Nurungukal...contd...

                My eldest brother was an ardent lover of chess.It was in his blood.I think he might have inherited this taste from our father who played Chathurangam very well. In one of my earlier posts I had mentioned how he used to cut the pieces of Chathurangam from a single banana leaf, both black and white. My brother always carried with him a set of chess where ever he went. He loved to meet chess players and most of them came to our house in Calicut very often to play a game or two. He even ventured to reach chess players from far and near by correspondence. At a time he played with many by sending move after move by post, usually in a post card. He maintained  a register in which the moves were recorded in separate pages to keep track of the game and preserved the post cards in separate bundles. I do not know were they are now. Depending on the ability of his opponents the game prolonged for months to end.

                Where ever his posting was he loved to create a circle of chess mates. He not only pursued the game but also propagated it, especially among youths and children. While he was working in Calicut there used to be regular visitors to play with him. Some of them were very good players. Popular among them were M/s Krishnan Nair, Prabhu, and L. Thomas. Each one preferred to visit on a particular day and time, preferably on holidays. If the game started in the morning it would prolong up to late in the after noon, to invite the displeasure of my sister-in law, as she had to wait for him for lunch. I do not know how he got in touch with Mr. Krishnan Nair who was not of his age and behaviour. He might have been above seventy. He wore a long jubba which fell much below his knees, usually in brown colour and a mundu both khadi. I have never seen him with out a khadi cap, a bag hanging on his shoulder and an umbrella with a bamboo handle. He used to walk all the way from his house, very slowly and always holding the umbrella unfolded. In a typical slow motion he will climb our gate steps and enter the side room without disturbing even an ant. After hanging the side bag on the coat stand he would arrange the chess board and would wait for my brother. As he was short in size  only his face and Nehru cap would be visible to the onlooker. Without any pleasantries they would start the game. He would make each move very cautiously and slowly as if in a slow motion movie scene. After the move his point finger would rest on the side of his long nose, typical of the pose of a scholar immersed in deep thought. Often their game end in a draw.. Most of the time Mr. Nair will be alone at the board, as my brother was so impatient to stay in his seat for more than a few minutes !!. At the end of each game they used to replay the end game to convince where each one went wrong. My brother had to always find an excuse to detach even though Mr. Nair was game for another fight. Then he would find the exit in the same manner he entered. I used to see him slowly receding like a lone bird returning home. I had played many a time with him but even on a single occasion I could claim a win. After leaving Calicut I have never seen or heard about him. It was a friendship of convenience and coincidence!!.