Four generations:
Three continents: Two world wars: One village
These are tales spanning four generations spread across three continents in between and after the two world wars of people who set forth under different circumstances from one small village called Agaramangudi.
These are tales spanning four generations spread across three continents in between and after the two world wars of people who set forth under different circumstances from one small village called Agaramangudi.
The story line traverses through different time lines, locations or
incidents with no particular order. The only order being the
alphabetical one – A to Z meant purposefully for the A to Z challenge. These
posts can be read as standalone posts, but would be best comprehended if
you read them along with their prelude provided as a link.
V – Varanasi - 1979
The
majestic Ganges flew past the temples
and Ghats that lined the sacred town of Haridwar and Benares. The sacred Ganges
is supposed to have the power to absorb all the sins of the land. Flower
garlands, lamps , bones and ashes
dissolved into the mighty Ganges everyday as
people from faraway places
travelled and came by to dissolve the
ashes of the dead and to ensure a safe passage into heaven.
It was Susee
and Subbu’s first visit to the north of India.
They came by to pay a visit to Kittu in Delhi and were hosted by him at the
Rashtrapati Bhavan where he held office
and were his guests touring the famed rose garden, being served by the staff in
pure silver ware. From
Delhi, both the families went to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and then to Haridwar, Rishikesh and
Varanasi.
It was in Varanasi, that Subbu had a task to complete. He was carrying the Ashes.
They needed to hire a local priest to perform the last rites. There were many at the ghat vying for the potential customer.
The priest spoke Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Marathi, before concluding that his customer for the day
was a Tamil Brahmin. He was a street-smart Panda who came from a priestly clan in
Orissa, but had picked up most of the Indian languages during the course of
his priestly occupation over the years in Varanasi. His specialization was to perform the last
rites for the dead on the banks of the Ganges.
Everyday hundreds of people came
from all over the country with the ashes of their loved ones, to ensure that
the deceased soul had a peaceful passage
into heaven. The Panda would broker for Subbu, a safe passage for the loved one into
heaven via the Ganges.
As the urn
containing the ashes was being prepared to be washed down into the sacred
Ganges, Subbu and Susee were choked with tears. The priest asked for the name, family gothra and relation to the deceased in
that order. It was needed to be chanted along with the Sanskrit Mantra as a
part of the rituals.
Sivachami
, Anna, Elder Brother, said Subbu almost choking in his own tears.
Gothra (
Name of the family tree) asked the Priest.
mmm...
Padayachi said Subbu with a slight hesitation and nodded his head inorder to
affirm that he was indeed saying the right thing.
The Brahmin Priest could not believe what he
was hearing. On affirmation that Subbu was indeed saying the right thing, he
squinted and then frowned. The
priest had never before performed the
last rites for an untouchable. That too, a Padayachi.
In the social structure that he was accustomed to, the Padayachi
were the people that did menial
jobs in the farm lands and cattle sheds
.
Over the 60’s and 70’s they were steadily gaining political
power especially in south India. But
this was the first time he had encountered a Brahmin, wearing his sacred thread
doing the last rites for an Untouchable whom he related to as an elder brother.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
After
the incident at Srirangam in 1967 it was
a steady decline for Susee and Subbu in what they had taken for granted as
their homeland, their culture and their way of life. Soon after Natesa Iyer's passing in 1969, the
land was divided among all the brothers.
Subbu continued to oversee all the farm work but he knew that sooner or
later his brothers would ask for their share of land to be sold off.
After
his daughter was married in 1971 and his son had settled in a job with a bank in Madras, Subbu and Susee knew that their
time in Agaramangudi would sooner or later come to an end. In any case there
were very few families left in the Agraharam.
The
labour unrest and social uprising against the Brahmins, particularly the
absentee landlords was increasing every year. By the mid 1980’s, Subbu had sold
all his agricultural lands including the ancestral house, Sri Lakshmi Nivas
before he migrated to the city for good.
But the cattle shed and the mud hut with the thatched roof where Sivachami was born and lived all his life, along
with the Mango orchard near the pond, he gifted it away to Sivachami’s only daughter, Thenmozhi.
It was
a promise he had made to his dying father.
To be continued ... W - Whitefield - 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for stopping by.
Good, bad or ugly ... Trust me I would love to hear from you...
Please leave your comments here.