a conversation with mr venugopal

with regard to our project, we have all been doing interviews with people from different communities from town. this is the transcript from one intterview i did with mr venugopal, from the nair community of kerala.

Me: where is your family from, are you originally from kochin?

Mr V:Our family actually comes from palgad, which is about 150 kms away from here.now for 2-3 generations we have been in ernakulam.

Me: After coming to kochi, I am amazed at how many communities live here.

Mr.V:Well yes. I would like to tell you a little about the history of kochi.The Portuguese came to Calicut in 

1502, where they didn’t get privileges as the zamorin king of calicut did not get along well with the Portuguese. Hence, they came to kochin where vasco made friends with the maharaja.they ended up ruling for around 150 years.In 1663, the dutch came, and there was a soldier named van rheede, who ended up becoming the head of the dutch community here. He was the one who wrote the hortus malabaricus, which you must have heard about.

Me: yes I have heard about it, It was a work on botany right?

Mr.V:yes, it’s a treatise on the medicinal properties of plants in the Malabar region.

Me: hmm.

Mr V: around 1777, there was british rule. Oh yes, and also I think it would be of interest to you to know about muziris. Muziris was a port in ancient roman times. It was a center for trade of spices, textile and sandalwood.Recently, roman coins were excavated from there!

Me:What about your community?

Mr V: We actually come from the nair community, which is the martial tribe of kerala.Whats unusual is that the matrinial system is followed.All the money in the family is traditionally kept with the mothers,because the men were always on the front and no one knew if they would come back or not. It was a system to contain wealth within the family.

Me:is It that way now too?

Mr V: no now things have changed, so not many people follow this tradition.

Me: What do you do professionally?

Mr V:I studied at the SRV high school, and then the Mahraja school, where I studied sociology and English.then I went to ediburough for management. I was the owner of the tire company which is now Apollo tires. It was called premier tires when I was there. Now I have retired and am a patron in the kerala fine arts ascosciation.

Me:oh yes! We saw a concert there yesterday!

MrV: ah yes! It was some Pakistani band right, I didn’t catch it. you know, just recently, I got the ACs installed in that auditorium.

Me:yes, we enjoyed the concert. Your house is very beautiful!

Mr V:yes, you know nothing in this house Is less than 75 years old.my father used to live a little bit awa from here, but that area became very commercialized, so I decided to make my house here.At the same time, i didn’t want to let go of the things in that house, so I brought all the things from there to this place. The switchboards, the fans, the tables.that chair in the corner is about a 100 years old!

Me:Wow! What about that chest on the table?

Mr V: that is my mothers jewel case. Its again about a 120 years old.I found it in the attic of our old house and I brought it here.

Me: wow its very beautiful. So, our project is about the cosmopolitan nature of kochi, any thoughts on that?

Mr V: Well in our time, I remember kochi used to be a very peaceful place, not that it isn’t now, but I remember it didn’t matter whether out friends were Christians or malayalis or anything else. My good friend Joseph passed away away a few years back. He was very close to me. although, recently I have heard news of some violence here based on communal grounds. It was never like that earlier.everyone knew everyone else.

Me: was he a friend from school? If I may ask.

Mr V: no no, we both studied at maharaja college. I have lost touch with my school friends. Its been a really long while.

Me:personally, I find myself wondering about how old kochi used to be. Where I come from, there is a trend of big companies buying land and demolishing beautiful old buildings to build malls etc. has kochi changed much?

Mr V:oh yes! Back in the day the whole area was much like an extended village, everyone knew everybody, there were very few vehicles, and there was much more greenery.

Me:any things that youd like to share for me to get an idea about old kochi?

Mr v:theres this incident that ill tell you.My father was a professor at maharaja college, which is where I also studied.one day he had this idea of introducing a botany degree course here. I remember he told us, within 2 days, he went to the govt authorities and It was done and work began.I myself wanted to introduce a course at chinmay college, which is not even a government college with excessive permissions to take etc. but I have been working for 2 years on that now and nothing has moved forward. Its pathetic.

Back in the day, education was at its peak.more than education I would say the intellectual level in kerala has really come down, although on paper the state is still at highlest literacy in the country.It has become a consumer state now, and people are just running after things they want to buy and acquire.

Me: doesn’t kerala have a history of communism?

Mr V: that is true, but now it really doesn’t matter what party is governing. They are all coalitions with so many parties that there is no change or collective vision as such.

Me: hmm, are the people interested in politics?

Mr v: yes, that’s one thing I will say, people are politically conscious. There have been times where autowalas will refuse to take you to your destination because they are reading a paper in the morning.they all discuss politics amongst themselves as well.on a local mla level.

Oh and another thing. Kerala is the state with the highest degree of liquor comsumption in the entire country. People drink in the afternoon. One of my nieces has a company here, at one point she had to declare Monday as a holiday, because so many people wouldn’t turn up after drinking so much on Sunday.

I remember another incident. There was this new head of cultural society recently, and I was chatting about my stay in edinborough, and he didn’t even know where edinborough was! Can you imagine? And he was the head of the society.

Me:yeah that’s sad. Here, id like to tell you a bit about our project. We are trying to represent the cosmopolitanism in kochi through the different kinds of food here.  What your take on food?

Mr V: I don’t cook, but I eat whatever my sister serves me. its mostly malyali food, with rice, sambar , dal, chapatti. She lives across the road.

Me: what do you eat for your other meals. And whats you daily routine like?

Mr V:in the morning I have 2 toasts or biscuits with black coffee. Then after that I read poetry. Mostly stuff myy wordsworth,Tennyson, keats. I like the classics. In the afternoon I go over to my sisters to have a kerala lunch. Which has rice, dal etc like I told you. Then if people are over I sit with them. In the evening I have black tea and 2 biscuits. Then I read again, and maybe go for a short walk too.

Me: what kind of books do you like?

Mr V: well apart from the poetry, I like to read biographies , historical books. Im not really interested in fiction.i tried reading one recently, but most times I like reading history.

Me:ok

Mr V:yes so in the night, and you might find it strange, I have some dryfruits.cashewnuts and such things.

Me: how come?

Mr v: no its just a matter of habit. And now I don’t really feel the need to eat that much. Plus since my sister lives across the road, I don’t like to hassle her. I make do with cashewnuts.

Me: I see lots of music cds too.

Mr V: yes some evenings I enjoy some music, which is mostly carnatic music like thyagaraja, ilayraja.i like western classical too.

Me: hmm, any more incidents youd like to share?

Mr V: yes, theres one more. I told you about joseph right, when we were in college in our final year,I was playing tennis with some other friends.then another friend ran up to us and told us that joseph was going to commit suicide! We tried to find him and finally found him sitting on a stone near the railway track.when we went up to him, he told us that the principal, had caught him romancing with a girl and he felt so bad that he wanted to kill himself. We tried to cheer him up, but to no avail. So we dragged him for a coffee to kochin refreshement house. That I was also the first time I ate outside home. It wasn’t considered a good thing, to eat out I mean. No respectable person ate out.I had vegetable cutlets and coffee which came upto 50 ps.

So yes, finally joseph calmed down.haha!

Me: there are so many religions in kochi, Christians, muslims, hindus, jews etc. what are your views on religion?

Mr V: I don’t have any issues with any religion, as I said, I had lots of Christian friends, muslims,everyone, it didn’t matter. The only thing ill tell you is  that “ you should have, faith, otherwise you’re like a ship without an anchor”. This is something st paul said.

Nowdays though, the sad part is that the priests have become more powerful than the gods and they have begun to exploit people.

Me:hmm, im just wondering, you never chose to get married?

Mr V: haha, no , I always liked to live by myself.

Me: there was never any consideration of marrying?

Mr V:no no haha, I always liked to live by myself, even now, I wont use the same bathroom which anoher person has used.

Me: you have a beautiful old fiat parked outside? Do you like cars?

Mr V: oh yes! I really like cars. Even though I don’t really drive anymore, every other morning I clean It and start it to keep the engine in shape.

Me:what kind of cars were there earlier?

Mr V:as I said, there weren’t very many cars at all. There were a few morrised, cowleys, and fords. We kids could identify the owner from the car number.

Me:as im a student of film, Im curious about how cinema came here.

Mr V: now I haven’t gone to the theater in really long, but I remember the first movie that came to ernakulam was achut kanya(untouchable woman), ashok kumar was the lead role.i think It was around 1938. We all went to marega theater to watch and I remember my father got me peppermints to eat.other movies I remember are jhools, khazawchz(khazanchi).the balcony ticket used to be somewhat around 1 rupee.it used to be a thrilling experience.the first colout movie came in 1948. I also remember Samson and Delilah, it was one of my favourites.that one was screened at star talkies in fort kochi, that was where the English movies used to come. Ernakulam mostly had hindi and malayali cinema.

I remember an incident when I went to star talkies, after the movie ended a 9:30 in the night, there were no bused to go back home. I walked home, my mother was very worried and there was no phone to contact here like now.

That reminds me, one time when I got a distinction at college, my uncle imported a green rally cycle for me for 50 rs as a gift, It had a brookse seat,Charles belt, millers dynamo. I still have that cycle.

Haha! After I got this cycle, me and my friend ramachandran who was elder to me would ride together on my green cycle to the college to see girls. When we went the first time, I was sitting at the back, and ramachandran was riding. A cop stopped us, and told us not to go overload the bicycle with two people on the main road. That said, the next day we went to the college again, while coming back, we managed to bump into the same cop. He made us get off and deflated the tire. He asked us to come to the station. We pushed the cycle to the station. I was scared. He asked me who I was and I told him I was the masters son, and he said “ what are you doing? Being the master’s son, you are creating mischief! Finally he asked ramachandran, and he told to the cops surprise that he was the son of the inspector of the area, and the cop stood up, told us sorry sir and let us go! Haha they were good times.

Me: thanks a lot uncle, it was great talking to you, when we have a bit more direction with our work, ill come with few questions prepared. Thanks!