Life at Moolamattom-5

Weather at Moolamattom

Weather at Moolamattom was something quite different from most of other places in Kerala. In Idukki district itself, weather was very tough. During the rainy seasons there used to be heavy rains. When I say heavy rains, those rains never used to stop for 2-3 days. So it was like house arrest, We couldn’t go out anywhere except to schools. Things were not better at schools also as we were not able to go out and play.

Idukki district was quite famous for natural disasters during the rainy season. Most famous one being ‘urulpottal’. (Landslips are locally called "Urulpottal", resulting in loss of life and property are frequently reported in Idukki). We used to get holidays for schools when there used to be heavy ‘urulpottal’ in Idukki. So whenever there used to be heavy rains in our place, we used to listen to radio in the morning for news. We kids were just waiting to know if there were any urulpottal around and if any holiday was announced. Those days District Collector seemed to be all powerful man for me. Announcement for the school holiday came from District Collector.

There was a small bridge connecting our KSEB colony to outside world. All the school and office vehicles took that path to go from our colony. During one of the heavy rains this small bridge collapsed. I don’t think we went to school that days as there was not many options available during that day. In next day or so, they made alternate arrangements. Now when I think of it, they did something great in a day. There was a small bridge which was used people to cross the river by foot. It was of wooden frame it was not strong enough to carry any vehicles. But there was no alternate arrangement also. So they got 2 big metallic beams and placed them on the top of the bridge. Those beams were longer than length of the bridge and so weight was not going to come on the bridge. The distance between the 2 beams were adjusted in such a way as to carry a Jeep. It was just enough for a Jeep and not suited for any other vehicle. But then we had many jeeps in our campus and most of the people went to offices in jeeps only.

For us, this was a very big thing. But because of this disaster many families who was staying near the river side had to be evacuated. Many lost their houses also. They were staying inside the KSEB colony but were not part of the colony. I remember we used to collect money, food and clothes for those families in school. That was something good about studying in schools run by Christian missionaries. They have some social commitments and they try to do something back to the society. This is my thoughts and you can agree or disagree with me. 