A Tribute to Ethakka Appam ( Banana fry)

The school I attended, belonged to the church. It was named after the church,  St Mary’s LP school. There were two tiled buildings at the front, facing the road , and one behind the main buildings, which was thatched. The class rooms were separated by wooden partitions. One could hear what was going on in other classes, as well as all around.

I was at the third class, and my teacher was Thomas sir. The adjoining class was run by Ponnamma teacher. Thomas sir had taken a liking to her. At every opportunity, he would go to the side of the wooden partition that separated the class, and Ponnamma teacher also would reach there in no time.


I don’t know what they used to talk about. But they used to stay near that partition for long times. At times, they would just look at each other and just stand, without saying a word. When they had more and more to talk about, the questions on our black board used to get lengthier and more difficult to solve.

The Head master was Thomma sir, who was my immediate neighbor. He was elderly, with a crew cut hair which was all white. He used to wear what we used to call a bush coat, on top of his dhoti. One could never see him without the long cane, which he used to carry at all times. It was, as if it was part of his attire. And he never wasted any opportunity to use it on the kids. He was a terror for us.

Buying tea and snacks for the teachers was considered a matter of prestige. At about mid day, Thomma sir would call “ Babu, come here “ and order me to go to the tea shop and bring three teas and  Ethakka Appams.( Fried bananas). This was the most enjoyable time for me. I could escape the classes.  I would make it a point to walk to Pillachan’s tea shop, which was about half a mile away, at my slowest pace. I would stop at every opportunity on the way. Having reached the tea shop, I would sit at the bench in front of the shop and watch those lucky ones eating appoms and mutta roast greedily. Every now and then, Pillachan would come and add little gravy on to the appoms,  to encourage the customer to eat more. My mouth could sail many boats, with so much of watering. I was never in a hurry to go back to the school with the tea, and would tell Pillachan, to make it slow. Once in a while,  Pillachan would give me one of those precious banana fries,  at no cost. After all, I was one of his promoters !..The trip back to the school used to be slower, because I had the banana fry at one hand, and I used to savor the taste of it in small bites all the way. Thomma sir used to get angry about why the tea was always cold.


When I shifted to the Govt high school, the scenario was much better. I must have been about 12 years old and at the 7^th class. The school had a larger campus and pucca buildings and class rooms. Anandavalli  teacher was the most beautiful among our teachers.  It was rumor was that our mathematics teacher, Sahrudayan sir, was in love with her. He was liked by no one in the school.  On the other hand, everyone  at the school liked Anandavalli teacher. I thought she was the most beautiful woman on earth and was secretly in love with her. I used to see her in my dreams.

Probably the only thing I loved more than Anandavalli teacher was the Ethakka Appam.( Banana fries).Being the youngest in the family, my mother used to give me half Anna in the evening, when I returned from school. There was no practice of making evening snacks, and I used to go to Pillachan’s shop and get one banana fry   in exchange of my half Ana. I used to select the biggest of the fires in his Alma rah. Back home, I would sit at the front steps and slowly take nibbles of that delicacy. I never wanted to finish eating it.

And so it was, one of those evenings, I was sitting with my banana fry, when my brother Unni came back from college. He came near me and asked me to give him a  bite of the fry. I would have parted with my life, than my banana fry.  He was coming closer and closer to me and I was afraid if he would snatch it away. I was supposed to be very clever and then this idea occurred to me. I licked the whole banana with my saliva drooling all over it, so that my brother couldn’t eat it any more. I was happy and relieved.

And that was the only time my brother proved to me he was cleverer. He came closer to me and spat all over my banana fry and said.

“Now, you eat and enjoy”.