Amballore House by Jose Thekkumthala Read Free Book Online

day. He extended to his siblings shade while they were simmering in the scorching sun, while they were dying to live. He built a sanctuary for his parents so that they could be alive to provide a home to their own children with a dignity which they never had known before. This welcome change in family’s fortune drove out the gloom of damnation that Thoma’s family was condemned to endure.
    Out of the land that Josh bought for the family, a portion would be sold later to raise money to provide education to the younger siblings all the way from the sixth child through the tenth, with the exception of Number-Seven.
    Be that as it may, it was Kareena who supported the family in its earlier stages of misery. Then there was George, the eldest son who sacrificed his education to support his siblings. The sacrifices from the three members of the family would be returned with ingratitude of unimaginable proportions. That is a story people in Amballore knew very well.
    After her departure from Mannuthy, Kareena sent letters home regularly. In those old days of the sixties, a phone was a luxury that only the very rich could afford. Therefore, letters remained a massively popular way of communication. There was no instant messaging, unlike today. There was no Facebook. The term ‘social media’ was unknown at that time.
    Every letter from her was read and savored by her siblings and parents, and every word was analyzed and critiqued. The letter then went from hand to hand, and everyone read it individually oncemore. It probably took a week for this process to finish. It was a joyous week of letter reading. When the week was over, Ann quietly smuggled the letter to Bhavani, a good neighbor. Bhavani read the letter as if it was from her own daughter. She never received letter from her relatives and therefore cherished getting a letter even from a stranger.
    Thoma and Ann assembled all the children to read the first letter from Kareena. They would do this for every letter that Kareena sent. Reading a letter in Thoma’s household was a memorable ritual. Thoma and Ann used the same reading glasses. They first belonged to Thoma, and as time went on, Ann started using them. Ann wiped the glasses clean and handed them over to her husband. The importance of the occasion built an anticipation that was unbearable.
    “My dearest father, mother, brothers, and sisters.” the letter addressed all in the family. The word
dearest
was ubiquitous in letters of those old times and addressed everybody except one’s archenemy.
    Thoma repeated this sentence two to three times as a dramatic attempt to captivate the audience. Ann adjusted the flame of the kerosene lamp. It was nighttime.
    “It is with indescribable happiness that I am writing this letter. Writing this letter is like talking to each and every one of you. My heart aches when I think of you all and I yearn to be with you in our home, even though it is not much of a home. Isn’t it strange that while living in Mannuthy in our miserable home, I was praying to get out of there, but now that I am far away from there in the desert sands of Rajasthan, I am missing the place? I spend nights with tears washing my eyes and flowing to my pillow, because I am missing you all.”
    Ann borrowed Thoma’s reading glasses and read the sentence herself, just to be sure. She resumed rolling the rosary beads that she always held in her hands, even while frying popadam.
    “It was with indescribable joy that I boarded the train to take up my job with CRP. Even I myself cannot explain the roaring wildness ofsheer happiness that overpowered every limb of my teenage body when the train left the Trichur station. I remember every one of you was standing on the platform with teary eyes.”
    Thoma paused and scanned the audience by sending a penetrating gaze to each one of them. Total attention was expected on this solemn occasion. If the children were not paying attention, Thoma glared at them so hard that they