Nurungukal….3..contd…..

         This Vishu was so special to me. After a lapse of many many years I was in my native place to celebrate it. My sister was alone there to safe guard our old house, a Nalukettu. My father acquired it immediately after his escape from Burma from the onslaught of Japan during second world war. It was a dream house to my parents and to all of us and true to its name Ambiliparamb. Even now it is so, thanks to my sister who with much pain maintains its glory.

         Just before dawn my sister awakened me to have a darshan of the visual treat [kani]. My sister had managed to arrange it, almost similar to that of my mother’s style, with minimum ingredients viz. a big jack fruit, a golden coloured cucumber adorned with a few pieces of jewellery, mangos, betel leaves and arecanut, a bunch of ripe plantains, a bunch of Kanikonna flowers, a gold coin in a small bowl and a pineapple all placed on raw rice in a polished cauldron. On the left side there was a lighted Nilavilakku throwing  a glow to illuminate the settings. In the background the smiling face of Lord Vishnu . Like our mother she had managed to arrange it when all of were asleep. I was enthralled when she offered me the first gift of the year [kai nettam ], and that too a sparkling gold coin!!.I remembered my father, who used to offer a four ana coin to all of us ,which we spent invariably to hire a bicycle for a jolly ride, keeping our head high, through the muddy roads of our village, wishing all and sundry.

           I along with my grand children walked in the compound to show them the pond in which we enjoyed a splash, the mango tree under which we fought for the juicy mangos, slipping  from the mouth of the squirrels and the paddy field, which once lay vacant for miles where we flew kites made out of stolen news paper and narrated our efforts to release when they got entangled on the branches of a tall jamoon tree. As we enjoyed the sojourn a call of the Indian koel prompted me to imitate its rhythmic whistle, but in vain. The taste of the Kerala type lunch with Kalan, olan, aviyal and to top it all mampazha pulissery and parippu pradaman still hesitates to leave my taste buds. In the night when I heard the howling of a pack of jackals [kurukkan ] from the nearby bushes and the call of the Mottled wood owl [kalan kozhi] from the sacred grove I was happy to know that the fragile environment is still trying to withstand from demolition.

         As our car moved out I looked back to witness a dark shadow descending on the faces of my grand children but it gradually vanished when the vehicle  gained speed and the blaring music  'podi meesa mulakkana kalam......'  once again filled the air.