Oral History

I interviewed my grandmother the night before Thanksgiving. My cousins were coming the next day, so we were both busy cooking the entire day. Finally, at eight o’clock in the evening, I sat down with my grandmother in the living room and began my interview.

Me: How did you learn about St. Thomas converting our forefathers?

My Grandmother: I heard this from my father’s family.

Me: Did you ever get into an argument about religion with your parents?

My Grandmother: No, never. There was nothing to argue about.

Me: Did you ever have any friends who were strongly against Christianity?

My Grandmother: I had Hindu friends, but they don’t tell me anything against Christianity, but they are very deeply devoted in their religion, the Hindus.

Me: Did British occupation around the time you were a child influence people’s feelings about Christians?

My Grandmother: In 1947 they left. I was 9, or rather 10 years old. So, at that time, I had just learned from history about it, but I can’t remember having seen the life of these British people in India.

Me: Where did you go to church?

My Grandmother: Puthenkavu Church in Chengannur Village. The village had a Marthoma church. It’s a very big church; the people were very rich. The private secretary of Puthennkavu came to our church, but my grandfather went to the Jacobite church, so we would go there sometimes. I’ve seen the priests; there were so many priests. They used to have their processions on the road. I’ve seen all that. They would sing by the front of our house. We would keep a lamp lit at the front of our house. It was the kind with oil and something burning that I can’t remember. It is lighted with a piece of cloth dipped in coconut oil that we put in a tray. In Malayalam, it’s called nelavalak. They changed the fashion now; it’s prettier. Everything the church people carry that walk to all the houses is decorated, like beautiful sheets. The achen (priests) comes; they have worship songs, and then they pray. We would then put our offerings onto a plate. We would use coins. Then, they would go to another house. They would come by with decorated umbrellas. They had four sticks that held a beautiful sheet that they would put over these achens to protect them from the sunlight and rain. My appachan (grandfather) was in the Orthodox Church; they had a thiramani (bishop) from Kerala.

Me: Hold on. I thought your grandfather was a part of the Jacobite Church.

My Grandmother: Jacobite and Orthodox are the same. They have the same bishops. They combined churches a while back. The greatest bishop has a residence in Kottayam. My grandfather’s eldest son’s house was bought by that bishop. It’s called Devalogam. It was very beautiful. It was so big and rich. Ordinary people cannot buy it, so the Jacobite people bought it for their thiramani.

Me: When you were a kid were you allowed to celebrate Onam?

My Grandmother: My mother would make chips for us, and if someone came, they would eat it too. But my appachan would get angry. He would not even eat the Onam curries or chips. You know for Onam, the Hindus only eat vegetarian curries that day, but my appachan won’t eat rice without meat except when it’s lent. The servants would want the Onam curries, so my ammachi (grandmother) would make it for them. That’s it.

Me: I know you went to college. At that time, did many girls go to college in Kerala?

My Grandmother: Yeah. Where I lived, the people were rich. If you did well in school, you would go to college.

Me: Did you choose what you wanted to major in college, or did your parents choose for you?

My Grandmother: I choose my subjects. In school also, in my time, everybody had to take all different kinds of languages. When my older cousins went to school, their school was in English because the British were there, but my school was given in Malayalam. We used to read and learn Shakespeare and other English poetry and prose. We also had to learn Hindi, but only one book of it. My parents would help me choose classes, but I made the choice to major in biology.

Me: Even though they got rid of the caste system, did you still see discrimination?

My Grandmother: Some people don’t like to see low caste. With us, we didn’t have many really low caste people in our school. In Alleppey Girl’s School, I remember this one child who was lower caste but had good color. The girls in the school one day helped give her a bath because she never took one. I think some people don’t keep their children clean, maybe because they didn’t have soap. The upper-class girls brought a dress for her and washed her old clothes. She was a small child. She looked very pretty. Some girls in my class were brave, they did whatever they like. If they think they are in the right path, they do it without asking the teachers. That I’m telling you because of the small child. I didn’t see much discrimination though because the school I went to had many rich people, people richer than me. The girls there used eyeliner and would put different flowers in their hair. From the top to bottom of their hair would be flowers. Sometimes jasmine, sometimes chrysanthemum. I think they would spray scents on their hair too. The hair is decorated in Kerala. Most kids used nail polish.

Me: Were you allowed to use nail polish?

My Grandmother: One day my friend put nail polish on me, but when my grandmother saw, she said that my grandfather would blame her for me wearing the nail polish, so I took it off. You know, I think I may have seen some discrimination actually. I remember my mother told me that people that worked for our house could not come near our house. They remained in our backyard. They couldn’t come near the door. My grandmother would give them food on a plantain leaf in our yard. You never give them food in a plate. In school, I never saw such a thing though. We would all sit together on the same bench. But, the Sudras would never come to school anyway. The alphabet was taught at home, so if you didn’t know that, you didn’t come to school. But Kerala is a great state; the caste issue wasn’t as big here I think.

Me: What are your favorite Kerala folktales that you read at school?

My Grandmother: We would read many stories in our books. We used to read Ballamithram. It was about a monkey and a crocodile. They crocodile became friends with the monkey, and when the crocodile’s wife wanted to eat the monkey, the crocodile then tries to kill the monkey. That’s the only story I remember. If you ask my brother, he can tell you a lot more stories. I had too much work to do in the kitchen to read for fun when I got older.

Me: When you were growing up, the communist revolution in Kerala began. Did you ever experience or see their protests?

My Grandmother: At that time, they weren’t allowed to protest. They were put in jail. Where I lived, they had protesters and those were put in jail. When I got up in the morning one day, I saw people marching when I looked out the window. They had on white clothes. There were also soldiers with guns walking with them. When I asked, my cousin said that those people with white shirts were put to jail since they were communists and were protesting. They were being taken from one police station to another. That I saw through the window. I was so scared. There were a lot of people.

Me: Why do you think communism became popular in Kerala?

My Grandmother: It is because the rich people had plenty of land. The farms with rubber and tea plantations were owned by rich people. The wages were small for the laborers. Every day they get wages, but not enough for them to have good food and clothing. So they started protesting. They saw other places were the laborers were paid more, so the increased their protesting. The kier (coconut husk soaked in water) was used to make the carpets in India. The ones you put in front of your door to clean your shoes. The owners of those factories were very rich, and the laborers were upset.

Me: At your college, did you have communist groups there?

My Grandmother: At my college, there was no such thing. Indira Gandhi came to our school though. She gave us a speech at our college for I think one hour. We were told to bring all our old shoes for the poor people.

Me: You were told to bring the shoes to the assembly?

My Grandmother: No, not the assembly. Right before she came. The office bearers in our school sent the shoes to the address Indira Gandhi gave. The assembly was later.

Me: What did she talk about?

My Grandmother: She talked about the poor. The flood that happened. That was who the shoes were for. The people affected by the flood. She talked about India, and the problems in it. She also gave us good advice for us students. I think she appreciated the neatness of the college too. The nuns there were very eager in keeping the place very beautiful and clean. No one was allowed to keep random paper in the room or outside the compound.

Me: How important is beef in Kerala?

My Grandmother: Every week people eat beef and cook beef. For Christmas, Easter, and any celebration, we eat plenty of beef curry and beef fried and beef cutlets. Different types of beef food.

Me: Do the Hindus in Kerala eat the beef?

My Grandmother: Some of them eat it. Back in the day the higher caste Hindus wouldn’t eat it. But when your dad was a kid, some of his Hindu Nair friends would eat it. I would give it to them when they came to our house. Some of my classmates wouldn’t eat beef, they would only eat chicken. And others are vegetarian.