கனவுக் கதை சார்வாகன் (English)

 கனவுக் கதை சார்வாகன்

When we reached National store there was no crowd of customers at all.

It is a kind of comfort at Natesan’s shop. There would never be rush of crowd. Black, green and red peppermints, rubber balls, cheap pens, assorted color inks in bottles (sold not in bottles but just loosely measured) soaps, combs (no mirrors in National Stores), something to enhance the personality before and after shave, dies to blacken white hairs, a pair of nose ………….. four ruled, with varieties of rules, unruled, cross ruled -- bundles of notebooks, pencils, and many more items, everything waits for the buyers. Usually we are the ones used to be standing there.

Natesan used to be all smiles and would extend a welcome saying “vaanga vaanga”. He would not expose the brown tinted teeth line. His teeth used to be white. He is not habituated to chewing betel leaf and nuts. Only smoking. That too, not inside the shop. He has no such habits of drinking, illicit relations, gambling, racing, electuary of vilvam, politics, arts, language and religion. He used to limit himself with the shop. Anyone can buy anything from his shop (except grocery, medicines, milk powder). On cash. Credit is also there for very close acquaintances. If we reach there, he used to only welcome us but never ask us what we want. He apparently knows that usually, we would not have money to buy anything. He is also aware that, if we needed anything, we ourselves would ask for it. Though he has not read bible, he knows the phrase “Ask and it will be given to you”.

On that day, when we went there, his mischievousness was very much visible in his eyes. There was that mischievous smile on his face like the spread of colorful spectrum on oil spilled water. We entered into the shop. Sivaprakasam followed us after spitting in to the drain. Natesan doesn’t like spitting inside the shop. On seeing us, with all smiles he extended the usual welcome to us saying “vaanga…vaanga”. Then, he bend down and drew out something like a magician to show us and challenged us saying “Let us see if you can say what it is”. He looked at us with pride.

Even before I asked “What it is” after recovering from a momentary bewilderment because of his strange action, Rangan reached for it and took it.

Initially, there seemed nothing special about it. I thought it as an ordinary weighing balance used in the shops. When Rangan lifted it as if to “weigh” I could realize it is not an ordinary weighing balance. In that, there was only one plate on one side and three platters on another side. I couldn’t understand anything.

‘If you say what it is, I will give each one of you two candies”, once again elatedly grinned Natesan. I and Sivaprakasam accepted our defeat saying ‘we couldn’t make out’. Rangan alone was thoughtful for a short while and repeatedly looked at the three platter weighing balance. May be he has a liking for sweet candy even at the age of forty. At last, he too, having made a general declaration to the world “Oh! What an amazing thing it is!” as a token of his defeat, returned the balance.

Natesan was delighted. Saying “Alright, Even if it’s not known it’s alright, take it”, he took out some candies from the nearer peppermint container and offered us. Rangan took two and I took one. As a token of respect.

Sivaprakasam refused it. He is diabetic. He doesn’t take sugar and don’t eat rice either.

Though Natesan insisted ‘Just take it, There is not much sugar in it’, Sivaprakasam refused stubbornly by saying “you may take my share as well’. Natesan neither took his own share nor Sivaprakasam’s. May be because of either he doesn’t like sugarless candy or with a frugal thought of why should he waste two paise.

After dropping back the candies in the bottle, on our request Natesan explained the secret behind the three platter weighing balance. If, at the same time, three people come to the shop and demand for the same item, then, It’s the device that saves effort and time by weighing in one go instead of weighing thrice separately for each one of them. “How is my idea” he posed a question proudly.

I had seen Natesan’s shop since inception. Never had I witnessed a day on which three people came together and troubled him demanding the same item, immediately. Even then, I kept quiet intending not to spoil his enthusiasm. Rangan was overwhelmed with surprise and had expressed his excitement, ‘is that our Natesan, with such forethought’. In that very situation, there came to the shop, the man .

The man who just came in, neither seemed a sage nor seemed a family man. May be he was forty years of age. Well built muscular body. Hair, long and black was cascading on his shoulders. A thick eyebrow was sticking on the forehead like a caterpillar. Eyes were sparkling like black diamonds. Face, left unshaven for two weeks. Bare upper body. Four feet long dhothi over the hip folded up at knee height. God only knows that the dhothi is either fading from saffron color or getting brownish from white. White strip from the shoulder to the elbow. Large kumkum thilak on the forehead as large as half a rupee coin.

The man who came with such a sparkling eyes demanded “Give me a kilo of peppermint candy, quick”. His was a ringing voice like a large bell.

Natesan calmly said “it costs five rupees a kilogram’ and did not even move from the place where he was standing and gave a look at the man up and down.

“Alright…alright give me, quick”, he scrabbled his hip, opened a knot, drew out five rupee note folded in to eight and produced without unfolding it.

Natesan slowly took the note placed it on the table, detached the two out of the three platters from the balance, kept one kg measure on one side, poured candies from the bottle on to the other plate, weighed it as if he is weighing gold. when he was about to pack it in a paper packet, “Don’t pack it, just handover me on a sheet of paper” was the order of that man. His eyes were like the tongue of a snake. Having taken the candies handed over to him on a piece of news paper he walked fast towards clock tower.

Driven by the curiosity of what he is about to do, I Rangan and Sivaprakasam followed him at a distance.

The clock tower is at about hundred and fifty feet from Natesan’s store. It does not show date and year. So, since when it stopped is not known. It shows twelve o’clock always. Even in the evening, when lights are about to be put on, it was showing twelve o’clock. There is still some open space only around the clock tower which stands like the central gem of the bazaar area of our town. It’s a very convenient place for groups of four or so people to chat. If, moved a bit away from there one would have to suffer the odor of birds' droppings. But, it’s not the case just around the clock tower.

By standing near the platform under the clock tower the peppermint candy man stuffed one or two candies in the hands of bystanders. They were astonished. Saying “take it, take it, Offerings of god”, he distributed Natesan store’s candies to some more people.

The news of someone distributing sweets for free near the clock tower spread across the bazaar in less than a minute. Crowd started flowing in towards clock tower as water flows down towards the dip. We three I, Rangan and Sivaprakasam reached near the clock tower, but were little by little jostled out using elbows and butts towards the edge. The cry of ‘sir, sir, candy sir’ suppressed the chirpy dawn chorus of birds around and above.

Thus far, I was not aware that our village people are so crazy for the peppermint candy. But for kids, who rarely come to Natesan’s store, which never ever crowded, for buying peppermint candy, I had not witnessed such a rush of the adult crowd like this. Men wearing white shirt, dhothi with laced border, with color dhothi and bare body, with terylene vests, wrist with wrist watch and holy thread, with silver talisman, white mustached, bald headed, toothless old Murukku selling lady, her grandson as her agent, ladies wearing glittering nylon laced shining blouse with infants who had come to the bazaar, nomad ladies, people came to buy bidi, cigarettes, color drinks, betel leaf and nuts, plantain fruits, tobacco from the bazaar’s petty shop, naked kids that ran dexterously between these people. Within a wink of time a large crowd gathered around. ‘Gnoi’ the noise, like the resounding noise of bees around bee hive.

Peppermint man holding the peppermint pack, lifted it above his head like Hanuman holding the mountain, jumped on the platform in a single leap. Even from this distance his eyes glowed like fire. “Don’t make noise, If you listen to me, you all will get it”, he screamed aloud. The crowd that was noisy fell into silence instantly. Under the blue light of the municipal lantern, the thousand faces were eagerly looking up at him. Those faces glowed green under that light.

The order from the peppermint sage was “All of you bow down in prostration as mark of salutation to the clock tower Perumal”.

The crowd that was almost lifeless, shaken back into life. Progressively reclined. The people, head over the legs of person in front of and foot over the heads on the person at the back of, fell like a pack of cards. The crowd fell over the dung of animals like dog, pig, horse, cattle, on the strains of spitting, urine, on the banana peels, empty cigarette packets, buds of cigarettes and bidis, on the dirt, on the groundnut shells, on the numerous foot prints, by closing their eyes, joined hands to pray, without any difference between male and female, young and adult, youth and old man, omnireligiously, in prostration either on self or one on another.

Raising the slogan ‘Hari Om’, the unreal sage threw away the candies on the back of the crowd. It rained candy on the crowd.

The crowd that was lying on the floor, leaped into itself like the bees from the disturbed beehive. With a verity of noises shook itself. Kids and elders, women young and old, Tamils and Telugus, Hindus and Muslims and Christians, atheists were all like cricket rigged the ground. Pushing others combed the floor. The crowd picked the candies on the mud with rage, grabbed, tasted and parted apart. The crowd looked for the one who threw the candies. He could not be found. He should have run from behind the clock tower jumping from the platform immediately after throwing the candies.

Within five minutes the crowd disappeared at the same pace as it gathered. We returned to the National store. Natesan who came out of the shop to witness the spectacle got into the shop and smiled at us. Having said ‘Have you seen it seems like mad, but no one was at loss because of that’ he took the five rupee note left by the person who bought the peppermint candies carefully unfolded it, flung it with index finger and placed it in the table drawer. We said ‘Oh! yes, yes’. Sivaprakasam went out of the shop to spit.