( 6 )
My father and me went to the grandfather's house, next day morning. My father explained the whole incidents that took place the day before and asserted that my route to the school was to be changed from that day onwards. It was a shock to everyone to hear the news about me. My paternal aunt's eldest son, Simon,who was present there, looked at me quite surprisingly. The new route was decided. I woulď climb down the steps from my house, enter the main road. Turn to the left side, I would walk through the road where there was an upward slope to the road , then there was a declination , at the end of which there appeared a mudroad to the left side, through which one or two persons might come and go occasionally.Then there is a turning on the road to the right side, where you could see two houses - one on the right side, Kalapparambil House, the other on the left side, Kunjiparambath House, both of them the branches of Chittuparambil House. The presence of people was a little in this route. But there were buses, cars and scooters everytime. It was very hard for everyone to think about a little girl walking alone through that road !
Walking a little forward, at the right side a pump - house could be seen and there was a pump operator. There I would turn to the right side reaching near an embankment, walking through the bank of which I would reach the paddyfield....yes, the same paddyfield but it was the left end of it. I would cross it, entered the left side of Mr Johnson's land,through a narrow path reach the grandfather's and grandmother's house. Sometimes, my father's youngest brother Mr Yohannan might be present there. I would enter the house sometimes and at other times wouldn't, but call loudly "Amma"( I called my grandmother like that ), and continue the journey. Then, walking through a rubber plantation, I would reach a mudroad and turn to the right. A few steps and I would reach the narrow pathway through which I used to go to school from the 1st Std, in the middle of which lived Mr Jose and his wife Ms Eelikkutty. It was decided that my grandmother could see me going to the school and returning to my house everyday.
I have already stated that when I started my journey to the school, I turned to the left side of the road. Don't you remember that the land on the left side of our boundary was uncultivated, full of shrubs and bushes and three Cashew trees ? When I walked through the upward slope on the road, I would see the uncultivated land of Mr Johnson's and on the right side also there was Mr Johnson's land where some crops were growing. When I reached the declination point, on the left side, there was the property of Thoppil House, which was a branch of Chittuparambil House. Then there appeared the mudroad to the leftside. There is a speciality to the place from our house to the place where the mudroad existed. I have already mentioned that it was a desolate place. The last bus in the evening through that road was at 10.30 p.m.,which was running from Kolenchery to Perumbavoor. The 1st bus in the morning was at 05.30 a.m., which also was running at the same route. The time in between this - there was total silence - sometimes a car, a scooter or a lorry might go through that street. At other times, there was complete silence - silence in its depth. The sound of the crickets rose everywhere, to split the silence. There was no electricity in my house and as a result no fan to make sound. The jackals howled from the South Hill, sometimes. At the rainy season, there was the sound of the frogs from the paddyfields.
Some of the persons, even then, walked through that road either on some urgency or to return to their houses after IInd show in theatre in the nearest town, Kolenchery. Some of them reported that when reaching the upward slope they had seen a ghost or a fairy, standing there ! The place was ideal for ghosts and fairies - there was not even a human being, utter silence prevailed there ! They would appear only at nights. At the earlier times, when the Landlord - tenant System was there, many people were oppressed by the landlords. Their souls roamed in this place, I heard once my mother saying. It was through that road that I should walk alone to the school ! All of them gave me many advices - not to accept anything from strangers, don't speak to them unnecessarily, run away from them if the situation demands, be cautious always etc.
