A review of Ayemenem architecture.
Ayemenem is a small town in Kottayam, Kerala. The maternal home of Esthappen and Rachel and the main setting for God of Small Things by Arundati Roy. It is a story about the childhood experiences of this pair of fraternal twins who become victims of social prejudices and forbidden love. The novel captures the prominent facets of life in Kerala, the caste system and the Syrian Christian way of life. In the story, the small things in the surroundings build up, translate into people's behavior and affect their lives.
The Ayemenem house is representative of many 19th century homes found in and around Kottayam and its backwaters. The Syrian Christian owners of the time being wealthy traders, these were considerably posh houses when originally built. The book describes the house as a grand old place.
It had greying white walls and deep verandas that stayed cool even under the scorching midday sun. The damp air had made the plaster warp and disuse had let the window panes get clotted with dust and grease. The steep tiled roof had grown dark and mossy with age and rain. The interesting features of the house are its wood craft and joinery. The triangular wooden frames fitted into the gables are described to have ornamental flowers, wolves and iguanas carved onto them.
The house had an elevated plinth. Nine steps were required to climb from the driveway to the front verandah. This gave the elevation an air of importance and grandeur. A highly polished traditional Kerala red cement flooring was laid. It took the whites of nine hundred eggs to complete. Doors were made of four shutters of panelled teak. Two at the top and two at the bottom. This enabled ladies to keep the bottom half closed while doing chores that did not require them to step out of the house. Brass was used for hinges and door handles.
The driveway sloped down towards the bottom of the slight hill that the house stood on. The house overlooked an ornamental garden around which the gravel driveway looped. It was a lush maze of dwarf hedges, rocks and gargoyles. There was a shallow pool in the centre of it all, with pink plaster of paris gnomes at each corner and a blooming lotus plant in the middle.
God of Small Things gives us an interesting insight into the customs and traditions of the Syrian Christian families of Kerala. It not only teaches us about their lifestyle, but also about the history and architecture of the place.
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