The ghost of Karumadi.

  Karumadi Kuttan and the Buddhist structure at Karumadi, Ambalapuzha, Kerala

We had started from Vettathukadavu, opposite to the NTPC plant Kayankulam, that morning around 5AM. After crossing the locks at Thrikannapuzha we halted past KV Jetty for the breakfast. This small Kappikada (local hotel) was buzzing with a lot of tourist and local patrons. We reached Thotapally by 10:30 and Mr. Saji Chitralayam(ecologist focusing on  Sea Turtle conservation) was there to help us come ashore. 

Murugan Krishnan, conducting environmental awareness session, Govt. School Thottapally, Allapuzha.

He had used his local contacts to get us a place to rest and get fresh. After lunch we headed to the Government School, Thottapally, for the session with students. The work being done by Saji Chitralayam is commendable and it was nice to see the ground swell he enjoyed with kids on the issue of Turtle conservation. 

We said our good byes to Saji and left Thottapally for Karumadi, as the sun was coming down. The event at Karumadi was the evening nighbourhood meeting and the paddling distance was for an hour or so. We landed at the Karumadi jetty, close to the statue of Buddha, locally called as “Karumadi Kuttan". The statue is carved in black granite and is revered by the locals as their village deity. The statue has its left half missing, as if, a sword had gone right through. The evening function was in the statue compound; located far off from habitation, by the canal bank and next to a thicket. The locals were trickling in as temporary lights were assembled for the interactive session. The program was the first of the 2 evening neighborhood meetings that we felt were good, the other one being Muhamma. 

It was full moon and we had planned to kayak from Karumadi to Allapuzha, in the moon light. We had seen the moon rise, bright red; seen her mellow down yellow. One of our colleague had a call to take and after the meeting we left him to have dinner, the time was past 9PM. After the program the local electrician had disconnected the power, removed all the lights; the place was now dark and we had walked back using our headlights. We came back and found our colleague in conversation with a local guy, whom we had noticed hanging around from the time we landed at the jetty. He had maintained his distance then and now, he was talking and talking. There was a dog with him that had no sense of personal space, it would come so close as if it were a pet cat and had to be shooed away every time. The guy who was silent all through the evening was now verbose, he was tall and thin, with long hair left open, an air of booze hanged around him and he had some presence (same presence that our corporate leaders put a lot of effort building). He would not let his conversation stop, the subject varied from what he did to the legends of the statue and Karumadi itself. As we pushed him to leave, he told us something spooky. He told us to look around at 12AM to see a lighted walking stone lamp. "lighted stone lamp walking"...the time was past 10 and my sense of fear rose. The locals had shared how days back, a young man had died, while collecting clams few hundred meter from where we were. He reiterated that the "walking stone lamp" was  not happy with the deceased. I could literally see grandpa narrating ghost stories to me as a kid; his encountering at night a water ghost that wanted to topple his boat loaded with harvested paddy stalks. Goosebumps appeared all over and I felt creepy as the guy disappeared into the darkness. 

We had planned to sleep until 1AM and then kayak under full moon night. I did not want my buddies to know how scared I was as they were unmoved. The fear was taking hold and I succeeded in somehow convincing that we leave Karumadi at 10PM. It was couple of days later, I shared how scared I felt that night at Karumadi. 

I am not sure if ghost do exist, but the ghost of Karumadi had got us evicted and shifted our plans!

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