Last few days, many of us connected to the memories of our first teacher, grandparents and the amazing values we learnt from them. Some of the stories, made us roll with laughter.
My Valiappachen (grandfather) hailed from Kunnumpurathu family, in Puthencavu, Chengannur. Descendants of ancient Hindu families who took upon Christianity, after St. Thomas the Apostle, who came to Kerala in AD 52.
My great grandfather’s christened name was Geevarghese. Those days’ people were known by the place they lived, he came to Muttethu in Kayamkulam from Puthencavu and started trading spices, he was called Muttethu Tharakan. Tharakan was a position given to merchants and great grandmother was the daughter of a Priest, who died young after bearing 4 boys.
Migrating to places for better prospects is the rule of nature, Malayalee’s are known for taking such challenges, establishing in unknown territory taking risks, helping near and dear to migrate and prosper.
Something very unique about us: when we are in new territory we work hard, obey rules of whichever country we are in, with diligence.
Muttethu Tharakan, was big made, very strong, a towering personality, very hardworking and pretty shrewd operator.
Kayamkulam was a busy trading port those days, the main commodities he traded were pepper – the black gold, betel nut and dried ginger (chukku). He had business partners from Madurai, Tamil Nadu. (First lessons of collaboration). They kept houses on either side of KP Road next to the railway line, as godowns for storing spices and fire wood.
He managed purchasing, quality control and operations of the business.
Farmers from the region brought their produce in cloth bags, a pouch (kizhi) with a string to tie its mouth, holding the black gold from escaping. Try keeping in a container, and having the pepper corns slipping out while opening the lid. You are done.
Fresh ginger and betel nuts were brought in bigger gunny bags; the purchase involved fixing prices and checking the quality. He offered fair price, farmers preferred to deal with him and he had uninterrupted supply.
He would put his hand inside the pouch feel the pepper and determine the quality of the pepper. If there was a doubt he would get a pepper corn and crush it between his fingers. Try breaking one that is dry; I have seen such traits of wisdom in all my elders, from buying fish to choosing gold. Never compromise on quality, something I say all the time.
Ginger and betel nut was also graded by him, at a glance, he had an eye for perfection, it was impossible to fool him on quality of any product.
Betel nut was traded in 2 forms, matured and dried or Chamban which is not matured, the skin of the Chamban is removed and steamed, the fire wood was used for this process, then cut into four and sun dried. Calcium hydroxide (Kummayam) in small quantity was added as preservative to the betel nuts.
Ginger is cleaned, skin is peeled and dried for days in the sun, until it’s very dry and becomes chukku. Once all these processes are completed, it was tested at random and stored in gunny bags ready to be shipped to Alleppey by boat and to Madurai in bullock carts.
The operations were meticulous with processes and procedures passed on to every member of the team.
I am indebted to the strong foundation of the golden era angels who were my ancestors and acquaintance. I had the good fortune to live with them, learn from them, and be proud of them.
Nowadays it’s impossible to have many children and an entourage of family living together. There is no harm in imbibing values as case studies to our children like the Amar Chithra Katha we read and felt connected to, as we grew up.
I feel sad when I see kids glued to idiot boxes and playing games of violence. We need to give them more opportunity to play with nature, interact with older people with wisdom and read.
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