The Kerosene motor

Start in petrol and then turn to kerosene. That was a famous dialogue by Radha. Till the last breath, these words can never to deleted from mind's memory space. Karthikeyan was his name but no one in our village would identify him by that name. For all of us, he was Radha. Radha lived very close to us- literally. His family consisted of seven members. Our family had a very good relation with his family. His grandfather was the one who removed the husk from the coconuts. He stood with the husk removing tool all through the day and like a machine went about his job tirelessly. Like many other jobs that needed high physical efforts, this too was a hard one and the income it fetched was pathetically low. 

Radha missed the school after he completed LP School. He was one among several kids who regularly scored a zero out of fifty marks. That was all normal. Perhaps his parents did not expect anything more than that. Teachers never looked at him. Weak students were always pushed to the back benches but they were never spared of the cane. These condemned kids bore the brunt of the teacher's anger but the same teacher never had a heart to lift the kid's morale with a healing touch.  It all evolved as if some guys and gals are destined to fail. Unfortunately, Radha was one among them. He was detained in 4th standard. All the younger siblings followed his footpath. Forced out of the stream of the education system, they took to physical jobs at an early age itself. Like that, Radha joined as a childhood friend as well as a domestic help. His main job was to assist in maintaining a kerosene operated water pump. 

This pump was commonly called kerosene motor and it was used for irrigating the coconut trees. In the summer seasons, the temperature goes up to an unbearable level and the water table goes down drastically. There was a necessity to keep the coconut tree healthy since they were the main source of income once upon a time. The paddy fields on the east side of our house go dry. This was the time we removed the remaining parts of the paddy after harvesting. People patiently pulled the stubbling one by one. They were to be pulled out along with the root itself. All the pulled out parts were put into a heap and then burnt. Come summer, there will be a number of small simmering heaps dotting all along the vast paddy fields. We too joined the process. Once the fields are cleared, children could use them to play. Acres of land for children to play while the eldres were busy thinking about mopping up the field for the next round of cultivation. By the way, how many of us would not have experienced the smell of the freshly sprouted paddy seeds? The seeds were  soaked in water for two days and then transferred to big baskets lined with cotton or jute clothes. It remained there for three to four days. After that, when the baskets were opened, the sprouted seeds set together and emit a peculiar smell. 

Of late, in the summer time, vested interest groups started letting in salt water to the fields from the back waters. This made preparing the paddy fields for farming very difficult. Still, we tried to do it in by the start if monsoon. Slowly, everyone lost the drive. Favorite occupation of a village had been mercilessly drowned in salt water. With that, our "ptthayam" the wooden container fell empty for ever and ever after that we could never enjoy the fruits of our own hard work. Presenly, the paddy fields in Olavaipe like in any other part of kerala lie barren and gradually being turned into land. The new generation would be wondering where exactly do the grains originate!!  In a way, this salt water helped the coconut trees. The kerosene motor started pumping this water to the trees. 

Back to the motor. Radha was assistant to the main man Gopalan. They took the motor all over Olavaipe to pump water to coconut trees charging a fee. Water from the nearby ponds were pumped to the trees. The suction pipe was dropped in to the pond and then the pump was primed. After that, the initial ignition was provided by cranking the engine. A rope wound around the shaft of the engine, while pulling out suddenly gave the required spark inside the engine. There is a a fuel tank with a separation. In one part petrol was filled and kerosene in the other. While starting, the valve was turned to petrol and once the engine started and pumping water, the valve was turned to kerosene. 

This motor was extremely unreliable. Most of the times, one needed to wind the rope and pull it so hard several times to start the engine. In the middle, we had to open the spark plug, clean it and refit. Every alternate day there was a new problem and at times it needed opening of the internal parts and repair. Many times, the foot valve did not work. Water taken from the pond in vessels went into the suction pipe non stopping, still it never got filled. Then we realise that the foot valve was defective. The next step was to replace the foot valve. 

When the motor is on job, its noise could be heard in the entire neighbourhood. The outlet of the pump was extended using hoses and at the end of the hose, kids fought with each other to get hold of it and point the water jet towards the tree. Wherever the motor was taken to places, rolls of hoses followed. Sometime down the line, we got rid of this motor as it was only giving more trouble than benefit.  The machine that entertained us for long and got Radha some monetary benefits went into oblivion. Still the memories refuse to go and so do those words.."petrolil start cheythu mannennayil idanam (start in petrol and run into kerosene)"