My Vishu memories...

Vishu is just not a celebration for me. There are many memories attached to this ritual of a bygone era, a time of utmost happiness and contentment, full of nostalgia from my childhood and much more.

 Vishukani  

Vishu has always been a very important holiday in our immediate and extended family. In my younger days the two months of summer vacation (April/May) were usually spent at my maternal grandmother’s house in the outskirts of Kottakkal town in Kerala where Vishu was celebrated. My grandmother would wait for all of us to go to bed and then start decorating the altar with fruits, vegetables, mirror, jewelry, money, Konna flowers, a grandham (a book. usually Bhagavat Geetha), Vishari (a fan made out of starched wooden cloth with a gold border), pictures of Guruvayoorappan and broken coconut with cloth lamps in them decorated in beautiful shiny urulis (Uruli is a traditional cookware extensively used in Kerala, commonly made of clay, copper and bronze). And plenty of traditional Kerala lamps with wick and oil to lighten up the altar. I don’t think she ever slept the night before Vishu.

My Grandmother

At Brahmamuhurtham (1 hour and 36 minutes before sunrise literally meaning "The creator's hour") she would wake us up and lead us to the altar making sure that we do not open our eyes. Per tradition, Vishu is New year where the first thing you see are all the things that you borrow from nature. It exists as an opportunity for us to revere, pray and thank nature for everything that she’s been giving us and to continue to do so in the coming year. An annual tradition. Once we have done praying, the elders gave us money or “Vishu kainettam”. A ritual to revere the wealth we have, share whatever we have with others, and pray for more abundance in the future for everyone. The amount always varied, however as kids we were delighted irrespectively. It is the thought that mattered.  Then it was time to light fireworks

Maternal Grandmother's house that her grandfather built

My grandmother’s house had a huge muttam (front yard) where the firecracker display was done. The boys enjoyed the mala padakam (string crackers) a long an array of red crackers in the shape of cigarettes attached on both sides of a string that go off together, while I preferred the kambi thiri (sparklers) and flower fountains.  We head to the large kolam (pond) after to swim and bathe at dawn, a rarity considering that we normally are permitted to use the kolam later on in the day. We all get new clothes as well, usually a pavada (long skirt) and blouse and what a happy time it was! Breakfast and lunch were sumptuous with sweet Kozhakkatta (rice balls with a mixture of coconut and jaggery inside) and Unni appam (a staple with breakfast amongst many other dishes) and a sadya, feast with many items served on a banana leaf in the afternoon.

A Kolam or Pond that is fed by natural springs common in Kerala

There were many houses closeby full of distant relatives, with large yards and kolams (ponds) as well, some much larger than others. So all the grandchildren, grand nieces and nephews from all houses would band together. All the houses were filled with kids of varied ages. We would form groups, boys in one group and girls another, and the highlight of the day was deciding which Kolam (pond) to go swimming. Secret meetings were held the previous day just before we break up for the night to outdo the boys to get the best pond and the competition was fierce. Why? Girls are not allowed to use  the pond where boys where and vice versa. Girls always lost the dual though, there were informants, probably a little sister who got bullied into saying where we were headed the next day. Well, there were plenty more ponds available, not as big or as full with water but we were happy even if we had to swaddle through muddy slushy water when the water level goes down. 

Usually we go after breakfast and stay till the grandmother of that house sends someone to fetch us for lunch. The beauty of those times was no one cared who ate where. If we use the pond in House C that day, the grandmothers/ mother/aunts there just assumed that we would eat at their place and start cooking for us too. Sometimes we are about 8-9 of us who don’t even ask permission to use the pond, we just show up. But the grandmas, moms and aunties there welcome us and treat us with so much love and attention as though we were their kids. Back then we took it for granted, however looking back now I realize how blessed we were!  

All of us cousins, some of us distant, still meet once a year for our annual puja at the family temple. The feeling we get when we see each other is indescribable. It doesn’t matter that we haven’t seen each other in ages or even kept in touch. It doesn’t matter if we are 7 generations apart. The closeness we feel to each other is inexpressible. That puja is one of the happiest days in the year for me, I always look forward to it. Our loving forefathers are responsible for this, and now the family temple keeps us united and in solidarity even though the houses, grandparents, parents, aunties and uncles are long gone.

Family Temple

The afternoons were extremely hot, so the place we chose to gather was the large hall in the Pathayappura (granary building where the paddy is stored in rooms called pathayams below with bedrooms on top) or the Thattumburam at my grandmother’s house. The large hall in the Pathayappura (the Pathayappura in my grandmother’s house was on the opposite side of the main house) had a manual fan (punkah). It was made of large sheets of wood and cloth arranged in pleats. In the olden times when the head of the house slept in the room, two men would sit outside the doors take turns all night pulling a rope so that the fan inside could go back and forth to cool the room. Taking turns pulling the fan was a huge past time for us. But we always got kicked out as that was the hangout for the teenage group.

So we moved on to the thattinpuram. Thattinpuram consisted of two huge halls bigger than a basket ball court each with surprisingly high ceilings. Late Dr. P. K Warrior who was  the chief physician of Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala always exclaims about these halls when he used to see me. Apparently he has gone for multiple weddings in my grandmother's house and the lunch was served in these halls. It was a huge fascination for him as this is the only place where he has seen lunch served on third floor of a house! If the boys and girls were in good terms we played together otherwise the boys got one hall and the girls the other. Oh the games we played!!! L...O..N..D..O..N.. London, a freeze game, SAT a hide and seek game, Kabadi played in teams, dodge ball and many more. Chai and snacks were usually at my grandmother's place as we were all there. Snacks were simple just Avil kuzhachathu (flat rice with jaggery and coconut) but the enjoyment of eating together was the key. The snacks were not served on plates or Banana leaves but on Podunni de ela as it was called (Macaranga Peltate). In the evening we would play in the Muttam (front yard) or at one of the houses for a change of scene. We also used to get to go to the pond for a short bath which was a must before we light the lamp at dusk. No playing allowed then!

Manual Fan (Punkah) in the upstairs room of the Pathayappura (Granary)

The large yards in all these houses were our playgrounds too. We had no shame to go to any yard in one of these houses and get on the mango trees, cashew trees and guava trees and eat to our hearts content. No one stopped us. In fact, the uncles in the houses would come to assist us to pick the ripest from the tree, and share stories from their childhood days wandering these very same lands playing and spending time with their cousins. Everyone was so welcoming and loving. Another past time was trying to imitate the birds. Boys were always better at it for some reason. Imitating the “chempothu” (crow pheasant) was probably the most difficult.  

I feel so bad that our children are not lucky to get that connection that we had with nature in those days. 

Getting Vishukainettam was the highlight during Vishu. All the folks in these different houses would give us Vishu Kainettam. Vishukainettam is the tradition of elders giving money to the younger generation or dependants of the family. So on Vishu day after breakfast wearing our new clothes we would all get together and do our pilgrimage to all the different houses asking for money. When I first came to USA and saw the children go around for Halloween candy, it reminded me of my childhood. Everyone obliged with smiles on their faces with a bag full of coins ready for us. However, there was an uncle in one of the houses. He did not like us kids probably because we were all extremely naughty.  He did not want to give Vishukainettam to us too. He would start closing all the windows and doors when he heard us come. Of course, we were noisy. For couple of years we knocked on the front door twice and left. And one year we felt that he is being very unfair to us and decided to knock as long as we could, till he opened. And that’s exactly what happened! Each one of us took a window and door each and started banging. We might have done it at least for 30 minutes. Suddenly a window opened and a bag of coins were thrown out for us. There wasn’t much in them but for us it felt like victory after a World War!

Then there were four houses of our relatives away in another village called Klari. The aunties and uncles there are extremely loving and the kids were a lot of fun too. These houses were many kilometers away but we used to walk there, it would take more than an hour. But just the sheer pleasure of seeing them was enough to make us do it. We used to go through paddy fields all the way so the scenery was amazing too. There was one ettan there (older brother in Malayalam) called Raviettan, who was extremely talented and wrote well. He along with his cousins had a handwritten publication (kai ezhuthu masika) with drawings and articles that they would create by hand. We would admire them so much for their talents. They would also write the script for a drama/play from a funny story that one of our cousins wrote and make different characters that would suit all of us and give us roles and make us practice. And our moms and aunties were happy to make the props and costumes for us. My brother who sang very well was chosen to sing for the scene changes. And then we would present the play in front of all our family elders. The environment was very relaxed and we did not feel nervous at all as we knew everyone who came to see the play and we knew that no matter what we do they will only praise us and give accolades. So, the elation we felt when we presented the drama in front of them is indescribable. 

(Raviettan wrote an article about it too : https://www.facebook.com/ravi.menon.1293/posts/10156711054096090 )

 

Klari House

I try my best to bring that memory back every year by putting a Vishu Kani and making a sadya. It will never ever bring back the past but it definitely brings tears of thankfulness to everyone who came before me who taught us to value and respect nature and each other.