|
Page 1 of 3 "Do you follow English ?"
"yeah", I answered .
"Thank God , I was looking for someone who could follow me. Thats when I saw you reading an English Magazine".
I had the latest Asian Photography in my hand. I picked up the magazine while waiting for the train in Trivandrum Central railway station. As I had an hour to wait, I took a seat with a view to platform TV and started flicking through the pages of magazine. Thats when this old man, wearing an elegant looking dark green kurta came to me. He has a high forehead and wrinkled face but the hair is only peppered with grey hair. One look is enough to tell that he is from an aristocratic family.
"I hope you would not mind me taking this seat", he sat down next seat without waiting for my answer and shot the next question, "You from?"
"From here only. Trivandrum" !"
"Oh, by your looks I thought you are from north. I'm a retired professor. Hailing from Pathanamthita. Father of five . Grandfather of five. ", he giggled showing his aged tooth. There was that unmistakable odour of a drunk guy.
"I'm a brahmin by birth, married to a nair girl from a poor family. It was a love marriage. I got ostracized by my family and society for that. Do you know the meaning of 'Ostracize'?"
"Yeah , you got chucked out, eh?", I replied not knowing how to express it.
"Uh! , Its not as simple as it sounds. You become totally helpless. Nobody comes near you, no friends , no relatives and no family. You know , I was just a 21 year old student at that time. You wont imagine how difficult it was without money."
"Then why did you marry?", I wanted to show some interest.
"Good question. I was in love with her . Desperately in love with her. She was my mom's helper in kitchen. We never treated her as a servant as she had been there right from my childhood days. You know, those days cast & untouchability was so sever. I remember that she never saw any room in our house other than its kitchen. But still... we fell in love".
I saw his weak eyes widening.
"I was doing BSc Physics those days. You would be surprised to hear all the marks I got. I was , you can say, a studious guy. Then I got an opportunity to go for higher studies in America".
"That day, she came to me and said that she is pregnant. She was weeping like a kid and fell on my feet crying,'Dont leave me, please'. I was , as you can imagine, shocked".
I could see the same shocked expression on his face.
"The whole day and night , I was thinking and thinking on what to do. Early morning I sneaked out my house with a little money that I stole from dad's and brother's pockets. Then I went straight to her home. It was a , you know , 'Chetta Kudil'. A badly dilapidated structure. I asked her to come with me. We went to a nearby temple . For forty rupees , just forty rupees , we got married. A sovereign gold chain. Four sarees which cost me Rs 5/- each. And a rented house for Rs 50 per month. Oh enthayirunnu? "
He went silent and I could see from his face that he was reliving those days. I was thoroughly impressed by his gutts. Then his english vocabulary , word selection and pronunciation. I was studying him until he opened his heart again.
"I took a small teaching job, spent few hours daily teaching my wife . We held on until , she got through pre-degree and gave birth to five children. Two girls and three sons. You know , Destiny is what you make of it."
"My youngest son, Ajith Kumar, looks almost like you. He is a smart and adventuristic guy. I should say, the smartest of my kids. I noticed that you share a lot of his features."
"I'm a bit adventuristic too", I added. He gave a laugh and said, "Ajith did aerospace engineering and is in Delhi. Few years back me and my wife went to meet him there. He introduced us to a girl. Poornam Agarwal. The girl is from a very rich family. Ajith said she has a swimming pool at her home and also that she is just a friend of him. You see, he is very smart, but he was trying to play his tricks on his dad. Few months later his letter came for his mom , my wife. It read , 'Hi mom, I got married to Poornam. Please inform dad too.'. My son got married."
This time I was shocked, but the old man was laughing his heart out.
|
