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!