black gold and venice of the east

Once upon a time alleppey my hometown on mothers side was not there in the tourist map . But this town was known for many centuries as an important trade link between the arab , the western world and india . It had one old port and the whole town is crisscrossed by canals which are found even now giving it the name Venice of the east . The town was a tradepoint which mainly focussed on coir and spices including pepper . And in those times pepper was known as black gold .


My grandfather on my mothers side was known as the pepper king in those days . It was said that the leading newspapers in kerala used to call him to know the market rate of pepper and he used to decide the pricing just by rolling the pepper with his fingers . In addition to all this recently i read the biography of one of the founders of malayala manorama newspaper and in it on page 21 there is mention of our pepper kings family which originally belongs to one of the noble families from telicherry who settled down in alleppey .Like most people i am also happy of my family heritage . But as always this blog is not to bask on the family glory . For i feel more than family heritage it is the persons attributes that are more important . But , what i am really proud about this pepper king grandfather of mine was his hardworking nature and humbleness . Whenever i used to visit my ancestral home I saw my grandfather always dressed in a traditional white mundu and a white shirt . It was simple dress and he was always calm and helping towards whoever came to his house . There was never a pomp or show in that house . Food was plenty but though he could afford all the luxuries in life (Waterman and Parker pens , imported cars were available then also ) there was always enough but no wastage on unwanted luxuries . I was very close to him and whenever i visited there we used to spend time in each others company . And now i realize it was “quality time “ for during other times his schedule of work was from morning 8 am to night 11 pm at least  . His hardwork and trade acumen made him who he was . And in those days those who had money generally didn’t work this hard. Instead they used to sit at home and spend that hardearned money of the forefathers .

He is no more now . He passed away when i was 9 years of age . So what was the legacy that he left behind for me . I would say his humbleness and hardwork  . And an inward happiness when i put salt and pepper on the morning breakfast egg .