Written by P.Sundaramoorthy
Paruvakkattu House
This is the house which is on Vadakke Angadi Road in Thrissur, where many of the piyer had the golden days in life.
The whole house had tiled drooping roves, on wooden frames and proper ceilings on all rooms.
The area of the house is around 60 ft by 200ft.
1.Entrance:Had a big door, with considerably big platforms on either side (with tiled roof dropping type) , wherein vegetable vendors used to sit and do the sales. Plus had an incident of Raghavan accidentally closing the door with a snake in between.
As one enters the house a few feet to the right was an open enclosure about (6ft by 6 ft) with 4 sides of 2 feet high walls and 3 granite statues of snake/ god , was known as Sarpa kavu.
2.Garden: (A). Front(flowers): Had the following flower plants
Rose button, Rose red and other colors,Kashi Thumba, Nandiyar vatta,Gandarajan, malli(double and single pettled) and coimbature malli, the thin one.,kanni kurka, thumbapoo,Decemberpoo,Jandu malli,Nalumani poo,Cockscomb and Perakka plant.
(B). Vegetables grown on back side: Avarakai,Cholam, Chembu,Kurka (Chinese Poatato),Kuruthola payar(Karamani),Ginger,Manjal,Vendakka,Kathirikka,Mat han,
Elavan,Chenai,Pachamilagai,Chuni Milagai,
There were about 5 to 6 varieties of plantains(trees) all round the house totally about 100 numbers in all. avrakka had a pendant raised with bamboo sticks etc about (10ft by 10 ft) for the creeper to growand spread, we used to collect avarakkai fresh about an arikinchatti full ( may be about 5 kgs).
3.Front Veranda
At the entrance to the main house, there was thinnai extending either side with platform on either side for people to squat on.
4.Hall: This was the main place where everything takes place, had a round table with an AC/DC Radio set on it, in another corner there was pooja room like all swami photos on wall, was bed room for almost all , golu used to be arranged in front of swami photos.The rooms had ceilings with wooden beams and in the hall from those beams with nails plantain bunches used to be hung and each one used to eat as and when liked from those bunches.Even Mathan/ elavan used to be hung I think. 5.Bulb Pottina Room: just as you enter from hall this room,
While playing ball in this room , the light bulb happened to break so the room was named after that .
6.Passage Room to Right: This is to right of hall, in front of it was the thittil room and to further right of it was the pathayam room.
7.Thottil Room: This room had a small thottil(Cradle) in the centre of the room.Almost all piyer kids must have grown up in this thottil.
8.Dining Hall/ Pathayam Room : This was high roofed without ceiling . In one corner there was this pathayam( granary storage container) wherein paddy used to be stored, had a capacity to store about 100 kgs may be 9.Kitchen:Had firewood aduppu, kalchaties,kories,Idli panai,etc for cooking.Aduppu muttal daily was an ordinance.
10.Kalavara: Store Room where we used to steel Jaggery/Vellam (achu),Coconut pinnakku etc and munch at leisure.
11.Kollathavaram:
This is a thinnai like long platform, some washings were done here, in front was the home grown Keera pathi.May be servant maid used to ash vessels here.
12. Main Bath Room:No taps or showers but only Anda and buckets and a (njalingina) pathram for bathing. 13.Small Bath Room attached to well: Here there is a pulley drive to collect water from the well and have bath or wash vessels or water plants.
14.Passage Room Left:
This room had the wooden ,fully covered storage space with shutters, just below the space of staircase.
15.Kattil Room : is the only room with a cot so was named thus.
16.Madi Padi (staircase): was of wood and had a storage space below with shutters.
17.Passage Room Right:
Was more like general purpose room, used to ennathelpikkalthe kids etc.
18. Almirah Room( in the madi): Is a bed room but had a glass doored almirah on which once I happened to hang on its door and fall down with the whole almirah and went to Dr Krishna Iyer for dressing with help of Manni.
19 . Hall( upstairs): in the upstairs was big and tiled floor ideal for murukku chuthaling and such activities.
20 . Passage Room left & right:(up stairs):These were upstairs and were general purpose passage rooms.
21. Konthai/Manni Bed Room : was their bed room upstairs.
All rooms had Attached nadan/local toilets , just a granite platform with outlet.No Indian/ Anglo Indian / western toilets those days.
22. Left veranda: we used to store vaikkol here because the thozhuthu with madu (cow shed with cow) and kannukutti was attached to this.
23.Back side Veranda outside Pathayam room, viragu(FireWood) and Nelagathil (a big brass vessel with two hooks hung from the roof of veranda with the help of long S hooks) used to be kept to store water exclusively for outside Toilet usage purpose.
24 Toilets(2)outside , 500 mts away from house.
One has to go with a chombu/bucket of water from the nilagadil.
There were the following trees at the back side: podiyini , konna, veppu(neem),Puli(tamarind) and a coconut
25. Fence(veli):
It was customary to build this fence, which is on on the left hand side and back side of the house,with bamboo bushes and bamboo strips once in a year .
White washing used to be done by an old man.
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