C-4-Our old quarter at Moolamattom..

We started from Koyilandy in train to Ernakulam. Distance was around 250kms (which is quite a distance in this part of world). Train took around 5-6 hours to reach Ernakulam. From Ernakulam we had lunch and took bus to Moolamattom. By the time we reached Moolamattom, it was already quite dark out there. Might have been around 7-8pm. We took auto from Bus Stand to our quarters. It was around 5kms around the hill to reach our quarters.

We were in for a shock when we reached our quarters. The quarters in itself was very beautiful with very big rooms. It had couple of bed rooms, living room, dining room, study, kitchen, work area, room for servant etc. There were big in-build wardrobes and glass shelves in all the rooms. It was built long ago during the commissioning of Idukki Hydro Electric project developed with the support of Canada. Every room had tube lights and big fans. Now that was good part about the quarters. About the shocking part now- We were opening the wardrobes that we had in room and check cloths kept inside the bags. We were able to see any bags or cloths but instead we could only see termites in all the wardrobes. Now that was something that we never expected there. It might be because of the climate out there. It was quite chilling there at that time. One of the major reasons why I prefer such climate as compared warm days might be because of getting used to such climate at Moolamattom. We had some cloths in the suitcases and which Achan didn’t keep inside any of the wardrobes. So that saved day for us. It might have quite difficult for Achan and Amma to manage all the things there with two of us running around in the new house.

It was closing days of the vacation time for the kids and most of kids in the neighborhood were not around. As I told earlier, everyone was going to their hometown during the vacations. So I could not see much of them at that time. There were 6 quarters in our place. Our quarter no was C-4.

Let me take you through the others who are staying from C-1 to C-6.

C-1
Balakrishnan Uncle and Jayasree Aunty. They had a daughter- Sreebala(Mithu). She was one year younger to me. We were family friends even before moving to Moolamattom. So it was to nice have them there. They were from Calicut itself.

C-2
Venkiti Uncle and Booma Aunty. They had a boy Vijay who was 3 years younger to me. They were from Chennai.

C-3
Gopi Uncle and Usha Aunty. They had two kids- Anitha Chechi and Anoop. Anoop was of my age and Anitha chechi was 5 years elder to me. They were from Perumbavoor.

C-5
That was vacant when we moved in.

C-6
Sasi Uncle and Girija Aunty. They have two kids. Priya Chechi and Lakshmi. Priyachechi was 4 years elder to me and Lakshmi was of Kingini’s age. They were from Kottayam.

Since there were only six quarters in the locality, all the families were very close to each other. We used to have family get together at any of the quarters once in a month.

After C-6, there were another 12 quarters belong to C class itself. C quarters belonged to Asst. Exe. Engineers of KSEB. C-7 to C-18 were in another part little far from our quarters. There were many kids staying in those quarters also. I still remember many of those faces even now. Rajish, Manu, Ashokan, Deepak, Eldhose, Darshan, Abhilash, Anish, Sajith and many older chettans. I don’t remember all of them now. I’m getting old.

Oh yes, there was one more C class quarters situated away from rest. That belonged to the doctor who was working in the hospital of KSEB. Yes, we had a hospital over there to look after all the people staying over there. In total there should be around 150 quarters and with almost 500 people residing there.

In addition to hospital, there was also an school and club facility available there. But I'm not sure if it was the best school available around. School was called IHEP (Idukki Hydro Electric Project) Upper Primary School. One thing I remember was there was big football ground for that school which was always filled with people in every day evening. Same can be told about club also.

I was asked to take a test before joining the school. School re-opened on first week of June as always. It was time for heavy rain during that time in Moolamattom. School bus used to come to our place around 8.30-8.45. I was sad that Anoop was studying in a different school. By the time school re-opened we had about 2-3 days to play with each other it was a good time. Anoop was a very good boy and we all kids played together. So I had started to enjoy the new place.

It is a totally different world when we join a new school, right? I was a stranger in the class and there were few like that who joined the new school. There were many people from KSEB colony and they all went to school in a green school bus. I still remember Ramachandran Chettan who used to drive our school bus. So in few days time, I was able to make few friends. But it takes some time to get in to any new group and that was the case with me also. Also me being a shy person at that time didn’t help me in anyway.

Kingini joined the same school in LKG and she was very interested in going to school. Almost opposite to how I was when I was a kid. I don’t think she ever cried while going to school. Though it is around 23 years ago, I still remember how I used to take Kingini to LKG class room. LKG and UKG were in a different building as compared to other classes.

As the school was run Christian management, there were lots of nuns who were taking the classes. It was the first time in my life I met a nun in my life. For me they resembled Muslim ladies whom we see in plenty in Calicut. But the only resemblance between them was that both were wearing Parda (scarf of their head). It was told to me that school was a very strict one and they won’t give you breathing space and all. On joining the school, I also understood that what ever I heard was true.:-)

More about Moolamattom and my school days in the coming posts….