Edavanakkaad
- that is the name of the beautiful village in Vypeen island off the
coast of Ernakulam where Balakrishnan was born to Kesavan Asan and Mani
in a lower middle class family. The youngest after three daughters,
he had the pride of place in the family. His sisters were Janaki, Lakshmi
and Parvathi. Nearest to him in age, he recalls Parvathy as his naughty
sister constantly reporting on him and earning him frequent taste of
the rod. He used to recall ruefully that after appreciating as ‘the
great goat’, the dog he had made, she was instrumental in him
being caught red handed while trying to taste the baked clay figure.
With years his area of activity extended to the neighbourhood and then
beyond with his cousins Sekharan, Chennan and Kesavan.
Still far away from development, travelling were through country paths
and the luxury carrier, the cycle came only later. His sister Parvathy
remembers that people used to run after the elephant to see it wade
through water to cross as there were only log bridges. For longer journeys
one had to depend on the boat. The child hood flavours of this beautiful
village can be caught in his novel ‘Pluto’.
He was very good with his studies which was not neglected even after
his father was bedridden with paralysis. He passed school with a gold
medal and went on to study in college which was the prerogative of the
rich at that time.