PATI (STEP) What mademe to think on writing about Pati is one of Mr Krishnan Iyer’s recent Khatte-miiten posting. It was told Brain changes thinking and sometimes forget purposewhile going from one room to other. If a step is there this possibility increases still further. We may gofrom one room to another, but the reasoning for that is sometimes forgotten,when seriously working. We can see our women folk going to kitchen with somethinking, but return doing something else. A common scene.
Now aday, bottom step of doors is provided only in the front and back doors of the home.Some times in the outside door from work area also. Earlier we used to havebottom steps in all doors. Certainsteps we have to be very vigil. One of them is the ordinary working ladderstep. As we either climb up or getting down, the centre of gravity of theladder changes. If proper angle of placement is not there possibility of ladderbreaking, tilting etc. could be there. Probably as a safe guard on account ofthis while one is climbing a ladder, another is asked to hold. Within homeon account of this, improvised ladder with a working platform, holder, and FOURLEGS are provided. Elders have as such less fear in using it. Though a type of stair commonly we call ladder Pati hadvery importance on olden days. After sraadha the Bhokthas used to walk througha second cloth placed on the step of the door reciting Gaya. Withinthe temple, these steps are very important. In getting in to the sanctum, thepriest has to open the door, ring the bell and with prayers only get in. We cansee this procedure followed while opening Sabarimalai sanctum now. Certainpriests can only stand in the step before sanctum. When offerings like garland,camphor, oil etc. are given the priests used to ask devotees to keep them onthe step. They would take from there. InTamilnadu at one time patiwas used to mention as a measure. Now too certain measuring vesselmay be told as pati just to mean the quantity. For the monthly pocket money to house wife- many call by Pati. On thosedays, we had Nalukettu and Ara. Arappati had very sanctity. Daily nilavilakku is/waslighted before it in the evening. Arappati was considered as having muchsuddham. Arappatiyil vecchu sathyam cheyyal (taking vow) was common. I havewritten lot on patippura along with pazhoor Patippura posting. Whether the house is in the same level withroad or not, a step on those days at patippura was there. Theproblem of uneven height of step affect a person more while he is getting downand not much while GETTING UP in the homes and buildings. While getting up, theeye see and brain is alerted and our legs act accordingly. But while gettingdown, brain retain the memory of past experience, eyes visualise lesser, and most important- legs are notinformed properly by brain. . On account of this some may slip. Update- Even in escalator, going up is notdifficult. But for many getting down is fearsome. Similarlyimportant is the width of the step. The step has to accommodate the length ofour feet. If some steps have less width, the same is the case. Inbathing Ghats we can see steps with more width and about the average height.Height lessening may not matter much. If the steps are steep the effort requiredis more. On account of this probably there is flat walking area after climbingcertain steps in the over bridge provided to platforms in the railway stations.Even in homes on the stairs to first floor to ease climbing a flat area isprovided. I haveseen underground path with steps in railway stations like Erode, Coimbatore andBangalore. Here, number of steps are LESSER since other than human height,nothing more is to be seen. For thefirst time, I saw escalator not for going up or down, but in the flat roadcrossing bridge at Dubai airport in 2002. On those days we had not so many mallsin India and escalators were not common. Certain building with multi floors hadno stair case, no lift also, but onlyescalator in Dubai. One can imagine thedifficulty of a person having allergy to use escalator. Pati katathal is discarding/dismissing aperson on any grounds during early days. Now too many used to state on anger- Iwill not cross the step and enter the house. Asking persons to stand after a stepis often resorted to in temples while worshipping the deity. Any sortof side holder or protection gives safety while getting up or down in thestairs. One may hold to it or not, side protection informs the brain of it andremoves fear of falling. Many have difficulty to get down steps where side handrail is not there. Writer- R. Gopala Krishnan. Earlier posted on 26-11-2013.Reposted on 9-2-2021 after editing and updating. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/2057266796.3520321.1612881380441%40mail.yahoo.com.
