The House that Akbar's Wapa Built

My father built two houses in his native village in Edava, Kerala. The village is situated very close to the sea and in fact you can see the sea from the house. This is how the story goes. Our ancestral home is called Maramblavuum (in India, you are identified by your house name rather than a surname). It seems there was a family quarrel and my grandfather, Kassim "Srang" moved out of the house and went to stay in the house called Chekavaluam (which incidentally my father purchased for grandfather (Upapa). Sometime in 1952-53, my father and Hussein Kochapa built two identical houses - one on the ancestral plot and the other on Chekavaluam. The houses are still there when i visited them in 2005. The house in Chekavaluam has since been upgraded by my cousin, Shafie "macha". Unfortunately, the house in Maramblavuum has been neglected.

This happens to many ancestral homes because no one is willing to spend money on a property which is not theirs. There was a family staying in the ancestral home when i visited in 2005. The interesting thing about the houses is that the wooden ceiling is still good after so many years. Got a picture of the ceiling. When i got there, there are our relatives who still talk about my father who passed away in 1985 - some 20+ years. They talk and remember my father with affection. Imagine for more than 50 years, families have lived and grew up in the houses that my father built. When i visited my mother's village, some of them remember me from my visit nearly 27 years ago. They remember me for the physical fights that happened. The difference in how we are remembered did not escape me and i am humbled by that thought.