The Chakkiat house on Mahakavi G Road is cosily tucked in its 21 cents, a short walk from the gate. A leafy driveway leads to the house which sits in the company of new and newer brightly painted houses as if oblivious of the changes in architecture over the years. The ‘younger’ buildings seem to accentuate Chakkiat House’s 100 plus years. Once upon a time the compound used to be a one acre plot. One look informs that age is telling on the house. In the old days a toddy shop at Karikkamuri made the area notorious, says octogenarian Radha S. Menon who lives there.
“One rain and a part of the house falls apart,” she jokes. She has been living in the house since 1938, according to V.K. Menon, her son. Radha’s father, Chakkiat Krishna Menon bought the house in 1928-29 and subsequently re-modelled it to meet his growing family’s requirements. To start with, the house just had three rooms and a kitchen, which was outside the house. An extra five rooms and a few decades later we are in a house filled with memories and stories.
The drawing room used to be a shed which was later incorporated into the main house, says Radha Menon. She used to be the secretary of the Ernakulam Women’s Club, president of the Nair Sthree Samajam, and treasurer of the Chinmaya Mission. One among her many friends was Siyad Kokker’s mother. “One day she told me that her son was producing a film and they wanted our house to shoot the film in. What was there to think?...I said okay.” Apparently the makers of the film had seen the house from outside and believed it to be perfect for a role. The house thus ended up with a starring role in Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam directed by Sathyan Anthikkad. The house went on to star in films such as Aayiram Naavulla Ananthan and Sipayilahala beside many others.
The stretch of road, which turns from Chittoor Road towards Karikkamuri on what is today the Mahakavi G Road, used to be deserted , lonely and dark. “There used to be one 40 watt bulb and we kids used to, literally, run for our lives once we entered the road till we reached the house. The presence of the toddy shop used to frighten us,” says V.K. Menon. He is talking about the mid-1950s and 60s.
Age is beginning to show on the house. Structurally no major changes have been affected on the single-storeyed house except to strengthen it.
There are stains on walls, there is the odd-crack but the comfort and coolness in the house beats any ‘modern’ construction. “That’s what my daughter, Leela’s friends tell me. Possibly that is the advantage of the old style of construction,” Radha says. She pegs the age of the house at ‘at least 130-150 years.’ The rooms have wooden ceilings, the rafters of which have been changed “for the sake of safety. Every year I end up spending a not-so small amount on repairs. But where are the carpenters to do this kind of work?” Radha asks. The furniture in the house is antique and vintage. Chairs and tables with intricate woodwork, beds and chest of drawers too.
The drawing room which faces the main entrance has rooms on three sides. And there are several exits. “There used to be nine exits which we have now reduced to six. One tends to forget things and ensuring that all the nine doors are closed was a lot of work,” says Radha Menon.
There is plenty of family history in the house and it seems indelicate to ask the 88-year-old what she intends to do with the house where she possibly spent most of her life.
