Iyer born ‘Malayalee’!!!

Off late, several blogs on Iyers, Tambrahms of Matunga or Chembur or wherever, blah blah, are doing the rounds.. none of which I managed to read fully, because I CANNOT feel any connection to them!
Hence I find myself writing about ‘The Iyer-born Malayalee’.
Note: I hate being called Madrasi. I invariably correct people that I’m from Kerala.
– I was born into an Iyer family that never used the ‘Iyer’ surname.
– I was brought up watching ‘Mallu’ movies and serials. I never knew Tamil channels existed so even today I forbid folks at home from watching anything that is not Mallu.
– Yearly trips are made to Guruvayur or Munnar, Kerala.
– We buy eateries from Annapoorneshwari Stores- The most famous Malayalee General Stores in Matunga.
– We have Maathrabhoomi calendar hanging on the kitchen door.
I use Indulekha Hair oil and not Parachute.
– In every phase, beginning from school to college to work, I manage to find a group of Malayalees that will be part of my life forever!
– Just because our ancestors from Kerala spoke Tamil, our family does.. Mind you, it’s not the Chennai Tamil.
To illustrate, there’s no “Ok vaa” in our dictionary. It is “Sheri”.
It’s a Malayalam dominated Tamil. I have often wondered why we didn’t just stick to talking Malayalam instead!
– At school, albeit for a short period, I attended Malayalam classes. What else did you expect with Sneha Chandran, a Kannur Malayalee, being my best friend! I didn’t need those classes actually, since she was my Guru.
– My life changed in 2002 with the release of Meesha Madhavan, post which there was no looking back. Then started the obsession with Mallu movies. Even today many friends remember me for imitating Dileep from the movie! I turn into Nagavalli when people compliment movies that were remade in Tamil and Hindi, when in reality, the original movie was a Classic Mallu Hit.
– We, father-daughter boast of a commendable collection of Mallu movie CDs, so much so that renting them could be a part time job!
– Keeping all my modesty aside, I love showing off my Mallu reading skills, courtesy Sneha and my Paati (granny). Yes yes, ‘Paati’ is a Tamil word but like I earlier mentioned, we speak the language at home.
– I have always loved to dress up like a Malayalee, the traditional kassavu saree, chandanakuri, et al. Unfortunately, inspite of using Indulekha I don’t have long hair. Don’t blame the oil, I just lacked patience.

Life, I have realised, is a story that I can’t create. It’s pre written and goes by the name ‘Destiny’. So what if I found myself a Maharashtrian husband, his gang of friends includes four Malayalees. That will suffice! I’m happy and what do you know, my husband knows Meesha madhavan, CID Moosa and a few more characters. Bless him! I won’t give up till I get him talking Malayalam! 😀
So….. That’s about it. I’m a Malayalee who was born Iyer and not Nair! 😛