THE TEA SHOP

Paili Ameparambil’s teashop at the northern ferry end was a familiar and popular cafe mainly due to the varied and tasty food stuffs, the decent behaviour and accessibility. Paily, the owner, always sported a pleasing smile on his face. He was assisted by his son Thomas and later by his younger sons, Ousepachan, Anthony, Chacko and Xaviet. I noted the glass cupboard always had a lot of ‘Putt’, steamed rice cake, ‘Velleppam’, fried rice cake and egg curry, for breakfast, which commenced early in the morning. ‘Putt’ with ripe banana and ‘Pappadom’ or green gram curry or ‘Katala’, Bengal gram, curry was everybody’s favourite. People sat on benches near the desks on which the food was served. Thomas (employed in Navy) was the first one to arrive regularly on his bicycle. He used to have a cup of piping hot tea at the shop. Then he would take back another cup of tea for his wife, his first gesture of affection for the day! The fishermen who went out fishing also used to have their breakfast very early in the morning. The local people too contributed to the tea shop business. The Communist Party local leaders and members found the teashop an ideal place to sit comfortably and read all the newspapers of the day especially the “Desabhimani daily” which was read aloud. This is a revolutionary paper. Any particular news item in it may get the listeners all worked up. Often an argument is triggered off over a cup of tea and a sizzling ‘Parippuvada’. This is a local snack made of dal mixed with onions and chilli. It is then shaped like a small discus and thrown into hot coconut oil. This used to be a popular snack for their party meetings as well. No doubt, reading helped a lot in their academic developments. Though illiterate some of them became Communist Party members, some others were elected as members of the Panchayath Committee and a few were fortunate to become President of Panchayath. They were able to deliver speeches with a lot of valuable information in it. After the breakfast was over, by around half past ten other eatables would emerge. The ball shaped,  brownish black ‘Undampori’, the ball shaped with cream edged ‘Sukhian’, the rounded, white ‘Kozhukatta’ which has a filling, which was a mix of coconut gratings and jaggery and the  ‘Ada’, the very same item in a different shape either flat or triangular are a few snacks to mention. In the evening and during night till 10 P.M. ‘Chappathi’, Indian roti, were also available with beef curry. While Paily and his eldest son, Thomas, toiled hard to service his valuable customers, his wife, Mariam and her helpers did their bit. They prepared rice flour by pounding the rice manually which was later fried to prepare the snacks for the local people.  This yeomen service has to be appreciated. I noticed a sense of appreciation and contentment on his customer’s face. The expression on Paily’s face too reflected  satisfaction.  He may not have amassed any material wealth. His business with which he survived helped him to bring up his children who grew up to assume any sort of job.

Prabhakaran, Raghavan, Souriar, and Pappu too had tea shops in the North ferry area to cater to the different tastes. Prabhakaran used to serve delicious vegetarian dishes like ‘Dosa’, ‘Bonda’, ‘Mulakuvada’ and ‘Chattni’, a treat, those days. Pushpangadan Ikkaraveliyil’s tea shop was at the center of Kumbalam. This used to be very popular with the villagers due to its convenient meeting place. Now it is run by his daughter Latha, who manages it very efficiently.

Excerpts from

MEMOIRS

An autobiography

by

Joseph J. Thayamkeril

Lawyer, Kochi, Kerala, India.

josephjthayamkeril.blogspot.com

josephjthayamkeril@gmail.com