INDIA TRIP PART 8: Arrival into Aymanam – July 28, 2011

Puliyampallil

On the road in Aymanam

The roads in Kottayam were still extremely crowded and chaotic, but instead of cows, goats and wild dogs on the road, we saw an elephant. We stayed in Aymanam, a small village outside of Kottayam at the Puliyampallil house, the house Wiji Papa (Ammas brother) inherited from Cherian’s grandmother, Ammachy. The house was built by Cherian’s great grandfather in 1925 to be a gathering place for all of his grandchildren.  It lies on the top of a hill, and is the house that is fictionally depicted in the Pulitzer Prize winning book, “The God of Small Things”, written by Cherian’s second cousin.  

The grand hall in Puliyampallil

Although Wiji Papa spends most of his time in New Jersey, he has managed to keep a nice garden that the kids like to play in and even put up a homemade swing made out of a rope and a coconut tree branch for a seat (one of his security guards made it for our arrival).  

On the coconut branch swing

One of the first things Cherian showed the kids were  ‘touch me not’ plants that fold up their leaves when touched (the boys tortured these plants wherever they could find them). Wiji Papa has 2 security guards, one during the day and one at night. The night shift guard sleeps on the front terrace.

Shamala cooked for us

When we are here, there are two servants that cook and help with the cleaning.  Both have worked for different parts of the family for years and one was working at this house 15 years ago when Cherian was here last time.  As the house is not occupied for most of the year, there is only one stove for cooking and as the servants do the cooking, there is a lot of planning and management to keep the house running.  Cherian’s mom took the lead to manage the kitchen, working out the meals and grocery lists as the servants speak mostly Malayalam (this used to be the role that Cherian’s grandmother played for years, so it was interesting for him to see his mother step in where his grandmother used to be…). 

Streets in Kottayam

Ammachy's grave

So, after working out the meals for the first few days, we went grocery shopping at the ‘supermarket’ in the center of Kottayam.  We tried to get a SIM card to get online, but due to security requirements, only Indian residents (with an election ID card or Indian passport with local address) can get a SIM card.  We then went to pay our respects to Cherian’s grandmother, Ammachy by visiting her grave and then to Becky Kochama, Cherian’s 92-year old grandaunt, by visiting her at her house near the river with all sorts of plants in her garden (i.e guava, mangosteen, papaya, nutmeg trees). Becky Kochama is Ammachy’s sister and it was great to see her in such great shape. There are 4 generations living in her house, including her 10-year-old great-grand-son who the kids played cricket with. 

On the veranda at Mohan Papa's

Matthew

On the way home we stopped to say hi to Cherian’s uncle, Mohan Papa (brother of Amma & Wiji Papa). Their son, Reju and his family was there visiting from Dubai, so it was really fortunate to get the chance to see them.  Reju and his wife Amy have 2 kids, Matthew and Josiah 11 and 6 years. So the cricket-playing continued.