As soon as I reached home, I ran to Akkachi to show her the wounds on my leg.
“Akkachi look at my legs!”.
“Oh my God, Nina, how did this happen?”
“My shoes did this Akkachi”.
She hugged me.
“Oh Nina, how much pain must you have endured till now!”.
“Wait here, I will come now” and she went outside.
I saw her walking to the main road and I started to follow her,limping and dragging my feet.
“Nina, Don’t walk anymore with that legs. sit on the door step and wait for me.”
I couldn’t walk anymore and I sat on the door step. I looked at my legs. There were circles of flesh exposed on my heel. It was so raw and painful.
Akkachi came back holding few leaves in her hand
“What is it for Akkachi?” I asked her
“This is communist pacha leaves. It will heal the wound faster. she rubbed the leaves together and made a paste.
“Is it going to sting and burn?” I asked her
“No, Nina, it will soothe the wound”
she applied the paste on the wounds. It didn’t sting at all.
“Akkachi, why do you call the leaves communist pacha?”
“that is because, the plant is like the communist party people. It thrives on thrash! Like the communist people it is a pest and a nuisance.” She replied
“Akkachi did you know Methran Thambi was a communist?”
“hmm”, she nodded her head.
“Do you know why they have a sickle, hammer and a star as communist party’s emblem?” Akkachi asked me
I shook my head
“on a star lit night they wait for you?”
“who?”
“the communist party people. They hide and wait for you. When you reach their hiding place, they would use the hammer and hit your head. Once you fall on the ground they use the sickle and cut your head off.”
“Really Akkachi?”
“Really, I cross my heart, it is the truth”.
“Akkachi how did my grandfather die?”
“Well, he just died one day”.
“I know he just died one day, but how?”
“I don’t know”. Akkachi replied
“You know, and you are not telling me. I am going to have my tea” I got up to go to the kitchen.
I got up and most of the communist pacha paste fell off from my leg.
“Never mind the leaves Nina, I will put plaster for you later”.
“Nina, before you go,Will you bring your shoes and keep it near the door, so I can polish it for tomorrow” Akkachi instructed
I took my shoes from my school bag and kept it near the front door. I was so angry with the shoes for giving me so much pain. I kicked the shoes and my legs hurt even more. I left it near the door and went inside to have my tea.
Akkachi was busy in the backyard digging the soil with a hoe. I thought she might be planting yam and didn’t bother to go and check.
Amma came in the evening and I showed her the shoe bite marks.
“All new shoes give shoe bite Nina, Go bring me your shoes, I will stuff newspaper inside and tomorrow it will be bigger”.
I went to the main door and my shoes weren’t there.
“Akkachi, where are my shoes?”
“It is there near the door Nina” She yelled from the backyard.
I searched there again and it wasn’t there.
“Akkachi it isn’t here”
“ofcourse it is there, I just polished and kept it there”
She came wiping her hands on the edge of her saree.
she searched everywhere.
“Aiyyo ente karthave! (oh my god!), someone stole Nina’s shoes. I just left it here 10 mints ago.
Amma came outside after hearing all the commotion
“Chechy, I just polished Nina’s shoes and kept it here and someone stole it”. Akkachi told my mother
“Why did you leave the shoes outside Akkachi?” Amma was mad
“Chechy I only went to the backyard for less than 10 mints”
“Do you know how hard it is to find second hand shoes? I searched all over Kottayam to find shoes for Nina, and you have been so careless to leave it outside. Now you see, I have to buy Nina a new pair of shoes.Do you know how much a new pair of shoes costs?”
“You are old enough to be a mother and still irresponsible”
Akkachi started to cry.
“Now you are crying like a baby, go inside, before I get really mad at you.”
Akkachi went to the kitchen and I saw Amma, searching all around the house for my shoes. Like a police dog. She even went out and checked the drain. I got really worried and I quickly went to the kitchen and asked Akkachi
“where did you hide my shoes? Amma is searching for it”
“What shoes? i didn’t hide your shoes” She replied
“I know you hid my shoes, nobody would want to steal that old shoes Akkachi”
She bend down and whispered in my ears
“I buried your shoes inside the banana thicket, you deserve a new pair of shoes Nina”
“Do you think Amma will find it?”
“No, Nina, I buried it too deep”
From the kitchen window Akkachi and I watched silently, Amma searching everywhere for my shoes.
Communist party of India emblem
http://images.opentopia.com/enc/snap/409/408206.jpg
communist pacha
http://www.ehs.cdu.edu.au/chromolaena/1/1asia.html
Daughters of Tomorrow
What a sweet thing to do. It must have been painful to wear tight shoes.How well Akkachi understood the intricacies of the family 🙂
p.s. communist pacha bought back many memories. And I had the same feeling about the communist flag.I thought the red stood for blood. In fact I was scared of them for a long time.
communist pacha…ohh gosh…smell of ol good times…..they were every where in those days…greenish smelly leaves…
Great post!!!! Thanks for the continuity.
You liked that ‘communist pacaha’ because it cured your legs and you are happy about it.
I have a ‘nellikka’ feeling, while I think about it… a sweet and sour one.
The sour side is that I got beaten up a number of times by Roychayan with the very same ‘communist pacha’ for going to Pathrose mooppen’s small hut.
Pathrose mooppan was our field worker when I was child and his ‘unakkameen chuttathu’ was my biggest weakness.
The sweet side of being beaten up by ‘communist pacha’ is that it doesn’t hurt at all. You just have to cry aloud and my Roychayan becomes a ‘pedichu thoori’ though he is much older than me.
At one time I even managed to blackmail him in to buying me ten ‘naranga muttayee’ to stop me from crying aloud.
My good old ‘conmmunist pacha’ !!
my feet is to grow like crazy and I had to get new shoes so often. even now I have big feet.
nice story 🙂
silverine: Akkachi was part of our family..She was always there for me
I am too scared of the communist party people..especially after akkachi told me,abt the hammer and sickle
Q8techdrive:yes, they used to grow everywhere…and many a times I hv accidentally pulled tht choriyunna plant thinking tht it too is communist pacha
Jac: nagarngaa muttai.. did you eat palli muttai too?
Thanu:did your mother too say, when she hd to buy you shoes often, i will deduct all these expenses from your dowry?
Vaik:thank you for visiting my blog.
aaw…akkachi is the greatest and she felt the pain more too.really sweet
Man,I didn’t know these communists hit you with a hammer n then a sickle…that’s like man-slaughter!!!!horrific!!
Communist Pacha is a definitive remedy for all the wounds. And it is very fast to. A few of my wounds from playground were healed by those before I reached my house after the play 🙂
@Maya Cassis – I think that might be a bit exaggerated bit of explanation from Akkachi’s side about the Communist. They might have hit some one, but not every one out there bore the brunt. Otherwise they never would have come to power at any time in Kerala.
communist pacha was a panacea for all our childhood bruices ..
have u heard of neeroli ? we used make thali for our hair. then there was mango leaves for toothbrush….
Amma used to make curries with some of those leaves in the backyard …….
green is life …
I’ve also heard that the name Communist Pacha was given because it used to spread as fast as the communists did in Kerala.. It was so nice of Akkachi to get rid of the shoes.
So sweet of akkachi..
I saw your post in uncle Lim’s blog and the picture caught my attention. 🙂 The postings are so beautifully narrated, and yes I too think you should compile them into a book. I can relate to much of what you’ve written. My mum is malayalee but much of her heritage is lost as my grandparents didnt think of instilling it into their children. Me stumbling upon your blog came at an opportune time when I am acutely feeling the need to re-trace my Malayalee roots.
Reading your postings was like reading into my life..Malayalee background, Malaysian by birth, migrated to Europe…:)
I’d love to correspond with you via email, if that’s alright with you, of course.
Warm regards,
Cynthia Lauren
Maya:Akkachi was a remarkable woman
Dhanush:it was always used for wounds, and like jac mentioned for whacking.
Dew drops:what is neeroli in english? it must have had some other name in my place, I should know all the names..my grandmother ensured that.
Mathew:so akkachi was right
Geetha:thanks
Cynthia:Welcome.Finally someone like me, who can understand my obsession to find my roots. You can email me elfintrot at yahoo dot com.
I think you should post a pic of that sweet akkachi!!!!!!Do you have one?
I had ‘palli muttai’ and ‘jeeraka muttai’ too
Yeah memories.
Does anyone know what the real botanical name of communist pacha is ? Is is not native to Kerala.
The legend goes it fell out of the suitcase of some crop scientist who had travelled to south america or somewhere for a seminar. :)Around the time communists came into power. So I guess around 1957.
Hence the name.Last year at the peak of chikun guniya and thakkali pani.. communist pacha was sold at a whopping Rs 50/Kg. Its juice was reported to relieve symptoms quite a bit. Scoffed at by both allopathic and ayurvedic doctors.
Communist Pacha is called Siam Weed in English. It is native to Tropical America, but has naturalized in many countries, including India. More information here:
http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Siam%20Weed.html
Thanks Tabish.
I read that it was first planted in the Botanical Gardens of Culcutta in the latter years of the 19th Century.
And then it spread like crazy.
But my friend who farms in Thodupuzha told me it is not considered so much of a pest anymore. Chromolaena Odorata . that is that plant’s botanical name.
And I miss our old faithful thottavadi very much too. Where I am in North America it is grass ,spruce and more grass.
Yes, it is no longer considered a pest. I have seen it planted as hedge in Delhi.
By the way, you can find information on many native plants on this site:
http://www.flowersofindia.net