Sajan’s account of the train journey with Ammachy brought to mind another heroic episode around Ammachy
“When I was about 10 the Parapeedikail House in Theepany would literally have been obliterated but for the heroic intervention of Ammachy. At this time, besides Chackochayan, there were a couple of young men staying with us, one of whom was my cousin (on the Mavelikara side) Joychayan whose escapades would occupy another epic. Our main house at that time was thatched with coconut palm leaves laid over bamboo staves. So was the out house, at a higher level. This latter was originally where the family stayed in Theepany, including myself aged two and our cattle, around 1932. As the lower main house gradually got built up and the family moved there, the outhouse also kept growing with sections for storage and for dumping organic waste (including the burnt-out ash from the kitchen stoves transferred there daily) for composting.
One night after everyone was fast asleep, I woke up to a ruckus around the outhouse. Appachen and the young men were trying to dowse a fast spreading fire on the roof of the outhouse. But their efforts were far too meager and it looked as though the residence would also be engulfed. It was then that Ammachy intervened. She ran screaming like a banshee into the road in front of the house towards what is now the railway crossing nearby. She woke up the colony of stone cutters and all and sundry. And soon there were about twenty able bodied men tackling the fire till it came under control just at the edge of the thatch of the main house.
Ammachy gave them all black coffee (kattan kappi) and whatever victuals were available. It was almost dawn by the time that the fire fighters broke up and I went back to bed.
On closer examination next day the cause of the fire became clear. Some one had dumped the ash from the kitchen in the compost heap in the outhouse without dowsing it properly. It slowly smoldered through the day and spread later in the night.
My immediate childish reaction was embarrassment at my sedate mother running around in the middle of the night like a mad fisher woman. Later only I realised that she was the one who actually engineered effective and timely assistance.
“When I was about 10 the Parapeedikail House in Theepany would literally have been obliterated but for the heroic intervention of Ammachy. At this time, besides Chackochayan, there were a couple of young men staying with us, one of whom was my cousin (on the Mavelikara side) Joychayan whose escapades would occupy another epic. Our main house at that time was thatched with coconut palm leaves laid over bamboo staves. So was the out house, at a higher level. This latter was originally where the family stayed in Theepany, including myself aged two and our cattle, around 1932. As the lower main house gradually got built up and the family moved there, the outhouse also kept growing with sections for storage and for dumping organic waste (including the burnt-out ash from the kitchen stoves transferred there daily) for composting.
One night after everyone was fast asleep, I woke up to a ruckus around the outhouse. Appachen and the young men were trying to dowse a fast spreading fire on the roof of the outhouse. But their efforts were far too meager and it looked as though the residence would also be engulfed. It was then that Ammachy intervened. She ran screaming like a banshee into the road in front of the house towards what is now the railway crossing nearby. She woke up the colony of stone cutters and all and sundry. And soon there were about twenty able bodied men tackling the fire till it came under control just at the edge of the thatch of the main house.
Ammachy gave them all black coffee (kattan kappi) and whatever victuals were available. It was almost dawn by the time that the fire fighters broke up and I went back to bed.
On closer examination next day the cause of the fire became clear. Some one had dumped the ash from the kitchen in the compost heap in the outhouse without dowsing it properly. It slowly smoldered through the day and spread later in the night.
My immediate childish reaction was embarrassment at my sedate mother running around in the middle of the night like a mad fisher woman. Later only I realised that she was the one who actually engineered effective and timely assistance.
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