A journey towards Alappuzha

The pristine world

Story of a little matchbox

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 .

The History of Nicknames

In the beginning, The sequence of education system of the children  in kadavanthra and  local places was went in the following manner .Most of the children in kadavanthra and the local places such asChilavanoor,Konthuruthy ,perumanoor,and elankulam were depend on St.Joseph school for the primary education The little children  have studied in this school  until grade seventh..After  completing   grade seventh the children have admitted to various local schools for their high school educations within the local schools like Elankulam West  school, SRV School ,St Thomas Girls High School , Government Girls School . However most of the Christians families prefer their children should  continue in the Christian schools and  they have preferred Sacred Heart High school for boys and St.Thomas school  for girls.

 Since I was from a Christian family  my father also admitted me and my brother  in Sacred Heart High school Thevara .My brother have studied till grade seventh in Kadavanthra St.Joseph School and moved  to Sacred hart school Thevara Since he was enroll into Sacred Heart High School I was also admitted in the same school .Both these school administrated by the Christian management and the priests and nuns were staff members in those schools . Most of the  staff members in these school had nick names .These names  evoke both the sense of novelty and creativity .Those nick names engender  from different contexts  such as family history, body language, communication, behavior ,subject specialization and many more 

Chameleon

There was a teacher who taught drawing. He was a lean and young man had thick black beard He did not tuck the shirt  he use to wore full sleeve shirt and  tightly folded  the shirt hands .The black beard must be one of his intellectual identities .I exactly do not know his name .Most of the time he was a substitute for the staff members who was  absent in school . fine art was one of the  insignificant  modules  those days  he scribble certain images  on the black board and students use to copy it Since he deals with the variations of colour he was known as Chameleon 

Mr. Augustan the Half

Indulekha was one of the accompanying text for English literature in grade tenth and Mr.Augstaine was a good teacher who dealt this text . His subject specialization was chemistry however he was also teach English literature. Mr. Augustan’s nick name is pathi / half because he was a theology student and almost completed formal education for the priesthood however, later he got married .Since he has given it up the priesthood in the half way the students use to called him Paathi or Augustan the half 

Rev.Fr.Vincent  Panikulam

Rev Fr.Vincent Panikulam was  my Physics teacher he had two nick names such as papanji and  Ezathuchan. Both the ecclesiastic attire and his  abdomen reminds the form of Santa it is one of the reasons he is compared with Santa  Claus

.Fr.Panikulam’s teaching methodology  emphasized on various writing assignment .Due to those writing assignments   he is related with the name of  Malayalam Classical Poet Thunchaththu  Ramanujan Ezhuthachan

Mottechi or a women had a shaved cranium

St.Thomas girls school is one of the known school neighbor to my native place .This school administrated by nuns. The priest hood is a way of life . The white secretarial attire is the metaphor of purity .It also portrays the detachment of physical life. They have only allowed to wear the priestly attire and a rosary. The  attire which they had utterly covered their body This dress also dramatically portray the  detachment from material life. Initially there was restriction for them to  growing their  hair .Moreover their head remain  shaved in the priesthood .However the scenario is changed because  .

Until now the nuns are known by the oldest custom. Initially this name gives me a little embracement because a few nuns who taught me in primary school  and I have  seen the long hair comes out from the veil. Mothers are the first encyclopedia of all the little kids in fact I was not an exceptional kid and mother has explained about the etymology of this nick name 

      

Vishali

The name Vishali is  gives  two different perceptions to us The first one is that  it was one  of the ancient cities in Bihar had close associations with both Buddhism and Jainism. there were 7,707 pleasure grounds and equal number of lotus ponds . Another perspective of Vishali is about a female character from Mahabharata  and the renewed Malayalam film director Barathan has directed a Malayalam movie entitled Vishali . Moreover it was  one of the blockbuster Malayalam movie in that time Suparna Anand was a renowned Indian film actress who enacted the role of vishali .

In this movie   Vishali portrayed as a women  who seduce the young monk .Since the teacher who appointed in our school was a pretty women that must be one of the reasons  students called her Vishali . 

Karavakaran

The bicycle is  a simple vehicle which many profession and the business demands . I have seen different form of bicycle in the daily life .                                                                                  

A postman use bicycle to distribute mails to people .A fish seller also use a cycle to  run  his business  on an old stinking rusted bicycle

 A vegetable vender segregate green snake guard, bottle guard  and yellow pumpkin . The separated vegetables he kept in different baskets and carry it on a  bicycle  for the business .

A coconut tree climber also carry a bamboo ladder in his one hand however he dexterously   balanced the strong Hercules bicycle with his single hand

the person who milk cow also had a cycle  and he is known as Karavakaran.He milk the cow both early in the morning and evening . One of my teacher had an old rusted  green Hercules cycle which a Karavakaran also had. Few naughty students closely observe the resemblance between these two  bicycles and made Karavakaran as a Nike name for this teacher  

Petta 

Pttta mean a fruit do not have substance. Teacher is a way of life .However, the teacher appointment or staffing  in the government aided  management schools and  colleges in Kerala are depend on the donation .Unfortunately,  we had  a couple  of  incompatible teachers .Moreover, there was a teacher  who teach English and history in our school his name is Raju Due to his submissive style of teaching he was called Petta .