KALAKAD THOTHATHRI VADYAR ( 4 )

                                             KALAKAD THOTHATHRI VADYAR  (  4  )      

                                                      KTV  and KP got married in tne year 1930  and in their happy married life they got a series of twelve children almost with a gap of  roughly two years. Their second child and first female in the family was named Gomathi to bear the Ambal's name.( The presiding deities of the village are Sathiavageeswarar and Gomathi Ambal )  She was born in the year 1934  and  had her elementary   education in the ECM School upto seventh standard when her education was stopped  out of some local problems .and अहं also she was given in marriage to her cousin Gopalakrishnan when she was hardly 11 years old.Immediately after marriage she was taken to  Benares to be with in laws.  .J wanted to present KTV with something substantial for the servīces rendered by him to her  father NR and to her after his death.At the time of Komu's  marriage J presented a fine golden chain of  considerable value and weight commensurable to her richness with some air of arrogance that is generally associated with rich ones.She could have stopped with gifting but it seems that she had used some unsavoury comments.A person of fiery temperament by nature KTV on hearing her words  snatched the chain from K's neck ,directly went to J's house threw the object and walked back giving a befitting reply.    Before K's  marriage, TV Mama's poonul function was celebrated in a very grand manner ,as grand as K's marriage..    Generally these functions are celebrated as a four day affair with a lot of Vedic rituals and a function in house was looked upon as a common function in the society.All  the people in the society took part and cooperated and helped/Because ,things were available in plenty at cheap rate there were more merry and enjoyment .Their life was not cheap however because of their contentment. In KTV's case because of his helping tendency, all the people would be invited and all will respect and honour his invitation.

                                          The return of the jewels led to a lot of repurcussions .His elder sister and now sambandhi by this marriage made a great hue and made it a big  issue demanding the jewels and picked up quarrel with him which made the atmosphere unpleasant which was otherwise a happy occasion..KTV was not happy over the development . He promised to get a new one after some time and he did so by selling a portion  of wet lands after some time.But this incident made a dent in the relation between the sister and brothe r.

                              When sister Sankari was about two years old all members of KTV family wet to Benares to attend the marriage of Radhakrishnan, brother  of Gopalakrishnan. I was roughly seven years old ( 72 years back ) but still I remembers the orduous and tedius journey  that any one would have had .,due to various factors.  No frequent buses from Kalakad to Thirunelveli,where we have to catch the train, no frequent trains to the destination which is in the extreme north,no proper facilities in the stations like food arrangement and water facilities no proper connection trains ,no deisel engines and so on.The duration of the entire journey lasted for two and half days. No taxi anywhere Horse drawn jadgaas was a new experience  for us.One had to prepare   enough food from the starting point itself unlike nowadays. Generally a train journey made one's dress unclean and the entire body of the traveller chocked with with coal dust which very often freely enters his or her eyes freely unless careful. All reached Varanasi safe. 

                                   The marriage was conducted in a grand scale at GANGAMAHAL on the bank of the river Ganges.We had  a happy and enjoyable stay at Varanasi for 15 days  and visited a number of places.Kasi Viswanathar Temple ,Benares Hindu University ,a number of religious places on the shores of Ganges  with occasional boatrides .Our main stay was at the Hanuman Ghat at our aunt's residence.It was a pleasure to walk through the narrow lanes of Varanasi,A short trip to  Allahabad also we made.We returned safe back to Kalakad .On seeing a big deity picture in the front hall of the house Konthai Sankari remarked happily '' Ammaadi,  nambaam vanthaachu ''.

                                                       ( to be continued  )