Neerkoli Ammini

The rainy season in Thekkepat Kovilakkam my ancestral house in Parappanangadi ( not the above picture as my ancestral house is long gone back to dust ) was something to behold .

The drumbeat of the incessant rains on the awnings ,the constant gushing of water in from the drain pipes ,the flooding of the nadumittams ( the open spaces within traditonal Kerala houses )the surreal croaking of frogs , the humming of many insects searching for some form of dryness and in the nights the trooping of fluttering moths over the dimly burning kerosene lamps and the bright petromaxes .

Many were the happy days I had spent on such rainy evenings with my cousins as we escaped into the dark rooms and wet corners playing in our innocence .

Rain painted Parappanagadi in hues of green ,the vegetation grew lush and full ,the pond brimmed with bluish green water on which the droplets of rain fell like arrows raining from the dark skies .

Dusk would bring booming thunders and frightening flashes of lightening which would give momentary glimpses of a watery world disappearing into the gloom of the darkeness .

It was during one of these rainy days that it happened .

We had two female cooking assistants to Nambiar our big cook ,one was Ammini and the other Unnuli

the second was more of a general help not restricted only to the kitchen ,

Ammini was the plumpier one ,she was constantly at work and none of her fleshier or flashier moments distracted Nambiar from his personal passion which was to cook delicious food for the inmates of the house .

My grandmother Karthiyayani amma would stand no nonsense and all of them were mortally afraid of her except Nambiar of course who was too old a hand to be afraid of anyone ,but to him it was his honour of being a great cook which was important and he just had a friendly affection to my grandmother but was not afraid of her like the others .They both conferred and conspired to create exotic menus to feed the constantly hungry household .

Non vegetarian food was rarely made in the kovilakkam ,mostly was on occasions when we gluttons came from the cities on holidays for it involved certain formalities .

One had to cook flesh only in the outer kitchen shed and had to bring it through the outside compound throught the bathroom and to the kezakkeummarthu that means the northern hall where it would be consumed

All trying feats .

This involved a lot of running carrying hot dishes by Ammini balanced under an awning umbrella which was for protecting the chicken or mutton dishes from being diluted with rain water more than creating a wet Ammini even though the process itself would create a eye catching Ammini ,which for us by then adolescents brimming with hormones was all the more appetising more so than the dishes themselves !

The rains brought another problem in its wake in the kitchen ,the firewood would get ages to get lighted as they would be sozzled by the water and Nambiar would send Ammini running to fetch dry ones from the loft in the far end of the compound a half kilometre away near the pond and this time all Ammini would have to protect herself from the rains would be a piece of cloth over her head as one could not carry firewood as well as umbrellas .well not even Ammini could do that .

It happened so one day Ammini was selecting the firewood in the loft ,it was raining copiously and suddenly something slithered from amongst the wood and she felt a sharp sting

Ammini shrieked in terror

" Pampu Pampu ( snake,snake ) and came tearing down into the house.

she was breathless by the time she reached the kitchen ,hearing her all of us ran into the kitchen and she was standing flushed and wet and in a minute promptly swooned to the floor in a heap .

Nambiar yelled "get her to kumaran vaidyan quikly, Chozhi where are you ? "and in minute Ammini was laid into a makeshift stretcher of a wide wooden bench and carried to Kumaran vaidyan the local snake bite exponent .

we all tropped along

is it the end of our dear Ammini ? we were sad !

The procession wound its way though the narrow edozhi ( path )

people were asking what happened to Ammini as news spread like wild fire

some were telling she was already gone and it was just a formality and Ammini too was quite and still with no moments !

The procession grew in size with time and it snaked its way .

At last we reached the vaidyans house , by then half the village was there wet and anxious .

Nambiar was flushed and frightened he did like Ammini though he yelled at her whenever he got a chance .

Vaidyan came slowly ,spat his betel leaf into the wet ground .

"ivide kedathu " ( make her lie here )

He opened her eyes with a finger and peered deep while also checking her pulse .

" where was she bitten ? "he asked ,

someone said the right hand though no one knew for sure whether she was really bitten ,

she had a small nick in the right wrist spattered with mud he cleaned it and again peered at it intently

" onnum parayan pattila 24 manikur kaziyadhe "( nothing can be told till it is 24 hours )declared our man of medicine .

Amminis sister had reached by now and started wailing ,my grandmother too had reached and tried to console her .

All were worried after all Ammini wasnt old and many in the crowd liked her for various reasons .

Suddenly the crowd parted and there was kunjan with a snake in his hand ,

Kunjan was the local idiot who used to just gape at things grinning all the time

he had heard Amminis wails and went to the firewood shed and found the wriggling specimen which with the dare of the innocent caught it with his bare hands and brought to it to the place of action .

He was now showing it off like a trophy .

The vaidyan quickly and adeptly took it from him catching it just in its neck so that it would not bite him,he looked at it carefully and then started laughing .

" ithu neerkoliya " this is a waternake and threw it into the nearby pond ,someone threw some water on Amminis face and Ammini woke up with a start

And thus was born the legend of Neerkoli Ammini .