Collecting different
match boxes and empty cigar packets were one of the activities in my childhood
days . Number of empty little boxes we have accumulated from various
shops and created different models
of locomotive, architecture ,and many more . Initially,
there were two different kind of match boxes available in market .The
primordial form of matchbox made with wood .But, various fancy paper matchboxes are available now .The wooden match boxes are made with a tree named Perumaram and the botanical name of this tree is Ailanthus excels.
In order to make the wooden matchbox
the soft firewood sliced into paper thickness
and made
small boxes.Including up and down there are six different sides for a
match box The up side of the match box is carry its brand name and label .the
down side is wrap with a thin violet paper .In the left over four side two would remain open .It carry the
matchstick container. and the other two
carry the chemical which can able to produce fire The brands of the matchs includes Ship, Bull
,Bird bell ,flower , and many more .We
used to dismantle matchbox and sock it
in the water .After few minutes the colorful matchbox label carefully pealed from the thin wooden basement
and suspiciously preserved it inside the note book..matchbox and its
colourful label gives a nostalgic memory. However, My intention of
writing this article is to share an another perception of a match box because
it was one of the significant tools for few robbers in my native place .My
native place is in Kadavanthra however the match box robbery happened
in between Girinagar and Panambli Nagar, Both these places are adjacent
to Kadavanthra rather it is a part of Kadavanthra
Girinagar and panambali Nagar are the settlement of upper middle class people in Kochi .Most of the
people in Panambli Nagar and Giri nagar are migrated from various parts of
kerala .There are also few employees in
Cochin Shipyard and Navel Base settled
in these places . Moreover it is one of
the metaphors of modernity in kochi for
instance, the first apartment building
in kerala was in panambali nagar .The name of this apartment is Kairali,
constructed in 1982 . The last two
decade There was abundance of construction work took place in Kadavanthra, Panambli Nagar and girinagar .For
instance the distance from my house to
Cochin shipyard is approximately fifteen minitue walk Moreover the
gigantic Garuda crane in Kochin shipyard was clearly visible from our house but, the increased number of skyscrapers cover up
the gigantic Crane .
But, one and half decade back the scenario was different there was no proper link between Kadavanthra and Panambli Nagar . It was an underdeveloped
area moreover, it was the construction site of various organizations such as
State Bank of India, Regional Passport office, AVThomas and company, Kerala
Chemicals and Proteins Limited and the staff quarters of BSNL ,Cochishipyard and many more .
Since it
was a hub of construction site there was plenty of building materials and
gigantic machines scattered around in these place moreover ,people infrequently traveled in
this route. Disposal siren from Cochin Shipyard is a common timer for all the
employes in Kochin City .The labours shutdown few minutes after the alarm and construction
work site begin sleep .In the late evenings The robbers has chosen
these construction sites and the nearby places as their comfort zone .Since the
distance between Cochin shipyard Atlantis Gate to Kadavanthra is hardly fifteen minuet walk so that people who come to Kadavanthra from the Kochin City tend to get down Atlantis
instead going via south over bridge One of the methodology which people have used for thievery was interesting
.
There is a river between Kadavanthra and Giri Nagar Initially there were three wooden bridges which was a link between Kadavanthra and Panambli Nagar .One bridge among the three was the settlement
for thieves. They have encroach the
different locations in the
construction site and initiated burglary activity.
In the night robbers used to
play card, drink smoke and spend their time All these activity had happen the places near by the bridge . Scattered empty arrack bottles, playing Cards, bunch of empty cigarette
packet quite common in the embankment of the bridge. In the late night If any
strangers happened to cross the bridge
the robbers have requested them to
share a match box. Sharing is a good behavior or a dignified manner that is the
reason , people do not Hesitate to share various things
like a Match box, pen, pencil ,and so on. Once a stranger share matchbox with the thief gang they lit Matchsticks and scan
the stranger Meanwhile, they also demanded a handsome amount of money to the
stranger .If any strangers decline the robber’ demand they brutally attacked the poor stranger .
No comments:
Post a Comment