My Days in My Years Chapter 6

                                                                   My Days in My Years

Chapter 6 (continued)
I have gory  memories of the river also.It is not that I love that gently flowing water mass, but when it assumes the role of a destroyer, that had happened quite sometime in my childhood, I got frightened and some  times that I fear had become obsessions. Many  days after  that incident, I never ventured to go near the river, let alone taking bath in it.
In the land adjoining our house, there used to be tenants all the time. One tenant or other would be there all the time, till some untoward incident had happened some time ago, which I am purposely not mentioning for reasons that it involved a close relative, who is happily married now. One has to understand the term tenant in the context. They were  there mainly to look after the land. Often, people would come by river and stash away coconuts and other  crops. Sine the tenant was staying on the bank of the river, not many would dare to venture into the land. When I was too young, there was one family who stayed there. They had children of my age. We used to go to school together. But I do not recall that I was ever close to them. That tenant left the place after sometime and we had drafted another one to stay there. He had three daughters and one son. The eldest daughter Kcohu Mary-  was of my age and I do not recall her going to the school. If she did go, she must have been enrolled into a lower class.
The on below her was - Kochu Thresia-was a cute child. Most of the time the sisters used to be at our home playing with our sisters. Kchu Threisa was fair and attractive and I remember that she had a tongue around her neck-always talk fast. I have seen her talking to herself, to trees and animals. She never could keep her tongue inside ger mouth. That time she was in the second or third standard. At home, she goes almost bare chested and at times she moved along in a jetty. That was very common among girls of her age in our place. One day, on a Sunday, I heard that she was  drowned in the river. Little further to our land, there was a stretch of river, which was very deep. There was a sharp turn at that point. In such places, the under current will be severe. She went to take bath with some of the children of her age. She might have moved further and caught up in the current. In our village, there are good divers and they came and started searching for her. At last, after an hour or so, her dead body was recovered. That time her father was not there. He went out Parur, the nearest town for some errands. From that day onwards, I had developed a fear for the river. For at least , three months or so, I did not go to anywhere near the river.
The other incident took place much later, when I was doing my graduation. I was not in the village that time. It was the month of June or July: the rainy season. The river becomes furious. When the water does not inundate into the banks, river becomes furious. There will be strong current. One such day, a few people, including children were ferried across the river. In the middlle of the river,  partly  because of the heavy load and partly on account of the strong current, the country boat turtled. The boat was swept away along with its commuters. Because of the valiant effort of one person known to me-Ittyachan- who lived in the other bank of the river, some of the children were saved. Despite the strong current, he jumped into the river, exactly at the point Kochu Thresia was drowned. In the incident, four or five children died and an equal number of children were saved. Ittyachan could have got a President's medal for his valiant effort. He did not get any decorations, awards or commendations except  gratitude  for  his chivalrous action from the parents of children survived and the villagers. Ittyacahn later  had become mentally unstable   and died young.
There are other incidents also which made me abhor the river. Occasionally, there would be dead bodies floating and some of them people say were not claimed at all. or they had become beyond recognition on being bloated in the river  for long.