Today is the 50th Anniversary of our beloved grandfather fondly known as Kalathappa, not only to the family but to the whole village.
Words will not do justice to the greatness of this simple man. He led a very simple life himself, but helped everyone in need whenever the occasion arose.
Adopted by his paternal uncle at a very young age, he shifted to Puthucode from his native Placode. His adopted parents were very simple people, and his adopted mother brought her niece as the wife for her adopted son.
Our Echiyamma (grandmother) and Kalathappa were the ideal couple. They were very loving to each other and also to the whole family. I have never heard them disagree on any matter and never heard them raise their voice on any issue. The fabric of society then was very different from what it is today. Today’s generation may find it very difficult to imagine the lifestyle of those days. When I was growing up, my Kalathappa would have been around 65 and my Echiyamma about 60. I have never seen them standing close to each other or sitting next to each other. Ours was a large house. Our Kalathappa spent all his time at home (whenever he was not at his farm) on an easychair in the front porch of the house. In the normal course, our Echiyamma would not step beyond the doors of the porch and put only her head outside if there was anything to be conveyed. That said, our Echiyamma had all the freedom and independence to run the affairs of the house. If there was a topic on which my Echiyamma needed some guidance, she would send word to her brother, the famous Chami Vadhyar of Puthucode, who would reach our house immediately. He would offer his respects to his brother-in-law (Kalathappa) and rush to the side of his sister (Echiyamma). Our Echiyamma would sit in an easy chair in the inner room, and our Amman (grand uncle) would sit on the floor at her feet. They would discuss the matter and arrive at a feasible solution and our Echiyamma would convey this to our Kalathapa from behind the doors.
At a very young age, our Kalathappa went to work as a cook to the engineer who was heading the construction of the original Pamban bridge. He returned to his village , perhaps around the age of 50, by which time his own children had gone out to work. Once back in the village, he bought some agricultural land and started cultivation. He mainly bought the land owned by his father-in-law who needed money to educate his grandsons (our Amman’s sons, who went on to become some of the foremost engineers of the country. One of the them headed the Shipping Corporation of India and brought laurels to the country). He also bought a piece of land owned by Swedaranya Sastrigal, who needed money to pay off his debts. Did he enjoy the produce by himself after buying the land from these two needy gentlemen? No, not our Kalathappa. He made sure that half a cartload of paddy from every harvest went to these two people for free as long as they were alive. Such was the greatness of our Kalathappa. He also sent his farm produce to his nephews’ families who were not very well off financially. He took care of his brother’s family after the untimely demise of his brother. On festival days, our dining hall would be full of children from all the families in our village who could not afford a festival meal. He enjoyed feeding people. His usual refrain was, “thinnungom, thinnungom, thinnin, thinnin” (Eat well, eat well). On his parents’ anniversaries, there would be so many people who would feast in our house. Those days, the practice was that the Sraddam feast could not be partaken by people from out of the family. He made sure that a separate feast was prepared for these people.
He loved his family. He made sure that all his grandchildren were educated. To this end he appointed a teacher to teach us at home, from his eldest grandchild until the teacher retired from service. My second younger brother was about 13 years then and I have written a post about this great teacher sometime ago. It was this initiative of his that made yours truly so interested in writing and reading, despite having been brought up in a remote village in the 1950s.
There are so many instances that show his greatness. To this day, I do not tire of describing his ideals in life to the extended family. I have never seen him stepping out of the house, except on his morning walk to the farm about 4 Km away. On days when his presence was needed at the farm in the afternoons, he would come back home for lunch and then return to the farm. He never made any pilgrimage except the one mandatory visit to Kashi when I was about four years old. He would not attend any functions outside our village either. Inside the village, whenever he was invited for any functions, he would just make a visit on his way to the farm, bless the function and go for his duty. He was such a Karma Yogi. His ideal was Work is worship. There was no hint of ego in him. He never wanted to be the VIP in any of the village festivities. This great quality of his should be carried on by all his grandchildren and passed on to the generations to come.
He loved to be with children. All the time that he was at home, he would ask for the youngest child to be brought to him and he would spend his time playing with the baby. He would talk, sing and make the baby happy. His monologues with the children were a talking point in the entire village as he would talk to them so loudly you could hear him a fair distance away. His “athu chamathu kodam, athu thanga kodam, athu chaadume, athu odume, athu chirkkume” ( S/he is a smart child, S/he is a darling, S/he can jump, S/he can run, S/he can smile) still reverberate in not only my ears, but also in the ears of all those neighbours who would then say, Kalathappa has started playing with the children.
His only sister, who was widowed, lived close to our house. He was the one who took care of her. During her last years, when she was not able to move, he asked our maid to take care of her. Our mother would prepare food for her and we grandchildren used to carry the food for her. On her passing away, he called her son, who was our neighbour and told him that he would make all arrangements for the last rites and they should be performed properly.
As I write, I am getting overwhelmed by the memories and also with the pride of being the grandchild of such a great man that I am not able to write any more.
Ammupatti's Thoughts 