Kuttan Nair forgot his house keys
Kuttan(Ku) Nair was staying in a remote village in Kerala. The house was constructed by his ancestors years back. It was made out of mud. Even in summer, the inside of the house was quite cool His wife Sulochana (Su) and daughter Parvati (Pa) were with him. There were a large number of coconut, areca nut, jack fruit, teakwood trees in the house compound. Also he was nurturing a quite big vegetable garden. The surplus vegetables were sold in the nearby market. In his house compound there was a small pond. Water was drawn from the pond. In front of the house there was a small stream. Beyond the stream was paddy fields. Altogether it gave really a panoramic view.
Ku’ spent most of his time in the field and garden. He was able to raise sufficient money from the sale of the agricultural products. There was a Krishna temple near his house. Pa’ and Su’ used to go to the temple regularly in the evening. Once in a year in the month of October there used to be a pooram celebration in the temple. The celebration lasted for three days. Various cultural programs like Ottam thullal , Dance, Chakyarkooth etc were being enacted during this period. Su’ spent her spare time in reading books. There was a small library near to her house. She used to get books from there. She was interested in painting also. She taught few students painting.
Pa’ was studying in a nearby college. She took part in various cultural activities and won many prizes. She also acted as the Editor of the college magazine. After graduation, she joined as a teacher in the nearby school. At the same time she continued with her cultural activities. By that time her parents started searching a suitable boy for her marriage. They gave advertisement in a local news paper. Pa’ told her parents that she was not interested in marrying a boy working in the middle east. She wanted the boy to be from near her place. After lot of searches, they could identify a boy from the neighboring town. He was working in the state government revenue department.
The marriage was solemnized in the traditional style. Only close relatives were invited for the marriage. After marriage, Pa’ shifted to her husband’s house. She was happy with her in laws. Father- in- law was a retired government servant. The school in which she was working was very near to her house. She could come to the house for lunch also.
It was a Sunday evening. Pa’ was seeing a cinema in the
TV. Mother in law was in the kitchen preparing evening tea. At that time she got a whatsup message. After reading the message, she started crying loudly. Mother in law came running from the kitchen enquiring about the reason of the cry. Pa’ was not in a state to talk. Mother- in- law sprinkled some water on her face. Then she murmered that her mother was no more.
Pa’ along with her husband immediately rushed to her house. Almost all the neighbors were there. Her immediate neighbor started consoling her. She paid respect to her departed mother and sat near the dead body. She could not imagine that her mother would meet such an untimely death. She was told that mother was watering the kitchen garden. Suddenly she felt some uneasiness and fell down. She was immediately taken to the near by hospital but was declared as brought dead.
After the death - ceremonies, Pa returned to her husband’s house. She requested her father to come and stay with her. But he did not agree. He told hat he has to look after his paddy fields and vegetable garden. But he agreed to come to her house in the week end.
As agreed, he used to come to Pa's house on week ends and stay with her. On one Sunday evening, he was retuning to his house from his daughter's house. He walked a bit fast. It was getting dark. Children in the nearby houses started chanting prayers slightly in a louder voice. The village road was almost empty. The sun was approaching the western horizon. A group of cranes flew over the green fields. Children were playing football in the nearby ground.
Suddenly he remembered that he has forgotten to take his house keys from Pa's house. He turned back and walked to Pa's house. He opened the gate of her house. Walked towards the portico. He was about to knock on the door. At that time, he heard a conversation in a very low tone between Pa’ and her husband.
“I
don’t think the old man will die in the near future.” said Pa's husband
“He is keeping good health now also.” Pa
"When he dies, I want to sell this property and purchase a new flat in the town.” Pa's husband
“That
will be nice. I am completely fed up with this
village life.” Pa
Ku’ could not believe his ears. He was till now thinking that his daughter was not so greedy and was loving her father very much. In an angry and desperate mood Ku’ collected the keys. He did not talk any thing to Pa’. He came out of the house and started walking to his house. Old memories cropped up in his mind. He could not control his sorrow. Tears rolled over his cheek.
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