October 30, 2011
Ever since he retired from the Income Tax Office, M uncle in his full time capacity as Rema Aunty's husband, spends most of his day reading newspapers. He has three English and one Malayalam daily delivered every morning. Once in a while, he emails these newspapers expressing his opinions. It had rained so heavily last night that despite the closed windows, I was woken up. Naturally, this meant a lazy morning. So on top of the Malayala Manorama and Hindu newspapers that come home, I borrowed Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle from Murthy uncle. Interestingly, both the Hindu and the Indian express carried articles on standards of contemperory television advertisement. I think there is some kind of industrial espionage in the newspaper industry.
Malayala Manorama is upbeat about the launch of Mazhavil (rainbow), their new entertainment television channel. The money muscle and reach of Manorama group is amply reflected in the promos. The channel features mind-blowing sets for the reality shows and top of the line celebrity guests. Their megaserials are created by pulp fiction masters who have been writing unending novels in the Manorama magazine. It would be interesting to see how other channels will react to the erosion in their fanbase Mazhavillu is bound to cause from tomorrow.
While I was enjoying the Hindu's coverage of the Occupy Wall Street agitation, my cousin came by to drop off Hibiscus and banana saplings. Achan had asked for them. Cousin had gone to the native village yesterday and found a 'Rasakadali' banana sapling.
Deccan Chronicle is the cheapest among the newspapers that have a Thiruvananthapuram edition. Cheap in terms of cost as well. Even on a Sunday, it costs the same as weekdays, Rs 2.50. It's virtually a film and fashion magazine. I was reading Rajat Gupta's freshly tainted brief bio in it when my youngest uncle and Biju showed up. Introduced through Achan, they have become good buddies now. I think a shared strong weekend interest in Vodka has helped to cement their friendship. They were on their way to a Sunday get together and had stopped by to check on my health. Around half an hour of humorous conversation. I brought up the topic of a new Guru in Andhra Pradesh who is known as "Transfer Swamy". National and state level leaders of a national political party and IAS and IPS officers are flocking to his 5 star luxury 'hermitage'. Indian Express paper said that he also specialized in "Santhanalabdhi" (childlessness cured). Rs 1 Lakh and a 10 day stay in his resort by the couple is all that takes for the wife to be pregnant. Of course, there will be some rituals. Brihaspati would be proud.
The swamy's tale reminded uncle that there was an illiterate peon in his office who joined an astrology course. After a couple of years he was fully qualified in future. To spread the word, he designed a poster that said "Santhanagalku Sameepikuka Kuttan Pillai" (For having babies, contact Kuttan Pillai). Uncle had pointed out to Kuttan Pillai the misunderstanding such a poster might cause, before he started getting unforeseen service requests. Hearing this story, Achan recalled that decades ago All India Radio had a promo that announced their new show for children as "Rashmi: Kuttikalkayi Muthirnavar Nadathunna Paripadi" (Rashmi: The activity that elders do for (having) kids)
All the neighbors were crowded at Leny chechi's house when I went to return the newspapers to M uncle. "Puthiyoru guest vannittund" (A new guest has come) Molly aunty said leaning on her house wall. I saw that Leny chechi's husband, K uncle, had come from Goa. I waved to him and wondered why he was receiving such a huge reception. Then I noticed that everyone was looking downwards. The object of their attention was hidden from me by the gate. I walked over and looked through the gate's railing.
A pug puppy! He had arrived to replace Jimmy who had passed away few weeks ago. Lean and energetic. Leny chechi brought a vessel with milk. He started circling it and sniffing but didn't want to commit. Reminded me of single guys in pubs on a Friday night. Perhaps he didn't want to appear gluttonous in front all the people. "Kurachu uppu ittu kodukku" (Sprinkle some salt) Molly aunty suggested. Leny chechi did so. Few more circles and the little pug face dipped into the milk. Slurp, slurp, slurp! He came back to this world only after three quarters of the vessel was empty.
Ever since Jimmy died, M uncle had been asking when Leny chechi would get a new dog. The neighborhood has a watchman but M uncle insists on some canine presence. He doesn't want to take care of one himself. It would be interesting to see how he reacts to a minimalist barker pug when he was hoping for something that could make us all lose sleep.
"Peritto?" (Have you named him?) I asked. "Naming ceremony on Wednesday," said Dhanush (Leny chechi's son) "Net-il poyi peru thappanam" (We should search for a name online) laughed Leny chechi. "Ningalude first letters vachu idam" (Make one using first letters of your names) suggested Molly aunty. "LeKu or KuLe?" wondered K uncle. "Dhanushinte perum vennam," (Don't leave out Dhanush's name) I reminded.
As soon as Achan planted the hibiscus, heavy rains started. Thunder. The newly dug channels in the backyard faced their first test with the rainwater clogging. The rain was so loud that Achan had to sit very close to the tv to watch the afternoon movie: Kayyoppu (signature) by Ranjith. It would have worked better on stage than its cinematic form. The only song in the movie is a beautiful female rendition of a great Talat Mehmoud song. In the movie Sujata from 1959, the song is sung over rotary dial telephones while Kayyoppu updates this to Nokia cellphones.
It's been a long long time since I spent a Sunday with newspapers. It felt good to be distracted since these days most of my time is spent in the uncomfortable anticipation of pain and fearful attention paid to the movements and shifts in the abdomen. I guess ironically my mood thus fits Halloween. I miss Halloween nights at Northgate. But that's mostly because I haven't been venturing out of the house lately. Otherwise, any day I can find enough scary sights and intriguing costumes just five minutes of walking down the main road here.
I forgot to mention the Indian Koel, with bright spots that had also visited the garden yesterday along with the other birds. If it had sung, I would have remembered!
Almost all the articles published in the newspapers these days carry the writer's email id in the end. Since the opinions of the columnist of "How convenient is your marriage?" in the Hindu matched mine, I shot him an email wishing him luck in dealing with the expected backlash from the massive holier-than-thou brigade. Some self-righteous souls had already posted their esteemed comments online within hours of the article's publication. We exchanged a couple of emails about the disappearance of patient reading and fierce attachment to personal opinions that have marked our progress into the digital world. For an accomplished psychiatrist and the most popular couples counsellor in Chennai, the man is simple, humorous and prompt with his emails.
When I mentioned this article and comments to Achan, he remembered that a few years back he had written an article titled "A temple for whom?" condemning the famous mosque demolition in India. He received plenty of reply email, carrying choicest words labeling him, his father and other ancestors, from the folks whose "sentiments" were offended. The backlash was so voluminous that the magazine was compelled to publish a counter article in the next edition in which the writer urged Achan to grow a spine to stand up for the majority religion of the country.
Much activity in the street outside when the rain paused in the evening. Dhanush and K uncle went to return the nameless pug. Leny chechi explained, "Ennikoru valsalyam thonniyala aa moonji kandittu. Enthayalum nammal menakettu irangunnu, enna pinne valla kurakunna valippam ulla breedum nokkam. Lab pole vallathum" (I didn't feel an affection for it after seeing its face. Anyways we are going to put in an effort, then why not have some bigger barking guard dog type breed. Some breed like labrador)
She fondly remembered Jimmy. With dramatic gestures, she narrated how Jimmy had discovered a cobra hiding under a pot in their backyard under the stairs leading to the terrace. Jimmy first barked to indicate something was amiss. K uncle moved the pot with a stick. A cobra, certainly not a baby, burst forth with its raised hood. In a flash, Jimmy bit it right in the middle and shook it violently from side to side. K uncle tried to strike with the stick, missed and the dried coconut frond broke in half. When Jimmy let go a few seconds later, the snake had broken bones in the middle. K uncle had enough time to fetch a stronger stick to finish it off.
"Besides, now is not the right time to get a dog," Leny chechi came back to the present. The pug needed sunny weather to get rid of bugs and fleas. Sun is not be expected for another 3-4 weeks. So looks like M uncle will have to be content with only a human watchman for the neighborhood till December.
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