Palakkad Iyers migration in the years immediately after India's Independence

21st June 2020 was Father’s Day. And a few of us cousins were reminiscing through WhatsApp messages, about our fathers. A band of five Palakkad Iyer brothers (Irinjalakkuda, Thrissur origin) who decided to shift base out of Kerala to Bombay in the early 1950s, in search of a new life.

In their own way our fathers, our heroes, lived life king size in Irinjalakuda, a town in the Thrissur district famous for the Koodalmanikam temple. Our Thaatha was a kind hearted and loving soul who practised law. They lived in a big house near the temple. Their origins were however from Thaikatusherry near Ollur, which is also in Thrissur district. Our great grandfather had lot of land where he did krishi.  

After their basic education in Kerala, armed with shorthand-typing skills, many such Palakkad Iyer men set off towards Bombay to find jobs in the corporate world (and many to Delhi as well to seek employment as Government clerks and officers). That generation of males demonstrated the courage of moving out from Kerala. And their spouses took on the challenge of adapting to an alien state.... new language, lack of joint family support system, culture etc. Hats off to these bravehearts.

The small Palakkad Iyer community in Bombay of that time (1930-1950 I guess?) probably did offer a semblance of a supporting ecosystem for such "migrants". E.g the mess facilities at Matunga etc. They migrated out of Kerala in a steady trickle. The earlier set of migrants settling in and then calling for the next batch to move out. Completing their education under the streetlights of Bombay (not Mumbai), adapting to life in a different State, maintaining cultural roots and network (music, dance, religious rituals, sourcing and making South Indian specialities like vadu maangai, karuvadaams, maahaani, veppilakatti, nenthram chips.....), providing the best that they could afford in terms of education for their kids, supporting each other and the newer set of migrants from their Kerala brethren.....such was their life. Single pointed focus: get a job, steady income, save and secure a good education for their children, support the next batch of migrants.

They must have deprived themselves of many of their own needs, saved money for basics and a few luxuries and provided us with a cocoon of comfort. I remember the movies at Aurora theatre (Tarzan was my favourite), trips to Shanmukhananda hall for music-dance and more so for their samosa, bonda delights,  Phantom and Chandamama, surprises in the form of salted peanuts in pudiyas, potato wafers, Bhel Puri etc bought for us on the way back home from office in the Bombay local trains. And the specials in terms of novels...Sudden, Perry Mason, ViewMaster slides etc.

We are a generation of Palakkad Iyers, born in the decades immediately around India's Independence. Fortified with aracchuvitta sambhaar and mologootal, mezhukkuvaratti and podimas, karuvadaams and parikka vetthal and the special Paal payasams and nei payasams. Education and moral values were our guiding principles.

It is that pioneering spirit of our fathers, supported ably by our mothers, their moving away from Kerala, that provided for all of us a platform and foundation to set up our lives. We were enabled a pursuit of good quality education extending to post graduation and beyond in many parts of India and overseas too.

Our childhood i.e 1960-1980 gave us unique experiences. I remember the foodgrain shortage times when dad and I used to go early morning by train to Ambernath to buy good rice directly from farmers  to supplement ration store supplies. Playing goti (marbles), rubber ball cricket, lagori, borrowing novels from libraries, like Famous Five, Secret Seven, James Hadley Chase etc. Playing indoor games like cards and carrom in the stairwell of the buildings. Going to Madhu Book Store in Matunga for notebooks and textbooks, fixing brown cover and labels to books, exchanging labels with others. Sharing textbooks as a pass-me-down from older cousins to younger ones.

And the blanking out of window panes with paper for the night "lights-out" when the siren blew and the skies lit up with anti-aircraft trace flares.

The summer holiday train rides to Kerala and back was indeed a major highlight....and filled with such joy....today's kids do not even know what a “hold-all” is!!! Packing food for the long train journey in three tiered tiffin dabbas, playing games in the train, climbing up to the middle and top berth in the third class compartment!!! Enjoying the ride through the dark tunnels, enduring the black soot and dust of the coal fired steam engine. Or taking a quick shower at Arakkonam station.

Many of these memories will fade away with our generation. Our kids would not even be able to fathom these experiences.

Our kids face a brave new world confidently today. Now the migration is not from Kerala to Maharashtra, but to lands in different continents. Global citizens they are.

All thanks to our Palakkad Iyer fathers and mothers who dared to make a new life in Bombay.