The River & Life

River beds……it’s a feeling in itself and experience  per se in anybody’s life who happened to live by a riverside. Historically, civilizations have emerged along the fertile shores of rivers, be it Indus or Nile. For me, living beside river has always been very special and personal, right from my childhood. It has taught me to ‘just flow by’ and maintain the tranquility, it has taught me to love mother earth.

Nila, aka Bharathapuzha, is the longest flowing river in Kerala. It was on its shore that the legacy of Valluvanadu, a medieval feudal state in the Southern Malabar, sprouted and flourished. Nila’s sandy banks still remember the numerous invasions, strife stricken periods and bloodshed's of the history of Valluvanadu. Nila also murmured musically into the souls of poets and literary figures and the land’s cultural hegemony still continues. Here I am sharing some of my memories of Nila and its tributaries that flew across my childhood.

It was my father who told me about Nila. When I was a child, he used to carry me wherever he went and would explain about everything that was new to the big eyed curious little girl. When I saw something new, I would look upto him and he, much like a majestic magician, would uncover the story behind what I saw. Those stories made my childhood glitteringly colorful. My parents took us to the famous Guruvayoor temple every year to celebrate their wedding anniversary that fell on April 24. We used to start early morning from Mannarkad by bus which then traversed through Cherpulasserry, Ottapalam and Pattambi before it reached Guruvayoor. 

The bus had a 10 minutes halt at the Pattambi bus station and my father would wake me up by whispering, ‘Rechoo, wake up and wash your little face, don’t you want to see Nila..?’ Pattambi bus station was situated on the banks of Nila and there was a bridge adjacent to the bus station across the river. Cool breeze from the river played hide and seek with my face and curly hair that covered my forehead, when my father took me along for short walk on the bridge. I still feel the coolness of the soft kiss of the breeze from Nila on my cheeks. When I grew up, I used to read about Nila from the newspapers and magazines with great enthusiasm, which I still continue to do.

Though I saw Nila only during my numerous bus journeys, it left such a lasting imprint on my heart which ached to touch and feel the river at least once. When I was 9 years old, my family went on a wedding trip to Pattambi Sree Ramaswami Temple where our neighbour’s son was getting married. I was particularly thrilled at it because the temple was situated on the banks of Nila. I managed to avail permission from my parents to go with my Cheriyachan to the river. I still remember the walk to the river bank, holding Cheriyachan’s hand. Then…there was Nila, smiling at me with its silver like bubbles – filled shore. I smiled back and touched her cheek; it was the beginning of an age old friendship.

Memories of Nila originated feelings of awe in me, it exotically dragged me to it by being always unreachable. What else fills the heart of a coming of age-girl like flowing water that left swirls and whirls as it went sensitively kissing the shores without stopping to get kissed back. Muriyankanni river is a tributary that flew into Nila and my aunt’s house was on at a walking distance from it. My father took us along to walk for nearly 4 kms crossing Muriyankanni River to aunt’s house through paddy fields and small habitats of peasants as well as coconut and mango farms. 

We were going to ‘see’ the new born cousin, Achu. We went along the country road imagining that we were on a hiking trip and that father was the trekking captain. It was the first time that I saw the springs that sped paddy fields to form streams which skid happily into making a small river. I gazed with awe at the sight of a Vinayakar idol that was seated beneath a banyan tree and it had a self absorptive posture. Cool breeze from the small river greeted us with welcome kisses that never seemed to end. We too greeted the small in-land water fishes that surfed to ogle us. 

We thought that the river was gifting us with the small pebbles which it carried to the shores and, of course, we received them gratefully. The toothless smile of Achu, the river, the pebbles, an idol under a banyan tree, cool breeze of the country side…..there were plenty to carry back home!