Life at Moolamattom- 6

Friends Moving Away- New Neighbors

One thing that was happening very common in our KSEB colony was people moving out from Moolamattom once the kids finished their 10th ( SSLC). There was one good college near to Moolamattom and it was again run by Christian missionaries. One reason why people were moving out might be attributed to Engineering/Medicine fever. Engineering/Medicine seemed to be only option that was available for kids those days. For getting seat in good colleges you had to exceedingly well in entrance exams. All the students were studying in entrance coaching centers those days. That was required to get used to the questions in entrance exams and also to pick up the speed which was most essential for getting good marks in entrance exams.

In few years time Anup and his family moved out from Moolamattom once Anithachechi finished her 10th. They had moved out to Kalamassery (Ernakulam). In the same way, Arvind also moved out to Thrissur once Amrithachechi finished her 10th. The movement of people seemed to be inevitable at those stage. Amith and his family who had moved out to C-5 in an year or so after we moved in to Moolamattom also moved out when Kavithachechi finished her 10th. I am keeping in touch with many of my old friends thanks to some American’s brain whose idea was Orkut. Yesterday I got an invitation from my old friend Anup. We hadn’t heard of each other after Anup’s marriage. Now I hope I will be able to keep in touch with him again. Those good olden days will never come back again and but there is no point in weeping over it. Better to make use of available options to keep in touch with old friends, right? I always believe that the friendships that started during the childhood are really special as there is innocence associated with those relationships. That is something which is very hard to find these days.

Once Anup and his family moved out from C-3, we had another family. Mansoor Uncle, Hasina Aunty, Farzi and Fayaz. It was great to have them as our neighbors. Farzi was one year younger to Kingini and Fayaz was 2-3 years younger Farzi. Mansoor Uncle and Hasina Aunty were unlike from many other families who stayed at Moolamattom. Firstly they were more young and were less traditional than most of the other families. We always tend to associate certain level of orthodox mentality with Muslims but I don’t agree with it. That is not the case with all the Muslims. Hasina Aunty was always willing to be one among us and used to join us while we were playing cricket or badminton. Mansoor Uncle is no more and Hasina Aunty did well in bringing up the kids. Farzi is married now and settled in Middle East and Fayaz has finished his B’Tech. He is working now in Hyderabad.

Another family that were very close at Moolamattom was Sasi Uncle and Girija Aunty. They had a good library at home and I was very close with Priyachechi. She used to give me many good books and I got interested in reading that way. Those days we used to read fictions alone. I always feel that the best way to start reading is through fiction. Priyachechi was exception in her studies as well. She secured 5th rank in SSLC exam in spite of studying in government school. That was something quite unheard of during those days. She secured Gold Medal for Pre-Degree as well for MG University. They were at Moolamattom for more than 8 years.

How can I forget my Table Tennis sessions that we had with Nanu Sir? We used to go for playing Table Tennis those days. Nanu Sir was working in KSEB and he was instrumental in developing Table Tennis in Moolamattom. There used to be around 30 players who used to be trained by Nanu Sir during those days. He was a very strict person and because of this strictness alone Idukki Team was doing well.

More about Moolamattom in next one..:-)