Oommen Chandy and Puthupally are synonymous with each other despite the late leader never adding Puthupally, where he grew up, to his name, unlike several others.
Still, Oommen Chandy did not have a life away from Puthupally, an emotion that ran deep in his heart. He knew that he should return to his roots, however far or high he had travelled in life.
Oommen Chandy's wife Mariyamma had once written about his attachment to Puthupally. Drawing a reference from the Old Testament, she wrote: "Jacob loved Raechal, who was 'lovely in form and beautiful', but had to marry an unattractive Leah. Puthupally is Oommen Chandy's Rachel, and I am just Leah."
The OC syndrome
Journalists used to joke about a 'disease', the OC syndrome. It referred to the irresistible compulsion to rush home on Sundays irrespective of where the individual was in the world.
The reference, ostensibly, was to Oommen Chandy — fondly abbreviated as OC by many. He followed the unwritten rule to be in Puthupally on all Sundays if he was in Kerala.
However, there were a few occasions when he could not make it to Puthupally. One was after suffering a fall in Davos while attending the World Economic Forum. He was bedridden after slipping on ice. The second was during the 2020 peak COVID days, and finally, during his last days while he was under treatment.
Unlike the slippery ice in Davos, Puthupally was firm and familiar. He rushed to Puthupally whenever he got an opportunity.
A smile would be the response if asked about his deep connection with Puthupally. The residents of Puthupally, too, smile if asked about the secret of their affection towards Oommen Chandy. Both smiles would be pregnant with meaning, reflecting the strong lifelong bond they had for each other.
Puthupally was always close to Oommen Chandy's heart. However, he was born at his mother's house in Kumarakom, as the second son of KO Chandy of Karottuvallakkalil, and Baby on October 31, 1943. His Malayalam birth star was Anizham.
Those born under the Anizham star are destined to live away from home and would be keen on travelling. They won't be health-conscious or follow a specific routine but will have the uncanny ability to face and overcome challenges.
The star forecast was precise in Oommen Chandy's case. He embarked on a long journey as a KSU activist during his student days, a journey that went on without slowing down until illness overwhelmed him. Health was never his priority. Even tough challenges surrendered before him.
A strike and painful retreat
Oommen Chandy's Puthupally connection began with his grandfather VJ Oommen, who was a member of the Sree Moolam Praja Sabha and the Travancore Legislative Assembly. Though VJ Oommen's constituency was in Alappuzha, he founded an English school for girls at Puthupally in 1939. The institution still stands tall in Puthupally as VJ Oommen Memorial English Middle School.
Years later the school was established, Oommen Chandy's father KO Chandy took over as its manager. Oommen Chandy, then a school student, has become a KSU leader. Once the KSU called for a strike, and the activists under Oommen Chandy went to other schools, urging other students to leave their classes. The students' rally eventually reached the VJ Oommen Memorial English Middle School and demanded it to close for the day.
The school manager stepped out to confront the protesters. On seeing his father, KSU leader Oommen Chandy took to heels, scaled the compound wall, and fled, not before painfully stepping on a shard of glass. Oommen Chandy himself narrated the story of how he returned home with his heart pounding in fear.
A contest to lose
Oommen Chandy's first electoral battle in Puthupally was in 1970. While allotting the party symbol to the 27-year-old Indira Congress candidate, KPCC treasurer KM Chandy offered a candid remark: "Don't expect to win. The party doesn't have any such expectation. But you will have to contest again."
The Congress had by then split into Syndicate [Congress (O)] and Indira Congress. All except three leaders in Puthupally were then with the Syndicate, and the Indira Congress was least hopeful of the constituency. Yet, the party fielded Oommen Chandy.
The party's intention was not to win, but to fight a battle it was certain to lose.
Oommen Chandy campaigned with all earnestness and proved to KM Chandy that he was only partially correct. The young leader trounced his opponent by a margin of more than 7,000 votes.
He contested successfully again, not once, but a dozen elections one after the other, in the next more than 50 years.
Oommen Chandy eatery
It is strange but true. Though Oommen Chandy's heart throbbed for Puthupally, he did not own a house there. He donated his share of family property — land and a building — to the panchayat. His headquarters in Puthupally was his brother Alex's residence. where he held his weekly Sunday mass-contact programme.
Realising the indirect benefit of the programme attended by a large number of people, one man decided to open a makeshift roadside eatery nearby. The eatery functioned only on Saturdays and Sundays, the days on which Oommen Chandy would be in Puthupally.
Gradually, the eatery owner got flooded with phone calls from all across Kerala. "Has Oommen Chandy sir arrived," or "Is he coming this week," were the queries.
Oommen Chandy used to be at Alex's residence near the Puthupally Church on Saturday evening and Sunday. But he spent the night at the Nattakom Guest House. The routine was to arrive at the residence by Saturday night, and then proceed to the guest house.
Early the next morning, he would attend the Mass at the Puthupally Church before heading home for a hectic Sunday. He used to sleep at the house when his mother was alive. He later shifted to the guest house so that his visits would not disturb Alex and his family.
Oommen Chandy, who did not own a house in Puthupally, took Puthupally with him when he constructed a house in Thiruvananthapuram. He named his residence, 'Puthupally House.'
The open door
Oommen Chandy belonged to everyone. Anyone can touch him, speak or even throw an arm around him. The freedom he gave to others once made him 'airborne' for a while.
It happened during Oommen Chandy's first visit to Kottayam after swearing-in as the chief minister in 2004. The District Congress Committee had organised a grand welcome for the chief minister. However, party workers picked him up — literally — 500 metres away, and safely delivered him to the dais.
The situation on the dais was no different. People jostled among themselves to touch and garland him. At last, the organisers had to make an announcement over the public address system, asking at least a few to leave the dais.
Oommen Chandy announced his 100-day action plan during his first term as the chief minister. The days were hectic. A party worker wanted Oommen Chandy to attend his wedding. The chief minister expressed his helplessness, citing his busy schedule. Realising the situation, the party worker made a humble request, which provided a lighter moment: "Sir, please include attending my wedding in the 100-day action plan!"
The late Dr D Babu Paul, IAS, wrote about an interesting incident reflecting the freedom the people enjoyed with Oommen Chandy. Once a young man from the US was to attend his pennu kaanal — or seeing the prospective bride — event. The bride-to-be reportedly wrote to the man: "I will be outside Oommen Chandy's office in the Secretariat, draped in an orange-coloured saree. We will meet there."
Oommen Chandy's life was an open book. The doors of the Karottuvallakkalil House in Puthipally to the chief minister's chamber always remained open.
No other chief minister had installed CCTV cameras in his office to live telecast its functioning. "Those who have to cover their faces while meeting me need not come here," Oommen Chandy told those who raised apprehensions about the live telecast.
Former President APJ Abdul Kalam was impressed by the initiative. "I appreciate the live telecast of your mass-contact programme in your office," he messaged Oommen Chandy. However, there was a catch. It was not a mass-contact programme. The President saw the normal crowd that had come to meet the chief minister.
OC positioning system
Oommen Chandy, who knew even the bylanes in his constituency like the back of his palm, was Puthupally's GPS. Several roads were constructed using his MLA fund. This GPS once left a team of police personnel on escort duty worried.
It was in 2016. Oommen Chandy left the residence to file his nomination papers for the Assembly polls at the block office in Pallikkathodu. A few kilometres after Puthupally, the convoy was caught in a roadblock. Even as the police tried to clear the block, the car in which Oommen Chandy was travelling, just disappeared.
The police personnel, unfamiliar with the locality, took a while to reach the block office to find Oommen Chandy's car in its front yard. The driver had taken some bylanes on Oommen Chandy's directions to circumvent the roadblock.
The only one
"Have you ever heard of another person called Oommen Chandy," A character in the 2010 movie, "Pranchiyettan and the Saint", asks.
Oommen and Chandy separately are common names among the Christians in Central Travancore. But the two names coming together were unique. Like the man himself.
Journalists unsuccessfully tried to find Oommen Chandy's namesake, at least one, when he completed 50 years in the state Assembly.
Oommen Chandy was a movie buff in his younger days. But as he got busy in public life, the interest took a backseat. When his completion of 40 years in the Assembly and actor Mohanlal's 30 years in cinema came together, a television channel organised a talk between both men. Mohanlal's father Vishwanathan Nair, who was a secretary in the law department, was known to Oommen Chandy.
After exchanging pleasantries, the actor asked a question. "Which was the last movie you watched?" Oommen Chandy thought for a while. "Manjil Virinja Pookkal," he said. The 1980 movie was Mohanlal's first one to hit the theaters!
Inseparable Puthupally
Once Oommen Chandy was asked whether he had ever considered contesting elsewhere.
"The Kottayam district had 11 constituencies in 1970. Puthupally figured last on the Indira Congress's list of hopeful segments. The constituency was offered to the RSP, but it rejected the offer. Thus I became the candidate. It was the people's election, and they made me victorious. Ever since I won there for the first time, I never felt like leaving the constituency. The attachment is so deep," Oommen Chandy replied.
Puthupally cannot be separated from Oommen Chandy, nor could he be removed from Puthupally. Both will remain together for eternity.
