Leena was married on 27.1.1997. She chose a man working in Pilips, where she worked for some time.
I was happy, but my wife was not easily reconciled to the idea. All arrangements were made by the young couple, for their marriage according to Aryasamaj rites. About fifty people, including the parents of both, were invited.
We left Delhi and came back to our home in the village, as I never liked metropolitan cities(mahanagaram is mahanarakam). Sudhir could not attend the wedding as he was somewhere in Madhya Pradesh, with the Narmada bachao movement. He went, wherever Medhaji went, there is a photo of both together.
Once Leena and her husband Ravi Kumar, came to our house. Ravi liked the village. We took them to my wife’s home at Shoranur and my sisters’ place at Thavanoor and Thirunnvaya.
When they left, we felt a sort of loneliness. But one cannot be isolated in the village, where it is some sort of community life.
Among the various temples we frequented, was the hill shrine of Lord Ram at Thiruvilvamala, near the railway station Lakkidi between Palakad and Ottapalam.
One peculiarity is the fact that Lakshman faces east and Ram faces west, in separate Sreecovil(sanctum) and Hanuman is outside, in a small temple.
The whole area is on top of a mountain range, with tunnels, ponds etc. offering a grand spectacle, a favourite spot for many Malayalam films, with Jayaram as the hero.
Vadamala is the favourite offering for Hanuman.
Pazhayannur Devi temple where cocks are offered as a gift for Devi, like one offers an elephant at Guruvayur temple; something really stange. In the incredible India, one can see a Ganesh temple in Rajasthan, where rats (the vehicle of Ganesh) are offered sweets, dozens of them crowding to get the ladoos, Jain sadhhoos going about stark naked in the streets and snakes living happily, along with namboodiries, sharing the same bed rooms and kitchen, at Pampumekad, where people coming with snake bites are treated.
Until recently, new born babies were sacrificed at the famous Kali temple at Kolkotha.
Chembai village is not far from our village. In honour of the famous singer Vaidynatha aiyer, who belongs to that village, every year there is a musical night, which is invariably attended by the famous Malayalam play back singer Yesudas. They all used to attend this function, except myself.
Attending marriages and funerals was compulsory. My wife likes both, I don’t. My paternal uncle, who was suffering from paralysis and was bedriden for some fifteen years, died and we went there in time, before the body was set on fire.
That was the end of an era, as all the five brothers, my father being the eldest, and a sister about who I have only heard, reached their destination. They say my aunt was very beautful. She was given in marriage to Venmani mana. She went away early, without issues.
If only she were alive !
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