Monday, 10 December 2012

Pappavalasu / பாப்பாவலசு - A Tiny Village, Me and My Village, Tiruppur District, Tamil Nadu.

  6, December  2012.
PAPPAVALASU is a tiny village that lies on the world map at the coordinates 11°16’45.32” N and 77°26’57.17” E, in the Erode district of Tamil Nadu, India.  It is 36 Km west of Erode and 5 Km east of Kunnathur ( Aadhi Kunnathur ). The entire village houses are constructed within two lanes/ streets.  This is almost the center of Erode to Coimbatore, Tiruppur to Erode, and  Tirupur to Gobichettipalayam bus route.  The post office is located at Kunnathur. Once it was in Coimbatore district and now in Tiruppur District. There is no river or Kulam nearby. People depend on bore-well for drinking water. All the houses are built with mud and the roofs are Mangalore tiled.  We were the first to get a TNEB  power supply when I was studying 4th or 5th standard in a Government elementary school at Velampalayam about 1 km away from my village.

LOCATION OF THE PLACE: CLICK HERE
 
  ( The view of our village from the main road )

There is an Odai on the western side of our village and the water will flow only during heavy rain. The burial ground is on the banks of the Odai. We used to play in the Odai water when we were young. About 25 years before there was a very heavy rain and the Odai got flooded. The flooded water carried the ground nuts which were laid for drying in the fields.

  ( The view of our village from the main road - Our house is back of the coconut tree )

Our village was very famous for the bullock carts, used for transporting materials by the farmers and the same was used as a transportation also.  After the Industrial Revolution, the scenario was completely changed. The people in the village could not adopt the latest technology and change.  Hence the total manufacture of bullock carts vanished from history and the people migrated to various places but did the same job of Carpentry ( doors, windows, etc., ) to take care of their livelihood. Now this tiny village looks deserted during day time and almost all the houses are locked. I was a little upset to see that. 

The TNEB's  Office at our Village 

Since my Uncle ( Mr. Avinachiappan otherwise called Kadaiannan, who used to spend most of his time in a small tea shop ) does not have a child, he encouraged us to study and switch over to some other job. So my brother A Ringeswaran studied up to Diploma in Mechanical Engineering and he in turn helped me acquire my Diploma in Electrical Engineering. (increased my qualification up to MS level through distance education later).
  
Our ancestor's house our Grandfather and grandmother lived in this village. This house's walls are built with mud without a foundation

The youngsters of our Village reconstructed  Sri Sakthi Mariamman and a Vinayagar temple. The Kumbhabhishekam was conducted a year before and a special pooja is conducted on every No Moon ( Amavasya ) day night and Annadhanam is also served. The temple looks beautiful. 

( View of Sri Sakthi Mariamman temple with Sri Vinayagar Sannidhi)

I used to go to my village frequently to see my mother who is now at 90+ and takes care of herself and does not want to depend on anybody for her routine work including cooking (She is reluctant to come to Chennai ). When she happened to see me, she became more healthy. When she was young, she used to help the village ladies during delivery and after childbirth.

My mother now at 90+ with her grandson

LOCATION OF MY VILLAGE: CLICK HERE, CLICK HERE
Some of the photos taken during my recent visit have been uploaded.

The street which leads to our ancestor's house
Another view of our grandfather's house. The bathroom and kitchen were built at a later stage.
Sri Sakthi Mariamman temple vimanam on the sanctum
Sri Vinayagar sannidhi and Nagars on both sides
Sri Sakthi Mariamman in Santhana kappu
View of the temple 

LOCATION WITH IMAGES: CLICK HERE

SAKTHI MARIAMMAN TEMPLE ANNUAL FESTIVAL 2024








--- OM SHIVAYA NAMA ---

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