Nair, Ezhava, Brahmin and Toddy! A unification!
An Evening in the year 1970,I cant remember the month exactly but could be towards the end of the year when Ramachandra Kurup came calling me from an Alley near my house. He didn’t come close to my house as my mother wouldn’t like to see any of my friends visiting me in the evening so he called me from a distance without being noticed by anyone and waited for a meeting with me. A few minutes later when I met him I found him totally upset and confused .He was at a loss of words as he spoke. He tried hard to compose himself and started talking to me again. At times his voice did quiver as he talked. He started relating to me about his visit to one of his classmate's house where he was insulted a few minutes ago. I became very anxious to know every detail of the incident. He further told me that he was passing by Krishna murthy's house that day when he was called by Krishna murthy to discuss about some lessons they learned a day before in the college. As they were discussing, Krishna murthy's mother stepped in with a hot black coffee laced in ghee in a steel Tumbler. When he finished the Tea and about to leave the house, Murthy asked him to wash the Tumbler and keep it on the varandha. It was a practice among Brahmins to ask lower caste Hindus(Read Nairs) to wash the cups or plates used by them as they left the house.
Kurup was a friend of mine same like murthy but I was always a leader among the friends as they all came with their problems to me for a solution. I had been a tough and reckless guy during those days ready to challenge anyone or any injustice done on anyone. My left leaning ideals made my convictions more harder and actions tougher. This had always put me in troubles one after another.
I was so touched by the kurp's story that I decided to teach murthy a lesson for misbehaving with a class mate. The next day I set out to the house of Murthy on an old bicycle. I met him around 3 pm and had a friendly discussion. After a few minutes, murthy offered me a Coffee. I told him to serve me a boiling coffee as I like drinking hot coffee. I told him to bring only a half cup as I cannot drink a full cup. He signaled his mother to make a coffee for me. She served it in a steel Tumbler as expected. It nearly burned my lips when I took a sip. It was so hot as desired so that I can splash the left over on to his face if he had asked me to wash it . But he never said a word when I placed the tumbler on the table. I saw his mother picking up the cup as I left. For me, who is the son of a famous Doctor and from a reputable family, My standing in the society was a great deal higher than that of the kurups.
Murthy is a High caste Brahmin. I belong to Ezhava caste and Kurup, a nair by caste but financially and socially much below both of us. The coffee episode gave me an idea about the horrors of the caste system prevailing in our country. In the Rigid four tier Hindu caste hierarchy Brahmins ranked high followed by khstriyas ,vaisiayas and Sudras. Nairs are a lowest caste among the four as they are Sudras.Ezhavas were out of the caste system so they were termed as outcastes(avarnas) and ranked high among the avarana but nairs considered ezhavas below them in the social ladder. Historically, Ezhavas as a caste, unlike Nairs were unwilling to serve the upper caste Brahmins and have been perennially at loggerheads with High caste men. Consequently there were many conflicts between nairs and ezhavas as Nairs were the cutting edge of the Brahmin and Kashtriya(Varma) interests all the time. Nairs believed that obeying the diktats of the Brahimin was divine and allowed their married women to have liaisons with as many Brahmins and khastriyas as possible. There were incidents of up to 27 men as partners for a married Nair lady apart from her legally wedded husband. This sinful practice of polyandry was known as sambandam.The nairs believed that it was their divine duty to serve the Brahmins and allowed their women to get as many high caste progeny as possible as this would help them purge their sins of the past incarnations!!
Kurup, though physically strong was too sensitive to be hurt easily . He was a brave guy but very sentimental in approch. His way was of one up manship and righteousness. Kurup was jokingly known as Ten to one among our friends as he could fight with ten persons single handedly.
I was so determined to change murthy. On one occasion when there was a strike at the college I asked him to join for food with us where every body ate from the same plate after pooling everyone's lunch packets. Murthy,though hesitant, would always obey me out of fear. He believed my wrath would be disastrous for him in the college so he always obliged every demand I made.
Come the College union innaguration, we all decided to attend the night programmes. We found an irrepressible pleasure in walking all the 6 kilometers on foot to the college from our residence. At night around 10 pm we reached near a Toddy shop(local bar where country liquor is served) on the roadside .we where all 6 including me and murthy. Everyone got inside the Toddy shop but for me and moorthy; standing outside in the dim light of a not so close by street light. I cautioned him of waiting outside the liquor outlet as it will be misunderstood by someone so I advised him to get inside and told him to be with us without sharing our drinks.( During those days drinking was taboo and boozers were frowned upon. Sometimes I wonder about the present situation in kerala .What a sea change? Something that had been a bane decades ago has become a status symbol. A place where teetotalers are frowned upon!!) We all sat is a tiny room that has wooden partitions making many cubicles. we sat in one such cubicle with murthy sat facing mukundan, adjacent to me. By the time we were in one of our friends, mukundan was already at a high! He poured white Toddy into two glasses and banged the glass in front of murthy.A bit spill over and smell around made murthy uneasy.murthy was visibility irritated at this. Before he could ask anything.Mukundan asked him to Drink it quickly!He politely refused. An Angry mukundan pulled a small knife out and caught the collar of murthy and wanted to stab him for refusing him.Murthy was really scared and shaken terribly.So I intervened and mediated. I just asked murthy to drink it quickly and avoid problems.he obliged. He didn’t have much difficulty in gulping the second one.Then he ate tapioca mash and fish curry. That was real a inauguration of his free life and break from the traditions. .Murthy slowly changed from a conservative to a liberal ..Mukundan is a project Manager in a GCC country now and Kurup died in Bahrain a few years ago .Murthy is a high ranking Government official in Delhi .I am businessman living in Africa.
We all are still friends and laugh off those days with nostalgia!
email-aspin.anil@gmail.com
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