TRIPUNITHURA: That night was sleepless and all of us were eagerly waiting for the dawn of Independence," 87-year-old Rama Varma Kunjunni Thampuran, of the Crystal Palace, a branch of the Kochi royal family, said while recalling the memorable day when India got Independence.
In an exclusive interview to Express, Kunjunni Thampuran recalled the unforgettable experience of ushering in the era of independence.
"Then the Kochi king was Kerala Varma (popularly known as Aikya Kerala Thampuran) as he had played a key role in the merger of Travancore and Kochi and he had sent his representative Ravi Varma to hoist the Tricolour at the Thrissur Town Hall.
"At Thrissur, a team of Kochi officials headed by Ravi Varma attended the function organised on the occasion of hoisting the Tricolour. Senior officials Elamana Krishna Menon, B V K Menon and I N Menon were the other members of the team. After the official declaration of Independence, Aikya Kerala Thampuran put forward a formula for the merger of Travancore and Kochi provinces which materialised in 1949.
"After spending the night at the Kochi Residential Palace, located on the side of the Foreshore Road facing the Arabian Sea, we walked all the way to Tripunithura to attend the first Independence Day celebrations," Kunjunni Thampuran says.
"On August 15, 1947, all of us gathered at the Statue Junction to listen to the live broadcast of the declaration of Independent India," he said. The events are still fresh in the mind of Kunjunni Thampuran, who had wholeheartedly accepted the Gandhian way of life from his childhood itself. "In those days, the princes of Kochi royal family were given schooling at their residence. At the age of 10 itself, I was attracted by my master Thampan Mash, who was an ardent follower of Mahatma Gandhi," Thampuran recalls. From that tender stage, Kunjunni started to wear khadi. However, his cousins and friends were keen to maintain the dress code as the princes of Kochi royal family. "The laundrymen of the palace often complained about it as it was a strenuous job for them to wash my rough khadi dresses which were heavier than the costly dresses of my cousins," Kunjunni recalled. "Being the princes of the Kochi royal family, we were treated as VIPs at Maharaja's College, Ernakulam, and special chambers were allotted for us to spend the interval," he said. Instead of enjoying the royal status, Kunjunni chose a track of his own as a khadiclad youth who had responded intensely to the British colonialism.
"During my college days (193943), we had formed a small group which followed the Gandhian views and we never missed a chance to dishonour the British supremacy. The lecture stand arranged for a seminar at the main auditorium of Maharaja's College in 1940 was decorated with a portrait of thethen British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
As we were sitting in the front row, we could clearly see the portrait of Churchill. To mark our protest against the British rule, we sprayed ink from our fountain pain on the portrait," Kunjunni recalled. Kunjunni Thampuran was removed from thethen Madras Engineering Service as he was a member of the Kochi royal family, which belonged to the ThiruKochi state. "We are going to terminate you from MES as you are from ThiruKochi state," the official memo said.
Though he was irked by the narrowminded attitude of his seniors from thethen Madras State, Thampuran decided to join as a tutor at Victoria College, Palakkad.
After the formation of the Kerala state he was absorbed by Kerala Government as PWD senior engineer and he played a pivotal role in the making of the Malampuzha Irrigation Project.
Even at 87, Kunjunni continues to wear the khadi dresses which he had accepted at the age of 10. "Though I was attracted by the views and thoughts of Mahatmaji I never tried to become a politician."On every Independence Day, Kunjunni Thampuran recalls those moments he enjoyed on the first Independence Day.
Sivadas Varma
