Photos: Olavipe, my village

Kerala Architecture: Exterior of a heritage home

Westside views of the Thekkanattu Parayil Tharakans'

heritage home at Olavipe, Kerala

Center portion

View from the north end. In the foreground is the 'nalukettu' area.

Click on images for enlarged view. Photos by Abraham Tharakan. Copyright reserved.

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Also see:

Kerala Architecture - Olavipe Heritage Home

Kerala Architecture: Nalukettu, ettukettu, pathinarukettu

Photographs: Ixora Coccinea flowers

Click on images for enlarged view.

Notice the berries in the last picture. They look almost like coffee beans!

These photos were taken by me at Olavipe during 1^st week of January 2008. They may be freely used with due acknowledgement.

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Also see:

Ixora coccinea (Rubiaceae) - flowers that gods and men love

God's own dream

The phrase ‘God’s own country’ was originally used for the United States of America. Today, at least in the tourism field, it means Kerala, one of the top destinations in the world.

But have you heard of ‘God’s own dream’? The words in the image on left read ‘Olavipe, God’s own dream, www.olavipe.com’. It is an advertisement on the outer back cover of the book “Padavarambu’ (see: Autobiography of a School). Recently, my brother Jacob (the incumbent at Thekkanattu Parayil) who coined the phrase, and I had a discussion about it.

The dialogue went something like this. God did not directly create Olavipe; the name means ‘made by the waves’. While taking rest on the seventh day of creation, God reviewed his handiwork and was satisfied. But there was a nagging feeling that something was amiss. Suddenly he realized that Adam had been given the best place on Planet Earth, and with his inner eye foresaw that it would be Paradise Lost. There was no destination if he wanted a short break from all the singing and harping and adulation in heaven. He had to have a place.

And he dreamt of one – Olavipe.

But he was in no mood to get back to creation. He assigned the job to nature. The sun worked on the Arabian Sea and there was wind, which generated waves. They rolled in incessantly carrying sand and silt and seashells and Olavipe began taking shape. It was a slow process. So God gave it a push by triggering off a geological phenomenon in 1341 A.D. that closed the ancient Muzuris port which handled commerce from many parts of the world, opened up Cochin harbor and accelerated the formation of Olavipe.

It was then a barren, sandy stretch of land. A few coconuts floated in with the tides and took root. So did ball-nuts. The birds carried the seeds of jackfruit, mangoes and other trees and dropped them on the soil and they germinated. The Olavipe Lake teemed with aqua life – pearl spots, marals, shrimps, scampi, clams, crabs and others. There were still unfilled places on the land - ponds, and canals and low lying areas. But God liked it that way. He told nature to leave the rest to man.

And the humans came. We don’t know from where. They cultivated paddy, and plants that provided edible produce. They were rather lazy as well in the laid back atmosphere. But God was indulgent about that.

When the trees grew the wind was on them and the leaves hummed. And the wind was on the rice fields too, and there was music in the air. Song of the waves of Olavipe Lake was set to that tune.

It took me nearly five-hundred words to say: if God were to dream of a place just for himself it could very well be Olavipe!

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Photo: ©Thekkanattu Parayil. Click to enlarge.

Also see: OLAVIPE: Gift of the waves to Kerala, God's Own Country.

Appan.

PA Kochupappu Tharakan.

1903-1959.
Thekkanattu Parayil.

Appan was studying for the intermediate at The Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam (Cochin), and being groomed to write the Indian Civil Service examination in London, when his father, PM Avira Tharakan died. He was an only son and had to takeover the family responsibilities. We were landed gentry owning large areas of coconut plantations and paddy fields. He was also involved in business activities and along with my maternal uncle Jose A. Kallivayalil, was director of several companies.

Among the public Appan was known as ‘Gentleman’ Parayil (not that the other Parayils were un-gentlemanly). He was a voracious reader. He had fifteen children – eleven sons and four daughters. The first three, all boys, died early. I am the eldest surviving son.

Appan used to discuss with us many subjects including world affairs. It was from him that I first learned the concept of Provident Fund. While I was in high school, our workers were being paid 14 ‘chakrams’ per day while the outside rate was 15. (28 chakrams made 1 Travancore rupee; British rupee exchange was 28.5 chakrams.) I felt that we were being unfair to our workers and took up the matter with Appan.

He explained to me that when we held back one chakram of the worker, we were undertaking a great obligation. Whenever the man had a genuine need, like food, medical treatment, marriage of children etc. we were obligated to take care of it irrespective of whether his money held back by us would cover the expenses; there were no limits.

A couple of days before Appan died, we were discussing about progress. Great changes were taking place. A Communist government had been voted into power in the State. The land limitation programme that was being pushed by the leftists was sure to result in families like ours losing large areas.

Appan gave me a near perfect statement on progress: ‘Progress means a series of changes and adjustments.’ He had constantly imbibed into us the need to study well and obtain jobs. If he had gone through with the pursuit of ICS, he would have been the first in the Parayil Family to break away from the land bound tradition. As it happened, that honour came to me.

Appan lies buried in the family crypt in the cemetery chapel of St. Anthony’s Church, Thycattussarry, which was built by the Parayil Tharakans in 1791.

Ends.

Also see:

Oru Desathinte Amma.

The House That Grandfather Built.