Our Beloved Bhoomi

By Mathew John

Our Beloved Bhoomi–‘Earth’ deals with an unending migration of humanity. From time immemorial they started to travel in search of water, feed and also seeking better comfort. Here is the story of Tommy, a descendant of an immigrant from Portugal.

Five hundred years ago, two youngsters Ouseph and Jaime, just for a secure l

• Language: English
• Publisher: Palmetto Publishing Group
• Release date: Mar 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781641117913

Mathew John

John Mathew, Author of this book is novelist, story writer, columnist and critic, with extensive background in working with literary organizations. He is one of the founding members of Kerala Writers' Forum and Literary Association of North America(LANA). He immigrated to the United States during early 1970s. He lives in Houston, Texas.

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Prologue:

An Exodus with Expectations

For the last few years, I have been a weekly columnist. In my columns one of the important themes was human migrations. Man began his travels ages ago, dating back to millions of years in quest of food and water.

In the modern age, the reformed continuation of this goes on. In an important context of history due to the advent of an unexpected epoch, an emigration of Keralites to America occurred. Another exodus in history! But it changed up many things in Kerala, including the idioms, accents, and usage of the language.

Yes, the theme of this novel is also travel or people moving, the unending travel of man. Five hundred years ago, just for a secure living, two boys started a journey with all anxieties and hopes from Europe, which reminds us of the exodus of Abraham of the Bible. Another story is the journey of an eight-year-old boy, Onappy, with all good hopes. And later, the journey of Tommy as to any youth of Kerala at that time. Again, the journey of another eight-year-old boy happened from Detroit, Michigan, to a southern warm State. At length even in the native land of Tommy, another alien people immigrated. And there the novel ends. Also an interesting love story, without crossing its boundaries, can be located in these pages.

A bit of history: My native place, Mallappally, in my younger days, had been a village of gospel revival meetings. They attracted the masses due to the rhythmic songs and the undulating story telling more than the gospel speeches.

The performance of the gospel meeting was a turning of Kathapransagam (storytelling with song and speech as in Malayalam) of Kerala into a Christian devotional form.

During those days an advertisement used to appear in the newspapers: To America for higher studies. Later, By air was added to it.

Jobs were scarce; competition was high. Only a few clerical jobs could be found in some government offices or business firms, even for people with college degrees. So, for those and other common readers, the news of an American journey became interesting.

It is a general notion that dramatic tempo exits only on stage. But in this wider world, such things happen as accidental occurrences too!

World Wars ended. Colonies gained freedom. The lives of the common people became a bit improved economically, it appeared. Our generation was under the impression of going nowhere. Most of the girls who completed secondary education opted for nursing education. The boys became prepared to work in the firms as a result of the industrial awakening of free India. But the opportunities were in North India. The southern States were discarded. Some others opted for military service, which became essential after the Chinese War. Most of the people were satisfied with the jobs usually available. Since jobs were rare some had gone far away and found new pastures. Pragmatically clever! They found better pastures beyond those academic skills. They found opportunities of the Bible school studies abroad secretly!

Today when we look back, it shall appear to be a riddle. I turn back to Delhi at the end of the 1960s. Emigrations to America had not yet started. But the pursuit of jobs was in abundance to Persian Gulf countries, to Africa, to Germany, and to Canada. Hopes and fears filled the small groups about these trips.

ANOTHER PICTURE:

In those days there were prayer meetings for Malayalee nurses near to the major hospitals in North India. At least a few had taken this opportunity to keep up their traditional lifestyle and to indulge with others. Though the meetings were held in the name of prayer, there were silent ventures for certain love affairs also. But the travel agents took them as an opportunity for advising foreign job chances. For meeting organizers, they become a way of earning their bread, thus become a win-win situation.

There were occasions of farewells and bon voyages. At those occasions the advice heard would have been like this: On reaching there, the first thing to do is to buy a car. Don’t try to use it much. After three years you can bring it free of tax and without loss of the novelty. I don’t try to elaborate on this piece of advice; it was the result of a practical thought in the light of the limited knowledge, a dream of a prosperous life in a countryside, and a secure family, that’s all!

What is stated here is the picture of the beginning of the changes caused in the social, cultural, and various spheres of the Malayalee community. From these dreams begin the pragmatic life of the American Malayalees.

What I have written above one of those reminiscent pictures appeared to me as I began to string the novel Our Beloved Bhoomi. I had been a witness to all those. But the questions come to me: From whence I should begin? Do I have the technique of writing or love of any social philosophy or have the mental preparedness to string together all those incidents?

How was the reformed Christianity of the central Travancore of Kerala State forgotten? There were not many works against this social background. The central Travancore, covered with green fields, brooks, and dwarfish hills, is beautiful. The Malayalam months Dhanu and Makaram (mid-November to mid-January) are harvest periods. With the harvesting the community is awakened. Sky becomes clear; also dry winds are the harbinger of a little bit of free time and festivals for all religious groups. Especially for the Christian community, there are meetings of spiritual awakening, which is the season of physical and spiritual awakening. As a thanksgiving for a good harvest, orations with the accompaniment of songs and orchestration in the form of Kathaprasangam were held. Why are these performances not attracted by the world of art and literature? Mathunni Appachan, the grand old man of this novel, is a beginner of this type of performance.

The words Renaissance and Reformation are to be used with caution. Certain sections even now believe that the Reformation was actually a blatant cut on their traditions. The Reformation and allied movements brought the aristocratic language of Malayalam to the masses. Through orations, stories, and songs, they made common people the partakers of social advancement. Though they were Christian versions in the beginning, very soon this transformation had spread into other communities. The central Travancore region, which gave importance to commerce among various social transactions, could not claim any emotionality. And that is why it remained unattached by the spheres of art and literature.

The novel does not go down into the modernist imagination. Yet Tommy, who has been liberated from the reformed traditions though the character of Noah, dives into the modern social circumstance. Even though Tommy becomes accustomed with many philosophical theories, soon he returns to the Malayalee custom. The organization Global Malayalee Union (GLOMU) is the symbol of that vanity. The calculation of George-cha, the character in the novel, or the vanities of the Christian reformation of central Travancore area joining hands with neocapitalism is quite natural. That means Tommy is never a modernist. But I do not claim that I have created a postmodern character through Tommy just for extravaganza. Through Noah, Tommy got introduced into a modern lifestyle. That’s all!

In the State of Kerala, there were no bases of industries, so industrial production and opportunities for jobs were few. The industrialists in the other states needed clerks. For that no competitive examinations were held. No waiting for years was also needed. This was the state in the fifth and sixth decades of the last century. But in the central Travancore area, a silent revolution was happening, which was unnoticed by many. That was the daring of the Christian woman to do manual work. The missionaries compelled that the wives of rural gospel teachers should also be literate. The girls along with the laborers in the fields began to concentrate on learning also. Here began the advancement of female education. Toward the middle of last century the number of highly educated girls seeking jobs rose significantly. By that time throughout India, the doors of the centers of nursing care opened for them. Hospitals all over India found the supremacy of Malayalee girls in the field of nursing care. Following that, when the immigration rules were liberalized in America to promote their economy, a stage came up for them without competition with any Reach the embassy; visa shall be ready. This happened fifty years ago for the Malayalee girls. It was fortunate for my generation to walk along with this epoch in history. Here we celebrate the occasion of a sweet golden jubilee of that. It is my fortune to present this novel at this context.

The changes brought in by the emigration are more important than the history of emigration. In this novel I have tried to emphasize such a thought. In the sphere of cultural life, language and the changes caused in our society toward capitalism are all notable. Our society never thought that the United States of America had a socialist face also.

Any literary work needs be poetic. Whatever its technique and affinities to any movements, romantic and dramatic concepts are also essential to it. Here is a silent and rural love story, and its mild warmth without any melodrama is carried along with this novel.

In the end bringing together some characters and the dramatics in it created much headache, and it was a high challenge to write this story. As the readers can imagine scenes as per their fantasies, I feel to be fortunate in confronting all these contexts.

Detroit is my city in America. The first thing I had noticed there old lanes of the city. Later a character in this novel speaks about the lanes: To know what a city is, go through its lanes.

A desire to write about Cass Corridor in Detroit has risen in me days before, when I landed in Peterborough, a street in Cass Corridor, on a snowy evening in April. I believe that I could be able to enliven the pictures of that area as in a dream here in this novel. Once Cass Corridor was the center of American labor movements, modernism, philosophy, drama, and music, and beginning with emigrations, such experiments also became active. It was first home to a number of Malayalee immigrants. It was here that the Kerala Club was inaugurated in the 1974 Onam season.

After some years, the hero of the novel departed Cass Corridor for I-75 South, which turned to be the beginning of another move. I left as well. Without the glamour of GLOMU, there is no Malayalee life in America. GLOMU is our own organization, and Pappan, Tommy, and Jacob are our representatives and office bearers, exchanging certain positions skillfully. Some organizations split here, some others die, but I am sure that GLOMU shall never die.

I have taken care not only in the style and presentation but also in the separation of chapters and subchapters. A novelist is always afraid of excess in narration and dialogues. As far as possible, I have kept strict control over it.

If we could point out certain milestones in the path of man’s moves or travels; if the readers could be taken to new pastures; if new dialogues started in the field of race, theology, social, economic, and political spheres; if the readers could imbibe—then we shall be successful. Is it not the duty of a novelist to create a new life?

At length I make only a request to the readers: you should read this novel with a critical mind, as if in a debate. It is my firm belief that all artistic traditions shall lead to continuing discussions.

—John Mathew

17907 Adobe Trace Lane

Houston, TX 77084, U.S.A

Phone: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

IMPORTANT CHARACTERS

Onappy, Chakkara, Tommy: Three rural boys

Somu: Another boy of the same age from a large city

Chacko: Onappy’s father

Rahel: Onappy’s mother

Sara Kochu (later Saramma Varghese): Onappy’s sister

Joseph Mathai: Tommy’s father (teacher)

Mathunny Appachan: Joseph Mathai’s father’s brother

Paul Simon: Somu’s father, a high-ranking official

George (George-cha): Joseph Mathai’s wife’s brother; Tommy’s uncle

Purushothaman Pillai: An influential businessman

Kariakutty: Neighbor of George

Annamma: Kariakutty’s wife

Mary: Their daughter; Tommy’s dream girl

Ouseph and Jaime: Twins from Portugal

Isabella: Mother of the twins

Maria: An aristocratic teenager of Portugal

Sergio Garcia: An artist

Dr. Charles Robertson: Bible school president

Professor Rayan Wells: A professor

Noah and Ruth: Children of Professor Wells

Professor Morris Washington: The guest professor of the Bible school

Thampy Zachariah: A relative of Tommy in Detroit

Dr. David Philipose: A friend of Thampy Zachariah

Lisa: Tommy’s wife

Ouse: Son of Tommy and Lisa

Don: Foreman working in a factory

Bill McCromic: A colleague of Tommy

Pappan (C. P. Kaimal) and Jacob Chandy: Former classmates and friends of Tommy

Bella: A Brazilian girl; Ouse’s wife

Silva Pedro: Granduncle of Bella

Seeta Chandran: Granddaughter of Chakkara, the childhood friend of Tommy

Saramma Varghese: Sara Koch (Onappy’s sister)

John Chacko: Onappy’s formal name

Dr. Som Simon: Somu’s formal name (Paul Simon’s son)

CERTAIN MALAYALAM WORDS USED

Onappy: Shortened form of young Yohannan or John

Mathunny Appachan: The title Appachan refers to a dad or granddad

Achayan or Achachan: Older brother

George-cha: Cha is the shortened form of Achayan (an elder)

Sara Kochu: Kochu means dear

Malayalee: Those who speaks the Malyalam language

Kerala: Southwestern State in India, the language of which is Malayalam

Travancore: Formerly a princely region, now part of Kerala state

Kathaprasangam: Storytelling combined with music and poetry

Yatra: Travel, move, make a journey, explore

Yakshi: Evil spirit in human form

Muthalali: A title of one who handles wealth

Inquillab-Zindabad: Victory to revolution (Communists’ brand slogan)

Angjili fruit: An attractive tropical fruit (Artocarpus)

Bhoomi: Planet Earth; land, field, soil, land, property

Chapter 1

1

1947–48

Yatra. Exodus. Leaving one’s native land for a new place for living is an adventure. No two moves are the same. The beginnings of those are also not alike. But the expectations are certainly similar. Colorful imagination of a new world! It gives a world of experience and raises your anxiety level to a new high!

Heavy footsteps, careful steps. All are merely imaginary. After going forward much and becoming successful, we shall look back. That moment’s importance, that happy moment into our memory with certain pride. But when we think later, we may feel that all that was casual or mere opportunities brought in by circumstances. That is why all beginnings happened to be a continuation of something else.

Tommy knows he is going to miss something, his usual friendship. But then, as Onappy had begun his journey, Tommy too dreams of it. Mathunny Appachan had promised to tell stories of distant lands.

He shall come, the white-bearded Mathunny Appachan, walking with the support of a long stick. There shall be a bag in his hand full of sweets or snacks. He will come and place Tommy by his side and tell stories to him.

All the stories in the world are known to Mathunny Appachan, let it be of wolf or jackal or bear. One day Appachan asked how the bear had gotten its tail cut off. Tommy did not know the answer. But his eagerness rose high.

Mathunny Appachan started narrating the bear story as if it was a fairy tale.

Once upon a time a lonely bear tried to catch some fish, but he was very disappointed at not catching a single one. A jackal passed by and got an idea to trick the bear and told it secretly how to catch fish so easily. The bear went to the frozen bay nearby and put his tail in the first hole he saw.

He could not catch anything until sundown. Still expecting to catch something, the bear was so hungry and stayed with his tail in the water. To his surprise, the weather got colder, and the chilled water turned into ice. The bear also felt the chill. He got tired of the hunger and tried to pull his tail. Unable to pull it out, he fiercely jumped up and down and hence lost his tail. At last he lost his tail!

The ashamed bear went home slowly with a bent head. Poor bear, isn’t it?

Hearing the story, Tommy used to fall into slumber! The next day he would ask Appachan the rest of the story. What happened to the bear?

But Tommy did not sleep that night. Appachan should tell him the story of Onappy’s journey. He was too eager to hear and was compelled. In his mind Tommy remembered that Onappy might have told Appachan about his journey. He may not see him anymore. He lost his playmate and friend. Poor Onappy, Tommy thought.

Appachan prayed that day for Onappy, his father, his mother, and his young sister. It is the style of Mathunny Appachan that toward the end of the prayer, he would reach the edge of weeping. He insisted upon the prayers always being filled with pathos and ending in sorrow. He hoped always that his prayers reached the Almighty.

2

Onappy goes somewhere. He is not here anymore. He cannot be seen again. This was the limited information Tommy had. He let Onappy loose into the small world of his large dreams. He travels through the dusty road of the countryside, through the edges of the paddy fields, crossing the hills, rivers and canals and water streams. From the top of the hills, he goes down to the valleys by the sides of tea shops.

Tommy is not free enough even to look inside the shop. There are very strict orders that Tommy should not eat anything other than the homely food. Pretending somewhat high up in the society, he is strictly tied up. Onappy is an untied, free bull, Tommy felt.

Tommy had already known the uncomfortable limitations of Onappy’s home. But he was not able to understand the width of the problems. I have a large house, having a tiled roof and a number of rooms. It has walls secured with stony buildup. Why not him? He has a wandering mind.

Onappy’s home is a thatched hut, covered with coconut tree leaves. Why it is so?

He does not have courage enough to ask the question to anyone.

Tommy had been under the impression that the hut was his own. Tommy was envious while viewing the trees there like mango, jack, and guava. The land was stretching down toward the canal. How beautiful it is? The tiny fish in the canal appeared to be fair in color, a blending of the rainbow.

Onappy was always happy to come over to the house of Tommy. He is permitted to eat food from there. But Tommy is not allowed to eat from Onappy’s home. There is no handicap in keeping a friendship with him. Mother would express sympathy with Onappy and would say, Poor boy. I’m sorry for him.

Keeping a friendship with Chakkara, another boy of the same age, was discouraged.

A Formula!

Tommy + Onappy = Permission

Onappy + Chakkara = Disregard

Tommy + Chakkara = Denial

Onappy and Chakkara used to walk by the sides of the hills and shrubs, eating wild fruits like mango and Angjili (artocarpus). Along the bushes there were hares and wild cocks, and streams too! To see the shrubs were a world of wonder, but they were only distant sights to Tommy.

Chakkara is dark and lean. He is an alien from somewhere. His home has no name or tradition. His family members, including his parents and grandparents, were not allowed into any house. He is also treated like this. He could only stand in the yard of any house.

Onappy puts his hands on Chakkara’s shoulders, breaking all these social norms and forbidding. They walk together, eat, and exchange the same sour mango with each other. Who is there to question?

3

The visits of Paul-achayan were rare occurrences. Tommy does not know who this Paul-achayan is. He is a relative. As he is a high-positioned official, he was told to address him as Paul-achayan.

He goes on any official purposes, just to remind people of the relationships, he makes a casual visit. When he arrives there shall be a reception with some special dishes.

How many days have gone since had met you my son? Grandma would embrace Paul and weep. He may be trying to save himself from her hands, it appears. This is Paul, Paul Simon, or Paul-achayan for Tommy.

Paul Simon comes from the capital city of Thiruvanathapuram. A powerful man, he has an official car, and it is driven by a driver in a white uniform and a cap with a government emblem. In the business of official tours, he finds time to renew relationships. Without any breach of law, he likes a time of rest.

The energetic Paul Simon wears golden-framed eyeglasses. Smiling always, he is attractive. He will learn the background of anybody and talks with