When the need to shift to a new abode for a month or so came up, I was enthusiastic and full of energy to do so. This meant setting up home on the top floor of a house in the heart of the city. It also meant a change of scene, with easy access to the glamour of city life. Over a few weeks, we had managed to equip the one-bed apartment with all the comforts of life.
Or rather, that is what we thought! Little did we know that we would miss the cool environment-friendly house we were used to for the last 20 years. We had taken for granted the trees and plants and greenery that enveloped our house giving it that rustic look. Very often visitors had a tough time finding our place, as it is tucked away in a bevy of undergrowth upon a hillock.
The realisation of having been brought up in an eco-friendly house built from simple materials dawned on me only after my experience of living in our new city home. The traditional architects, who were invariably carpenters and master craftsmen and builders, obviously knew a thing or two when they designed Kerala houses with their elegantly tiled pitched roofs that ended in gracefully curved eaves—protecting the verandah surrounding the house from the blazing heat in summer and the driving rains in the monsoon.
The nadumuttam, an open-to-sky courtyard in the nallukettu type of construction, also ensured that you got a continuous never-ending flow of cool air throughout the building. These tricks of the trade had obviously been handed down from generation to generation by local builders.
Before acquiring a refrigerator, I remember how we used to store drinking water in large earthen pots. The kooja, with a wide base and a thin neck, was ideal for storing and pouring out naturally cooled water. Then, of course, there was the assortment of thirst quenchers, starting with the good old morum vellam or sambaram (spiced buttermilk). More recently, with the endless supply of watermelons, it’s the melon shake, either whisked into a thick drink or watery with pieces of melon swimming around in chunks of crushed ice. Kerala’s pride and joy, the tender coconut with its refreshing elaneer, is a wonder drink that gets you back in action, revived and refreshed within minutes. So let us face the hot, sweaty and sticky days ahead with a host of cool memories.