Sundays used to be our day to visit the old and
ailing people of Kumbalam particularly the parishioners and our Kudikidappukars, tenants. We used to go
to Thayamkeril (Thirunilath) to pay respects to the old and ailing Paily Master
(former Headmaster of the local school) and his wife Elykutty ‘Valliamma’ of Kottoor family as they
were very close to us. My friend Jose’s mother, Mary Valliamma would bring steaming cups of tea for us with a sweet
smile. Little Pius would hang on to her tail portion of her ‘Njorinja Mundu’, dhoti.
On one such occasion we were fortunate to meet Uncle
Fr. Gilbert, an ascetic, one of the favourite sons of Paily Master. He belonged
to the Order of Capuchin Friars Minor, (in
Latin: Ordo Fratrum Minorum Capuccinorum -
abbreviated: O.F.M.Cap.),
which is an Order of Friars
in the Catholic Church, the chief offshoot
of Franciscans. He was doing missionary work in Punjab and Kashmir. I noticed
that he was bare-footed and was wearing an un-ironed coffee-brown cassock made
of coarse cloth. His waist was belted with a traditional white woolen cord. He put
into practice of having a long beard. He was very popular for his sublime homilies.
The ideas he conveyed were profound and his diction was crisp and precise. The sublime
thoughts he shared were powerful and inspiring to motivate anyone to achieve
great feats. I noticed his body language, tone, tenor and gestures, which made
me believe that he possessed abundant wisdom and knowledge, nurtured and
sharpened over time. He was a simple and pious man. Fr. Dominic Tirunilath, son
of Mary and Joseph and grandson of Paily Master Thayamkeril (Tirunilath,) joined
the same Order after passing his matriculation with distinction. He too
practiced austerity and adhered to his vows. At present he is the Provincial of
Capuchin Province of Kristu Jyoti, North West India, Ghaziabad, U.P. 201 010.
One of the nephews of Paily Master was the Bishop of Kashmir, His Excellency,
Bishop Hippolitus Kunnumkal family at Alleppy, used to come and visit his
maternal parental home and the parish church to participate in the important
events and I had occasion to meet him, a nice soul. The bishop too belonged to
the Order of Capuchin Friars Minor. Bishop’s
brother, Ouseppachan also joined the Order of Capuchin Friar Minor and was
known as Joseph Kunnunkal. Paily Master’s sister, Agasamma joined the Carmelite
Order of missionaries. Paily Master’s
son-in-law, C.V. Jacob Cherupallikkat was a noted lawyer of the Bar at
Cherthala. He was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of
Kerala in the year 1965.
While returning home, ‘Ammachi’ told us, “The coarse cloth
with coffee-brown ochre is not an appealing one. It would help them to remain
chaste as ice and as pure as snow. The life of these missionaries was one of
extreme austerity, simplicity and poverty—in all things as near an approach to
St Francis' ideals as was practicable. No large provision against temporal
wants should be made, and the supplies in the house should never exceed what
was necessary for a few days. Everything was to be obtained by begging, and the
friars were not allowed even to touch money. ‘Ammachi’ said, “These friars are very humble and wouldn’t even hesitate
to beg for a meal.” The traditional woolen waist cord attaches them to their
mentor and savior, Jesus Christ. The knots on the waist cord symbolize the
three vows; they strictly adhere to their vows of poverty, chastity and
obedience in letter and spirit.” The dress code was something similar to ‘Kashayam’, the Indian reddle cloth worn by sages like Vivekananda. She told us,
“They believed and practiced austerity and abstinence which would improve their
mental strength. Uncle Fr. Gilbert was a remarkable personality. He was a
voracious reader. Books were his companions. He travelled extensively throughout
the length and breadth of this great country spending time, meeting and
mingling with different classes of people. The great external work was preaching
and spiritual ministrations among the poor. While travelling, he walked through
the vast stretch of coastal beach of Arabian Sea on the west, Indian Ocean on
the south and the Gulf of Bengal on the east enjoying the spectacular views of sunrise
and the different hues of the sunset and the picturesque sights of fishermen
casting their nets to entangle fish. He crossed the major holy Rivers of
Periyar and Bharatha; hitchhiked the Sahyadri Mountains and hills marvelling
the fauna and flora; trekked across the Deccan Plateau gazing at the vastness
of the horizon and the sprawling countryside further north; crossed the Rivers
of Kaveri and Godavari and gazing the landscape carpeted with rice paddies of
Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and Bengal, the rice granaries, where farmers tend
their fields as their ancestors did, the plowmen sowing, reaping, winnowing the
grain and then transporting the produce on ox-carts trudging through muddy
paths to their homes for their families and countrymen. He passed through the
Chambal Ravines frequented by Phoolan Devi and her bandit gangs and her
opponents; took a dip in the holy River Ganges; travelled through the wheat
bowls of Haryana and Punjab marvelling the landscape carpeted with wheat,
millet or maize; traversed the desert regions of Thar and Jaisalmar in
Rajasthan; and trekked the amazing hilly terrains of Himalaya and gazing at the
snow clad mountains at a distance and marvelling the varied fauna and flora and
interacting with the sheppards changing pastures. Despite diverse languages and
dialects; and different cultures and civilizations, varied castes and communities;
different food habits, clothes, from region to region; he found that there are
a lot of other factors like religion, customs, traditions and the belief in the
theory of “Dharma and Karma,” (the law and its observance; and
daily service or duty) that helped the unity of this great country, India. Indians
have a broader outlook and the capacity to absorb all the immigrant good ideas
and cultures and they firmly believe in freedom of thought and expression
because such freedom enriches the culture which then becomes dynamic. Naturally,
Uncle Fr. Gilbert possessed profuse and profound knowledge of human
sentiments.” One must read books, meet people, explore nature and constantly
ask interrogative questions to oneself. Then you shall discover the secrets of
getting wisdom. The harder you pursue your quest, the bigger and endless it
seems and you discover how small a human is compared to the vastness of the
universe. Then you would say, “There is so much to learn.”
On our way back home we usually stopped over at
Edangarupally ‘Tharawad’. Fr. Jacob
Edangarupally, the first vicar from among the parishners, was their uncle. We
used to go to the Kareethra ‘Tharawad’ family
house as well, for a short while to
chat with them. We used to pluck the fresh leaves of the ‘Edana’ tree, with the help of my close friends Unni and Antony, which
gave out a good aroma when rubbed or bitten.
At times, Saramma ‘Valliamma’
Polaparambil ‘Tharawad’ used to take
us to her fairly new and large ‘Tharawad’
house. Jacob and I used to pluck
their ‘Pasa Naranga’, a reddish-brown
coloured, ripe, tiny oranges belonging to the Citrus family. Its fragrance
lingers in my mind. Josekutty, her son, would fetch a ladder to take out the
eggs of the pigeons from their nest. He told me that he makes omelet with its
eggs. He
had only one sister, Mary, an attractive lady fair complexion mostly clad in a
sari and a blouse with short sleeves. Her long flowing shining black hair was
neatly braided. She was older than us. His
mother introduced her and told us that she was studying in St. Teresa’s College
at Ernakulam. Josekutty’s grandfather, P.J. Mathan, was a lawyer. He was the
nominated President of Kumbalam Panchayat (1947-52). He shifted his attention
into business. He was one of the founders and the former chairman of the
erstwhile Bank of Cochin Limited at Ernakulam. I knew his children, Kuncheria
Pattom and Chacko Pattom who were settled at Pulinkunnu in Kuttanad. When they
arrived in Kumbalam, they used to visit our house to see ‘Appachan’; they used to reminiscence their good old days together.
I even heard them mention their youth dramatic club which was attached to the
church.
Geochan Kallarackal was very close to Jacob and me.
Sometimes he invited us to his house where we would chat and play for a while.
We also used to visit Mathepally (Pidiyancherry) to see their garden. Abraham
Mathepally was a contractor at Kushal Nagar in Kutag Hills in the State of
Karnataka. He was a self-made man. He carefully invested his earnings in real
estate. He had aesthetic tastes and
loved to collect nice furniture, paintings and had a beautiful garden in front
of his house. He had varieties of croton and bougainvilleas. They used to have
a well maintained lawn too.
Thressiakutty ‘Valliamma’
of Chembalamsseril would insist that all of us should spend a little more time
with her. Jacob and I found the guavas in their courtyard irresistible. With Uncle
Xavier’s permission we used to pluck a lot of ripe ones and share a few with
Xavier Master. ‘Valliamma’ would get
very upset if we did not have our breakfast with her on Sundays. On our way
back we would go to Papputty Master of Kallarackal-Parayil and get a few ‘Kumbaloose Naranga’, belonging to Citrus family. Pappachan, Abraham and
Cicily were the close friends of Appachan.
Achamma Issac ‘Valliamma’, used to
stay with them. Her children Jose and Antony were our close friends. We used to enjoy their warmth and friendliness.
We used to call on Naithy ‘Ummamma’ (Mariam Varkey Kozhivally (Pandoth.) She was very
attached to our family. Her eldest son Xavier (Pappachan) was a brilliant and
well-informed person, a self made man. He got married to Kunjamma, who is the
sister of one of my classmates and friend, P.K. Joseph, Palakkapilly at Thevara.
We used to chat for some time with him and his brothers, George, Mathew and Dr.
Antony. He used to visit us too.
Once in a while we used to call on Thressiamma ‘Valliamma’ (Manavalan family) of
Pandoth-Palathingal. Her grandson, Johny, became a police officer following the
footsteps of his grandfather, Joseph. His brother Kuttappan was a member of
panchayat. We used to go to their cousins also in Thaithara-Palathingal to
visit Kunjipailo ‘Valliappan’ and his
wife, Annamma ’Valliamma’. Their son, P.P. John Master, was my
teacher. While all the Palathingals (Xavier, Georde and Jose) shifted their
domicile to Champakkara and Trippunithura, the region of their paternal
ancestral home; Saju Palathingal, son of John Master, alone preferred to stay
close to the churches at Kumbalam.
Occasionally, we visited Kochuvaruth ‘Valliappan’ of Thayamkeril (residing on
the backwater front on the eastern side of Kumbalam) and his son John. His
eldest daughter, Sr. Cyril, joined the Carmelite Order. Their uncle, Fr. Yacob
Thayamkeril, was popular for his sermons. He was a vicar of St. Mary’s Church. Sometimes
we visit his brother, Devassy and their cousins, Varkey, Lonan (father of T.C. Cherian
now at Thevara,) Joseph (OusepachanThayamkeril’s father), Joseph (Pappu), Chacko,
and Varkey whose residences were nearby. One of their cousins moved to Vennala
and another to Kizhakkambalam.
We used to make many stops at other houses to visit
the aged and ailing persons and gave help to deserving families.
