VAZHAPALLY KUMBALATHU OF NIRANAM

 Vazhappally Kumbalathu story does not wind up with the unfortunate extinction of the identity of Kumbalathu at Niranam for good. There are no traces of Kumbalathu left there now. The properties we had roamed when we were children are still there. But they have been fragmented beyond recognition.

Circumstances beyond control brought about the unwelcome transition.

But we all do have a piece of our own Kumbalathu within us. That will never be erased.

Apart from the senti - sentiments, I understand our lineage dates back to six generations. Suku, Suku C Oommen, MD of Travancore Scans, Trivandrum and an excellent and successful businessman tells me, we are family. He adds that the family was into business from the beginning of the traced ancestry. They were at Kozhencherry and Alapuzha and they owned the first Petrol Pump or the Gas Station in American parlance at Kozhencherry. They were elsewhere too. They owned large Kettuvalloms - big country boats - that transported goods through the rivers and lakes.  They were adventurous. Failures never deterred them. They fought and won.

I had requested him to furnish me the history as he knew.

Later Suku had forwarded the ensuing.

The Vazhapally family had three brothers who were into business together. One of the brothers had passed away all of a sudden. While the remaining two brothers carried on with the existing business, they did not look after their sister in law - the unfortunate widow -  well. In fact she was shut out from the business of which her late husband was a partner. Since the poor widow had no means of survival she left the Vazhapally family residence and returned to her people at Ranni. She tried her hand in business - in fact she owned a Vallom too - at Ranni.  But it was a failure. Later she moved on to Vechoochira where she settled. The move was successful. Suku is a descendant from that line.

While the two brothers were successfully running the Vazhapally family business, one brother took over the whole business after vesting  the other with the ancestral home along with a few acres of dry land where coconut trees abounded along with inter cropping and another few acres of paddy field  where paddy and Sugar Cane were cultivated. Agriculture was the mainstay for this brother, who was our ancestor.

Quite interesting to know about ourselves and bring to light the unknown.

I am grateful to Suku for furnishing me the family tree.