VAZHOOR CHRONICLES - VAIJAYANTI

VAZHOOR CHRONICLES -THE LAND WHICH YIELDS GOLD

The land of Vazhoor dips and rises like a gentle mountain stream river. Never straight, always curved the land took its landscape beauty seriously and filled itself with all hues of green. The darkest to the green and the hundred other shades of green in between all found their way here.

Vazhoor was located close to Sabarimala Forest hence the land boasted of dense vegetation in certain strategic locations where even sunbeams never found their way to the ground. Despite all the beauty, it remained idyllic. Not so popular like the regular tourist spots in Kerala, Vazhoor retained its rustic charm well into the 21st century.

Ponds, rivulets, rivers, streams, waterfalls, canals, springs, and other water bodies cut a course through Vazhoor in different ways. The land of course was bedecked with all her loveliness at the time of monsoon. When torrential monsoons hit the land the once dried water pathways gushed with water and wherever one went you were bound to hear the gentle undercurrent of flowing water.

Mani stepped out of his house. A gentle summer breeze wafted, and he could observe a silent orchestra amongst the trees. They fluttered, swept, swished, and swayed ever so gently in the light. His humble home was amidst a plantation. The sun had risen and the golden benevolent light touched upon the entire land.

The plantation provided a sustainable living for Mani's entire family. With clever native ingenuity, his grandfather and mother cultivated plants and vegetables to provide them year-round income. His land was dotted with coconut, teak, papaya, tamarind, brindle berry, nutmeg, jackfruit, gulmohur, areca nut, pine, bottle brush, gooseberry and golden shower trees.

Amongst plants, they had banana, tapioca, yam, yellow & white pumpkin, beans, varieties of chillies, brinjals, curry leaf, passion fruit, rose-apple fruit, java apple, little gourd, ginger, turmeric, ladyfinger, bitter gourd, snake gourd, pineapple, black pepper, coffee bushes and Chinese potato.

Mani's one-acre land like his neighbours' was no exception to cultivation. It was the 1980s in Kerala and with a scant growing economy, sustainability was the keyword in both farming and in living. Keralites of course called their extreme fertile land "pon vazhaiyira boomi" or the land which yields gold.

"Koche!" called Radhamma, Mani's mother. "Come home directly from the school. We must cultivate kappa [tapioca] today before the rains". Mani broke into a grin and hopped to school. Kappa or tapioca was the lifeline of every true-blue Malayalee. No matter where they were in the world, nothing satiated a Malayalee like Kappa and fish curry. There are of course many ways to cook kappa, but right now communal harvesting is a must to harvest the brown rooted vegetable in their garden quickly and completely.

Radhamma began planning for the long day ahead. As the first step, she reached out to her neighbours' located in the terraced terrain. While she got the giant urili, grass woven mats and knives ready. Grandfather sent word out to his menfolk to help in harvesting.

First, the men came and grandfather once a sprightly man in youth and moved fluidly to pluck the kappa. The strike of the shovel eased mounds of fresh nutrient earth. Some earthworms squirmed away and tapiocas were freed from the soil.

Grandfather was incredibly happy with the yield. There was enough and more to go around for everyone. Radhamma's friends arrived next. The root vegetable was peeled off its brown cover to reveal its pale white base. It was then sorted into three mounds – fresh kappa chopped into chunks for immediate use, kappa cut into even matchsticks for making scrumptious chips in coconut oil and majority of them cut, boiled and laid out to dry in palmyra grass mat for three consecutive days to make unakka or dry kappa.

Women got busy right away while gossiping to ease the physical labour. Amidst the chatter and laughter chores got done and everyone left late in the night with the ideal barter system. Mounds of fresh kappa in their hands.

Radhamma now had to watch the stock of unakka kappa like a hawk for the next two days and then put it away for storage until the monsoons. For when the deafening monsoons set in the month of July and August, the unakka kappa will become their saviour for many many nights.

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Largely an agrarian society, Vazhoor primarily depended on its land for its wealth. Communal work and the barter system of goods continued a good part of the 20th century as a way of life.

In 2021, Vazhoor ranks third in Kerala in effectively managing the pandemic situation. The author currently divides her time between Bangalore and Vazhoor.