The story the boy said: The Paddy Ride and the Taxi Car!

The story the boy said: The Paddy Ride and the Taxi Car!

The boys were young.  One of them  was eloquent.  He told this story once when he was in a free mood.   This is a simple incident among many he had narrated from time to time.  They were always anxious to grow.  They were doing all kinds of house hold jobs in their own house, helping parents and helping each other and doing their home work to grow fast in a world of simple like minded people.  

 

In these circumstances he said, one of their sisters were getting married.  The boy had a few sisters and one of the elders were getting married, not the eldest!  The eldest was working and she had her friends among the General Hospital sisters.  It was easy to understand.  The General Hospital was near the Kings Statue!  The Kings Statue was near the large black tubes always lying on the side of the East Round!  

 

In the part of the country the boy lived, the district headquarter was the Round called Poorapparambu or the Place of the Pooram festival!  The Pooram festival was a festival connected to the Harvest and good times, when the immediate stoppage of severe rain in July when most old people who are almost on the verge of death will pass over to their heavenly abode!  If they survive the severe rainy month of Karkitakam which mostly falls in July-August they will survive for the next few years!  This was what small children believed.  Now people are more knowledgeable, and think the cause of death are biological reasons other than rain.  The old time people made their own conclusions when everything was connected to Ayurveda in this part of the country.

When the sister of the boys family was to be married, the first and foremost was the need to   have household articles to be stocked to be available for the possible visitors and family members in his house.   Most of the articles could be purchase and when it came to rice, which is the staple food here a novel ideal, he said, they thought of.  One of his eldest sister's friend had told her to remember her in case she needed paddy (very fresh paddy, indeed) and the sister remembered her.  Once she remembered she told this to the two young boys and asked them to arrange it.

Such things they said, only had to be told to them then their elders can forget it.  Old time houses with more children were like that.  The moveable youth, if they are in the house, undertook to do any kind of work to keep the family going and this was nothing!  All the same, they all, he said, sat down to brain storm about the manner of bring ing the few bags of rice (gunny bags) home from a distance of 40 kilometres approaximately 25-28 miles away.  The idea struck upon was to order a taxi and go with enough gunny bags and get the stuff filled up and bring back.  On the way they will pass the Town with the Kings Statue and the Huge Black Pipes through which watershould pass at a future point of time!

This idea was approved in the family and the next day the boys got out to order the car taxi of their friend, another youth, who was always at the stand for orders.  Those days orders were too few and cars were always available!  The friend youth took them in settled the rent and set off.  The passed the paddy fields, inhaling the sweet aroma of the rice paddy plants in the fields on either side, which are always full of water and the paddy plants!!  (These were in those days, not now!  Now these fields are all covered by huge walls well painted and protected with palatial bungalows or companies inside and the paddy fields had disappeared in most of the places).  

Passing the Town Centre with its Kings Statue and Huge Black Water tubes, the youth crossed over to the other part of the town and farther to another village far away tucked among a lot of paddy fields and large compounds with all kinds of trees and birds at times the howling jackals and grazing animals like cows, buffalows, goats and house hold tamed animals like dogs cats chicken and turkeys all being grown in different house holds!  Ultimately the car stopped at the house they were upto.  A Huge palatial bungalow the entry house of which was itself too huge.  The boys' sister had forewarned them that the entry house will be too huge in our parlance, but don't worry, call the bell and some one will report and they will be the youth's sisters friend to assist.

There was a hanging bell with its rope and the youth sounded the bell and sure enough, a middle aged man opened up and asked the youth inside.  The boy said, they were taken in, and the man disappeared to the side of the further much bigger house saying he would inform and somebody will come.  In a matter of five minutes of so, by the time the boys had see the huge jack fruit trees, the mango trees, the well tended garden etc. some movement was at the door and the door creeked open and a lady came out to announce that the madam will meet them.

They were almost to blurt out to the lady when she said the madam was yet to come, the madam who was their sister's friend.  In a while, again the door creeked again, and now there appeared a majestic lady very fair to look at with chandan on her forehead and in typical kerala sari set.  She was a very beautiful woman of high standing was evident from the way she carried herself and the way she started a conversation.  She asked the boys who they were and how they happened to come and if they had any difficulty on the way etc.  They replied satisfied her and now she enquired of the reason of their coming.  

The youth, naturally, related the orders from their sister (eldest sister) and th\eir undertaking to come for execution of the orders!  The youth said, the elderly lady was very happy at the proposition and the obedience of the youth at their elder sisters command, but frowned a little towards the end says, "Today is a Friday!!"  This was unexpected to the boys.

They said their is no problem whatsoever because of a Friday to them.  But not so in the house hold they had reached.  The majestic lady said:  "Normally paddy is not given out on Fridays", "that is the problem"  Now this is or was a big problem, the youth said.   All their energies ran out and they slowly walked out telling the grand majestic lady that they may come the next day.

Outside, the threesome sat down in the car, just looking at the open skies, listening to the birds chirping and the dogs and cats playing and after a long while, with a few deep breaths, they started to move.  They reasoned that a trip can be again the next day, which luckily can 't be a Friday again. The driver boy, they said, came to their rescue.  He said that they don't need to pay the rent, as the trip did not fructify for them, and they only pay the petrol charges and they can come again the next day, which is a Saturday.

They today?  The driver boy who was the friend, suggested that they shouts for would be passengers at the nearest village market place for the Town Centre, and there always were some people wanting to catch a bus, who can be taken for a small sum and the amount so collected they could spend in the Town near the Kings Statue and the Huge Black Tubes, at the Hotel (the small hotel of course,  star hotels had not become prevalent near the Kings Statue in those days).  

They drove slowly to the nearest bus stop at the village market place and shouted for passengers and in no time the car was full and at the Kings Statue they made a small decent sum to be spent in the Hotel.  They boys said that was one of the best times all of them had at the little Hotel and the drive was superb.  Their own friend operating the machine with ease with full weight in the car of around 7 people in a five people car and safely dropping them in the Town Center near the Kings Statue!!

They reached home and repeated the trip the next day, the Saturday, when the Majestic Lady with the 'Chandan' on her forehead fullfilled the promise and got the car filled with paddy bags and again their friend youth did the majestic driving through the panoramic villages and passing the Kings Statue reached them home for an  amount of rent agreed upon earlier, which satisfied all!!