A CHERUKUNNU FABLE

49 years routine of accompanying my father to his  ancestral house at Cherukunnu on Eid day had a break this year because of social distancing and stay at home protocols of  covid pandemic . As I lay in bed after a sumptuous eid lunch , a lot of vivid memories about Cherukunnu and its people  came to my mind. The place  has an innocuous charm like the people residing there. Over the years Cherukunnu has transformed from a simple village  to a bustling town with shopping complexes, banks and schools and most notably larger and bigger houses.

During our school vacations we used to go to Cherukunnu to stay at the ancestral house situated at the convent road. The convent road with paddy fields on both the sides  terminates at the famous Christian missionary Martin de porous hospital. As a town born confused desi, walking through the  lush green fields all around with paddy cultivation to visit the relatives was a truly enchanting experience for me. Our summer vacations would usually coincide with the famous Annapoorneshwari temple festival in April.  The Aana ezhunnallathu (elephant procession) and the fireworks during the temple festival are still afresh in my memory.  Also, a visit to the dargah at Moideen pally was a routine done during the vacation. 

I remember a folklore/ hearsay which my father often narrated about that dargah at Cherukunnu. Daddy loves to recount about the life a Cherukunnu . The story goes like this. One evening,  the  chieftain (Nadu vazhi) of Madayi  after his evening prayers at the Annapoorneswari temple was on his way back to his native place, and saw a light shining at a distant place. On enquiring, he came to know that a pious Arab traveler had been buried there some time back . The nadu vazhi then ordered to erect a place of worship over there and ordered muslim families from nearby villages of Valapattanam to relocate to Cherukunnu. That  masjid came to be  known as Oliyankara palli (oli means  light, kara means land ). Thus  muslims became natives of Cherukunnu. Even today, the Annapoorneswari temple festival starts with an offering to the Oliyankara masjid.

As mentioned before, I  find the people of Cherukunnu soft, simple and always have an innocuous smile on their faces. I find them to be very  humane and down to earth and connected to each other. 

I also remember a newspaper clipping about a Kuttuvan  Nafeesa from Cherukunnu  who donated her only gold  necklace towards the National defence fund in the 1965  Indo Pak war . It was on the 6th day after the demise of her daughter  when the  Govt officials had come to her house to collect funds for the war. Nafeesa just removed her necklace and gave it to them as she didn’t want to send them empty handed . Her relatives came to know about her donation only 20 years later when the government sent a letter to her that they will be refunding the value of  gold with five and half percent interest . She refused to take it back saying that she doesn't want to take back the  donation given for the country . 

 In my eyes, Kuttuvan Nafeesa is a living  ambassador of the people of Cherukunnu .