Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Ministering to the Chief Minister

Face-to-face Vasumathy gives a glimpse of life with V.S. Achuthanandan, as SARASWATHY NAGARAJAN listens

PHOTO: S. MAHINSHA

COMRADE AND HOMEMAKER Vasumathy with her grandsons at Cliff House in the city

Vasumathy is hard-pressed for time. Workmen walk in and out of her house and she is still settling down in her new home - Cliff House. As she walks in to meet Metro Plus for an exclusive interview, she apologises for being a little late. "Kochumon has a stomach ache. So he was sleeping on my lap. As his mother, my daughter-in-law Rajni, is away, he misses her," the fond grandmother explains.

Bereft of airs of any kind, Vasumathy says, "No politics. We will talk of other things." And talk she does. Of her marriage to the Ambalappuzha MLA Velikkakathil Sankaran Achuthanandan in July 1967 and their life together. Of her first trip to Thiruvananthapuram a week after her marriage, her family, her husband's diet, her love for gardening and why she became a nurse.

"As an activist, I was selected to go to Secunderabad to train as an instructor in handicrafts. During the course, I fell ill. Impressed by the way the warden and the nurses there took care of me, I fell in love with the profession and decided to become a nurse," she recalls.

Taking a walk down memory lane she says, "I was a staff nurse in Secunderabad when V.S. met me for the first time at a comrade's house in Alappuzha. T.K. Ramen, a party leader, was the one who suggested that I marry V.S. I knew him as an up-and-coming Communist leader."

But little did she dream that her husband would one day become theChief Minister of the State.

Red-letter day

She admits that May 18 was a red-letter day for her when V.S. was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Kerala.

However, apart from the change in residence and the fact that her husband has become even busier, there are few changes in Vasumathy's world. A world that revolves around her family.

She says that as her husband is a busy political activist, there are days when she hardly sees him. Gifts and family outings are rare and occasions to remember.

With a wide smile she recounts, "Once V.S. bought me a sari and five blouse pieces. I decided to wear the sari and found that it was only four-and-a half metres long. Finally, I had to join a piece of cloth to make it long enough to be worn as a sari. Since, it was something sakhavu (comrade) had bought for me, I did wear it a few times to the hospital."

Her sense of humour comes to the fore when she talks of their trip to Ponmudi and Kanyakumari. "Asha, my daughter, still remembers that. Once, he took us to Ponmudi. After reaching the place, he alighted from the car, called the children and told them `This is Ponmudi' and that was that. The same thing happened when we went to Kanyakumari too."

She adds that the only movie she saw with him was Shaji N. Karun's `Vanaprastham.'

It is not movies or outings that provide food for thought for the Chief Minister though. It is the magic world of words. "He has to read six newspapers every day. Comrade's day starts at 4 a.m. After his morning ablutions and yoga, V.S. pores over the six newspapers and then glances at the headlines of the others."

A man of Spartan habits, his diet, that excludes salt, could test the creativity of any cook but not of his wife. "Since he has very little, I try and make it nutritious as possible. Breakfast is usually two idlis or dosas and a banana. A glass of tender coconut water serves as brunch. Lunch is invariably two spoons of rice, pulissery (made of skimmed curd) or sambar, aviyal and anchovies. Dinner is soup made of red spinach, and fruits."

As V.S. prefers organically grown vegetables and fruits to what is usually available in the market, Vasumathy grows them in her kitchen garden. "Lady's finger, spinach, beans... I used to grow them all. I have to start a garden here. I do not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides. "

However she complains that V.S. often neglects his health to meet his obligations as a people's leader. "He insists on meeting all his visitors no matter how late it is. He feels that as they are people with grievances, he must give them his time even at the cost of a meal or sleep."

According to her, V.S. prefers to keep party and official matters to himself and does not confide in his family. "Even if one of us expressed worry about something in politics, he would brush it off and comfort us."

But for most people in Kerala, V.S., a Libran (October 20, 1923), is 82 years young. Birthdays and V.S.? Vasumathy smiles. "He has no idea when his birthday is. I make a payasam and that is when he realises that it is his birthday. But Asha and Arun are used to his ways and they have no complaints."

Does V.S. seek her advice? Replying in the negative, she says, "I did mention his mannerisms and manner of speaking. But he told me that it is too late to change these things. In the days before loudspeaker and television, one had to resort to various methods to reach out to people and that is why V.S. speaks so."

As two of her grandchildren join her she adds that both are Achus - Valiya Achu and Kochu Achu. She adds, "This is my world. My family, grandchildren... "

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail