Today is the second day of this blog. I have set up a few posts.
This post is to record the commencement of the blog. The purpose of this blog is to present the short stories written by me in English and Tamil. You will find atleast one new short story from me in two days. Don't be surprised if you get more.
Thanks for reading.
Shan
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Gift
It was late in the night when I reached home.
I have had a busy day and was tired. The thought of hitting the home atleast so late left me with a relaxation I might find it difficult to explain.My wife opened the door and when I stepped in, I expected my girl to come running towards me. But that did not happen and I was about to holler to bring her our of her hiding along with her brother. But my wife put her fingers to her lips and said 'Shh' silencing me instantly.
I looked at her with questioning eyes and she said,'both of them are sleeping. Don't disturb them now!'
Though I was a little disappointed, I was happy that they were fast asleep. Only then I looked up at the clock to find that it was half past ten already.'You might have to make do with me!' my wife said with a sarcastic look.I laid my laptop down and went on to clean myself before supper.
When I sat down for my supper it was already 11pm. She had made the table and the plates were ready. She had prepared my favorite chappatis for the night and I was pretty hungry, you bet. As we started pushing in chappatis one after another, she started telling me about what had happened all through the day.
Let me give the long story in a short summary.
Whatever she said was this: "First flat maami in the ground floor is planning to sell their flat! Will we be interested in buying?"
This was essentially the question that she had.
Of course, we will be was my immediate reaction. However, I later queried her, why should she sell the flat now. What has come to her? I know, her husband does not work. It is her son who works. Her first daughter got married long long ago, we do not recollect when it was. The second daughter was expected to get married any time. The eldest of the sons is not employed anywhere. I know he has a congenital problem. He is a dwarf and an aged person at that. He was more a liability to the family than an asset.The only earning member in that family was the second son. I know the company he was working with and I knew he had a good name there. A hard worker at office, but we office bearers of the residents association always had a grudge that there was little or no participation by him in the flat activities.
Anyway that is not the point of discussion today.Now, it looks like the second daughter's marriage has got fixed. In order to conduct the marriage well, the family planned to sell off the flat. I was a little upset. I told my wife, ' Come on, let us not make use of the situation they are in. If they need some help for the marriage, then let us do that rather than buy their property out of their hands now'.
'That's ok! I will tell them that. If they need any help we can do. They may get help from others as well. And they need not sell their flat for the marriage. If they want to sell it off after the marriage or in spite of the help, then we can buy it, I suppose. Is that ok?' She asked.
I said, 'Yes, we can! Try and see if anything could be done to help them at this time of need, first!'
With that, our topic of discussion meandered through a number of other areas of interest for her (not for me, of course!). Starting from such mundane stuff as the repeated late coming of the maid at home to next door boy who hit the ball and broke the window glass of one of the ground floor apartments. The major discussion centered around who should pay compensation for the broken glass! Let them decide it themselves. It is better not to make any comments on such volatile topics, I thought.
So it were to pass for another two to three days. I lost count of how many days later we discussed about Sandhya's marriage. Well, Sandhya is the name of the second daughter of maami. I am sorry, I did not let you in on that earlier.
So, when my wife brought up that subject on Saturday lunch time, I had some time to discuss with her. As usual, I listened to her and nodded to her more out of an after-lunch laxity than out of any confirmation to what she was saying. However, she did continue and got the result that she wanted.'Sandhya is getting married. They have to give her 30 sovereigns of gold at the time of marriage. Shall we do one sovereign gift for Sandhya as her marriage gift? It will be a great help to them and they already have 20 sovereigns of Gold. What do you say?'
My good (good to whom? certainly not to me!) wife was all excitement when she posed this question to me.I simply nodded and said,'as you please'. To tell you the truth, I did not do much of a calculation as to the cost of the commitment really. However, she confirmed it to the maami and so about a week later we were at the jeweler to get a one sovereign coin for Sandhya.
Another week down the line, my wife had identified a good day for presenting the gift to the bride-to-be. It was with a pomp that she invited maami and Sandhya to our home on that day. I was also present and she gave the coin to Sandhya.
Maami promptly said,' Sandhya, fall on their feet and take ashirvad from them. She is like an elder sister'. I really liked that statement and so did my wife, obviously. Sandhya did just that and she got up.Maami was speaking to my wife immediately after that.
She said,'Thanks for the gift'. Sandhya was asking my wife, 'Why akka (sister)? Why are you spending so much money for us? How will I repay this to you?'
Maami said,'They are doing it because they get blessings of God if they give presents and gifts to Brahmins'.
I have had a busy day and was tired. The thought of hitting the home atleast so late left me with a relaxation I might find it difficult to explain.My wife opened the door and when I stepped in, I expected my girl to come running towards me. But that did not happen and I was about to holler to bring her our of her hiding along with her brother. But my wife put her fingers to her lips and said 'Shh' silencing me instantly.
I looked at her with questioning eyes and she said,'both of them are sleeping. Don't disturb them now!'
Though I was a little disappointed, I was happy that they were fast asleep. Only then I looked up at the clock to find that it was half past ten already.'You might have to make do with me!' my wife said with a sarcastic look.I laid my laptop down and went on to clean myself before supper.
When I sat down for my supper it was already 11pm. She had made the table and the plates were ready. She had prepared my favorite chappatis for the night and I was pretty hungry, you bet. As we started pushing in chappatis one after another, she started telling me about what had happened all through the day.
Let me give the long story in a short summary.
Whatever she said was this: "First flat maami in the ground floor is planning to sell their flat! Will we be interested in buying?"
This was essentially the question that she had.
Of course, we will be was my immediate reaction. However, I later queried her, why should she sell the flat now. What has come to her? I know, her husband does not work. It is her son who works. Her first daughter got married long long ago, we do not recollect when it was. The second daughter was expected to get married any time. The eldest of the sons is not employed anywhere. I know he has a congenital problem. He is a dwarf and an aged person at that. He was more a liability to the family than an asset.The only earning member in that family was the second son. I know the company he was working with and I knew he had a good name there. A hard worker at office, but we office bearers of the residents association always had a grudge that there was little or no participation by him in the flat activities.
Anyway that is not the point of discussion today.Now, it looks like the second daughter's marriage has got fixed. In order to conduct the marriage well, the family planned to sell off the flat. I was a little upset. I told my wife, ' Come on, let us not make use of the situation they are in. If they need some help for the marriage, then let us do that rather than buy their property out of their hands now'.
'That's ok! I will tell them that. If they need any help we can do. They may get help from others as well. And they need not sell their flat for the marriage. If they want to sell it off after the marriage or in spite of the help, then we can buy it, I suppose. Is that ok?' She asked.
I said, 'Yes, we can! Try and see if anything could be done to help them at this time of need, first!'
With that, our topic of discussion meandered through a number of other areas of interest for her (not for me, of course!). Starting from such mundane stuff as the repeated late coming of the maid at home to next door boy who hit the ball and broke the window glass of one of the ground floor apartments. The major discussion centered around who should pay compensation for the broken glass! Let them decide it themselves. It is better not to make any comments on such volatile topics, I thought.
So it were to pass for another two to three days. I lost count of how many days later we discussed about Sandhya's marriage. Well, Sandhya is the name of the second daughter of maami. I am sorry, I did not let you in on that earlier.
So, when my wife brought up that subject on Saturday lunch time, I had some time to discuss with her. As usual, I listened to her and nodded to her more out of an after-lunch laxity than out of any confirmation to what she was saying. However, she did continue and got the result that she wanted.'Sandhya is getting married. They have to give her 30 sovereigns of gold at the time of marriage. Shall we do one sovereign gift for Sandhya as her marriage gift? It will be a great help to them and they already have 20 sovereigns of Gold. What do you say?'
My good (good to whom? certainly not to me!) wife was all excitement when she posed this question to me.I simply nodded and said,'as you please'. To tell you the truth, I did not do much of a calculation as to the cost of the commitment really. However, she confirmed it to the maami and so about a week later we were at the jeweler to get a one sovereign coin for Sandhya.
Another week down the line, my wife had identified a good day for presenting the gift to the bride-to-be. It was with a pomp that she invited maami and Sandhya to our home on that day. I was also present and she gave the coin to Sandhya.
Maami promptly said,' Sandhya, fall on their feet and take ashirvad from them. She is like an elder sister'. I really liked that statement and so did my wife, obviously. Sandhya did just that and she got up.Maami was speaking to my wife immediately after that.
She said,'Thanks for the gift'. Sandhya was asking my wife, 'Why akka (sister)? Why are you spending so much money for us? How will I repay this to you?'
Maami said,'They are doing it because they get blessings of God if they give presents and gifts to Brahmins'.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Omen
Shanmugam was driving the car; we certainly cannot call that fast. He is too old to take the risk of driving fast. Only young men and women get that thrill from fast driving. Old men only get heart attacks when they drive that fast.
Shanmugam, took that right turn slowly, even under the pressure of a sound horn from the bus that was coming closer to him. Most buses and cars take that route to reach the Mettupalayam Road on their way to Ooty. We cannot call that a congested road but at the same time, it does have a traffic that is on par with a busy road. But then, the road is not very broad and would not be more than forty feet.
Immediately after the turn, there was a speed breaker and Shanmugam slowed his car to a crawl. After coming down the speed breaker, he picked up speed and would not have gone 20 meters. A dashing cat sprinted across from the his left side to the right.
All that hit Shanmugham was that it was a bad omen. A cat crossing from left to right in front of you, is certainly a bad omen, he thought. In a second, he had decided. He should allow the others to go forward and cross first the place where the cat ran across. Then, the omen will not have the impact on him.
He stopped is car and wanted to allow the vehicles behind him to go first. But to his dismay, the bus that was also picking up speed could not stop at the nick of the moment. Shanmugham felt a strong impact from the bus in the rear of his car. It appeared as if his head had sheared from its base at the neck. At the same time, his head moved forward and found its mark on the steering wheel.
He fell unconscious.
When he woke up, he was in the hospital. Doctor was talking to his wife. He could sense a bandage on his head. And then, there was the neck support to hold his neck. He looked around.
'Ha, he has opened his eyes! I told you so!' said the doctor. 'He will be alright. There is nothing to worry. He had a minor knock on his head which sent him unconscious. His neck is hurt by the sudden crash. It will become alright in two to three weeks. He needs complete rest'.
He looked at Shanmugam and said. 'Sir, you need complete rest. The accident happened because you suddenly braked in the middle of the road and the bus driver could not stop. If one of you had been alert this could have been avoided'.
Shanmugam murmured. 'I know. It is all due to the cat. This accident is due to the bad omen. Even if you do not cross the place where the cat ran across, the bad omen has its impact'.
Shanmugam, took that right turn slowly, even under the pressure of a sound horn from the bus that was coming closer to him. Most buses and cars take that route to reach the Mettupalayam Road on their way to Ooty. We cannot call that a congested road but at the same time, it does have a traffic that is on par with a busy road. But then, the road is not very broad and would not be more than forty feet.
Immediately after the turn, there was a speed breaker and Shanmugam slowed his car to a crawl. After coming down the speed breaker, he picked up speed and would not have gone 20 meters. A dashing cat sprinted across from the his left side to the right.
All that hit Shanmugham was that it was a bad omen. A cat crossing from left to right in front of you, is certainly a bad omen, he thought. In a second, he had decided. He should allow the others to go forward and cross first the place where the cat ran across. Then, the omen will not have the impact on him.
He stopped is car and wanted to allow the vehicles behind him to go first. But to his dismay, the bus that was also picking up speed could not stop at the nick of the moment. Shanmugham felt a strong impact from the bus in the rear of his car. It appeared as if his head had sheared from its base at the neck. At the same time, his head moved forward and found its mark on the steering wheel.
He fell unconscious.
When he woke up, he was in the hospital. Doctor was talking to his wife. He could sense a bandage on his head. And then, there was the neck support to hold his neck. He looked around.
'Ha, he has opened his eyes! I told you so!' said the doctor. 'He will be alright. There is nothing to worry. He had a minor knock on his head which sent him unconscious. His neck is hurt by the sudden crash. It will become alright in two to three weeks. He needs complete rest'.
He looked at Shanmugam and said. 'Sir, you need complete rest. The accident happened because you suddenly braked in the middle of the road and the bus driver could not stop. If one of you had been alert this could have been avoided'.
Shanmugam murmured. 'I know. It is all due to the cat. This accident is due to the bad omen. Even if you do not cross the place where the cat ran across, the bad omen has its impact'.
The God, the Rains
It had not rained even after the monsoon season had started. Water levels in most of the storages were down and the people were getting restless.
The city had seen worser droughts but this was different. Today, people are wealthier. Therefore, they cannot tolerate a failure by the state. The water department has been sending water trucks to that road once every five days!
The truck was due to arrive any moment in the next two to three hours. There was a huge queue of plastic pots. The colors of the pots formed a myriad pattern on the road occupying more than fifty percent of the carriage way.
The sun beat down on the pots with unending cruelty. The pots not only carried the colors of the plastic, the heat of the sun but also reflected the numerous prayers of the people who had placed them in the morning. For more than three hours now, they had been parched in the sun. And without respite, the queue has been increasing in its length every other minute.
Every one left their pots with an earnest desire to get enough water for their families. They also left back earnest prayers to the lord God for bringing down the rains at the earliest. Every one of them in the large crowd seem to have the same prayer on their lips.
'Oh God! Please send us the rain at the earliest. We cannot tolerate neither the heat of the sun nor the dust and the fumes that emanate from all those numerous jobs that we human beings carry out. God, we again implore you to send us rains immediately, so that we, your children, do not suffer any more! Please send the rains today, today and today!'
The prayers were hard and seemed to echo not only in every ones minds but also in the empty pots that lined the road though colorful appeared melancholy.
Just about three kilometers away from this spot, a large construction activity was going on.
They had dug the ground and were in the process of laying the foundation posts for building the large mall that was expected to come up shortly. Only for the last two weeks the workers had got this project going and if it continues for another ten days, they will have food for the next one month.
The real estate business had gone down last year and most of the construction activity in the city had come to a grinding halt. The daily wage earners and laborers in the city could find no work. These people were lucky to get this work going. Thanks to the owner of the building for starting it now and feeding all these men and women.
The digging is almost complete. But now, they will have to throw the concrete in, line it with the steel rods and allow them to settle down. But this job of fixing the rods and then pouring the concrete would easily take next ten days. After that, there are no issues atleast for one to two months!
Lucky for the workers, the south west monsoon had delayed. If it had arrived on time, then the builder would have shifted the digging time at least by one month if not two. The workers and their family would have found themselves literally on the streets with no work and no food even for the kids. 'Thank god', they thought, 'you have been kind to us. You have delayed the monsoon and made sure we got work to do and earn our daily bread'. Their prayers came up from their silent lips, thanking God.
'Oh God, you have ensured our bread for the last ten days. Another ten days of work, we will be happy for the next one to two months. Please, oh God!, please delay the monsoon atleast by ten days if not more. We will earn our bread and then you may bring the downpour. We would also enjoy it! Please do not let us down!'
Their prayers rose with the piling block high above the ground trying to reach the heaven that would bestow them with their desires.
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