!
BTW, u;ve an alphabet waiting fr u in my blog!!! 🙂
wow..! great post..!!
i seem to be repeating myself..
:))
Hey sarah
Wow. Quite an interesting story. So finally did ur grandma prepare the pickle?
guyz…try to read Kottarathil Sankunny’s Aithihya Mala & Kadamattathu kathanar book…its great!
Jac: aiyada..engu va vilichondu.. enampechi!!
Sujit: MB.. Masters in Buttering
Joju:will you send me a pic of your niece in Chatta as well? I would like to see exactly how I looked on that day!!!
Dhanush:njan eppadi kothippikkan..Kerala is so close to you guys than me..chiricho chiricho..ente expenseil chiricho..othiri chirikkumbam, kuthiravattathoonnu vandi varum
Dro2: I assume the mountain people were demons, who couldn’t enter a place of worship..there is a natural manhole in the church ground and it is believed that Kathanaru escaped the mountain people through that well/manhole..
Dewdrops: Me too very very scared of pretham
Has to be me: super panjara alle?
Hope and love:I know you like reading nina’s adventure!!
Ajay: that curry made from the pickle brine is difficult to make, especially when ammachi pishukkufy and not give you enough to make the curry..
Cyberrowdy: the ithihyamala is the proof that Kathanru story was for real!!
yeah…thats what I said…did I say that it was not real?..
ooh let me rush to ur next post… stories of kadamattathu kathanaar has always fascinated me!
one small though insignificant correction…kulashekhara varam was the ruler of kerala in 825 AD…learnt that just last week for my history exam…but didnt come for the test!!!
Jiby: you learned the wrong dates!!
Found this on the net
There were thirteen important Kulasekharas known to us from historical inscriptions which were recently discovered and interpreted. Kulasekhara Varman (800-820), the founder of the Second Chera Empire, was Kulasekhara Alwar, the famous Hindu Vaishnavite saint and author of the Tamil Perumal Thirumozhi and Mukundamala. His successor, Rajasekhara Varman (820-844), was a Saivite saint who introduced the Malayalam Era known as Kollam Era in 825 A.D. His successor Sthanu Ravi Varman (844-885) was the best known king of this dynasty;
I am back after a long time, and just starting to get a hang of what happened here.
Karkkadaka Kanji was a wonderful thing to remind off. Those Days!
Hi,
I am a film maker from Kerala. I am planning to do a film based on the life of Kathannar.I was surfing & accidental got in your blog.
Regards
Rajeev Kumar TK