A Cottage in Swami Hills 23 Nandavanam called Nandivanam

A COTTAGE IN SWAMI HILLS *

23. NANDAVANAM CALLED NANDIVANAM

Unlike typical kumbakonam brahmins, we never had any land near Kumbakonam as our asset. My grandfather had some small piece of land in Melavalavu near Melur which he inherited from his mother. He did not sell it for a long time and he was receiving an amount of a few hundred rupees which he used to show us proudly as his mother's gift. When he came to Kumbakonam to start his practice, he came with his suit case and according to him he even had to buy "a broom" from his own earning.

He bought the house which we lived in 1933. (that is what the document says though he might have been the defacto owner a few years earlier.). He also bought some land near Kumbakonam in a place called Nandivanam. nandivanam was a very small village the only reason why it was famous was that the genius poet Kalamega Pulavar belonged to that place according to some reports. 

I had been to this place a few times with my grandfather. we had to go to chakkottai by no 3 town bus and then walk a few kilometres to reach the place. There was a lady who used to live in the midst of the land and she was looking after the land. When we went there, she treated us with coconut water and fruits. Then we marched through the land which was totally green. Coconut trees lined the land and a small stream flowed in the middle of our land. My grandfather was very proud of the land. We did not get much from it but we were happy to eat the rice from the land we owned.

By evening we would return and on the way back, we could see some people keeping the earthen pots full of some creepers but kept upside down. Ponnan -the person who accompanied us- explained that the people kept freshly plucked ground nuts and smoked them for eating. I had some and it was very tasty. 

As the darkness spread, we could see fire flies in the trees. It was like a starlit sky with all the fire flies flitting about. Truly, it was a paradise. I never was willing to leave that place. but, after lingering there for some time, we caught the  local bus from Chakkottai and we returned to the dusty town.       

We lost the Nandavanam.  as days progressed, Ponnan rebelled and joined Communist party. We could not make out the once docile servant was now a political leader in that village raising the flag against the landlords. The party took over our land or atleast the rights for the product if not the actual land. The lady's husband Sivagnanam died. My grandfather passed away. The paradise was lost forever.

I remember Wordworth's poem

"For oft when on my couch I lie 

In vacant or in pensive mood

they flash upon my inward eye

which is the bliss of solitude

and then my heart with pleasure fills

and dances with the Daffodils."

In my case, it is not daffodils but the fire flies of Nandivanam.  . 

*Cottage in swami hills refers to the house in which we lived in Kumbakonam. This phrase was used once by my grandfather when I asked him that as some  people go in summer to Kodaikanal and Ooty where they have a cottage whether we would also be able to go and stay like them one day. My grandfather replied that he already has a cottage near swami Hills (swamimalai) and he referred to his house as the cottage.