Nurung      Nurungukal...2....contd...

      For t         For the bachelors working in Central Warehousing Corporation the nearest joint for meals was the mess house run by a Nair family. Nobody knew the correct name of the Nair. Some called him Unni, others addressed him as Kutty. For the  malayalees in Chitalapakkam  they were Unniettan and Chechy. They had no children at that time. Nair’s mess provided homely food at a very law rate. Our life would have been miserable other wise.

                    They had set up this service a few years ago, to be exact from the days when the construction of the ware house was commenced. We knew nothing about from which part of Kerala they hailed. Yet it was anybody’s guess, from their slang, that they were from the northern districts. More over their recipes and tastes tallied with that of Kannur side, especially the fish preparations.

   The mess was open only till 4pm. After that Unniettan used to take an evening walk, and it was his habit  to chat with some of us in the ware house occasionally. It was during these visits he usually collected the dues or to raise a short term loan.  He would spent a few hours near the gate, invariably till the closing of our transactions. I remember it was during such an outing he opened his mind to me about his past and how he landed up in Chittalapakkam. A very interesting episode it was for a bachelor like me.........cntd