16/07/2025
Resurrection of Alummoottil
A synopsis of the recovery Part 3
Grandmother passed away before the next assault. She left all of Alummoottil to our mother. Sadly, it soured the relationship between our uncle and our mother, even though he inherited a generous amount of her properties. The Triad could not easily manipulate our mother. She was well educated, had held a prestigious government job, and the last generation to witness both the matrilineal and equal inheritance systems. She knew her equal obligations to all of her six children. Still, they did their level best, and got her to convey some portions of the land to our sister. She would not consider the transfer of all the buildings to our sister, during her or our father’s lifetime. By then she knew the Triad’s intentions.
Mother passed away suddenly in 1976, that shocked every one of us to our cores. Her death left father paralyzed with grief. He never recovered from that shock, and the Triad took this as their opportune time to move in. Alummoottil was entirely mother’s property. And she left no Will for that. As a judge, the brother-in-law got plenty of opportunities to doctor the old family legal documents. He created a new survey, and changed the inheritance deeds of his oldest daughter in such a way that the buildings were at the edge of her property lines. Subtly he started hinting to father to help convey all of Alummoottil to our sister. Even our sister was in on that act. Father insisted that only we, the five brothers, could do that, and that he will not do anything illegal. So, things lay low for the next opportunity.
Both sister and brother-in-law would hound father for funds, apparently for their children’s education, as if it was his responsibility. This was a pretext to grab the $100 I sent him every month via the State Bank of India, to his account in the local Purackal Bank. He had my unconditional Power of Attorney, and using that, they strongly persuaded him to sell every piece of land that was in my name, and invested the proceeds in the name of their three children.
All these details came out only after father’s death in 1978, two years after mother. The uncle of my collegemate Mr. Purackal A. Alexander, who was the manager of the local family bank, and in his 90’s, remembered all the details of the transactions.
Suddenly, there was a claim for the entire Alummoottil family properties for our sister, but my brothers refused to go along. Legally, our sister had only 1/6 share of mother’s properties, but brother-in-law decided to fight it in court with hopes of persuading fellow judges, here and there, to enforce the defunct Matrilineal form of inheritance. All their three children were trained very well in the art of configuring their five uncles into unconditional enemies, and to fight us for their fictitious claim on their grandmother’s and great grandmother’s estate.
Fate was such that neither our sister, nor brother-in-law, would live long enough to see how things would end. The Triad was no more for exquisite planning . Where the parent’s failed, the children took over. The older girl took up the mantle from her father, and fought on. My youngest brother fought back tenaciously with my blessings, and with the cooperation of his two elder siblings. I was helpless otherwise, away by ten thousand miles. So was my elder brother. I saw the wear and tear on their faces as the years went by.
After a very costly and long 35-year court battle, justice prevailed. The judgement was that our sister or her children were entitled to only 1/6th the estate. Still, a sizable portion of the land that my grandmother considered sacred, was in the hands of the eldest daughter due to the manipulation of our grandmother by the Triad before her death. We managed to salvage almost everything else. Through outright purchase from the three children, the 1/6 portion that the court allocated to them, and the portion given to their mother by our mother. All, at exorbitant prices.
But the damage was already done. Once a magnificent and proud aristocratic structure – a jewel of Kerala Vasthu architecture, stood there struggling to breath her last. The only decisions were to raze the structures and dispose of the land, or to salvage whatever timber that could be saved, and to rebuild. The former would have satisfied our brother-in-law and his children.
Now, looking back, I understand how the Triad could pull off such deceptions. When they were at their peak, the four of us five brothers were minors. The only adult, our eldest brother, was in the medical college, fully immersed in his studies. None of us doubted the capabilities and the judgements of our parents. We did not even understand all these intricacies less alone had the wisdom to question any one of the adults. All the worms started coming out of the woodworks only after mother’s death. By then I was in America.
It has been five years since the five of us brothers, agreed to form an irrevocable family Trust, and move forward with renovation, and reconstruction where renovation was not possible. That was in 2019. Our youngest brother Rameshan and his wife Jiji agreed to manage the renovation/building project. I agreed to finance. The construction is almost over. Some final finish works still remain. I am hopeful the curtain can go up in 2025. Sadly, our elder brother, Dr. Ravindran Channar passed away four years ago. I wish he was here to see the completion of the work.
I believe with all my heart that any desecration of my grandmother’s sacred land that was the blood money compensation for the sacrifice of her son to save the Tharavad, will never go un punished. Her curse will be upon those who do that, and it won’t be trivial. Self-possessed, her great grand-daughter who received a portion of her sacred land as a gift, has put it up for sale.
I shudder to think what could have happened had the Triad succeeded to transfer the entire Alummoottil into the custody of our sister, and indirectly to her husband and three children. Now I know, my decision to rebuild and restore my grandmother’s legacy was the correct choice. My wish is to lay my ashes next to hers, where she is in her eternal rest.
Finally, I was about to heave a sigh of relief. By the grace of God, and with the unbound blessings of my ancestors, Alummoottil was saved from the demons. At least most of the buildings and part of the compound are rescued and upright. Narayani Channatti, Chellamma Channatti, and Madhava Panicker can look down from wherever their sparks are, with approval.
Or so, I thought. Except, when one set of devils were slain, another set popped up their ugly heads from right under my feet. When the buildings were rebuilt, and the bricks were still moist, the allure of a free inheritance brought out a brother and sister team laying out their claim to my multi crore investment. Shamelessly they dream about “Their share”, and how they could manipulate the rest of the next generation to sn**ch control of the Family Trust. On the day of the inauguration of the mansion, during a meeting of the Trustees, these two put on a spectacle that will rival the struggles for the British throne by the Royals. Just like they had many accomplices, so did these two among the myriad of the extended Alummoottil family with the grievance that the buildings are no longer free for all, 24/7. Even though an attempted physical attack on me by the man did not bear any fruits, the thought that he dared to even attempt it gives me pause. Later on, we discovered that he came well prepared with a few hired thugs. Seeing the hundreds of attendees, the thugs did not stick around to test their luck.
Still, there is joy that these new ones cannot destroy my work during this generation, and the rest will honor my gift to them. My hope is The Irrevocable Family Trust will not be destroyed by a small minority of disgruntled members from the next generation owners. That’s for the future to decide. But greed will never rest. Back in the USA, the man is plotting his next moves through frivolous legal initiatives.
Next - The Mahabharata like stories of Alummoottil from my Autobiography – continues.
