Flashback
Govinda Warrier was brought up by his Vallyammavan and Vallyammai. Vallyammavan meant oldest ‘Ammavan’ or mother’s brother and was the man in charge of the house in Warrier families. Govinda’s Vallyammavan had three daughters and no sons and so after the girls were married and sent off with their share of the property, Govinda took the place of the son of the house.
Vallyammavan was a fine, wealthy man and thanks to him the Kottathala Warriem was rich and prosperous. A philanthropist, Vallyammavan did a lot for the village. He built a drinking water facility for wayfarers where water and butter milk were served. He was also responsible for building a ‘chumodathangi’, a structure built for travellers to rest the heavy loads they carried. Another gesture was the ‘wari ambalam’, a way side gazebo or shelter for people to sit on the side of the road.
However, Vallyammavan’s biggest gift to the community was the village school, the very first school in the village. It was a primary school and had classes till the 4th standard. After Independence, it became a government school. Vallyammavan had built this school for his friend Kalyani Amma, a girl from the village whom he helped educate. Later, Vallyammavan also helped Kalyani Amma to set up a house of her own and to find her a decent husband. This was a friendship accepted by the village, yet it drew some attention. I have heard some tales, but these were all hearsay. What I know for sure, because I was witness to it, was that Kalyani Amma had a real soft corner for us, the children of the Warriem.
Kalyani Amma sar was the principal or the ‘onan sar’ of the school when Amma took me there to admit me. My mother had named me Sithalakshmi at birth. She had in her hand my horoscope which had been penned at my birth. I still remember a brown paper on which the name Sithalakshmi was scrawled in big letters above the houses of the planets, with the date of birth, the 25th day of ‘Kumbha masam’ (the seventh month in a traditional Malayalam calendar). Kalyani Amma glanced at the paper and said “I will not admit Sitha” in an authoritative voice. Amma was taken aback momentarily and looked askance at her. “Don’t worry. I am going to rename her. Let her not be called Sitha. Let her not suffer the life of Sitha,” referring to the Sita from the Ramayana. “Instead, I shall call her Sreedevi Warrier.” Amma didn’t protest but didn’t let the school principal’s opinions change her way of calling me either. Amma stuck to the name Sitha for me and this was the name she called me by till her death. Kalyani Amma was very fond of Amma and called her ‘Pordi Kunja’ or the new bride notwithstanding that Amma had been married a long time ago. She would sometimes drop in for a meal and spend time with our family. Her love for the Warriem was beyond question and it was in recognition of this love that Amma allowed her to change my name for official purposes.
The system of naming the children in the family was rather special. The boys of the family had KG attached to their names. So, my brothers were KG Unnikrishna or Kottathala Govinda Unnikrishna, KG Ramachandra and KG Achutha. Later my brothers were often referred to by their initials alone, so their friends and acquaintances often called them KGU, KGR and KGA. The girls of my family on the other hand, had the initial ‘D’ added to their names when we joined the school, probably after my mother’s name but why this system was followed, I know not.
Vallyammavan, Krishna Warrier had been a very popular man. He had a mindset that was admirable. The people he liked enjoyed his largesse. The work he did for the community spoke of a man who cared about the world. His younger brother, however, was neither as magnanimous nor as gracious. Shankara Warrier, the younger ammavan was an educated man who had moved base to Trivandrum where he lived in a rented house with his wife and three children. He had settled there and to some extent resented the love that his older brother gave Govinda. After Vallyammavan passed away, Govinda continued to live in Kotthathala but the control of Vallyammavan’s property was in Shankara Warrier’s hand. My father had made several attempts to get Shankara Warrier to divide the land, but it was only after Achan’s death that Shankara Ammavan finally did separate the property and gave my family our land. This did not happen without a struggle. Sometime after Achan died, Shankara Ammavan came to harvest the coconuts off the land but thankfully the villagers didn’t allow him to do so. They advised us, the children, to go and stand under the coconut palms to ensure that my father’s uncle did not harvest the coconuts. That was when Shankara Ammavan divided the property, took over the prime parts of the land and returned to Trivandrum. This time he left Kottathala for good and our family was finally free from his hold.