Unfortunately, this remarkable man died very young, in 1939, at the age of 50 and was buried in Teekoy church.
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| Article in the Nazrani Deepika of 1929 |
Kochipe married twice and had two children from his first wife. The eldest, Mathew (Senior), was a planter-cum-Bank Officer working for a Bank
in Alleppey. A hard working and adventurous man, he was fording the Meenachil
river on his way to the family estate in Marmala when he was swept away in a
flash flood, and his body found only several days later downstream in Kottayam.
It was indeed a tragic end and Kochipe and the rest of the family were
shattered.
I have heard it
said that the magnanimous Kochipe took extra pains over his widowed daughter in
law, Theyamma from the Payyanad (Mappilassery) family of Champakulam and even
offered to get her remarried. However, she refused to do so. A gracious dowager
of amazing grit and determination, she (our Peramma), took great pains in
looking after her estate in Marmala as well as bringing up her two daughters,
Lillykutty and Thankamma. Later on, though an heiress in her own right,
Lillykutty gave up everything, decided to become a nun and joined the Medical
Mission Sisters. She took on the name of Virginia and served the Lord as well
her fellow-humans all over the country as well as in Africa and Brazil. She was
a loving and caring elder sister to all of us and I still remember her handing
out homoeopathic pills to me whenever I fell ill or pretended to be ill. I
loved the sugary pills! She died at the age of 63 on 24th July 1995
at Kottayam. I was at that time the Branch Manager of the SBI at Thirunakkara,
Kottayam and attended her funeral. Losing her was very sad.
Peramma’s second
daughter, Thankamma married Alexander (Sandappan) of the
Kanjooparambil family, and they lived in Teekoy. They had five children.
Interestingly,
my mother Kuttiamma and Peramma’s two daughters were first cousins (from her
paternal side), while they were also my first cousins, through my paternal
side. A very peculiar relationship indeed, which made this family all the more
dear to me and my siblings! My mother and Peramma were both from the Payyanad family, a branch of the famous Mappilassery family of Champakulam. (For more details about this family, and the interesting events that take place at their tharavad on Moolam day of Mithunam every year, see my blog dated 13th July 2022)
Kochipe's second child from his first marriage was Achamma, who was married to an excise officer from the Kalayathinal family near Bharananganam.
After the death of his first wife, Kochipe married again, and his wife was Aley, the daughter of the refined and scholarly Chunkapura Mathai Mapillai. She was a handsome lady, pious, gentle, hospitable and very generous to all who came to her. There are many people in and around Teekoy whose children she sent to school, college and other educational institutions and who did well for themselves. I have met many such people, who remain eternally grateful to this gracious lady.
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| Valliammachi, our gracious grandmother |
I remember our grandmother very well, bustling about the large house and taking care of all its inhabitants. For several years after the death of her husband Kochipe, her house in Teekoy functioned like a joint-family set-up. It was only some years later that her sons moved to their respective areas in the extensive family properties. Thus, my father moved to Mavady, his elder brother Varkey to Marmala, younger brother Johnson to Mangalam, while Tom remained in Teekoy. Though the brothers had shifted, they and their families often came to Teekoy and spent time there and many of us cousins have very pleasant memories of the house, which unfortunately does not exist now. Kochipe's daughters and their children too came to Teekoy during the holidays and our grandmother had her hands full, catering to the requirements of her large, hungry clan.
Kochipe and Aley had twelve children, of whom two died very young. Of the remaining, three were daughters, all of whom got married while still quite young. Mary was the eldest, who, after her graduation, taught for some time and then got married to Advocate Cherian Manjooran. The Manjoorans were a well-known set of freedom fighters, intellectuals and lawyers who, as the reputed journalist K C Chummar once told me, 'have played a very prominent role in the history of the freedom movement in Cochin State.' The two other daughters, Alice and Baby, were both married to grooms from nearby Kanjirapally, the former to Nanichan of the Kallarackal family and the latter to Dr.K C Chacko, a dentist hailing from the Kadamapuzha family.
Among the surviving sons, Varkey was the eldest. He was a pioneer in cinematography and even made a short film on Sabarimala Sree
Ayyappan . It was mainly through his efforts that the family-owned Sunny Theatre
in Teekoy was set up. He was also a multi-linguist, mastering languages like
French, German, Italian and Urdu. His wife was Rosamma of the Anthrapper family of Cherthala. This family too, has an interesting history, as they were supposedly the descendants of a swash-buckling 'Andrew Pereira', from Portugal, who accompanied Vasco da Gama on his historic journey to India. Andrew Pereira married a local lady and the family gradually came to be known as 'Anthrapper'!
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| Varkey Vallikappen's British Indian Empire Passport of 1934 |
His younger brother Mathew Vallikappen (my father), established
the Mavady Tea Estate and Factory, which was one of the first purely
Indian-owned private tea factories in Kerala. In its heydays, Mavady Tea was a
well-known brand in central Travancore. The gracious mansion that he built on
the estate is today the internationally known tourist destination, known as Vanilla
County, assiduously
promoted by his youngest son, Baby Vallikappen. Mathew Vallikappen, along with
his cousin C.T.Mathew Chunkapura, was also the Founder Director of the
Commercial Service Bank.
Another brother, Tom Vallikappen set up a tile factory
near Ettumanoor and was also the franchisee of the Burma-Shell Company and the
owner of the sole petrol pump in Erattupetta. He married Lillykutty, from the famous Parayil Tharakan family of Ezhupunna.
Tom’s younger brother Johnson
Vallikappen was a prominent member of the Swatantra Party in Kerala, associated
with leading lights of the party such as Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur, who
even came to the Vallikappen home in Teekoy during one of her election visits
to the state. An avid photographer and lover of books, Johnson helped in
setting up the People’s Library in Teekoy, as well as the Vallikappen Home
Library. Johnson's wife was Thankamma, of the Vattakavil family of Karimannoor.
The youngest among the brothers was Sunny, who though mentally and physically disabled, was as sunny as his name suggested. He was a genial soul, forever smiling and laughing and very often talking to his imaginary girl-friend called 'Manimala Thankamma' . His greatest pleasures were diving and swimming in the fast-flowing waters of the Teekoy river just below the house, and watching movies in the family-owned cinema theatre named after him! A sweet man indeed.
Life in the Teekoy tharavad was quite unique. It was a rambling old house, with many rooms and a single upstairs unit made of wood, which functioned as a sort of library for the household, and built in the traditional Kerala style, with a steep staircase that was difficult for elderly people to negotiate. From this room, one could access the attic, which covered practically the whole house. The main house itself had quaintly named rooms, like 'Cement Room', 'Stone Room' (Kallu Muri), 'Dark Room' (Iruttu Muri), 'Prasava Muri', (Delivery Room-where expecting ladies of the household stayed) 'Ayudha Muri,' and of course, the Prayer Room or Prarthana Muri. The Iruttu Muri and the Prasava Muri were adjacent, and once, when I showed my English friend David Gosling around, he winked knowingly while in the Iruttu Muri and remarked, 'Aha, so this is where it all started!'
There was an enormous, baronial-style dining room, with two dining tables, one for the elders, and a smaller one for us children. And in an alcove near this, was a large four-poster bed on which Valliammachi would often be found reclining, mostly with a rosary in her hands, but keeping a wary eye for prowling grandchildren attempting to raid the enormous 'aripetti' in which she kept delicious goodies like buns, tapioca chips, oulose undas, etc. My cousin Avirachan was the main marauder and would often get spanked by his father for attempted or consummated robbery!
There were two kitchens; one was very large and contained a 'borma', or oven for baking bread, which resembled an enormous igloo, which had somehow found its way into an oriental kitchen instead of the tundras! In keeping with his Anglophile ways, Kochipe, our grandfather was very particular that bread and butter was always on the table! The smaller kitchen had two store-rooms attached to it.
Another unusual feature of this house was the 'Tutor's Room' which served as the residential quarters of the private tutors as well as a classroom for youngsters. As far as I remember, there were two private tutors, of whom, the main tutor was Narayana Pilla Saar. He was a dignified, refined, and highly respected Nair gentleman and I remember him being specially invited and honoured at the weddings of my two elder brothers.
The area around the house was interesting too. It had the huge stables meant for grandfather's horses, (the horses had long since disappeared!), the Chikkalam or yard, ramps for the repair of various types of vehicles, (I distinctly remember several cars, a jeep and even a lorry among the vehicles), and an enormous outhouse, along the sides of which were steps leading to the river flowing below the house.
While there were two bathing rooms within the house, the lavatories, as with most Kerala houses in those days, were situated somewhat far away, beyond a huge rock which vaguely resembled an elephant, and on which we children would often play. The toilets were very primitive, with long, curved, narrow chutes under them, below which were stationed a couple of hungry pigs, snorting and grunting and waiting anxiously for their daily nourishment. Altogether, an embarrassing, but highly eco-friendly way of disposing off human waste, and probably one of the main reasons why many in the family refused to eat pork!
There were of course, no taps or running water in the house and servants used to lug huge quantities of water from the well or the river to replenish the bath rooms, lavatories, etc. Electricity and telephones too were non-existent. The only telephone was in the post office which fortunately was situated just beyond the outer gate, and for all practical purposes served as an adjunct of the house, as the building itself belonged to the family and was leased out to the Postal Department. Sometimes, we children even used to play hide-and-seek in the Post Office, with the elderly Post Master (whose face I still remember very clearly), watching us indulgently, but making sure we didn't mess up the place!
The house itself was on an elevated piece of land, below which lay the village of Teekoy which consisted of a few shops, a bus shed,
an ayurvedic dispensary run by Pappi vaidyan, the cinema theatre, a library and of course, the toddy shop, which is an indispensable part of every Kerala village! Most of the shops on one side of the main street were owned by our family, while the shops on the other side were mostly owned by the Chunkapura family of our grandmother. These shops were all rented out to various individuals, who used to pay a small monthly rent.
The servants and retainers of those days were all trusted, friendly and loyal folks who were treated as part of the family. Many of them had served under grandfather, and continued to be with us for many many years. Among them I particularly remember Uthuppan chettan, and Vellayan, a Tamilian who used to respectfully refer to grandfather as 'Ayya'. Uthuppan chettan was grandfather's bullock-cart driver. He was an elderly man, perennially bare-chested, and always with a large scapula around his neck. Like many of grandfather's aides, he too hailed from the small Knanaya Christian community of Kottayam.
My uncle Varkey Vallikappen has told me that till our grandfather's days, annual 'kappam' (tribute) used to be paid to the Poonjar Rajas. This was in the form of products like bananas, coconuts, tapioca, pepper, cardamom, jackfruit, etc. Two or three bullock carts, groaning under the weight of these items, would trundle along to the Poonjar Palace, with Uthuppan chettan as the lead driver. It would take the greater part of the day to reach Poonjar, unload the goods, and return to Teekoy. Today it takes less than 20 minutes to reach Poonjar!
For us children, the Teekoy tharavad was a heavenly place. There was always good and plentiful food on the table, affectionate uncles and aunts and of course our loving grandmother, cricket, hide-and-seek and best of all, swimming in the river below. Our cricket gear was very primitive, with 'madals' of coconut trees serving as bats, soft tennis balls, and three crude pieces of wood as the stumps. I was among the more studious of the youngsters and often found myself in the library upstairs, which contained a fairly respectable collection of books, mostly in English. Most of these books belonged to my uncle Johnson, while the older books of my grandfather often had a rubber seal on them with the inscription ' Ashwasya shreshtatham, parvatsya aunyatham' ( അശ്വസ്യ
സ്രേഷ്ടതം : പർവത്സ്യ ഔന്യത്തം) in Malayalam. I was quite intrigued by these words and many years later, a very learned priest, Rev. Fr. Jacob Kattackal who was a Sanskrit scholar, told me that they meant ' The nobility of the horse; the loftiness of the mountains'. Probably something which grandfather had adopted as his motto, as they were found on almost all his books. A very apt motto indeed for a man of the mountains, who also loved horses!
Another pastime of those days was watching movies in 'Sunny Theatre', The balcony was practically reserved for the family and of course we did not have to buy tickets. The movies were mostly old black-and-white Tamil and Malayalam films, though I do remember watching the technicolour 'Chemmeen' there too. Uncle Sunny (Sunnyappappan to us children) would often watch all three shows of the same movie! He watched them practically lying down, as he had a special sofa-cum-bed type of furniture, on which he would recline regally, like some latter-day Caesar witnessing the gladiatoral games at the Colosseum!
The new-gen Vallikappens have today diversified into various streams such as Journalism, Hoteliering, Banking, the Armed Forces, Tourism, Advertising, Mining, and Information
Technology. Subhash Vallikappen was probably one of the youngest General Managers in the famous Oberoi Group of Hotels, and was also the Head Boy of Lawrence School in Lovedale during his school days. Many Vallikappens were sportsmen too, the most outstanding being Jose
Vallikappen, Charly Vallikappen and Paul Vallikappen. Jose Vallikappen in
particular excelled in athletics, both during his school days in St.Joseph’s
Boys’ School in Bangalore as well
as in St.Stephen’s College in Delhi,
where he was the college as well as university athletics captain. He
subsequently joined the prestigious Armoured Corps of the Indian Army and is
one of the few people from this part of the country who has had actual battle
experience. As a young Lieutenant he was in the thick of battle in the Sialkot
sector during the Indo-Pak war of 1965. His jeep was blown up by an anti-tank
mine and he was injured. With great difficulty he managed to crawl back to the
Indian lines, carrying on his back a seriously injured jawan, whose leg had
been completely blown off! After quitting the army as a Lt. Colonel, Jose
joined the Malayala Manorama and was a columnist for The Week for
more than 15 years. His regular feature ‘The Nonsense File’ was very popular
and a hot favourite among readers.
'The Invincible Four'- An advertisement brought out by a prominent sports goods firm in Bangalore,featuring among others, Jose Vallikappen.
And now we have the makings of a priest too in the family. Mathaious Vallikappen, the youngest son of Kunjumon (Tom Vallikappen's son) is in the Dominican seminary in Goa, studying to be a priest. The first priest in the family for generations, although we have had two nuns. May God bless him and the rest of the clan as well!
