Pilot of the flying car

My fascination for the Times font fascinates me; wonder what makes me switch to Times whenever I feel like writing something special, close to heart. As someone who wasn't born & brought up in the digital era, I wanted to pen but then again am I at my desk, tapping & viewing the alphabets in Times in the dim light of the screen, it is past midnight & let not Ponnu's sleep be at stake.

Our times together are always very historical and I end up being Ponnu's story teller of nostalgic childhood memoirs of my maternal kin. Amongst Sajjoo uncle's collections were two letters that uncle treasured so much that he kept multiple photostats of them, lest time ruins the original. I was fortunate enough to own a copy of the duo.

One of these letters were written by Thankappan maaman to my ammamma. My earliest memories of maaman are very vague and limited to my achan correcting me, "Not ThaMBakkan maaman, ThaNKappan maaman.". Thankappan maaman, as I recollect, the tallest of ammamma's siblings, slender and swift. It was maaman's fast motions that first caught the eyes of the observant child that I was; as fast as a swift urging to achieve the max in min time, moving far ahead of his times? May be maaman also noticed two little eyes silently observing him from a corner that he felt very amused and gave me a murukkan reddish smile. Why was there a deep feel of belongingness even in that casual smile?

Once when Kunju uncle told me that Thankappan maaman was the first to own a car in Kadakkavoor, was it maaman's agility that made me imagine him flying an Ambassador car and not driving them on the roads? Maaman lived a short life and my knowledge of Thankappan maaman remains restricted to an inland letter written by him to his sister during the last days of his life. Though the lines were few, they spoke a lot; of a life that loved his children & wife very deeply; of one that was full of compassion; of one that well wished everyone; of one that outlived one's time...

Malayalam Word meanings

Ponnu, Sajjoo Thankappan - Common names in the Malayalam language

Maaman - Uncle in Malayalam

Ammamma - Grandmother in Malayalam

Murukkan - Tobacco leaf with calcium carbonate paste spread on it chewed with arecanut.