TEXT BY KASTURI RAMANATHAN
PHOTOGRAPHS BY NEERAJA JANARDHANAN AND KASTURI RAMANATHAN
Chennai and Puduvayal, Tamil Nadu
It was barely 48 hours since I had given birth and I was more than eager to be back home at my mother’s house. I don’t remember much from what happened that day apart from my aunt recollecting a conversation that she had with my mother a few hours before.
My mother, Sivagami Ramanathan, and my aunt, her younger sister, Unnamalai Palaniappan, had just finished setting up my room at my mother’s house. The wooden cradle, almost like a princess cot, was brought down from the attic in my grandparent’s house and cleaned. As they found space for it along with the existing beds, my mother commented, “Oh, a few decades ago, I remember bringing Kasturi back home to this cradle immediately after she was born. Look at how time flies, we are now headed to the hospital to bring Kasturi and her daughter back home, and the little one will use the bed her mother used”. My aunt looked at her with a little disbelief and reminded her, “Aachi (elder sister), you used this bed way before Kasturi used it; and our aunt used it before you”.
That’s the story of how the fourth generation of my family has begun putting this teak-wood cot to use. It’s not very large. I guess back in that day, people never thought about creating a piece of furniture that continued to have multiple uses as the seasons passed. However, I must mention that a lot of thought went into creating this.
My great-grandfather on my maternal side, R Narayanan Chettiar, took great efforts to painstakingly draw the furniture plan and hire a local carpenter to make this cradle in his house. My great-grandmother mentioned that her husband could not provide these benefits for their first two children who were born early in their married life. So, in 1955, 16 years after their first two children, in the hope that a girl would be born, he worked on this princess cot to create a fairyland-esque room for his new-born to celebrate her with every luxury. He had by then travelled far and wide and the influence of British culture would have also inspired this. He attempted to re-imagine a Princess Bed for a new-born and this was the result, fully fitted with a wooden beam for the mosquito net (a necessity back in the days), a soft-cotton mattress, pillows, and rolly-pollies that were tailored to the required size. In fact, his distant cousin also got a similar princess cot designed through the same carpenter and now if there are any twins born into the extended family, they borrow both the cots to be used together.
Now, almost 70 years later after it was crafted (1955) , my daughter used it for her first five months until she learned how to roll-over and outgrew the cradle. The sheeting and linen that was on the cradle while my daughter had her peaceful naps in them are also as old as the cot itself. Each bed-sheet has matching blankets and covers for the pillow and rolly-polly. All of these sets were hand-embroidered with gender-neutral patterns at the erstwhile convents in Madras.
I’d certainly have to thank my maternal grandmother, Olagammai Veerappan, for painstakingly taking care of not just the cots but also the linen that came with it. From sending it to the dhobhi before each child used it to dusting the attics when they remain unused, she’s got a routine that’s set in stone. Ten children (including my daughter) have used this cot, which has now gone back to the attic and is awaiting the arrival of the next child in the family—hopefully soon.
So now that the child is old enough to turn over and even crawl, there has to be another solution for sleep time, right? I guess the older generations in my family thought of that too – and this time with more forethought. This is where the Spencer Cot comes into the picture. Literally earning its name from the place it was bought at – this cot was manufactured and sold at Spencer and Company back in the 1960s. It probably cost around 1500 rupees back then. Spencer and Company happens to be the first multi-category departmental store that made its way to India with its first branch at erstwhile Spencer Plaza that burned down in a fire in the early eighties.
A full image of the spencer cot – with the side raised – it becomes a play-pen
My mother’s maternal grandmother, Unnamalai Aachi, bought this Spencer Cot for my mother just as she was born in 1966. With Mickey and Minnie Mouse carved onto it in wood, it can hold a child until about six or seven years. Easily detachable into planks of wood that can be stored compactly, this cot is also easy to assemble, along with fitted roller wheels that allow you to move it with ease. On one side, there is a mechanism that easily allows you to lower it down to put a child in or pick them up. The railings stand at around 22 inches from the mattress and once that side is pulled up, it almost cocoons the child inside with no method of them escaping unnoticed. The locking mechanism is also not very easy for them to play around with as both locks on either side have to be lifted at the same time to be able to escape and a child’s arm-span is never going to be that long.
The Spencer Cot has been transported to five houses in our family every time a new born child needs it
The entire cot’s dimensions would be 48 inches in height, 54 inches in breadth and 30 inches in width. I guess the colours of this wooden cot have also remained the same from the 1960s. You can actually notice the slightly sloppy fresh coats of powder-blue paint that has made its way onto Mickey and Minnie.
The cot that has been transported to five houses so far every time a child needs it; and once used, moves back to its usual place in the attic in my grandmother’s house. It currently houses new stuffed dolls that my daughter enjoys sleeping next to – a caterpillar, a dolphin and an unicorn along with the original rolly-pollys and pillow. However, in the past, simple teddy bears took the space of today’s fancy animal-dolls. The duvet that we use to cover the cot when it is not used happens to be a massive sized cross-stitched piece of fabric with a lamb carrying a basket of flowers. This was crocheted by hand as a birthday gift when my mother was born in 1966 – by my mother’s paternal grand-aunt.
A cross-stitched piece of fabric, crocheted by my grand-aunt as a birthday gift when my mother was born in 1966
On the width, there are provisions to attach long rods that mosquito nets could hang from. This was a major necessity back in the day as the humid city of Chennai always had a mosquito menace. Today, in apartments this requirement is no longer present and hence I removed the long rods that came with it.
As a family, we travelled often to Chettinad, even if the child was barely a few weeks old. Most young kids in the family, all born in Chennai, would have visited our ancestral village in Chettinad within the first month of birth. Here’s where we keep a third cot that is just as treasured within the family. This bamboo cot, measuring 35 inches by 25 inches (along with its mattress, accessories, and starch white linen), was a part of the bridal trousseau that my great grandmother, Olagammai Veerappan, was gifted with when she got married in 1961. It also happens to be the cot that she used when she lived initially in Pallathur, Chettinad, central Tamil Nadu before she got shipped off to the convents of St. Joseph in Thirucharapalli as a two-year-old.
The cot was probably handmade by artisans and bought in the late 1930s for my grandmother’s older brothers. Gifting bedding and mattresses of all kinds to the bride when she gets married is a common practice in the Chettiar community. While giving bedding for children was rare, my great grandmother got to keep the cot she used as a baby, as she was the only daughter in the family.
All four sides of the bamboo cot have handles that can get attached to long iron chains and can be converted into a cradle that could be hung from the rafters in the ceiling. Makeshift mosquito nets had to be added to this one if the need arose. Considering that it is bamboo, it is slightly harder to maintain, and the wear and tear of the usage can be seen with a couple of gaps in the criss-cross bamboo design.
Of course, my fondest memories come from my times holed up inside the Spencer Cot – using it like a play-pen, as the other two cots were used more during my infancy. I do remember my sister, Lakshmi Olagammai, throwing toys out from inside the cot, as a part of her tantrum-days – and me being the older,responsible sister collecting them all and letting myself in to play along with her. I continue to keep putting things back into the Spencer cot even now, while my daughter throws the books and blankets out – the only difference is I cannot fit myself into it anymore to keep her company in there. Time did fly between these two distinct episodes – one a fond playful memory and the other an everyday reality that I just finished sorting out for tonight.
I guess, after the birth of my daughter, the fourth generation has officially begun creating their own memories in each of these cradles. It’s only a matter of time before more children join the bandwagon and the cots (along with their respective pillows and linen) move from house to house catering to all their needs.