Chapter 11: Madurai
The sun rose as if coming from the bottom of horizon. A shoal of tiny fishes looking like zig-zag eels was playing under water. The sea with its waves surging up and down seemed to be moving smoothly. The sky at the horizon that appeared in grey hue till then had become like a fire in orange colour as it received the crimson rays of the sun. The flame of light that shone at the point where the sun and water got mixed up did offer a clumsy view to one’s eyes.
Pandian closed his eyes. ‘Once this war is over, I have to go to my place by the first ship. I should go to Nagapattinam instead of Chennai where the customs officials would check the neatly folded cloths by throwing them jumbled and crushing the pillows. From Nagapattinam, I can go to Trichy and then to my place. If not by this route, I can go via Madurai where I can stay in Mangammal lodge located just in front of Madurai Railway station. I can stay there for a day, meet my friends and take a round in Madurai city- Town Hall road, Bhima Vilas, the first ever club hotel that introduced the habit of eating snacks on tables in Madurai. Madura College high school. The stinking Perumal Temple Theppakulam, filled with thrown away food, garbage, and over growth of algae. Going past Masi Streets comes West Tower Street, followed by Victoria lodge and Military hotel. Saminatha Pillai, the owner of the hotel with his round shaped tuft, a sandal vermillion applied on forehead, studs embellished with red stones, and wearing washed cloths would be sitting on a mat at the corner of the front veranda. Small reddish eyes. A smile that was spitting out hatred. He would receive the cash from the people who had their meals, in his right hand mumbling something inaudible and throw it under the mat lifting it with his left hand. On this side, were there Uduppi Hotel and Ajees perfume shop and the diversions of Anumnatharayan Temple Streets. The ‘Topper Mamas’ would be busy looking for customers and the local hoodlums would be searching for weaker men to loot.
There were looters roaming around known as ‘three ticket’ cheaters- they were double dealers who would fake brass chains for gold chains and sell it at lower price on emergency. The Fund Office was nearby. The yells of Marwadi businessmen at the entry of temple tower would fill in air.
“Pick anything you like just for an Ana. Pick anything you like just for an Ana”
Chithirai Streets. There would be street vendors selling Salab Misri Halva under gas lantern lights with a big photo of some unknown beefcake kept leaned against wall, quacks selling medicines for syphilis, fraudsters selling ‘energised’ pendants for both diseases and demons, those who would claim selling the original treatise of Kokkegam containing all 64 poses of sexual intercourse and the cons selling the so called antidote to scorpion bite. The crowd in front of the temple, and the howling of baniyas. “Ek baniyan dho ana”.
Aththur Sayabu was selling tooth powder near the entrance of Puthu Manadapam. A crowd under the spell of his captivating humour assembled in front of him. Sayabu would deliver his talk:
“Is there any difference between this and that? Will the deity in a Brahmn’s house look in red colour where the deity in a lower caste man’s house looks in black? Or will the deity in a Muslim’s house wear turban where the one in a Christian’s house wears a cross? God remains always God. Everyone here is a human being. But my tooth power is not like that. Tooth powder doesn’t mean that it is a powder made of teeth smashed and pulverised. It is a powder for oral application. Hihihihi….Tooth powder has its advantages and disadvantages. It is made scrupulously following the procedure prescribed by our sages, the Siddhas. Get one pocket of it and use it daily. Don’t fall for those pockets sold in shops wrapped in shiny papers with women’s pictures posing nude. Don’t fall for their bodies. It is like jaundice- It goes with our old adage. Doesn’t it? – A beautifully coiffed hair festooned with screw pine flowers will only contain lice and nits in it if opened. They would keep the coloured sand in it. So, listen to my words and get one pocket of it. Rub your teeth with it every morning. All your dental issues like tooth pain, swelling, bleeding of teeth and smelling mouth will disappear in no time. Come here…one pocket for each one of you here. Believe my words. If you lose your teeth you will lose your words too. If your mouth smells, your wife will turn other side showing her back on you. Then what? You will keep yawning like a dog on heat all throughout night….”
‘How fast are the cities changing? The city of Madurai seen in 1941 when I returned and the one which I saw when I had joined in higher secondary school looked completely different from each other. It was the period before Lashrado Shenai posted as the Commissioner of Madurai.’
Half of the streets would be covered by “Governor Hoardings” sticking out of city buildings. These Governor Hoarding would be erected with the support of poles and wooden planks covering the sides. Shops roofed with tiles were functioning above and the people who depended on garbage bins for their daily sustenance were living under its wooden partition. It was under this roof where all their births and deaths did happen.
The place where the bus stand was once functioning is now the place of Thursday weekly market. You could buy anything there- from balls made of red sand to spare parts of motor engines and from as easily available as Thumbai plant to extremely rare tiger teeth.
No one knew when the ‘cars’ 1 would leave and from where. The cars would roam on the city roads. The agents holding the bars in the car, half of their body hanging out would call out to the prospective passengers aloud by yelling the names of different destinations. Once they got sufficient number of passengers for those destinations, they would alight other passengers along with their luggage from the ‘car’ at some unknown places. Any complaint, even made inaudibly would end up them being beaten. It all happened before the arrival of Lashrado Shenai as the commissioner of Madurai Municipality and his meticulous efforts of streamlining the transport by establishing a bus stand and standard schedule for ‘cars’ to leave a particular place at a particular time for a particular destination.
Sometimes three or four cars used to ply for the same destination. The cars would run into rivers, and village tanks and fields as they left the bus stand trying to overtake each other. Once ‘Krishna Jeyam’ car driver ‘dollar’ Rajamani Iyer on his way to Sinna Mangalam, in an attempt of overtaking Chithambara Vilas car driver Rajamunni Menon, drove his car into water filled village tank and overtook the later- the incident which later became a famous event in the history of Motors.
The shops selling cooked rice were found lined up along the Street knows as Sotru kadai2 Street. Fully polished big cauldrons shining like golden pots, with Vibhoothi and sandal- Kumkum bars applied on them, were kept on three legged stools in the front veranda of shops. A person wearing shirt and Vibhoothi on forehead, sitting on a wooden board near to them with his legs folded, would call out to the passers-by aloud walking on the street “Please come…hot rice…with mutton stew…hot rice…Please come…please come…”
The owners of material loaded vehicles from the western region, after eating to their stomach full, would often throw a fold of betal leaves offered free of cost after meals into their mouth, and go out with belching sounds.
“They have soaked the rice in lime water. I couldn’t eat it more”
“It can’t be called a club hotel. If you want one such hotel, it is nothing other than the one run by Kundathur Nayakkar in Dindigul. What a food they offer! Extremely delicious. You wouldn’t find any complaint with it. Every day you'll get intestine stew. If meat is not available they will give you a stew made with goat heads. Every Thursday he would offer soup made with veldt grape and soup made with genuine cat fish.”
It costed one
ana to watch movies in Imperial Cinema. Those who were sitting above on ‘chairs’
would spit out their betal leaves spittle on people sitting below. The ones
sitting on floor would throw invectives possibly invented with all human flesh
at them to register their protest. “Deiiiii…….”
It used to be Edifo lo and Duglus Fair Fangs movies. The audience would shout along with the actors. “Eiii. Turn you face this side…Your enemy is coming near….don’t leave him, give him a punch…punch him hard….Eiii helper! Come soon….enemy is abducting the actress. Yes…here comes the actor! Punch that fellow! Yes… punch him like this…what a punch it is! Half moustache Charlie Chaplin was making the audience laugh till their ribs got broken with his funny acting! Herald Loid, the one with spectacles! Characters running on screen without voices! The horses were hopping, running fast! The guns spitting out fire- ‘Don’t miss watching this spectacle! It is a wonderful movie full of fencing, jumps, magic works and romantic scenes. The “kick expert” Edifo lo’s swing of whip, a scene that would make anyone filled with ecstasy.”
It was a small movie hall with tin thatch. In the bigger movie hall with tin roof, a film by Kittappa, a famous actor for his sweet voice, Narpathu Veli Nilam innum Nattagavillai was shown. Then came the queen of Music, Sundarambal and Freedom fighter Viswanatha Das with his amputated hands in Kathrkodi Kappal Thonuthe. The list of actors and actresses that dominated the scene was long- Rajalaxmi, Velambal, Rukminibai, The king of Hormonium Khader Basha, ‘Sthree part’ Anandaraman Iyer, ‘Hindustan Hawai’ Nataraja Pillai, Buffoon Shanmugam, ‘Comic” Samanna and joker Ramudu. “Rajambal” was a special drama acted by Rajambal herself. Savukkadi Chandrakantha by Original Boys Company, Bombay Mail and Rajabhakti…
There had been a whole slew of mysterious events that students discussed among themselves with fear and angst- the human sacrifice given by a white Engineer while constructing the Big Bridge, how an English Sergeant followed a Kerala Black Magician who was taking a Brahmin woman carrying her first pregnancy by hanging like a lamp in the air to sacrifice her in Tathaneri burial ground, and how the sergeant shot him dead on the other side, and how the police sub inspector Balasingam had thrashed the notorious hoodlum Keru Sahib, tied him up and dragged him out onto the street.
Madurai is known for its countless festivals- Chithirai Festival, Puttu Festival, Theppam Festival….the list goes on. Ahh…If it is Mariyamman Theppam Festival, people would sit in the coconut groves lying between the Vaigai River and Vandiyur Theppakulam and enjoy their meals simultaneously relishing the visual treat of festival. Women chewing betal leaves would chid their children playing carefree, with their red colour spittle spilling out from their mouth. The water, seemingly confused with the lights emitted by earthen lamps lit along the interior walls of the pond, would glint as if being gored by an array of countless golden spears. The Theppam 3 would then be left floated on water when the full moon ascending above coconut trees and showering its cool breeze of light on land and humans alike throwing them into the deep spell inertness.
‘It has been ages since I last saw Madurai Theppam Festival in Tamil Nadu. Now the time and places have changed. This is a ship floating now on the Malakka Sea carrying passengers with some commercial interest who are on their way to Sumathra from Malaya due to Second World War.’
The waves coming one after the other, the waves formed one after the other from the earlier ones were hitting the sides of the ship hard as if trying to tumble it down, but in vain. That ship, propelled by the wind force, was moving ahead in search of Penang harbour.
“Paavannaa…thinking something very seriously, that too in early morning?”
Aavanna, who was busy taking out processed milk tins and coffee powders from the basket, yelled at him.
“I was just relaxing in this morning breeze”
Nallakannu Konar was boiling water, sitting at the corner in the opposite side. Others were asleep.
***Ended***
Chapter 12: "Sinna Mangalam" will be published soon.
Notes:
1. Buses were called cars and conductors were knows as cleaners in those days.
2. It is known as Meenakshi Temple Street today.
3. A makeshift temple floated on water (with deity in it).