It was a big house set on 25 cents of land: a majestic naalukettu, at least a hundred years old; surrounded by mango, papaya, jackfruit, muringa, tamarind, and of course many coconut trees.
*****
Aparna stood near the padippura leading to the front yard. She was gazing intently at the huge mango tree. She always admired the fruit laden tree. How she loved to pelt stones at the branches in an effort to make some fruit fall! Then appooppan would bring the big thotti to help his first granddaughter pluck some fruit. She would look in awe at the tender mango leaves turn from light pink to rusty red to green as they mature. The evenings would be fragrant with the smell of the mango flowers. Oh, they are so divine-they look like the jasmine and smell like the lily.
*****
Archana looked on to taste her favourite muringa ada that ammoomma had made. How delicious! She quietly ran outside to get a quick glimpse of the muringa tree. She remembered how much she had cried that day when the tree cutter came to cut the tree. It wasn’t considered appropriate to have a muringa tree in the front yard. All her pleadings and entreaties made the tree cutter tell appooppan: ‘Saare, I can’t bear to see this child cry. It is OK even if I don’t make money today. Let the child be happy’ and went away.
*****
Arathi loved jasmine flowers. She plucked the flowers in the evening just a little before sandhya. Ammoomma would patiently string the flowers. She would then oil her grand daughter’s hair, braid it neatly and tuck a long string of the jasmine flowers to make it beautiful. Arathi would go to bed with the flowers on her hair and wake up in the morning, her whole bed smelling of jasmine. She looked at the mulla thara (jasmine bed) and recollected her horror that day when she had spotted a snake coiled under the creeper. Her loud shouts brought the neighbourhood boys, who chased it away since it was only a harmless cherai.
*****
Appooppan was collecting all the tamarind pods that had fallen on the ground. He was a big defender of greenery. The tamarind tree in the back yard slants over the big open well. The tamarind pods would fall into the water, making the water taste brackish. Everyone wanted the tree to be cut down to save the well. But appooppan had an expensive (really expensive) mesh built around the well to prevent the tamarind from falling into the well. He had saved both the tree and the well.
*****
Ammoomma was plucking the lovely chembaruthi (hibiscus) flowers on the veli for her puja. It was as if the flowers bloomed every day of their own accord to be willingly offered to God. Never has she known a day without a bountiful harvest of these flowers..
*****
It was dusk. Everyone gathered in the hall for the evening prayers. Ammoomma lit the nilavilakku. Even as they were chanting, their thoughts were away, someplace else. None of them was sure if their favourite mango tree, muringa tree, jasmine creeper, tamarind tree or chembaruthi would survive the axe. But they were all sure of one thing- their house would be the first casualty. For the house and the land had been sold to a big developer for building a high-rise for the yuppies.
*****
Glossary:
Naalukettu – traditional Kerala house
Cent – 1/100th of an acre (25 cents = ¼ acre)
Muringa – Drumstick tree
Padippura – Main gate
Appooppan – Grand Father
Amoomma – Grand Mother
Thotti – Long pole with a twisted hook on one end used to pluck fruits
Muringa Ada – Dosa like rice pan cake made with drumstick leaves
Saare – Sir
Sandhya – Dusk
Cherai –Harmless snake species mostly living in water
Veli – Fence
Nilavilakku – Traditional oil lamp
Featured by Sulekha
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Hiya Kaps
Thanks for the repeat read. Sad, isn't it? It's a take off on my dad's ancestral house...sad memories here too...
Do blog about your memories...will deffy read.
Mel
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Mel,
brought some memories. maybe will write a blog sometime.
good to read dis one again.
Sadddddd
Kaps
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Ranjini
, making me a junior by almost 2 months 
.
Thanks for checking out the 'flashback'.
The confusion reg the dates: I'm a member since Mar 11, 2007. After registering with my existing email ID (which used to filter all the junk to the inbox and all the important mails to junk LOL), I hit upon the bright idea to create one exclusively for Suls hehe. So on the fateful day of July 5, 2007, I changed my email Id in my profile. And in the numerous avatars that Suls has undergone since then, the new email ID date edged out the original membership date from the coveted throne in a tough tug of war and has refused to budge from there since then
There, I have poured out my angst LOL.
You have a wonderful weekend, Ranj.
Melody
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Hey Melody,
Just saw this on the Flashback list featured! But something else caught my eye. This seems to have been posted on May 30 2007, but your profile shows "member since July 5 2007"!!!!
Which one is wrong?
Good one. I had not read this before, so I guess you were here before me, right?
Ranjini
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Hi Thomas
Yeah, one of my earliest ones. I was writing after a long break, so wasn't really sure how to proceed. If I remember right, I wrote this one in my mind in 15 minutes while driving to the office. Gratifying to know that there is a discernible improvement in my writing.
Thanks for visiting.
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one of your older stories..came enroute another blog......i can see a lot of improvement in your writing over time....
AS they say you have come a long way baby
take care
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Hi Sue
.
That was such a loving, hearwarming comment. It's unfortunate that your ancestral home had to be torn down. But I agree with you that maintenance and upkeep of very old buildings requires a lot of effort, is very time consuming and a drain on finances. Sometimes we are faced with difficult choices.
We also have an ancestral home on my mother's side. It is an otta madom. Fortunately it is still standing, along with the backyard pond and well. Surrounded by teak, jackfruit, mango, coconut.and acres and acres of paddy fields. My grandpa lives there, all by himself.
This was one of my earlier blogs and at that I wasn't sure if I should retain the Malayalam words in the narration. Reading your comment makes me glad I did
Thanks for taking up my invite and coming over.
Melody
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Dear Melody,
Thiis is such a beautiful blog! Brought back a lot of memories. The hundred plus year old house in which my husband grew up in Trissur also got demolished few years back, just after his mother passed away. She had left the house for her six children, my husband being the youngest. Jointly, the six siblings decided to tear down the old house and build a three storied house in its place with two apartment on each floor, one for each of them. The four older ones have already retired and settled down in their respective flats and it is my husband's dream that we will also go back and settle down in our flat in the family plot.
It was indeed sad that the old house that held so many memories for all of us had to be pulled down. Some rare trees also had to be sacrificed and this included one chandanam tree and a nutmeg tree, along with a couple of jackfruit and mango trees. But nobody could have maintained the old house and kept it going just due to sentimental value. So we all had to make that difficult decision.
I liked the way you developed your blog through the thoughts of the three grand children. The usage of Malayalam vocabulary helped in maintaining the ethnic fragrance.
I am so glad I did not miss this one.
Sue
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Naresh
I understand that many people would have found it difficult to follow the narration. But I had also provided a glossary...
I used the Malayalam words to retain the native flavour. The setting for the story is Kerala which abounds in lush fields and magnificent old houses...Greenery all around with a unique lifestyle, but sadly giving way to high rise buildings...I don't know if the story would have made an impact if I had used the English terms.
Thanks for the honest feedback.
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Melody,
This is one of your initial blogs and I should you have come a long way. The words in the language I don't understand used liberally did hinder the flow of the blog. Your recent posts too have some words but now they are in the right quantity adding to the value.
I hope you don't mind the the truth as I feel it.
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