Chapter 5: Pappachi’s Moth

Pappachi used to beat his wife Mammachi using brass vases every night until his son Chacko came home from Oxford for a summer vacation. Chacko had grown into a strong and big man. It had been a week since he arrived, and he found his father, Pappachi, beating Mammachi. Chacko walked into the room, held Pappachi’s hand in which he had a vase and was beating his mother Mammachi and twisted it around his back. He screamed clearly and loudly to Pappachi that he would not want this incident to happen again. This flabbergasted his father. He did not dare to touch Mammachi and never talked to her again. The strong behaviour of the son stopped the physical violence which used to occur every day. It was a brave action taken by the young boy. Probably, men in our current society hit their wives without any reason just to prove their superiority. The boy made it clear to his father that he was not the only person with muscles in the house and put a stop to the violence.

Pappachi, John Ipe, was a retired high-ranking government official and a Junior Director of Entomology. He was a highly qualified and socially respected personality who always wore a golden pocket watch and three-piece suits. The distorted reality which was locked inside his heart was that he was one among the men in our society who could not bear to see their wives successful and prospering. He disliked her talent and did not approve of her violin classes in Vienna and her pickle factory. This face of him was an ugly reality to his family. Pappachi used to beat Mammachi almost every day with a brass vase. Such behaviour of a man would be found disgusting by anybody as he appeared to be so respected in his exterior looks, while he was physically violent with his wife.

Pappachi was jealous of Mammachi as she was a woman with exceptional talent. Pappachi called off the violin classes when her teacher remarked on her being so talented. Later, when Pappachi retired, he did not give up his ego and disapproved of her successful pickle factory. Mammachi was well appreciated by the Kottayam Bible Society in Ayemenem though her husband did not encourage her. Pappachi, a male chauvinist, was very jealous of Mammachi’s talents, as he was not an ideal husband in any case, while he had a responsible wife he never appreciated.