Arumbakkam – eternal sprouts!

bullock cart that would fetch us

Arumbakkam at the highway

Arumbakkam means the place where sprouts proliferate/prosper. They say the heart of India lies in its villages and Arumbakkam made me experience it live. Till I went to college, for a few weeks every summer I was a regular visitor. Situated between Kanchipuram and Arcot we could get there in many ways. A direct bus from Chennai to Thimiri would take about 3-4hours to cover the 110km to Arumbakkam. Or by train to Katpadi and then a bus from there (Vellore) to Arumbakkam would take about 1 ½ hours for a 30km journey. A post card would go ahead to my Periappa (my father’s elder brother) so that a bullock cart would be sent to the highway from where the village was 3 km inside. All I knew or learnt there was from my Periappa and Periamma.

Periappa and Periamma

The daily Puja

The day started very early. Periappa would be off to the fields to oversee whether the labourers were doing their assigned roles, ploughing or watering or transplanting or harvesting the right fields. He would have planned and discussed all these with a few key staff the previous night. At times one was lucky to catch him in the fields and observe him give instructions. He would patiently explain if asked about farming like transplanting, when to water and not etc. Once he got back home, he would wash his clothes, bathe and get ready for Puja. In the mean time Periamma would have managed people handling cows in the backyard to be milked, the house swept clean and all preparation on for a daily Puja. The Puja would go for more than an hour. One could help with grinding sandal paste, plucking flowers or vilva etc. A host of idols and saligrams would go through abhishekam with milk (milk poured over them one by one with mantras being chanted) all held in a copper tray. After the aarthi was the high point – all Puja bells used in the South have a Nandi at the top of the handle and at the end of the Puja, Periappa would give a dip for Nandi after which we would get the prasadam and it was time for brunch. Afternoon and early evening was dispensing time when people would come to consult Periappa an ayurvedic doctor continuing the Arumbakkam vaidhyar tradition. In the evening Periamma would go and light lamps and incense in the family temple where the morning Puja used to be done by a priest but evening was care of family. Once dark and an early dinner was had, the front of the house was a sitout area, with Periappa in a cane chair. People would come for his counsel or he will plan what to do next day. A radio would sound the news or concerts and one could sit and gaze at the clear sky, with the sound of frogs croaking and crickets screaming with occasional fireflies adding to the

the home front

spectacle.

Periamma's Go Puja

Over the years one got to see how they deepen a well, handle paddy crop from start to transplanting to harvest, sugarcane – its crushing and making jaggery, alternating crops like groundnuts – there was science in the way it was handled but difficult to figure it all out as a visitor. We grew up with Kichadi Samba variety of rice stocks coming from the village till late 80s.

Periappa at his Dispensary

Arumbakkam Vaidhyam (medicine) practiced by Periappa was famous. We grew up with a set of Lehyams (like Chavanprash), pills, oils and bhasmams (powders) which I am sure made us healthier. Seeing the making of lehyam with various ingredients being prepared and it being boiled in a cauldron was like Getafix making the elixir. Periappa used to prepare it at times for the Kanchi Sankaracharya. There was this pill with Kastur for colds and Shilastu basmam as a body coolant. The ayurvedic oils were however not at all welcome by us kids. There was great sequence to having them. One had to have an oil bath the previous day as a preparatory step. Then early in the morning on an empty stomach you had a prescribed combination of oils. These were bitter and just had to be gulped without it touching the pallete. A little bit of sugar alone was given to manage the after taste. Different oils took care of different aspects like acidity, acted as body coolant, allergies / rashes – but all of them were also laxatives purging the stomach. The meal then was a regimented one with few sautéed vegetables, thuvaiyal (paste of roasted pulses), pepper rasam and nothing else. But at the end of it did make us refreshed and rejuvenated.

The well now (used full and better then)

I think I was 8 or 9 years when my grandma felt as boys one should know to swim. My father did not but all my cousins and Periappa did. So while we used to have a bath in the pumpsets at the village well and go down the well steps to feel the water one never gathered courage to get into the well. I would see in awe the village kids jump into the well and swim. The project to make me swim was taken up and went for a few days of trying to make me float, assure me the water snakes don’t bite, with a rope around the waist, I cannot drown. Then there was the brainwave ( I don’t remember from whom) that the way to lose fear was to jump in for 10 feet or so (the well had 20-30ft deep water).  I think I got a whole lot of people to be in the water to save me once I jumped, including my Periappa who sportingly got in. I stood at the edge not jumping looking below. Then I was told to close my eyes count till three and blindly jump – I shut my eyes and counted one,two and whoosh some body pushed me in and I thought I drowned. That saw me running away and complaining to my Grandma who cancelled the project. I remained a non swimmer till 15 years later when I learnt it in the comfort of a shallow swimming pool.

One can go on about Arumbakkam about the walks in the fields, by the village tank, the Amman temple, the scorpions and bats… but how much ever is said about such a place is not enough as it sprouts eternally…

My Periappa and Periamma are no more but I am glad I had the fortune of putting a tribute to the legends of Arumbakkam a couple of years ago…

ps; many of the photos here are from the late 80s or 90s when some were post prime (like the bullock cart got replaced by other modes or the well by borewells)