Interior of a heritage home.

Thekkanattu Parayil, Olavipe.

Hosts Antony & Jacob on the front veranda. Photo: Medhekar.

Drawing room.

A bedroom

A writing desk.

A corner of the archives room. Photo: Medhekar.

Also see:

Lions that guard Thekkanattu Parayil

Kerala Architecture: Exterior of a heritage home

Interiors

Mango Memories

Yesterday when I saw a mango vendor on a Chennai street my mind went back to childhood days in Olavipe and I decided to do this post.

Before starting to write today, out of curiosity I looked up the Web about mangoes and of course came across Madhur Jaffrey’s ‘Climbing The Mango Trees – A Memoir Of A Childhood In India’. Then there was ‘Once Upon A Mango’, a nice article by Lavina Melwani in today’s Little India, which begins, “It was a love affair long before we knew what love was. They were golden, dripping with a heavenly juice, fleshy and aromatic.” That was on the banks of the Ganges. My love affair with mangoes started in Olavipe, my home in Kerala.

Basically, we had two types of mango trees – ‘nattu mavu’ (native mango tree) and ‘ottu mavu’ (budded or grafted mango tree). Nattu mavu came up spontaneously all over the place. My grandfather planted several verities of ottu mavu including Alfonso, Salem, Malgoba, Gudadad and Neelam. (Remember the saga ‘The House of Blue Mangoes’ by David Davidar? Read it if you haven’t done so yet.) Incidentally, Madhur Jafrey has dedicated her book mentioned above to ‘grandparents’.

Ottu manga was a table fruit, but that rule didn’t bind the children. For them any time was mango time. And there was no patience to wait for the fruit to be cut and served – just rip off the skin and go for the flesh.

“Almost every child growing up in India remembers climbing mango trees…” says Lavina Melvani in her article. Most of our ottu mavus were sprawling type and had low branches. It was on them that all the climbing and monkeying took place.

By contrast, nattu mavu were generally big, tall trees even though their mangoes were small in size. They were classified for different end uses. Fruits from certain trees were used exclusively for curries and chutneys. Some of the dishes made with mango, were delicious. Shrimp and mango curry, gravy fish with mango, and jackfruit nuts and mango curry were some of them. Another variety of nattu manga was for preserves like ‘salt mango’. The sweet, juicy type was mainly for making a sun-dried delicacy called ‘thera’, a kind of mango mat, which would stay till the next mango season provided they were kept well-hidden from the children.

The ottu mavus of grandfather are all gone. What we have today are the ones planted by the subsequent generations. Of these, the pride of place goes to a Prior mango tree planted by Appan (father). Today I found a Blog, ‘Underneath the Mango trees’ that rates Prior mango ‘the best of the best’!

Possibly, there is a connection between Prior and my family, Parayil. This view by some historians is based on a letter dated October 18, 1870 written to the sisters of a convent by Blessed Elias Chavara when he was the prior of a monastery. It reads (translated by me from Malayalam) “This mango was sent to me by Parayi. Out of the two types, the red ones are the best in India… Having known its taste, I am sending it for germination.” Perhaps, later, one of these two types of mangoes came to be called ‘Prior’.

It would appear that these wonderful fruits have only plus points. New research reportedly indicates that mangoes may be good for diabetes and cholesterol control and in resisting cancer.

Ends.

Also see:

Mango trees: 'ottu mavu' and 'nattu mavu'

Insomnia.

Recent media reports say that a study by the World Health Organization (WHO) found that 27% of the people suffer from sleep disorders or insomnia. That is one person in four. Another estimate claims that over 100 million people in the United States have this problem.

What is insomnia? Dr. Manvir Bhatia, senior neurologist of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital defines it as, “difficulty to initiate or maintain sleep, or both” (Deccan Chronicle, March 26, 2007). Insomnia causes irritability, low mood, reduced energy and efficiency, loss of memory and alertness, and inability to focus, among other things.

The DC report goes on to say, “Studies reveal that those with insomnia have 3.5 to 4.5 times more accidents in general with 1.5 times more work-related accidents and 2.5 times with motor vehicle accidents.” There is more bad news. There could be a link between insomnia and diabetes. A study by Boston University School of Medicine has reportedly found that compared to people who sleep 7-8 hours a day, the incidence of diabetes is more among those who sleep either less than 6 hours or more than 9 hours.

Doctors admit that insomnia is a major public health problem. What causes it? The reasons of insomnia are usually any one or a combination of stress resulting from personal tragedies, emotional tension or physical ailment, sense of insecurity, external factors like excessive noise or light or temperature, and changes in sleep schedules. In some cases it may be due to a disease. It is said that iron deficiency may cause insomnia in some women.

How do people tackle it? Many go on self- treatment. Most commonly used methods are swallowing pills without medical advice, drinking heavily to induce sleep, and in some cases, turning to drugs. Such avenues may have damaging side effects and are costly as well. The sensible thing to do is to visit your doctor. He would check whether any disease factor is involved, and suggest an effective therapy for insomnia.

There are self-help methods that are found to be effective for many persons who have insomnia. Some of them are mentioned here. Regular exercise well before bed time is essential. Avoid daytime naps, heavy drinking, intake of caffeine, and smoking. Have dinner a couple of hours before retiring. A warm bath and a glass of warm milk before going to bed, and reading in bed or listening to relaxing music could help. Follow a regular sleep schedule.

Always remember that not only the muscles but also the mind have to relax for proper sleep.

And, never worry about getting enough sleep. That would be counter-productive.

Ends.

DEAD MEN IN TOWN - Concluding part.

Concluding part of the story appears in Short Stories By Abraham Tharakan. Click on title to read.

Jewish names among Syrian Christians.

Why is it that Jewish or Biblical names common among Kerala's Syrian Christians? For the answer, see Articles By Abraham Tharakan.
http://abrahamtharakanblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/jewish-names-among-syrian-christians.html

DEAD MEN IN TOWN - Part 2.

Click on the title to read part 2 of the story in Short Stories By Abraham Tharakan.

When strong men cried...

Yesterday, the dreams of a nation collapsed unbelievably at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad. The eleven men in blue could not score 255 runs against Sri Lanka whom they had beaten at home recently and they are almost out of the latest version of cricket World Cup without even reaching the Super 8 league.

The Indians were chasing a very obtainable total. At 4/112 the position looked reasonably good. Then Yuvraj Singh took off for a suicide run. Will he ever outlive that nightmare? Dhoni would have normally handled the situation in his dashing manner, but what was going through his mind during his 3-ball stint at the crease? Fear of berserk fans again attacking his house under construction if he failed?

India still had a chance when the ‘great Indian (all-rounder) hope’ Agarker walked into the middle. His un-choreographed dance with the bat was not amusing at all. After pegging at it for ten years, Agarker still remains a ‘hope’, a distant one at that! The captain stood bravely on the burning deck. After unleashing an explosive firepower that is not normally seen from him he too left, limping back to the pavilion. The achievement of scoring his 78^th ODI half century made no difference to the outcome of the match. It was not clear from the TV shots whether there were tears in his eyes.

A great many others would have cried too. And we may, by tomorrow, get reports of protest marches, burning of effigies, self-immolation and all the rest of the madness. There might even be political fall-outs!

To say ‘Go easy, it’s only a game’ would not be correct. Cricket is big business. The Economic Times (March 19, 2007) reports that over Rs.2000 crores that include TV ads, sponsorship and so on would be in jeopardy if India were to be knocked out early from the World Cup.

Hope springs eternally in the human heart. Perhaps prayers and offerings are being made for Bermuda to beat Bangladesh tomorrow at the same venue.