KOCHU AMMA

 Kochu Amma was born as the third daughter of farmer couple Narayanan and Meenakshi in 1923 in a village in Trichur.They had  2 acres of paddy fields and 64 cents of coconut and arecanut plantations. Narayan and daughters were very hard working.But his youngest son was not much interested in farming activities and he moved to Bombay where he could procure job in  a textile mill.Kochu Amma grew up as a very beautiful girl and woman though slightly short. Their locality was surrounded by very poor people belonging to Dalits and Muslim communities. She was very much liked by the the locals and she also encouraged her father to render possible help to the much distressed neighbours. When Kochu Amma became 18 years of age as  already decided by the families she was married to her maternal uncle's younger son Kuttappan who happened to be of same age older by just 6 months. Her maternal uncle Maman was richer in terms of land ,paddy  fields, cows,bullocks, goats etc.After uncle's death his eldest son Raman managed the property for some time. When Raman decided to live independently and build his own new house in another plot partition of the property became inevitable .After partition Kuttappan got not only his share but also the shares of mother, three sisters and younger brother to manage their respective properties for the time being. 

Kochu Amma Kuttappan couple after getting the ancestral house started a new life. First thing Kochu Amma did was inviting "Mad Velu" to take  food (breakfast and lunch) regularly from their house till his death. Velu was a dalit doing  peon's job in the  local high school.He fell in love with a woman Kousalya .Unfortunately she was married to another person namely Ayappan in the same locality. After the marriage Velu was very much depressed and shattered  he eventually became schizophrenic and lost his job.Velu lived near Kousalya's house sleeping on the boundary wall of panchayat pond. Later when Kousalya delivered a  daughter  Velu  claimed that she was his baby.When the girl started going to school Velu accompanied her up to the gate of the school.Similarly half an hour before the school hours closes he promptly reaches there and accompanies her  back to the house. This has been continuing for years. It is  unfortunate that when he had  been accompanying the girl  few mischievous boys used to tease him calling names and  velu would chase them back which continued almost regularly.The fate was such that after few years one morning people found that Velu's body was  floating in the panchayat pond. 

Kochu Amma and Kuttappan made a division of work in their activities. Kuttappan provided interest free financial assistance to selected  needy and distressed people of the area. He also supplied agricultural products like hay,coconut,mangoes,banana jackfruit,tapioca,  yam,taro,bread fruit, Chinese potato, broad beans etc on credit provided they pay back after sales.Even if some of them misused this facility Kuttappan was not having any complaint. Kochu Amma  independently utilised money earned from selling of milk and milk products, retail sales of hay, in addition to that full sanction was accorded to her to freely distribute 'broken rice' to the needy. People used to flock during the rainy months of July August narrating their distressed conditions like TB,cholera, fever etc so that they can take rice porridge in their home. Knowing very well that some of them were approaching due to extreme poverty Kochu Amma along with broken rice used to supply tapioca or jack fruit or bread fruit or banana whichever was available to them.People like Ishuma,Veevatu and Saithuma,Beevi, along with their children  frequently visited Kochu Amma during lunch time and she had been very happy to serve food to them. Cow milk was also supplied freely to TB patients like Janaki,Devaki,Kunjukuttan and Ibrahim.

The couple were blessed with four children three sons and one daughter. Eldest son was in the air force, 2nd one in hotel business and the daughter and youngest son were studying.When daughter Sumathi grew up, at the age of 19 she was married to a high school teacher in Kerala Government Service in 1973.Much of gold ornaments and household goods were given as  dowry to Sumathi.After her marriage continuously three times paddy crops failed adding to the loans already availed for the marriage. To meet the emerging debt position Kuttappan had to sell 25 cents of land to clear all loans. At that time Kochu Amma remarked "God  has enormous wealth, don't worry about it".Meantime rapid changes were taking place in the society. Due to Gulf emigration and remittances people like Ishuma, Beevi, and Ibrahim became well off.In 1982 Kuttappan expired due to massive cardiac arrest. His  second son left the business and took charge of  agricultural operations. When Kuttappan's nephews staked claim over some  disputed 20 cents of land without an iota of hesitancy Kochu Amma granted it remarking that 'God has enormous wealth'.

 Everything was moving smoothly. Her youngest son completed his research studies and got an academic position in a reputed university and she was very much thrilled in seeing her son's photo in various newspapers. All the children were appropriately placed and she  has been grateful to God. However  the greatest set back to Kochu Amma occurred when her only daughter Sumathi expired in 1995 due to massive heart attack .Thereafter Kochu Amma's interest in activities gradually declined. Her memory began to  shrink with difficulty in organizing thoughts. When her health conditions  deteriorated further by 1999 her  second son Babu employed a home nurse to  look  after her.Fortunately she was very much happy with the home nurse and used to treat her like her own daughter.She had already instructed Babu that when she dies her one bangle should be given to the home nurse. When she expired in 2001 one week after Onam,as per her wish when   Babu gifted her gold bangle to the home nurse despite some murmurs from few family members Kochu Amma's statement "God has immense wealth  don't worry" was echoing his ears".