Death of the Vayalvāram Experience

Over the last two decades, my brief visits to the Vayalvāram house at Chempazhanthy were all momentous and memorable experiences of my life. Each visit to the birthplace of Sree Nārāyana Guru sparked off a marvelous feeling of traveling back in time; the amazing experience of re-living moments in the space of a remarkable philosopher's life. Vayalvāram was the closest we, the ordinary ones, could ever live to experience the ambience and surroundings in the mortal life of an immortal sage.

The serenity of the premises, the simplicity of the dwelling, and the softness of the sand around the Vayalvāram house were all together a unique sensation of its own. The air had a pristine innocence of over a century and a half—as if time stood still. The more I got to learn of the Guru, the enchantment and holiness of the Vayalvāram experience grew to new heights. I made it a point to pass by and re-live that experience once in a while.

I was fortunate to take my daughters there just a couple of years ago. It rained heavily while we were there that day. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that forced us to stay indoors at the Vayalvāram house for some time. The rain added emotion to the experience. Thankfully, I had taken my movie camera with me. We shot clips of the house, the locale, the rain and the girls’ visit there. Little did I know, at the time, that it would be my last auspicious experience of Vayalvāram.

Last week I visited Vayalvāram again. The scene was heartrending. A large modern hall-like covered arena of concrete, steel and translucent roofing is being built over the Vayalvāram house in the name of ‘protection’. Money could not have been put to better misuse and destruction of that 'momentous experience'.

Sadly the coming generations will never get to sense the serenity of the original Vayalvāram premises, or the simplicity of the dwelling, or ever the softness of the sand around the old house. Posterity will never get to re-live the original ambience and surroundings of the Guru’s childhood home. The air will never have that pristine innocence any more.

Sujit Sivanand
31 May 2007

Epilogue: The hall being built over the Vayalvāram house apparently can protect it only from rain. The affects of nature such as the tropical moisture, the termites and other insects, the organic decay, or the contingent risks such as fire or willful destruction and abuse cannot be addressed by a mere roof built over the Vayalvāram house. Incidentally. when I visited the house this time, the construction workers on site were abusing the lintel of the Vayalvāram house to store their dirty clothes, their ‘beedis’ and matchboxes, as if the old Vayalvāram house is the site storage shed for the new large construction in progress around it.