The second decade again! The second decade of Joy...!

I mostly get the second decade to start with the Hail Marys...!  At times a thought come to me: What do they really mean.  In the second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary, it is about the visitation by St. Mary to help St. Eliswamma, the Holy Mother of  St. John the Baptist, who was carrying at the time.!  On hearing that her Aunt was carrying, Mary was keen to go to help her and that too, walking a pretty distance.  And we know, transport was too few in those days, generally making us think that she walked most of the distance on foot..!

In these days of technology explosion and media pressure, people generally gasp for time for the daily needs and time for their immediate family members!  I have been in many rosary recitals but has never seen any body speaking after a rosary about getting a great spirit from the recital and it brought thoughts of going out and helping any of their relatives, like, uncles, aunts, grand father or grand mother etc.  Of course, most of us do all that according to our convenience but getting the spirit of the second decade and going to do a bit of help would have been much better. 

The second decade of sorrow is much too touch in which Jesus is bitten black and blue chaining him to a pole or a wooden stub..!  To finish that decade without becoming sad and pained is really difficult..!  The suffering of human divinity and the mirth of the perpetrators of the day, which is being repeated time and again when some of them stand stead fast for truth..! 

When the same is in the Glorious Mysteries, it is the Ascension of the Jesus to Heaven which is more
supernatural and divine!  It really bring some happiness to a people who are otherwise in gloom due to the crucifixion and its aftermath..1

Then at last comes second decade of Light..in which Jesus does his first miracle of divining Water into Wine..!  Those who recite it cannot but love that act of love by Jesus, even though at the insistence of his mom, St. Mary..!  That's all coming to mind now, my friends..!

The Importance of two proper legs..!

I never gave a thought to my two legs all through my life or the blessing of having them in place until I fell into an open sewage canal..!  As luck would have it, it was December and the sewer was dry and clean.   But the sudden going down into it and hitting the cement bottom gave me a broken right leg with the meta-tarsal broken into two. 

Next six months were time for thought..!  First few days were pain and trauma coupled with a plaster.  While lying flat with an up-raised leg on big pillow, it made me think.  I was totally immobilized and for any thing, had to depend on others!  After five days, I had a new hard plaster and a walker on which I could limp around very carefully.  I rarely thanked God for having my proper two legs or for that matter any other body part.  At times, in a Retreat centre or in a Sunday sermon the Priest reminded us and then of course we thanked God for all such gifts, but once out of that, we are back to normal, the normal life in which we forget these gifts! 

Now, here I was looking at the ceiling fan, with the up raised leg and have all the time in the world to think about it and thank God! I prayed to God and most of the Saints I knew, especially, St, Mary, St. Joseph and Arch Angel St. Raphael for their intercession.   That was a solace  for they helped and it was wonderful to be able to pray like that, which is possible only when one is free from other disturbances of every day activities, especially, the TV, Internet and other general activities!

Time went by and after two months I was out of the plaster slowly learning to walk with a walking stick and being able to thank God for his bodily gifts!

A drive from Kazhipattur to Adyar..!

Kazhipattur is just near Kelamnakkam in the OMR road of Chennai.  The road goes on and on to Old Mahabalipuram.  It is a heritage site where there are some age old temples of great fame. On the way comes Kaxhipattur where from I drive my little Alto.  Alto is a little car by The Maruti Suzuki company.  The little car is good for four and a cramped five in extreme need!  We turned onto the north in the Rajiv Gandhi Salai which is also called the OMR.  Roads are called ‘salai’in Tamil.  There are so many salais in Chennai or all over Tamil Nadu.  The initial part of the drive is simply nice as vehicle concentration on the road is less, but slowly increasing as one drives on.

On our trip too, it kept on increasing and was in top from by the one kilometere at the Sipkot turn.  Driving on I came to the Toll plazaa where every body suffer not only the toll money, but also a toll of time.  Vehicles queue up in five lines and some curious guys drive on the extreme left shoulder to come to the front-most point to the entry of the toll check or toll-payment point and push themselves in front of those coming in queue.  This is considered to be an expertise by many especially the taxi drivers and many private bus drivers.    It is good to be tolerant with these guys as they have their own reason to hurry in front of others.

Slowly our turn to pass through the toll channel came near and in a couple of minutes we were out of the Toll Plaza and was slowly rushing past Navallur market to reach our destination.  The drive from Navallur is good through the great Sathyabbama College (By the way, Sathyabhama is St. Mary, Mother Mary of Velamkanni called in Tamil 'Annai Velamkanni'), with a couple of red lights at Kumaran Nagar and Infosys Computer Company turn and reaching the great Shols Red light which takes a good amount of time to cross when the traffic rush is too much.  Once Shols is over (by the Way, Shols is the short form of the great name Sholinganellur) we have two three more red lights to pass before we reach the Kandanchavadi Toll Booth which won't take as much time as the one at Navallur.  Now we have two more big red lights before we take the Adyar right turn.  All through, the road is a great market place on either side.  The Rajiv Gandhi Salai has changed a lot in the last ten, fifteen years due to the computer boom. Once the turn to the Adyar is taken our destination is not far.   We reach our dispensary where we were heading without much problem after covering one and a half hours.!

‘From the Tile Factory to the Altar’ “Ottukambaniyilninnu Altharayilekku” by Fr. Davis Kuttikkat..!

Now Reading: (personal)

‘From the Tile Factory to the Altar’ “Ottukambaniyilninnu Altharayilekku” by

Fr. Davis Kuttikkat..!

Devassy Chettan was locvingly called 'Dessiettan'.  An elder brother is always addressed as Ettan in Malayalam.  Nd Dessiettan was the way we little children around him always addressed him in the times of old.  Then the set up was a School where we were twelve to fourteen children around the big boy Dessiettan, spic and span in charming white dothi (Mundu) and white shirt.  Always ready to help any of us in need and when not helping us, would be doing some other serious errand from the Head Maser Manager of the School. That was Dessiettan in those days.  We children never knew why he was there or what his role was as were there to study well and in English medium.

The book in hand was about him, sort of a biography-cum-auto biography.

There are many books one read, but when a book enthuse us or help us to lead our life the purity’s way, one will quickly feel it.  One such book is the autobiographical book written by Fr. Davis Kuttikkat.  From time to time we all hear about the divine call to some one or the other in our surroundings among our friends or relatives.  Then they go for a pre-Seminary period, a Seminary period coupled with both general studies and theology and assorted studies and at last come out as fresh young priests.  All that interest us, enthuse us to an extent, no doubt.

But Fr. Davis’  story is different.   When one reads it he will be cleansed of his sins.  In another way to say is it will enthuse any one in the Christian way to live a better Christian life. Fr. Davis was called by God directly from childhood.  He had seen God in the eyes of his parents who used to make ardent prayer at the little prayer stand at home and it was common in the previous decades for all in the families in Kerala, to get together for the family prayer.  Also he was advised by his mother to live in purity and simplicity which he took to heart in those little years when the family was in utter poverty and in turmoil to make both ends meet.

His eldest brother who was looking after the household (after the death of his father) put him in various jobs from bonded labour to hard work in other companies including his job in the Tile Factory where he met with Father Jenesius as his says, being the leader of the Catholic Labour Association.  That leadership sat with him for a while as he was a very very devoted Catholic Prayer warrior without knowing it himself.  The Father enthused him so much he approached him to become a priest.  The Good Father gave him a letter to meet the Head Master cum Manager of a would be great School called St. Joseph’s Model Boys School of Thrissur where we met.

We were all like the pebbles in a turbulent river, without knowing it, and rolled over and over again, all of us!  We met again after a while in Thrissur me back to my household and studying for Pre Degree when Dessiettan in his usual spic and span white, with his unfailing smile, enquiring of me and my situation.  Offering to help me to get one concession or the other he took me through various organizations, guided me with the concerned application form filling and also coming with me to meet the heads of the organizations most of whom he knew personally. Then again we rolled on and I was thrown over to Delhi after trying a few other jobs and I lost contact with Dessiettan for a while.  I came home once in an year and at times met Dear Dessiettan at a bus stop or a busy intersection in a priestly cassock, and I raised the address to Brother Davis.  Then I heard he became a priest and congratulated him for that without knowing the pains he had taken, the rolls he had taken as a rolling stone in a turbulent river.

Now he had become Father Davis Kuttikkat.  Great to say that a congratulate him.  But when we heard the story of his pains and troubles, the bottle necks he had to pass through, many of them put in front of him by the Church authorities themselves, many a time not knowing the resilience and perseverance of Father Davis Kuttikkat.  For  knowing all that one has to read the bio-auto-biographical he has published in the name of ‘Ottukambaniyil Ninnu Altharayilekku’ (From the Tile Factory to the Altar) in Malayalam (for the time being until its English version comes out).

A Rainy Morning in Enamavu...!

The early morning in August 9 was really wet! The little ford on the side of our house gurgled continuously.  The water bird came early and was sitting on the verge of the ford in anticipation of the fish coming in the gushing waters.  The sky’s portent was for impending rain. 

The internet had said ‘Namasthe’ the day before.  Every time it happened when the rain hardened.  Once the net goes of the next item on the list is the TV which went off along with last evening’s severe thunder which was followed by heavy rain.  The heavy rain was continued on to the early morning with light rain and occasional spurt of heavy down pours.  However, the rain had stopped in the morning.  So the day break was good ! 

At day break the electricity had returned.  But that has not helped the TV transmissions which was still missing.  The news the day before were not good as several parts of Kerala was under water and more of rain was pouring in.  This had created anxiety to run to the TV to find out the latest hoping to hear the situation is improving.  Instead, our own TV has become detached now.  A check up on the telephones said the boosting towers do not have enough strength or no strength at all.  Now the picture is complete with the rain restarting.  The rain started with precision at 9 am as if a worker comes on the morning and starting work..!

All are well that ends well.  This is a time to think and return to the old times.  The books left to read, the news paper which has come of all odds bringing the news around all are to be taken up now.

There are two books collected from the Thrissur Public Library,  ‘The Hound of Baskervilles’and the Úprooting the Pumpkin’ both new books which have been selected as they are new books and new prints.  Both smelled good and delicious to the say the least!  The new prints have a fragrance of the ghee in the ink they use coupled with the freshness of the paper.  All make it mesmerising as one think of the childhood textbooks, which were bought at the beginning of the new classes.  In those days, once the new book is in hand, first thing done was opening it for the beauty of the print and then smelling it to see the fragrance they brought.  Then they were covered with good calendar papers or brown paper with great love as they are to be used all through the year!  Once that is done, then labelling is an art, either putting up small bits of white paper with the name, class, subject and name of school etc. ware neatly written in the best of hand possible.  These label slips are pasted with great care either on the top right corner or in the centre.  All these details are again repeated in the first inner page top right again, for fear, if ever the front cover is not seen or lost, then the book should have some details on the inner side. 

Many a times, no body else looked at it except the original user, but all of us got a feeling of doing it to the full required extent by doing all that.  The books generally were handled with great care and kept without any contact with water or other dirt regardless of the rain and other situations.  One may get wet in rain or slanting winds but not the books.  That was the care we gave in those days.  The books smelled good and remained fresh may be till the middle of the year and slowly they lost the feel of freshness and the fragrance of the newness through constant opening and closing which is a must in deep studies.  But nonetheless, they remained clean and neat by the upkeep.  Now that the new gadgets have come, books, book-reading and writing has become scant.  Even people go for a song or write up on the G-phone, instead of reading from a book or a sheet of paper with the song duly copy written.

Now the situation is suddenly reminding one to return to the times of old, as all the phones and TV are put to no use by the flood like situation and incessant rains.  The gurgle of the ford and the caressing rain with its drumming on the tin roof on the shed all make  musical orchestra.  All other sounds are off as electricity has failed ! There are umpteen number of reports in the only newspaper available in the morning, which means it will be a while when the power returned to activate the TV or any other sound making instruments.  In these circumstances, one can only read or write as one wished, nothing else!  The roads and bylanes also get water puddles and at times overflowing water which is a must watch and drive or drivers in the rain.  The one things missing of course is the sound of the frogs which used to be in plenty and making music in the times of old.  Where have they disappeared all on a sudden we don’t know. 

Yesterday was the anniversary of the floods of last year and the sudden spurt in rain and fury of the wind gusts have made all to wonder whether the flood itself has decided to return on the exact date!  We all hoped it is not so, but only a reminder.  We are all now waiting for the weather to improve and the weatherman to tell us all will be well soon.

The unbridled thoughts. 'Palavicharangal'

Most of the unbridled thoughts occur during the morning mass or at the time of the evening prayers. These are the two times when mind becomes peaceful and at rest. Once at peace, the mind enjoys running away to the wild World of thoughts and possibilities.
The fragrance of frankincense sends it off to Yemen whose Capital Sana is said to be immersed in the fragrance! May be true. Whatever, the Altar boy starts reading the Letter of the Apostle. The Mike always is at its lowest this time. If ever it is ok, then the little boy does not keep his face near and makes it difficult to understand. If all these are good, it is my turn to take to my own thoughts of nothing and miss out the whole thing!
The priest pull us back by the heavy voice in which he exhorts the Holy Bible! Then is prayers for mercy and forgiveness which we avidly reply and the forgiveness is given.  Once forgiven, the mind is such a great master it takes on its tour again to the various life events I had come through and also how best I could improve upon it... personal, political, official, village life, city life, old age life...all come to mind... endlessly.
Then the altar boy brings me to rapt attention by jingling his little bell with its sheer sound. The Heart of the mass take place now and all are in deep prayers. We all have needs and wants which we all place in front of Jesus. ..!   

The mass continues with prayers for one and all in the world in which we the repentant sinners come at the last. No harm. It is like a train. W are connected. Once those long prayers are over, the Holy Communion is served for those who have taken confession and prepared for it!
Then comes the last Blessings and the awesome statement thanking God and continuing to state 'I don't know, if I will come or not for another Mass' .

Once that statement is over we come back to the everyday reality. Till now we enjoyed the most peaceful time of our life in every day life! 

A ride on the two wheeler scooter after a long time!

A ride on the two wheeler scooter after a long time!

The ride was to accompany a friend to hospital in Kelambakam.  The village we are in is called Kazhipattur from where it is easy to reach in fifteen minutes by car.  But as my friend thought it wise to ride his scooter I had but no option but to accompany him behind.  I had been riding a scooter a long time but had discontinued to do so minding my age after sixties and the increase in traffic in South Chennai and else where in south of India.  All of a sudden the increase in traffic could have gone to cars and four wheelers, but the of and  on increase in fuel prices keep the young and young at hear to the two wheelers., either scooter or motor cycles of which umpteen number are available in the market.

Always, when a ride on a two wheeler is undertaken the main thought is it is to a near by place.  That is right.  But the places one will pass through in a ride is uninteresting from time to time.  The OMR road which we have to cover, even for a short distance, is not very safe considering the huge vehicles and plethora of four wheelers and the ubiquitous water tankers coupled with huge cement mixers and other kinds of vehicles on the road.  Most of the vehicles, including the transport buses ply at a good speed and one has to be doubly careful in manoeuvring the roads here. We started off from the little housing complex jumping the usual humps and little bye-lane which has its own muddy areas due the people on the side of the road houses, pouring used water on to the road as a matter of custom.  I have seen this in many other places too, where people instead of finding a way of using the used up water in the households throw it on the roads.  By this the road is not only wet but also collet puddles of dirty water in places where the road is broken.

Once on the main OMR we have to take a left and again a U-turn to be on the route to the Chettinadu Hospital complex.  Taking a U-turn on a busy OMR road on the peak hours are a delicate matter for any one but when you are on  two wheeler you are covered only on the head and the rest of the body does not have any defence to any vehicle.  The cars, trucks and mini buses whiz past us when we wait for the U-turn as the vehicles passing on the right side has to subside for us to cross over into that lane.  Once that done, now is the time to be prayerful, as the vehicles behind us have to pass by us, especially cars and others who are all in a great hurry.  My friend being good at the riding, I was comparably safe, but can’t see his rear view mirror and I did not dare to look back for fear of losing balance or making my friend lose his balance.  I delicately hung on to him and kept saying my prayers.  At times he over took one vehicle or two as they were slowing down, and many on our right side over took us and went past.  In a matter of ten-twelve minutes we were at the entry gate of the Chettinadu Hospital Complex where again we have to wait to cross over to our right side to go into the Hospital Compled road.  Here we drive on the left of the road and for any buildings or institutions, have to cross over the opposite side of the road which is used by drivers on the opposite direction.  For this we waited for a time the road became a bit free and did it with our usual elan and went past the gate to the Complex.  By this time, I was getting really scooter born and my fear of the road started lessening.  The Hospital had put up a number of road block boards on the road on the left and right intermittently, so that we had to drive in a zig-zag fashion.  This was new in the Hospital as earlier it was very straight and had no hindrance. 

Once that test was over, we took a left turn and arrived at the parking lot where scooters and two wheelers had a huge parking along with cars.  We parked the Scooter, kept one helmet in the dicky of the scooter and held one in my hand as the scooter can take only one helmet in its dicky at a time.   Since the helmets are made compulsory in Chennai, Tamil Nadu we cannot lose it either.  Chennai Chettinadu Hospital is a great place to be in and we got in and got our required medical help in time for my friend and were back on the Scooter in half an hour. 

We rode back and now I was getting used to the road and was getting off my ride-fear.  I thought, a ride is after all a nice thing.  I remembered my thing of old when I used to drive my Priya scooter o the road of Delhi where the Haryanvi drivers used to be very considerate of the two wheeler road users.  Those were good times, when every driver was generally good to each other with concern for life and limb.   The evening air after the rains passed through the helmet visers with a boo-boo sound and we were fast back to our bye-lane and into our housing complex.  That was an afternoon ride in Chennai on a two wheeler scooter in mid-July!

A local bus ride..!

Walking from the house to the bus stop is a joy. But will take more time.  One has to by pass the wet little by lanes which are slippery in the rain of June.  The side houses on either side of the by lanes are small but beautiful.  But not spacious as all small houses.  Once the main tarred road is sighted the attack of dust clouds raised by the passing trucks and cars will cover the walking folk.   If it is raining, it will be red mud which will be the threat.  This is not for no reason.  We have a pipe line which has been put after cutting out the good road well spread with good black bitumen.  Once the pipe line is put in place no body usually cares to re-do the tarring.  It will take some time to do it with all the procedures and permissions completed.

The bus stop is a small covered and concretised structure with a cement bench. For the elderly it is a solace as one would definitely like to sit away from the traffic moving so fast, rubbing the sides of the road users.  The bus comes in great speed and screeches to a halt to pick me up and the conductor gives his customary "Weisse..." which means 'Right'.  As soon as I put hold on the handle bar of the gate the bus starts to move and by the time I get into a seat the bus has picked up speed.  Now in the seat the sight is really soothing and enjoyable.  Any one travelling in Thrissur know that.  Either side of the road is good houses with greeneries and greeneries all over. 

The road is good at places, bad at places, but all along is narrow.  So the driver has to be good at his art of swinging and swerving, turning and cutting etc.  Out right, he has to use his unofficial air horn to frighten away the small vehicles coming in front of him.  It is not that he has to scare away all, most of them are dead scared and give way as soon as the bus is sighted in the rear view mirror, but there are some who come from outside and some youngsters who are new drivers ..!  They do not know the set up going on and fall prey to the driver's horn.  Once in a while there would be such a vehicle.  The buses are always on their fittest as they have to pull fast to overtake and manovure at small spaces.

All along, a cool breeze passing through make one feel the joy of a bus ride as the poor driver takes away the pain of driving and the riders are left at peace to sight seeing or day dreaming all through.  People get in and get out, both men and women, many a time carrying little children.  The conductor see to it that people get in without any hurt and once settled, approaches and collects his fare.  There are two pieces of beautiful green field roads, one at Kanjany and another at Chettupuzha.  Once the famous Chettupuzha is over the next suburb of Thrissur town city is there called Olari which is adorned by the famous St. Therese church and a famous temple nearby.  Both are great in their own ways and are a joy to see on each trip. First come the church of Little Therese of Lieux and then comes the  temple.  The Chettupuzha has a little river in it which has dwindled with time but was a deep canal earlier in the times past.  Once upon a time there was a serious accident in that river when it was in spate   in the  Onam festival time, in which a number of Onam clelebrants and a good number of the other travellers in the bus had to lose their lives.  It was told that the driver of the bus was a good natured fellow and the owners of the bus specially treated him with a great Onam meal, which is customary.  As ill luck would have it, at that particular time, near the river the bus lost its brake and that was it!  The bus full of passengers plunged into the river in spate and many could not swim into safety.  The one single story apart there never had been any ill incidents or accidents on that road.

After Olari, the traffic will steadily increase and the ride willstill be enjoyable, but a tard slower.  Once can see around the beautiful houses and Government offices of Hospitals around, most of them very old  or be in their own world either listening to music which many of drivers would play in their good music boxes for the benefit of the travellers, but not in all buses.  By now, in my trip, we got a good rain and all had to put down their shutters.  This is most uninteresting time inside the bus.  The passing air will stop and one can't see much to the outside.  At times the customers will lose their designated or intended stops also.  Within this confusion we approached the 'West Fort' which is a bus stop only.  There was a Fort on the West side of the city at one time, but till date I have not seen that Fort. Now have to search for it.  By now the sides of the road is full of all sorts of shops and businesses of the city town of Thrissur and the bus crawls with traffic to approach the famous 'Vadakkumnathan Temple'which is in the centre of the Town Thrissur!  I disembark and my ride is over. 

Starting Trouble on a Humid Morning in Chennai

The starting trouble on a humid morning. 

The mornings are always a time of starting trouble, either it is for men or it is for vehicles.  The old times vehicles had that at a higher rate.  It was an effort to put into life an old car or truck in those days.  Always there were more than one person involved in starting a vehicle then.  The driver always used to have a helper who helped to turn a handle vigorously and turn the fan inside the engine from the front, while the real hero, the driver used to sit in and accelerate until the engine started to catch up and rev on its own.  As soon as the fire starts the handle turner pulled back the handle, swiped the sweat on his brows and took a deep sigh of relief.  Next he put the handle back inside the vehicle and either waited to see the driver revved up for a while to heat the engine and then sat in.  

Now that was about old vehicles.  Old people are almost the same, but generally, do not need any helper!  Getting up is generally without effort as long as one is in village areas where birds wake up almost every body in the morning.  But waking won’t do.  One has to get moving. That is the challenge.  First one says all the prayers one can remember.  Then sit up and get up.  This is to move and see if the morning news paper has arrived!  If it has not come, one an go to bed again.  But as it is the morning paper very rarely make a miss and it is there at the door.  One avidly grabs the paper and open the pages quickly flipping away the first couple of pages of mere trade in the form of full page advertisements.  These days, there are prompting words like “FREE, FREE’,  ONLY FOR TODAY, ONLY FOR THESE ..FEW…DAYS,  YOU SAVE…SO MUCH’ etc., etc.  Once the news comes the big headings with more ink is gone through quickly to see that the world is on its axis properly turning and then slowly one strains ones eyes for the smaller inked stuff !  By the time a cup of tea is made available by who so ever is in the house hold and that triggers the day!

The effect of tea is now a real winner after cigarettes and desi cigarettes called beedis are a strict ‘no, no’ due to their cancer properties well known and advertised these days.  All that is good and fine but the heat of the weather chart make one drowsy in Chennai this time of the year.  A much wanted rain does not come down and the clouds are going hay wire hither and thither to rain or flood in places where it is not expected.  What ever happened to climate, every body wonders! But one has to suffer it.  No one can do anything single handed.  As such has to suffer the vagaries of the extremes.  One hastens to take a morning walk early as before long it is going to be too hot to walk outside.  Even when there is a cloud, still the hot winds from the west make it uninteresting outside in Chennai.  So it is good to be indoors after the morning walk or reaching office if it can be so done.  At least until after some welcome rain which is expected in a week or two.

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My Mother had a Tail...!

                                                   

                                                           My Mother Had a Tail…!

             That is true.  The tail was pure cotton white.  Me and my siblings loved this tail as it was a convenient towel for us to wipe our hands whenever needed.  Most of the mothers in other houses also had tails.   Those were the times of old.  Mothers in old Kerala had different ways of dressing up.  Mothers of different religions dressed up differently.  Among these, we loved our mother’s tails the best for its convenience.     Life was simple and cool without TV, Radio, Inter net, IPod and Lap tops. Most of the transport was by bullock carts.  Faster modes of travels were rarely performed by the local folk.     Fathers were busy finding out the daily bread for their children. Mothers were busy keeping home and preparing food for the children from time to time.

           I was a little boy of six or seven at that time as I recall now.  Houses were small and in the limited number of rooms, the smell of any recipe prepared in the kitchen wafted in quickly.  The most attractive was the smell of pappads being fried in pure coconut oil.  Such a smell pulled us children to the kitchen where mother will be frying them and we conveniently appeared behind, located the vessel in which she was putting the fried pappads, took one and left.  Mother always noticed this and grimaced. At times she said “Ok, ok, you have it, but will get only less than what you take now”.  But she never considered it while serving.  She served us all equally again.  At times she smilingly said while serving: “I really need not serve you again.”  She endeared us all to her by that simple but loving statement.  Such actions repeated at times with curries or other fried items which become irresistible to us children.  At those times, we have to wash our hands and we are in a hurry to rush out to play. That is when ‘The Mom’s tail’ became a convenience.  We wiped our hands on the tail and ran out to play out side. 

             The Christian mothers only had the tails as I noticed.  Till the last ten years or so, I had seen such mothers.  But now the fashion in dressing has caught up and mostly I see mothers have lost their tails and all have shifted to sarees or other forms of dress.  Even some mothers now look like Dads in Men’s kind of ware.  Their children won’t naturally get this convenience.   And some of the mothers are not fully house bound as the mothers of old.  Many new mothers move far and wide and at times are away from their children which creates great love loss to such kids. 

              In our times the mothers were always at home and we could never think of a house without a mom waiting for us with some good food and smiling face when we returned from school, college or office.  They were a contented lot.  Movements far and wide were less.  Families were compact, earned less but lived happily.  It made us urge for more and better facilities and we as children were encouraged to learn with all our might.   The schools by the Christian sisters and monasteries all over Kerala really helped us upwards with the free education for which those Catholic Sisters, Brothers and Fathers dedicated themselves.  Then there was the dedicated teachers mostly and many of them considered any child in the class as their own children.   Such situation is fast changing and education is slowly becoming a less dedicated area and profession.

            We came running home from schools and as soon as we enter the command generally is “first go and wash your hands and feet! That included the face also.  We did it quickly and came running in to Mom for any kind of food available at home.  That is when we wiped our hands and face on her tail.  She never prohibited us from doing so which endeared us to her.  These things could happen in only lower middle or poor families.  In richer families also our friends had better looking mothers in same sort of dress very white and clean.  And generally unsoiled.  But their children (who are our friends) were not allowed to wipe on their tails, lest their cloth tails are soiled.  We had no such bar.  Mom had her own way of duping us.  She told us from time to time “Don’t do it, that is the only ‘mundu’ .  Don’t soil my cloth by all of your wiping and sweeping(the long white cloth used by Christian mothers of Kerala along with a white top called ‘kuppaayam’and another over cover cloth called ‘neriyathu’ which is a very nice light white cloth), that is my only Cloth which I have for Sunday Church.  But we always knew, that she had a fresh set of cloth in her mother’s cloth box (‘mundum petti’) a special box of the mothers which were kept in most simple Christian households).  

Those were the times in which we enjoyed life a lot and were much more happy with far less amenities.  Now, that happiness is gone along with those lovely parents. Now most of the families are trying to rediscover that happiness again through other endearing methods!

A flat tyre at Thrissur...!

       Thrissur is home place.  So no doubt about where I am going.  This yesterday I was heading to the Railway Station to put my dear ones in the train to Chennai.  So I was relaxed and at the entrance of the Station had a hunch to have a cup of tea with all.  The place and time was perfect.  It was evening before dark. Had thirty five minutes for the train.  So I took a U-turn on the road and in the turn entered a shop mall courtyard to complete the turn.   There was a shining object at the edge and that was under my front right tyre which was uneventful...!  Or was it.?  Whatever!  We brought the car to the near by way side motor cycle repair shop to park it there.  On request the shop owner kindly agreed to allow my car to be parked there! That was really kind of him.  Relieved we moved to the tea shop for a fantastic cup of tea and an urad vada., which too was delicious.

     With a relaxed gait we walked back to the car to see my front right down and the tyre was dead under the wheel. My heart sank.!  Now I cannot take it to the Railway Station parking. Instead have to change the tyre or get somebody to do it.   There was no time to go for calling somebody now.  The best option was to change it myself how so ever difficult it was.  I had practised the change a couple of times earlier in difficult conditions with the limited resources of the changing levers the company had provided while buying the car along with the little car jack.  I had also noticed the correct position for placing the jack.

    I instructed my dear ones of the option available all of them cooperated. The back dicky was opened and I took out the levers and pins to open up the flat tyre.  The motor cycle shop owner seeing the whole thing came out to help open up the nuts.  He did two and I did two. Then was lifting the tyre on the jack.  A young gentleman came out of the nearby hotel to help out on turning the lever to lift the jack.  That was angelic of him to have done that.  He took leave once the jack was up and the tyre was loosened.

    There after I took out the steppny tyre and inter-changed them.  As I loosened the jack to bring down the car on the wheel the new changed tyre was seen lacking in air as it had not been filled for quite some time as it was cumbersome to filling it in usual fillings.  Now, it was pay up.  But a quick idea flashed in my mind.  I can drop my people to the Station near by. To that extend the tyre will hold.  My motor cycle repair shop owner told me that in the opposite directions close by there is a tyre repair shop who have air too.  However, I took, the first route to put the people into the Railway Station. We had ten minutes in hand.  Straight away I drove into the station with the luggage of my family and they followed on foot, lest the changed tyre gave in!   And the station was near by.  Once they walked up I removed their luggage and left them to embark the train and left for the tyre shop.

    The shop was farther than I thought.  The guide had told me the shop was near ...by the car..standards!  Never mind!  The repair wala quickly brought out his air hose and was trying to fill.  But in the hurry, I had put the plastic plate in the wrong way covering the air valve tube.  The repair man was unfazed! He just pulled out the plastic cover at the side of the valve and I held it pulled for him, so that he could fill it.  He did a good job by filling all the four tyres!  I was humbled their quick help and understanding. The shop owner also checked my punched tyre.  It had a good punch whole to which something has gone in but no nail or anything was found.  The air was seen freely going.  The shop owner said it can't be repaired with his normal rubber pieces as that may not hold. He said it would be a good idea if the valve is pulled out and the tubeless tyre is used as a normal tyre putting a tube inside.  On considering the fact my tyre itself is near a change for new ones I declined and decided to run without it for the time being.

    Then came the call from my family saying the train is twenty four minutes late.  That was the exact time I needed for all these works.  I drove into the Station.  Went in and helped them to board the train.  The drive back was uneventful.  That was a good rejuvenating experience.  But a little tiring, indeed!

Mothers are angels on earth!

Waiting by the calendar - A mother's wait..!

Mother's are angels on the earth. I had one. She always asked "Do you want some tea water?" . Black tea was called tea water. She always brought it for me when I was young. When I was studying. When I was sick. When I was happy! When I was in a hurry! When I was at ease and relaxing. That was an all time elixir.

It actually was not the tea, it was that endearment which got me.  Now, I am grown up and up.  And she is gone. At School, at college, when I didn't have any means, that is when she got me the black tea all the time.

As a mother she would have  treasured
the experience. When I came on leave she was still having the black tea. I had stopped taking black tea except at times occasionally.  But whenever I was at home she came with her endearing cup of black tea and asked: "You used to like black tea. Do you want some now?" .I always said "Yes, yes. You are bringing black tea, please give it to me. Hadn't had it for long" I will take a sip and say "How rejuvenating!" Her face will be lit up. It was the old time memories which actually rejuvenated me. She will leave saying "I have work to do. I am making a special dish for you" She won't be long. She will return with some recipe or the other which I had a liking.
"When you are gone after your leave, I count the days on the calendar to wait for your next leave" which brought tears in my eyes.
Now, she is gone. No body remembers any special preference of any one else. That is the prerogative of mothers to their children. How they react make them happy or sad.

When mothers are gone all those experiences become memories and nostalgia. These days when ever I took a cup of black tea or lemon tea her memories and endearments came gushing in.

Mothers are really angels on earth!

Feelings of a train journey!

Feelings of a train journey!

It is a great feeling when one embarks on a long journey by train in India! The bogeys are neat and clean, the toilets are always dry and with water in the taps and flush. The smell of steel rubbing on steel coupled with the general smell of a lot of muck generated by a large number of people congregating and disbursing every day!
Those of you who have ever undertaken a train journey will remember all that.

Of course, I am talking of all those who undertake journeys by the third class in olden days and second class, these days!   These classes have a fraternity of their own and a kindness to all thith who travel by trains!  I am one of such travellers. And I still like to travel by the second class! This is the most humane class in the train.

The general compartment in this category is still better, but....but... the number of those in these classes have gone up to the extent, getting a sitting seat itself  is a great effort, these days!
Earlier, I had traveled in this class on a long journey from Kerala to the distant Gohati in Assam, which in itself, was a bravado! I did it in five days in four trains. Now, all that has changed! Gohati has changed to Gouhathi. There is a direct train involving less number of days. In those days, I changed trains in Madras of the day, then Howrah of the day, New Bongaigaon of the day and landed in the great great Gohati.

Then my journeys for a long time was between Kerala and Delhi.
Now, I travel mostly between Chennai (my olden Madras) .. and my Thrissur.

The feeling once I get in is to get diwdat Thrissur. I thought most of the travellers had similar feelings. Almost all the travellers waited for the TTE, the Travelling Ticket Examiner to come and go! Once he checked our ticket, we go to sleep. If we get a good sleep, one get up at Thrissur and that is it! I have done the journey. Not always. Even though, most of the people slept through this journey, at times one is awakened due to a long stop or the train getting unduly delayed...!

The Cutting of the Plaster!

The cutting of the plaster!
Now was much easier to walk with the plaster.  Earlier walking was with a steel walker, jumping on one leg with both hands firmly clutching on the handles of the walker!  This used to tire me out and for the first time I found out how strenuous it is to walk or move around like that! I felt a great salute coming out of my heart to all those who are forced to walk with a walker or are  side-lined to wheel chairs.  Dependent on some one else for their own movement!   My condition was much better and there was hope of a return to the normal. That is a great feeling.
We entered the Hospital premises where we were guided for the registration and advice.    We paid for registration and were guided to the sitting area to wait!  There we were advised to the cutting room.  A large man in a blue dress greeted me in that simple room with a bench and a side bench. He had a round cutting saw in his hand and he asked me if I can sit on the bench and stretch my plastered right leg out on the bench.  Once I was ready he started cutting the plaster with his round saw.  The saw started cutting with a wee sound and the man at it was careful with it holding the motor of the saw very firmly.  I could see it on his face.  Since it was cutting on my leg, I changed my gaze from the cutting area to his face so that I am not unduly anxious!  Still at times, I felt if the saw was going to touch my flesh and told the cutting official so.  He smiled back reassuringly and said that he would take good care.  I knew he would be doing it for other plastered guys day after day and looked out of the window.  In ten minutes flat he finished cutting and then there was a close layer of cloth and cotton below.  This he cut out with a small surgical scissors.   And that was it!  The plaster was it.  The plaster was gone!  “Now you can go and show to the Doctor”  On his advice we moved to the doctor.
The Doctor smiled “How do you feel now?” That was great kindness from a Doc here in Kerala. Normally they put in that question to make the patients at ease. Now that it was nearing 45 days after my plaster, I was feeling better. “I am better now” I replied.  He checked the upper side of my foot with some little swelling but much better than when I had got plastered.  The skin on the right foot in the plaster had started to peel off at places without a touch of oil or water for long.  The Doctor after viewing it carefully advised:  “Slowly apply some oil for a few days and start to walk slowly, very slowly initially.  Chances are there could be swelling. But don’t worry, it will go away. Put the foot in moderately warm salt water for a while once or twice a day so that the swelling will go away. If there is pain, here, take this pain reliever” With that he gave us the prescription for the pain killer.  Luckily, I did not have any pain.
We walked out from his room with a free free heart as it was really suffocating in the plaster for a long period.  At times the leg got itching and I used my car’s broken metallic aerial wire to scratch it. At times it was perspiration which was alleviated by the fan above.  At times I thought when it will be over.  I remembered the movie “The Great Escape”  I relived the feeling of the star who was getting stuck in the tunnel.. you recall.. when the light goes off.  But luckily it was depicted in film that the others were waiting on both ends of the tunnel.  That was the hope.  I always thought with gratitude the great Hospital which had the angelic Doctor in it!  It proved correct, when we visited him for the removal of the plaster.  I was set free! Thank God!
Drive home was in my car with the newly freed leg!

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അമ്മയുടെ ആ നിവേഴ്സറി....! Mother's Anniversary!

Religion - The Second Decade..!

Religion - The Second Decade !

Prayer time is a time when all other thoughts come to mind! Of all other times, when one has nothing to think, no thoughts come to mind whatsoever.  Come prayer time, take a prayer book in hand, there is a line of thoughts ready and arranged from putting flowers in the flower vase, watering the flowers, giving manure to the plants, cleaning the walk way to the front verandha steps, changing a light bulb near the Jesus photo etc. etc.

It is strange how all these thoughts come all at once !  I pull back my mind as these are unwanted thoughts and try to concentrate on the prayer which has by now jumped into the second decade of ‘Joy’  That is, ‘The Visitation’.   I always, get the second decade to lead as I may be many a time, dreaming in my thoughts during the first decade which would have passed by then.  This again carry me to the times,  St. Mary as a young woman walked fast to reach her aunt who was announced to be bearing a child!  Mary in her simplicity started off to visit her to help her in her time of need.  Now, is the turn.  How many of my own would do this. All my near and dear, especially my very near sisters and nieces who are in these predicaments go through my mind, while I am fast covering the saying of the decade, repeating Hail Mary after Hail Mary!

At that point I feel a bid dejected!  I am making a fervent praise and a fervent request to Hail Mary every time and all these while, I have not recorded them in my mind.  As my mind is busy thinking of the activity part involved in the second decade of joy.  In my part of the world, these days, mostly people enquire of the happy event by phone or when they meet at church.  Some go and see them, but no serving or helping etc., mind you!  The one visited, if good natured, is supposed to serve the visitor and talk to them politely which is custom, if some one visited.  Here too, there are better natured people, who instead of visiting send 123 greetings, GIFs or a whatsapp message and a smiley! Done, the whole thing is done! And we continue with the ‘Hail Mary’ as many number of times as required.

Next day is the toughest in this regard. That is the second decade of ‘Sorrow’.  In the sorrowful second decade, we have the most painful part of ‘Scourging at the Pillar’.  Jesus is purportedly tied or bound to a pillar, or bound by leather belts on to a beam and scourged or whipped with the most cruel whips fitted with splinters of stones and metals!  Pain at each whip is unimaginable and the initial thoughts are about the horrific situation Jesus underwent and I repeat with ease the ‘Hail Mary’ interspersed with an occasional ‘Our Father’.  The thoughts again carry me off to the people who trouble and main to other people.  I equate them to the Roman soldiers who troubled and pained Jesus about whom he said ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing’.

The third day brings a little happiness in that Jesus Ascension is being remembered and here no one can touch him, if not expressly allowed by him.  The canvas coming to mind is some what lime the Microsoft page of a vast green field or a lawn with blue sky full of white clouds among which Jesus is going up and up with that benign look on his face, down cast, looking at his children on this earth!  One is sure, Jesus will go up and beyond to a world where one seldom know whether there is time and space. 

The matter ended with these three decades in my childhood and youth-hood, but any more! When, if I remember correctly, a new  Pope called Pope John Paul II came, he added a new set of decades called the ‘Decades of Light’  As we would have it, now the fourth day, we have the ‘Wedding at Cana’, the most joyful occasion we come across in the whole decades!  Here a Wedding is in progress and in between, the precious wine kept for the guests finishes abruptly and there is commotion or hushed whispers among the guest and Mary takes notice of the same!  Again, it is St. Mary who takes a lead in helping out the family.  She can’t remain as a spectator in such a situation. As all heroes she plunges into the situation head long and (perhaps, after appeasing the distressed family) walks up to Jesus and tells him “They have no wine”.  Jesus, ( a bit more like us in these days) initially tells that is none of their business!  This ‘none of my business’, none of your business, none of his business or none of her business, we hear a lot of times these days.  In those olden days when something happened around them, they thought it is their business too, and hence the request and suggestion for more wine!  What ever was to be done, was to be done then and there and at the Mother’s request, the son Jesus provides wine to the guests!  All those who like to take a peg in the evening and those who have a love for it (you know what I mean!) love this decade and incident, through and through! 

In all other areas one is advised to avoid all kind of drinks, alcohol and beverages but in this one occasion Lord Jesus is providing it abundantly to those who had assembled and saves the situation as it was precious to them.  My mind have started running wild with these simple thoughts while I am reciting my ‘Hail Marys’ and the praises and the requests!   I am stopping ! I cannot go on thinking wild like this during prayer. Let me concentrate on the pious part of it and practise it!

The Old Diary and the Old Thoughts!

The Old Diary and the Old Thoughts!

The old diary was still holding good.  The new diary no one wants to write, as these are kept off to write the new non-existent programmes date by date!  When they would have lived out the year concerned, then we feel free to write in them.  As in any case, they have lived out their time! Just as in life.  When life is there we all keep ourselves busy with hundred and one things and seldom find time to be good to one another and our dear dear ones and parents.

              Once life is about to ebb out we are all free to live a happy life and sadly comes the revelation that we are about to be no more.  Still, all of us knowing all that still keep busy.  Now, this diary of mine has seen ten very good years and has the handwriting of all of us in the family.  All the family mile stones are marked in it.   Like, addresses and phone numbers of friends and utility companies, children’s marriages, exact address of relatives who have not been visited for long, mu own emotional outbursts.  Also the telephone numbers of some people whom I felt are useful, numbers of taxi arrangers, cooking gas company to order for cooking gas at times, etc., etc.   The various hand-writings adorning its pages bring up nostalgia by themselves.

This hard bound leather jacket is still solidly strong but a little faded with time.  The brown leather cover has taken a darker hue with time. It was a bright reddish brown when new but has faded a little.   A golden  shank mark on the right top of the cover has also faded, like all gold ornaments which need a little polishing.

              The pages are lined with regular finely dotted lines reminding me of the old time childhood transcription copies.  Those copies had four lines, two red lines outside and two green or blue lines inside.  The rules was to write the cursive English words on the on the blue or green lines with the down tails and the up swinging part of the letters to touch the bottom and top outside red lines, respectively.  But there were no specific rules for the length of the lines connecting each letter.

In my little mind I found a way to bypass the monotony and crass feeling of continuous writing. What I did was to extend the tail of each letter as far as possible.   A word with four letters in it, I could fill this way.   For example, I wrote the word   ‘l     o      n      g’  with the long tails joining the letters.!  This way, I could fill a page with a few words.

              Even though, I wrote and so filled up my page, when the time came for our teacher to check the books and the books were being taken up one by one, a kind of anxiety gripped me!  I thought the teacher would look at it, make a long tick in red ink and put it on the other books he has already checked.  I waited with bated breath to see my teacher to pick up my book…One by one he started to pick up the books and it went on from time to time up to the sixth.  When he picked u the 7^th book, the one with a newspaper cover, it was mine.  He opened it, looked at it, his eyes flowered up a little, he kept it on the table and slowly surveyed the class from one side to the other.  Then his fze came back to me and stopped on me.  He intently looked at me for a little while and slowly signalled me to come up. 

He was sitting on a raised podium and I walked up to him and climbed on the little stage.  He showed me the page I had filled up with my long long tailed letter words and told me with a mischievous smile:  ”You know how you wrote it..” He continued  “I know what you would have thought in your little mind.  To save time, but it is indented for you to write as many letters as possible, not as little as possible, ok?”  I very obediently said  “Yes Sir” and slowly walked down the stage with the book he had given back to me to write the page all over again!  

The saving grace was he did not tell the class what had happened and it saved me a lot of unwanted queries from my class fellows!

Tim....tim...tom....tom of the TV set...!

Tim…. Tim….. tom of the TV set....!

I spent a long time in front of the TV set these days.  A broken leg will naturally put one in bed or at least in front of the TV.  Those who are dead against the TV programmes will escape any kind of tyranny of the TV.  Now, there I no tyranny by the TV set itself.  It is the programmes which are coming through the set.

Mostly, this will be news and other art programmes.  Alright, the programmes or news reports does not have any thing wrong in itself.  It is the ..tim..tim..tom…tom   between each piece of news or views.  Or between pieces of art programmes with a lot of noise which does not serve us any knowledge or information.  This is mostly for the channel organizers to make us remember their channel.  After listening to the tim…tim…tom…tom for a lot of times, the moment we hear the tim….tim…from far away place too, we will know it is ‘their’ channel or some one else’s channel.

This is like the old time advertisements which advertisements were only by the king or the authorities.  In those days, a drum was beaten every time before a piece of news or information or advertisement were either spoken out or read out.   The announcement of these types were in our recent past in which a huge drum was beaten for a while to make people assemble before the advertisement is read out.

Now after a time listening to this kind of tim…tim…tom…tom…one decides to switch of the equipment if not discard the programme altogether. One thing the TV programmes do to us is an inherent disinterest developing in us to read anything, if not extremely necessary.   But we can escape this difficulty by putting off the TV altogether. Once it is off, we will be able to think or act better.  This is because the interference from the TV can be stopped by switching them off.

Many a time, we find it difficult to put of this equipment even though this is very much under our control.  Psychologically, we are slowly losing our control to put it off.  But with a stringent decision we can put this off and escape the drudgery of the TV in our own homes. 

Let me switch off my TV now.!

The healing leg and a loose plaster!

The healing leg and a loose plaster!

The plaster was put for 45 days and now 21 days having passed it was feeling better.  This was a time of retreat and rest as nothing could be done once one is immobilised with pain and prescription for bed rest with the plastered leg on pillow. Of course there was the direction to keep moving the toes as otherwise they may go stiff due to non-movement.  From time to time I moved them and felt better but there was no walking which was a strict no no.!

All the same after a week or so into the hard  plaster, I started sitting up and slowly moving around with the help of a crutches.  A fairly good equipment in good quality aluminium with medical rubber handles it was a treat to be expected for in such a condition.  With that crutches it was nice to move around limping on one leg, holding on to it!  I heaved a sigh of relief.  The long hours on bed, turning from side to side, when the leg with the plaster weighed heavily on me and I had to put an extra effort to move it!  My leg felt like a ten kg weight is bound to it! 

As days passed by, the swelling on my leg started decreasing and I felt the leg loose inside the hard plaster.  The thing that would hurt most will be our being out of social circles and communication.  Even though all connections on phone, net and tv are there, talking to anyone of our choice or love give us a kind of happiness which moves the day faster.  But no, once one is bed ridden, and if you are an elderly person, one is for a night mare.  There is no one to talk to except one’s husband or wife.  Children are away mostly and the nephews and nieces are normally not there at all, if not for an occasion of celebration and the disabled in plaster is not expected to be there. 

It is where there is an adventurous friend or relative one is take out and into social circles.  Mostly it is thought of as an unnecessary disturbance to the recuperating in the social circles are middle or low income groups.  All the same, it is not all that bad, as with one reason or the other there could be a chance, a relative or friend came by!  Especially, those who have to be paid, may come for their payment. 

I had been ordered forty five days of plaster.  Had my break in the bone had been minimal, it should have been 21 days. But as I was not that lucky, the break was on the higher side and I got forty five days which was fast getting filled up.  As it is, I have another twenty days to go and presently I am feeling much much better from the initial plaster days. 

This experience have given me an insight into the lives of other people who are temporarily disabled but can improve their lives with a help for mobility and interaction with others, instead of spending too much time in bed.

A reminder from Jesus!

A Reminder from Jesus!

We were told from old that the pain of being on the cross with his legs fastened on the bottom of the cross makes it difficult to breathe was only a phrase we heard but never felt. But when I fell into a canal uncovered due to lack of a cement slab over it brought the thought all over again and made me feel the truth of the matter.
I suffered badly but took it as a reminder from Jesus!

Falling into the canal due to lack of attention as my attention was somewhere else took only two seconds!  It took five minutes rest on the edge of the canal and help from others to get out of it. Luckily for me, as the rain is absent this period of the year, the canal was dry and my landing was clean and without dirt.  But the immediate reaction on my right foot was instantaneous and it started swelling. Also a feeling of tightness coupled with pain made it worse.  I tried to limp my way to a stadium nearby where a Bon Natale program was in progress.  Every step made it difficult to breathe as there was something catching in my lungs! A ligament inside my leg below the right knee pulled at every step I walked.  The swelling could be arrested when a bottle of chilled soda water was poured over it slowly for a time. But the breathing difficulty was there for quite some time.  If this is the breathing difficulty on a small little fall, how much more would it have been for poor Jesus when he was thrown over and over and ultimately pinned on the cross!  Compared to the suffering he underwent my suffering was just a reminder only!

A few days of extreme relaxation with plaster on leg made me thank Jesus for his tremendous consideration for us, for me!
What a great generosity! 

The fall and the plaster!

The plaster on my right foot was smiling at me.   I am told to put up my leg on a pillow and see I don’t put it down !  The directions came after I visited the Doctor to get relief from swelling and pain developed after a fall!

The Bon Natale show and the ensuing evening music show was a dearie in the Thope Stadium of Thrissur.  As we reached late, due to distance and peak traffic we scrambled for a little space for parking and we found it a little father from the stadium.  Once that was over, we were walking back to the stadium, very happily watching the Christmas cribs in various wayside houses to the detriment of looking forward !  The road was heavily used by all kind of vehicles including trucks, buses and cars not to mention the two wheelers!   Naturally we walked on the extreme side of the road where the water effluence canal was covered by cement slabs.  Alas after a while there was no slab for a distance and this is where I walked blind into the canal two feet deep. 

The landing was like jumping from an aircraft or falling from a tree branch but not knowing where one is going!  The landing was too good to be expected by any respects.  A landing on two legs without touching the sides of the canal is good balance but the front step by the right leg was the first to touch ground and that is what took the brunt of my hole weight !  The leg felt sprained and a swelling started to form with an intense heat on the ankle.  A bottle of chilled soda put on it arrested the swelling and decreased the severity of the pain!

A limping walk for a furlong to the stadium did not unnerve any one as it was presumed the injury was only a sprain!  The song party was a success and we all enjoyed it till the end when a limp back to the car was undertaken in jest and laughter!  A slow drive to the house twenty kilometres away did it!  Pain started at home and the foot had swelled up well ..!

That is how a hospital visit was undertaken the next day where the doctor examined the pain, x-rayed the part and put a temporary plaster with the direction to keep it up on a pillow for five days and come back for re-plaster after that! A six weeks rest and recuperation was also advised! This is being undertaken in all its meaning!

After six days once again a visit was organised to the local hospital. The doctor opined the swelling has remarkably come down and it was good time for a regular plaster cast. The old temporary cast was cut out and a stronger one put in its place. I was advised to wait for it to become dry in another six hours! Another one month's rest may be needed to the full healing of the bones!