The Story So Far

Many houses and temples in Kerala count their age in centuries. Govindaniketan is not in that league – it’s a toddler in comparison, just over 70 years old. When it was built sometime in 1930, it was one of the prominent buildings in Puzhavaad, Changanassery. A large tiled house located in the vicinity of the Kottaram (the Palace) and the Kaavil-Ambalam (Sacred-Grove Temple).

The house was a gift from my great-grandfather to his young daughter, Bhavanikutty Amma. In keeping with the times, he had chosen to engrave an inscription in English, on one of the wooden rafters atop the house – “GOVINDA NIKETAN, April 1930”.

A few years earlier, Bhavanikutty Amma had got married to Vasudeva Pillai, a Tehsildar (senior court official) based at Cherthala in Alappuzha district of Kerala. The couple raised three sons - Kumar, Radhakrishnan, Padmanabh & a daughter, Rajam.

Each of the sons carried the initials “V.G” - one of the many naming conventions in India where the given name is preceded by the father’s given name and the house-name. “V” stood for Vasudevapillai and the “G” was, of course, Govindaniketan.

As each of the children got married and moved on in life, Govindaniketan was rented out to a series of tenants, the last of whom was a Tamil caterer who apparently used the house a manufacturing base, as well as a lodge. By the time the caterer finally returned the house, it was in a pretty bad shape.

Now the BIG question is –-- How do we go about repairing the house?