Sengamalam

I often joke that I vacation in Ghatkopar/Kandivali.  So far, apart from a brief sojourn in Chennai, this has been the case on this visit too.  A lot has changed since my last visit but more on that later. In the meantime,  something that my grandfather penned and didn't want me to blog till he passed away because the salacious details of this story are from his grandfather's life and out of "reverence for this great man" he did not want it made public. Personally I didn't want to blog it because it does not fit in with my own views (I would have found it more interesting if Sengamalam was more angular).  Nevertheless here it is - a last hurrah from the grandfather so to speak - in relatively unedited form and with its pickled sexual politics intact. 

"Sengamalam belonged to the kallar community. This community's 'jaati dharma' was cattle thieving, The British government declared them as a criminal tribe and years of persecution later, at the time of this narrative, they were a subdued lot the majority of whom were farmers.

At the time I saw her she was probably in her late forties. She was very fair but had at that age a weather beaten face, due to a life of hard toil. She used to visit my grandmother once every year. My grandfather died when he was 52 and my grandmother and uncles then went to live in Karanthai, a suburb of Thanjavur. Sengamalam used to walk 25 miles from her village, Mohanur, bringing with her raw groundnuts and cashew fruits of both the red and yellow variety. She was a silent woman who spoke in monosyllables. She rarely stayed more than a day and would depart with the food my grandmother gave her.

Once after her annual visit I overheard my uncle telling someone that this was her annual pilgrimage to pay homage to my grandfather.  My grandfather it transpired had an affair with her. I was 11 years old then and my knowledge of such matters was mainly gleaned from gossip and local murmurings and the odd film.  My 11 year old fanciful mind imagined how it would have started.

My grandfather at the time of the beginning of the affair was the agent of a chettiar who secured a few villages as a pledge from a zamindar. He stationed himself at Mohanur. He must have started his life with his teenage wife in that village, they stayed in the village for 30 years till my grandfather's death. Sengamalam was a fair and charming girl, it was rumoured that she was born of an illicit relationship  between her mother and the family priest, a handsome Telugu brahmin. Sengamalam was perhaps engaged by my grandmother to do some household work. My grandfather was tall, fair and handsome.  Though quick tempered,  he was considered to be a straightforward gentleman. In my eyes he was majestic. My grandmother was short and lean. I imagine that the affair started during my grandma's visit to her  mother's place for her first delivery.   It must have been a leisurely day.  He is sitting  on a bench watching Sengamalam sweeping the floor. She has long plaited hair hanging loose, her skin is fair and her apparel doesn't allow for modesty (Kallar women in those days did not wear blouses).  My grandfather summons Sengamalam. She might have been shy, but also compliant in the manner of women of her caste and her times. Thus started an affair that was conducted on and off through my grandfather's lifetime. 

As for grandma, girls in Thanjavur had been trained to accept and live with such things. She was merely thankful that grandpa did not bring Sengamalam to live under the same roof."

Pic source here.