കാടോർമ്മകൾ - എ.ഒ. സണ്ണി

"ഇന്നാ പിടിച്ചോ.." ലൈബ്രറിയുടെ  ടെക്നിക്കൽ സെക്ഷനിൽ വെറുതെ എല്ലാവരേയും ഒന്ന് കാണാൻ ചെന്നതാ - ജിഷ അതാ എനിക്കു നേരെ ഒരു പുസ്തകവും നീട്ടി ഇരിക്കുന്നു. "ഇതെന്താ?" - ഞാൻ ചോദിച്ചു. "ചെന്നിരുന്ന് വായിക്ക്!" - മറുപടി വന്നു. 

കടും നിറമുള്ള പുറഞ്ചട്ടയിൽ ശീർഷകം - "കാടോർമ്മകൾ  - എ.ഒ. സണ്ണി" - വെള്ള നിറത്തിൽ എഴുതിയിരിക്കുന്നു. "നീ വായിച്ചോ?", ഞാൻ ചോദിച്ചു. "ഇല്ല, കാൾ നമ്പർ ഇട്ടിട്ടേയുള്ളു. പ്രോസസ്സിങ്ങിൽ ആണ്, ന്യൂ അറൈവൽസ് ആവാൻ താമസമുണ്ട്". കൊച്ചു പുസ്തകം. കാടാണല്ലോ വിഷയം. ആദ്യ വായനയും! എന്തായാലും, ഉച്ചയ്ക്ക് വായിക്കാം. 

ഉച്ചയൂണ് നേരത്തേ കഴിഞ്ഞു, പുറത്തു മഴക്കാറ് തളംകെട്ടിനിൽക്കുന്നു . സെക്ഷനിലാണെങ്കിൽ ആരുമില്ല. പുസ്തകം നോക്കാൻ ഇത്തിരി നേരമുണ്ട്. ഞാൻ വായിക്കാനിരുന്നു. കുറച്ചു കഴിഞ്ഞു കാണും. ഏടുകൾ മറിയുന്നത് ഞാൻ അറിയുന്നുണ്ട്. പക്ഷെ സ്ഥലകാലബോധം നഷ്ടപ്പെട്ട അവസ്ഥ. ഓഫീസിലെ കസേരയിൽ നിന്ന് നേരെ കൊടുങ്കാടിനുള്ളിൽ "ട്രാൻസ്ഫർ " ചെയ്ത പ്രതീതി. എനിക്ക് ചുറ്റും കാടിൻറെ കടും ചായങ്ങളുടെ വാങ്മയചിത്രങ്ങൾ - നട്ടപാതിരാവിലെ നിബിഡവനവും, കാടിനുള്ളിലെ പെരുമഴയും,  ആനയും, ആനച്ചൂരും, കടുവയും, മലയണ്ണാനും, മലമുഴക്കിയും, അട്ട കടിയും, വിശപ്പും, ദാഹവും, ഭയവും, സുഗന്ധവും, ദുർഗന്ധവും, കാട്ടുതീയും, തെളിനീരും, അരുവിയും, പുഴയും, നായാട്ടും, മരംമുറിയും, രാജവെമ്പാലയും, കാട്ടുമൂപ്പനും, മാക്കാച്ചിക്കാടയും, മലദൈവങ്ങളും - എല്ലാമെല്ലാമായി കാട് അതാ പല പല നിറങ്ങളിൽ, പല പല ഭാവങ്ങളിൽ എനിക്ക് മുന്നിൽ നൃത്തമാടുന്നു! 

ആരോ സെക്ഷനിൽ വന്നു വിളിച്ചപ്പോഴാണ് എനിക്ക് സ്വബോധം തിരിച്ചു കിട്ടിയത്! എന്നിട്ടും, കാടിറങ്ങി വരാൻ മനസ്സ് കൂട്ടാക്കിയില്ല! ആ ഒരാഴ്ച "കാടോർമ്മകളു"മായി ഞാൻ പല തവണ കാട് കയറി! എപ്പോഴെങ്കിലുമൊരിക്കൽ അനുഭവിച്ചറിയാനായ് മനസ്സിൽ കോറി വെച്ച കിനാവിലെ കാട്ടിൽ ഞാൻ തനിയെ അലഞ്ഞു തിരിഞ്ഞു, അലിഞ്ഞിലാതായി!

ചില പുസ്‌തകങ്ങൾ അങ്ങനെയാ, അവർക്കായി കാത്തിരിക്കുന്ന കൈകളിലേക്ക് അവർ സ്വയമേ വന്നു ചേരും! എന്നിട്ട് കൈപിടിച്ചു കൂട്ടി കൊണ്ട് പോകും, അവരുടെ ആ ലോകത്തേക്ക് - കിനാവിലലിഞ്ഞില്ലാതാവാൻ!

നന്ദി ശ്രീ. എ.ഒ. സണ്ണി സർ.

(ഗ്രീൻ ബുക്ക്സ് - പേജുകൾ - 215, വില - 310 രൂപ )

Throwback Movies - Gol Maal (1979), Language : Hindi, Genre: Comedy

Though I returned to "Gol Maal", which is as old as me, to laugh over the weekend, this time the movie made me wonder than actually laugh. Watching it more closely, I was awestruck at the measured, balanced and subtle performances of Amol Palekar, an artist trained in fine arts with a career in Theatre and Utpal Dutt, yet another towering figure from Bengali Theatre whose leftist revolutionary dramas ran packed shows in 1960s. Both, under the direction of Hrishikesh Mukherjee, considered as one of the greatest in Indian cinema, raised this simple movie to its deserved classic comedy status!

While the characters of Ramprasad Dashrathprasad Sharma and Bhavani Shankar, played by Amol Palekar and Utpal Dutt respectively, are class apart as the ones' who drive the story, every other role are also notably etched with pin-point precision – may it be Ratna as Ramprasad’s sister, Kedar Mama, Deven Verma, Kamala or Buaji. The guest appearances of Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha and many others along with the way how "story within story" theme was brought in, made this otherwise simple script more interesting and unique. Lyrics of Gulzar gave us the “Gol Maal Hai Bhai Sab Gol Maal Hai” adage and the equally philosophical “Aane Wala Pal Jaane Waala Hai”, both of which got blessings of R.D Burman and when they finally reached us through Kishore Kumar it naturally turned them into classics! 

A feel-light, feel-good, feel-happy, feel-joyful, live-in-the-moment movie for a weekend!

Thrissur Pooram - 2024 - Fireworks Night

Thrissur Pooram - 2024 - After wandering for the entire day and the evening immersed in Pooram vibes, it’s in the middle of the night Brijesh bro took us (myself and his other friends) to one of the best place in Thrissur town to watch the Pooram fireworks. It was on the terrace of a nine-floor building.

After walking through narrow roads and by-lanes, we reached the base of the building. Being a private property we had to clear the security pass and by the time we reached the top it was well past mid-night. As we entered the terrace, I was stunned to see a village of people -  old, young, children and women - all waiting eagerly there for the fireworks to happen later in the night!

The Wait!

Even in that night, the summer heat of April was tough on us, but the beautiful sky and the gentle breeze, along with the breathtaking view of Thrissur town greeted us with a lot of relief. Below, the endless crowd were seen flowing through the streets like lava from a live volcano! It is 1 am of the night and there in the open we stretched ourselves along with many hundreds, all eagerly anticipating for the fire-magic to appear in the sky at 4 am.

But shortly in a while, a news started to spread that there were some disputes happening down and fireworks will be delayed and may even get cancelled. Several woke up from sleep, many looked worried and uncomfortable but none of them left their position and all felt determined to continue the wait. I sat there wondering how intense is this passion which probably could be seen only among this fiercely festive passionate Thrissur crowd!

The Long Wait!

In a while I slipped into tired sleep, and when I opened my eyes it was 6 am, with the open sky greeting me with beautiful morning hues and morning breeze. But there are no fireworks yet, neither any magic has happened other than the beautiful sunrise!

Brijesh and his friends, had not slept a bit, and I saw them strolling on the terrace, going through news updates, talking to people, looking tense and worried! Would the fireworks happen?

The Unending wait testing the patience of all!

Finally, there came the update that the fireworks would start at 6:30 am. The wait continued, but even after 6:45 am, nothing started. Another update came, stating it would start at 7 am. The wait became longer, the sun starting to heat up our tired bodies. Even after 7 am, nothing moved other than a gentle breeze.

It was when the frustration reached its peak, by around 7:10 am, the first burst of fireworks shook us! The entire crowd woke up, all rising on their toes, their face gleaming in joy, their eyes staring towards the bright sky!

For the next fifteen minutes, we were all taken to a magical world of light and sound — though the sun swallowed the colors, the magic of resonating rumble and lustrous fire was enough to make the crowd go crazy and finally, at its peak, I saw all of those around me screaming in heavenly joy, bringing their year-long wait to an end, making every moment of their sleepless night worth it!

For me, the intensity of all that hot and humid that I went through the day and night filled up yet another page of extraordinary experiences of life, closing it on a colour-ful and fire-ful note!

Clouds disappearing into sky after fireworks!

A Lesson from a Bamboo Piece!

April-2024 - As we were returning from the Kodungallur temple compound after the Bharani festival yesterday, he suddenly found something, then bent down and picked up a small bamboo piece lying in the dust filled festive ground. I was about to stop and ask him to throw it away, but after a moment of thought felt to ignore - 

“Yes, no doubt it’s not advisable, but let me not stop and control each and everything they do, let them be themselves...and learn something on their own...” 

After I dropped him at his home and was about to leave after a tea, he came up with it again to me with something on it ! He had washed and cleaned it and then has wrote the event and date - "Ha, what a simple, beautiful memento it turned out to be!"

Had I stopped him from picking it from the dust, I might have curbed his thoughts, identity and the creativity! Luckily I didn't!

"Let’s nurture the freedom of expression, creativity and individuality (with a speck of caution) of the children even though it may be a little different from our expectations and our imaginations. Who knows they might surprise us with what they have inherent within them!”

Nochur!

Nochur Bhagavathy procession to the Theru

19/Jan/24: As we turn onto a sub-road at Kuzhalmannam on the speeding NH544 from Thrissur to Palakkad, the surroundings suddenly seem to settle down, relax and breathe easy. After another 10 km drive, covering the modest village of Koduvayur and its angady, a narrow road takes us to the humble surroundings of Nochur, which houses a relatively small agraharam of the Tamil Brahmin community who had migrated to Kerala centuries ago.

We, as an ad hoc plan, are here for the annual chariot festival (Ratholsavam/Theru) at Nochur Bhagavathy (Shanthi Durga Parameswari) temple, which falls on the first Friday of the Tamil Thai month (Jan/Feb). It is along this Bhagavathy temple and an adjacent Krishna temple that the Nochur agraharam is lined up.

It is only on these festive days that this otherwise silent gramam springs up with its effervescent energy. Being present on this auspicious day attending the rituals followed by the annadanam, which serves the divine payasam (commonly known as chathu-shatham), turned into a blissful experience for all of us. 

However, it would have been incomplete without a walk through the agraharam. That wish of ours also got fulfilled by visiting the ancestral agraharam home of our friend Sobha. A walk around the house which has rooms older than two centuries, an old kitchen which once served the entire gramam, the thick wooden doors with unique locks all took us back to a completely different world which thrived once upon a time! 

Of all, the short time we got listening to the anecdotes from Sobha’s in-laws turned out to be precious. 

“Nochur had more than 75 traditional agraharam homes a few decades back which has now depleted to around 30, and even among them, a very few families stay here. The rest come down only during the festive season.” 

We noticed this at Sobha’s home. Relatives who came from Palakkad, Mumbai, and even the US, just for this festival, all taking their festive nap in various rooms!

As we stepped out and walked around the Nochur gramam, we saw the scars of pain this once-pristine village is facing in the form of crumbled structures and deserted homes. A heritage tag like that of Kalpathy would have probably saved some of these, but now this agraharam needs more hands (than brain or money) to pull it up and preserve its identity.

A 'Rope' of Hope!

“Nochur, with the divine blessings of Vedanta Sampradaya Acharya Pujya Sri Ramanacharana Tirtha Swamiji, has got its spirituality tag. And then there is the divine ‘rope’ of hope always there, ready to be picked up. We wish the Nochur diaspora, who always keep their agraharam and its culture close to their hearts, realise it and come back again to pick and pull it ahead. That is the way, in fact, that is the only way this authentic culture and traditions of Nochur could be preserved for posterity!”