After a review of npm commands and carefully going through all the directories that npm creates while installing packages I discovered how my package installations were messed up. Here are the steps that I used to fix the issues:
The crash was happening because the cordova binaries were in a folder that was not in the path.
Executing npm bin -g showed that the folder where the node packages were stored but this folder was not in the path. In my case it was in ~/.npm-global/bin
As soon as I added this to the path everything started working.
I decided to install version 4.2.0 of cordova based on a recommendation from [this]. (https://forum.ionicframework.com/t/error-occurred-trying-to-fall-back-to-cordova-lib-execution/38546/4)
It is still an unknown what folders does npm pick and why. Earlier installations were all in /usr/local When I re-installed, all the node package files were stored in my home directory under dot sub-folders.
I appreciate all the help from the folks that participated in this forum.