Translated into English by Saravanan Karmegam.
Chapter 7: Three Friends
Those three men entered Kimlee Garden Tiffin Centre
located in the south of Prince Hendrix Street. The shop keeper greeted them.
“Welcome Sir..sir”
“Hello, Master”
Kimlee led them into a circle shaped wreath like
structure made with thickly grown flowers. Pandian sat facing the north.
Thangaiah and Thillaimuthu sat facing him.
The attendant boy approached them, almost came running.
Order was placed to bring Meekoreng, eggs, pine apple, Papaya and coffee. After
they entered the tiffin centre, a couple of Chinese men and Indonesians entered
the hotel from the street.
“Who’s that? Is it Paavannaa? (First letter of
Pandian)
Navannaa, first cash section attendant of 8th
number godown, peeked out and called him out.
“Please come…come..”
“Yes…I am in…to sit with you”
Navannaa removed his spectacle and placed it on the
table. He appeared to be older than them. His shiny eyes and crooked cuts of
his mouth announced his sense of humour.
“Is your father alright in Penang? He turned his
attention to Thangaiah and asked him, “What about the letter?”
“He is fine. Received the letter from the boat”
“It is said that they are going to change the name of
Charter Bank and run it as Yokohoma Bank. Then what will happen to your job?”
“The order has been passed. Thillaimuthu will also join
there.”
“Why? Doesn’t he like teaching in school? Then the
students will have to look after only donkeys till the war is over. Right?”
“Here donkeys aren’t available. They can herd pigs” –
the former teacher of Methodist school, Thillaimuthu retorted. The hotel
attendant brought a plate full of savouries, coffee cups and saucers. He was
asked to bring similar items for Navannaa too.
“Pavannaa, look at that side. Are you able to see a
Malay woman walking like a bull found in Northern side?”
“Who’s that?” he glanced that side and sat again.
“You are asking who she is. Aren’t you? She is Yasmin,
the lady with golden anklet. See how voluptuous her body looks. She must be
forty five years old”
“What! Is she that aged?”
“Hold your words, man” He shortened his articulation
and started speaking in Chettinad slang. “If you remove her dress, you will
find her breasts taut like solid Vibhoothi bag of Lord Shiva. She has five
children”
“I heard that she has six children” Thillaimuthu
corrected Navannaa’s words.
“Oh…good heavens! See how naughty this guy is! We
shouldn’t judge anyone by his appearance” He rolled his eyes and said, “Now see
for yourself how much our school teacher is updated in such matters.”
“Thillaimuthu is a dump thief” Thangaiah said.
“Yes…Yes…you are right. Leave it aside. Let us not divert
our talk from the main topic. Pavannaa, all from our business communities
throng her house like a herd of sheep even today.”
“Leave her. Stinking skunk! Aren’t you getting into
Penang business?”
“I need neither Penang business nor any business. It
would be enough if I am able to take this body intact home. Are you sure about
the business with Penang?”
“You are still unsure about it. Aren’t you? After
discussions, procurement has also started”
“Nothing wrong in doing business with Penang. You need
to be extra careful. That is it.”
“Why? Any issue with that business?”
“Our people have a bad habit of bringing a big wooden
plank to insert into a tiny space given to them out of benevolence. They used
to give lame excuses that they would be able to manage if something goes out of
hand. Be careful. If Japanese men find you out there doing anything funny, they
will chop off your head and keep it in the middle of street”
“They will do it only with white men who oppose their
ways. Not with us, the ones who are already accustomed with chopping heads”
“I just told out of genuine concern. Let everything go
as planned. Leave it aside. Why haven’t you started having your meals yet?”
“Let your food come. Then we can start together”
“Pavannaa, do you know Piranmalai Kalyani?’
“Yes…I know. She used to dance every year in our temple
function.”
“How’s that chick piece? Another one here very closely
resembling her is wearing lungi and blouse and flirting around every one from
yesterday. Who’s that?”
The hotel attendant boy brought the plate full of
savouries and coffee mug. They started eating.
“Oh! She is Thebingthingi Rajammal.” He declared. “Her
rate is very high. But if Pandian likes to have her, she might agree for free.
Some people have luck written on their face”
“Why are you pulling Pavannaa into this matter?”
Navannaa shortened his articulation again and began his slang. “If you have got
a mole at an appropriate place, everything will fall on your way at an
opportune time. Women will readily fall for him one after the other with silly
excuses”
“Oh…is it so?” Pandian laughed at his comments.
Other too joined him and laughed.
“I think you guys will be leaving late. I have some
urgent work” Navanna rose.
“You aren’t coming to Penang. Are you?”
“I’ll decide after a couple of months. Let me see. It
is alright. Let me leave now. Bye”
“Bye”
“Eiii…you need coffee?” Thangaiah shouted.
“My regards! Brother!” Sari shop owner Marakkayar
peeked out.
“Greetings Anna. Please come in. Have a cup of coffee”
“I have some urgent work brother. I can have the
pleasure of having coffee with you at any time. Did the eight number Chettiar
come here?”
“You mean Navannaa? Don’t you? He has just left.”
“Okay. I need to leave now. Bye”
“Bye Anna. See you soon again”
The attendant boy brought coffee cups.
“Why are you leaving for Penang at this critical time?
Is your contractor insisting you to go there? Thangaiah asked him.
“The idea of doing business with Penang is my brain
child. No matter who comes with me or who does not, my going there is very
certain” Pandian drank coffee in one gulp.
“What’s the matter? Why this sudden obsession with
Penang business?”
“I have got bored with Medan City. This city is
relatively isolated. This place is not suitable during war time. You will feel
suffocated as if you are caught in a burrow.”
“What about Penang?”
“In Penang we could meet people from Burma, Siam
(Present Thailand) and Indonesia and do some constructive business. Here we are
just whiling away our time, and roaming lazy. The world has been experiencing a
lot of things and a lot of events happening around. Had we been there, at least
we would be able to feel a bit of pulse what is going around us”
“We are no way related to the events happening around
the world. Are we? Our destiny is being decided by the people, the shepherds, who
are wielding the whip in their hands”
“If you prefer to remain quiet by folding your hands
at rest, how then you can become a shepherd? We would then remain cattle for
ever”
“Oho…! You mean if we board a boat to Malaya, we can
become shepherds”
“Not exactly. At least we will be able to find the
ways and means to become shepherds. There are a lot of youth from our country
residing in Malaya. How many of us are here? How many of them are seriously
concerned about these matters?”
“Planning such things does not indeed suit us”
“We have to change it”
“Oh! Tamils from all over the world. Unite! Devise a
plan for the Tamil Community to walk on the path of progress” Thillaimuthu
shrieked.
“Thillaimuthu, one of my friends narrated a story. It
was about the pride of Tamils and Tamil’s valour. You must know about it. Let
me explain in brief” Pandian sat straight.
“One day the government passed an order that everyone
should go to the village administrator to get three slaps with his slippers
before they start their day in mornings. Next day early morning, all our
chivalrous Tamil community from every village went to their respective village
administrators and readily stood in front of his house displaying their bare
back to him and insisted him to beat them quickly so that they could leave for
their daily works early. Some of them were carrying an amount of bribe
according to their financial positions so as to ensure quick delivery of slaps
without wasting much of time. This is the present condition of our gallant
Tamil community. It was their condition yesterday.”
“I am not aware of anything about Tamil Nadu. I
boarded ship when I was very young. Now tell us what should be done to change
this situation. Tell us that. ” Thangaiah told.
“Shock treatment. Not for the Tamil community alone.
What is the foremost requirement that is needed for the entire population of
India to open up their eyes to see the reality? It is nothing other than a
ruthless execution of shock treatment”
“What is the tool for executing that shock treatment?”
“An army of brave youth and a leader with an
indomitable courage”
“An autocratic rule of scoundrels after that. Is that
what you mean?”
“No…It is for providing food, clothes and shelter to
every one living on this earth”
“Ohooo…Quote from Manimegalai! (One of the five
epic stories in Tamil). If you want to know what exactly righteousness means,
listen to me fully. If you are unable to provide food, clothes and shelter to
all living beings on this earth, be assured to listen to lectures, getting exhibited
and being whipped”
“No…no…You have also joined in the group of people who
believe in nihilism. The moment you get to know about your own inability, the
faith sets in. The events that follow your faith will have no comparison, my
friend. It is faith, a simple faith that matters. Comrade Lenin was able to
capture Russia, a country with a population in billions, with some thousands of
determined comrades. How was that possible? Faith. Trust. Unflinching trust.
Unwavering trust.”
“What should we believe in?”
“Believe in that light will appear after the darkness
disappears”
“If the light doesn’t appear, do we have to believe
darkness as light?”
“Light is nothing but the belief that it is light”
Pandian smiled.
“It is alright. Leaving it aside, now tell me based on
which criteria are you going to organise such a dedicated army of youth who
would be providing food, clothes and shelter to every living being under the sun?
How are you going to get it materialised?”
“I am yet to decide upon it. It is the decision that
needs to be taken collectively after due consultation with others”
“Noble purpose anyway- But I don’t like the idea that
is being abused to call the people as people of India” Thillaimuthu stretched
out his legs and leaned on a chair. “If you want this ‘shock delivering army’
to taste victory, it should have none other than Tamils in its roll. The race
of Tamil is the point where one can find pride and valour. The duty of every
Tamil man is to work hard to uplift Tamil Nadu and Tamil people. Hell with what
would happen to Gujaratis and Bengalis. We have nothing to do with them”
“Our sustenance depends on their wellbeing too”
Pandian turned his attention to him. “If they fail, it will affect us as well.”
he reasoned.
“Never…no matter they win or fail. Tamil Nadu will
find itself a unique place in history with its pride, valour and uniqueness as
its head looks up”
“Has it ever stood with pride, valour and uniqueness?”
“Why do you doubt it? Those who have read Sangam
literature will never develop such a doubt. Only you and Thangaiah are
exceptions to it as you both are fond of arguing without stuff”
“Thillaimuthu, you haven’t seen what actual Tamil Nadu
is. You have seen it only in poetry. There is a phenomenon called imagination
hiding in poetry. You must not forget it” Pandian’s voice got thicker. The Tamil
valour that is being eulogised in old literary works are basically about petty
squabbles. Was there any pride in Pandiya King conquering Kalaiyarkovil
Vengaimarban? Both were Tamils. One was a king. Another one was a chieftain of
some tiny village. The king won in a scuffle against the latter and abducted
all his belongings and left him without land. Is there any pride in it?” he
puffed his cigarette and emitted thick rings of smoke. “How many of those
chivalrous Tamil warriors who retain their fame only in literary texts fought
against the soldiers of Delhi Sultan when they descended on Tamil lands and
went on rampaging, pillaging it? How many of them became martyrs? No one was
found. Nowhere were they found. When the cavalry of Malik Kafur was fast
approaching at a far off distance, our Southerner hero who ruled the entire
South India after conquering the Ganges and Himalaya in the north, ran away and
went into hiding in the hilly tracts of Neriyamangalam”
“Your vision is narrow as you keep judging everything
with that Delhi Sultan narrative.” Thillaimuthu roared. “You should not insult
an entire community with just one slip. Your vision lacks inclusiveness”
“Having inclusive vision more than required is
precisely my problem. Not because of lacking it. Let us pause here. What did
happen when the army of Vadugars backed by Vijaya Nagar Empire came to Tamil
Nadu? The kingdom of Pandiyas was thrown out with the help of fellow Tamils.
Who was that broker who arranged Tamil traitors to assist Vijaya Nagar king to
bribe the soldiers of Pandiya king to align their side? It was Ariyanathan. He
was a Tamil”
“According to our historians, the Rayars of Vijaya
Nagar invaded on Tamil Nadu in order to uproot the Islamic influence and infuse
fresh blood into Hindu religion. Is that correct? Thangaiah threw an
inscrutable smile. “Do you disagree with it” he asked.
“Getting rid of Islamic influence! Nonsense. It is
just a well-cooked fantasy. What they sought was nothing but the dominance of
Vijaya Nagar king. The Rayar who betrayed his people as he was afraid of facing
Sultan’s army in the battle field…The Rayar who surrendered before sultan’s
army without staging a fight despite having well equipped large army at his
command…Vijaya Nagar had been ruled by such Rayars. This is how they waged war
ignominiously against Islamic domination”
“Let’s not talk about Vadugars. Your views on Tamils’
pride, and their gallant tradition are really dangerous. I will never accept
your views. Any Tamil man having a sense of pride in him will never accept what
you say” Thillaimuthu said.
“It is not dangerous. It is the truth. Tamil valour
and Tamil civilization actually seem to be an inflated fantasy of some of our
inebriated poets”
“Don’t talk rubbish.
Senkuttuvan…Elaalan…Rajendran…Sundaran (Pandiay King Sadaiyavarman Sundara
Pandian) Karunakaran….”
“Very old story…Very very old…Every community has such
five or six titles to their credit. How far had they gone to achieve? Alexander
conquered the entire land of Persians. In one sweep of fury, Hitler subdued the
combined forces of Britain, France, Belgium and Dutch and decimated them in a single
blow. The frog living in a well, would experience the mighty Amazon River, the
Pacific Ocean and the Great Himalayas only in the well in which it lives.
Thillaimuthu was staring at Pandian’s face with his
decisive yes.
“Thillaimuthu, your research into this Tamil valour
looks like a hungry man computing his old accounts.” Thangaiah said and rose.
“The race that finds happiness in its roots will also
have an enormity of meanness about its present within it. It is the truth
accorded by the wise men. Let us leave it aside” Thillaimuthu placed his left
hand on Pandian’s shoulder. “Do inform me before you leave. My school friend
Manikkam is now working in Thana Mera estate near Penang. To be right, he was
working. I will give you a letter. Give it to him. He is a wonderful friend.”
Okay. Let us leave”
It had been long since the sun disappeared. The paper
flower lamps wearing masks were twinkling moving in the air. It was thickly
dark outside the garden.
They started walking on the street where the lamp
posts stood without emitting light.
***Ended***
Chapter 8: “Serdang Way” will be published soon.
