Kerala - Thrissur   

Here Karunakaran will rest in peace

Photo: K. C. Sowmish

Arrangements:Defence Minister A.K. Antony on Friday night monitoring arrangements at Murali Mandiram at Punkunnam in Thrissur for the funeral of Congress leader K. Karunakaran. —

THRISSUR: When he visited Murali Mandiram, a house he owns at Punkunnam in Thrissur, a few years ago, Congress veteran K. Karunakaran said, “Here I will come for eternal rest.”

At Murali Mandiram, he will be cremated on Saturday near the memorial of his wife, Kalyanikutty Amma.

Storehouse of memories

Murali Mandiram is a storehouse of memories for his family. After their marriage, Karunakaran and Kalyanikutty Amma had stayed in a rented house in Kottappuram.

In the early 1960s, he bought Murali Mandiram, then a small house.

His children Muraleedharan and Padmaja grew up here till the family shifted to Thiruvananthapuram when he became Home Minister.

He renovated the house and rented it out later.

Murali Mandiram was the venue for many political discussions and trade union meetings that Karunakaran had presided over.

Many important political decisions were made here.

Kalyanikutty Amma would cook food for endless visitors who would crowd the house. Once asked to comment on his closest associates, frequent visitors to his house, having deserted him, Karunakaran replied, “Vilambiya Chorinu Kalyani Kanakku Vakkarilla” (Kalyani never keeps a record of the food she has served).

In the past 17 years, a gloomy Karunakaran used to visit Murali Mandiram on his wife's death anniversary.

Lost in thought, he would stand for long in front of the memorial. Tears would brim in his eyes.

The older he became, the more inconsolable he was.

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