The main door of the house opened to a living room with windows in front and back which was kept open all the time, it was symbolic to have the photo of either Jesus Christ, Parumala Thirumeni or The Last Supper along with the palm leaf from the past palm Sunday tucked under the frame, I still don’t know why?, but that has been customary in all our homes.
There were single seating, handmade wooden furniture, polished and shining, it was here I saw the first tallboy made of wood and steel, the wooden tallboy had drawers, and polished brass filigree handles near the door and the tallboy in steel was open like a tripod, a triangular one with steel pipes in three corners and expanding to a wider triangle in the bottom with three steel shining plates, as shelves, they sat in the corner of the room. I remember Valiammachy kept her Bible and prayer books on the shelves, there was an ancient Radio which could tune in to any remote frequency with a lot of hissing and humming.
The side walls were paneled in dark teak ornamental panels and had a secret door very mysterious, impossible to find, leading to a very narrow and steep stair case, going all the way to the attic, called Thattinpuram. There was no visible handle in the door; it was quite difficult to locate the little hole in the wooden panel. I have been fortunate to climb up the steep staircase to the huge hall up above touching the skyline, which had antiques treasured………
Keys and key holes always fascinated me, who would have invented keys in the first place, this tiny hole controls the greatest treasures, and this is a big deterrent for intruders, the first and foremost an intruder does is open a lock, and that is done by manipulating a tiny hole. Be it real or virtual, security is the KEY.
The keys were hung on a cup hook, on the top frame of the door which was leading to the corridor between the living and dining quarters. Every piece of key looked the same to me, a solid piece of metal pipe with crafted flat tip and an oval or round ring to hold, which is what of the keys, were only known to members of the family and certain others who were custodians of the home. Lifelong caretakers.
I never had the habit of locking anything, if ever I locked the keys remained with the caretakers at home.
The corridor was parallel to the front verandah and extended to the extreme ends of the house, leading to the bed rooms. Right side had the banana store on the left of the corridor and a bed room on the right. Left side had another fleet of stairs in wood with a solid door with beautifully carved wooden panels, that opened in the morning and closed in the evening in the most mysterious way.
I had never seen any human closing and opening this door when I was young, later much later I found it was our dear Paranchu ettan, alias Francis, when he woke up in the wee hours of the morning and when he rose from his knees in the evening after continuous scrubbing and mopping the floors of the home nonstop from morning till evening, he locked the doors as the final task for the day… This was repeated every day like the India Pakistan flag exchange at the border post.
Remembering Paranchu ettan is a pleasure, I dedicate my affinity to keep any surface, especially floors spotless to him. From the time I was a baby crawling on the floor, I believed there were two types of elephants, the dark, black mammoth structure that came to the house with 4 pillars fixed on the ground and one pillar dangling in front, with a tiny person barely dressed on top; and the thin, fair, Paranchu ettan, who was always on his 2 hands and knees every time I saw him and he would carry us around the room on his back, like a real elephant, before he makes sure every nook and corner of the house was spotless.
Amma was always contributing to the orderly and systematic cleaning of rooms and till date the process of cleaning is meticulously followed by me with the best results ever. Starting from the ceiling the highest point in the room down was the modus operandi, I remember the cobweb stick, chilanthivala kambu, a bamboo stick with the coconut husk flattened and tied with all sorts of sailor knots to keep it bonded to the stick forever.
Amma used to cover the tip with an old cloth, washed and recycled all the time, slightly wet when the cobwebs were dabbed, this helped to catch any soft leftovers on the wall and also keep clean the tip easily by removing the cloth. Then with a high stool the top of cupboards were cleaned, the fan, the light shades, the furniture and finally the room was swept and mopped. I still keep the perfect mopping cloth which was made in Calicut, a cream colour cotton fabric, square in shape, with a dark maroon border. This was bought in dozens and used for centuries. One of the handy treasures I carried with me on my first trip overseas to Africa.
The elaborate cleaning top down was done once a month, however dusting, sweeping and mopping was a daily chore. If each one of us takes care of our space in a house on a daily basis and time share for the common rooms, homes can be dust free and spotless paradise.
Recycling can be mastered if you clean your home yourself. Old and single socks were my favorite, I wore them on my hand and walked around dusting everything around me.
My housekeeping lessons started from the time of my birth, I profusely thank each and everyone who contributed …
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