Being Humane

Indha paa, Hello…Inga Paaru…Indha serruppu edhuthokko..Ennakku Time aardhuu… (Please pick my slippers, its getting late)… I was literally yelling at the chappal keeper. This young boy is the owner of the Charu Chappal stand, in front of the Sri Rangam Temple. The evening sun was still scorching and the dust and the crowd added more to my irritation. He was busy, running around. He was about to bend down and pick my slippers, when suddenly he turned away and said “Vaanga Aiyyaa… Ingeye serruppu vitudinga…Naa pathukaraen” (Please come sir, and drop your slippers here).

I was totally pissed off by this gesture. I turned around and it was Mr.Vasudevan Sastrigal. No wonder! Vasudevan Sastrigal hails from a very affluent family. He has been staying in Sri Rangam for 20 years and owns a number of buildings and schools in and around Trichy. The saffron mark on his forehead (Sri-Charanam), the diamond earring and the well pressed khadi shirt are his trademarks.

I never liked people who showed off. I have often observed in some temples that when somebody drops a 10 rupee note on the kalpura thaatu, the priest attends to him with great respect! Money has started ruling over everything. I threw all this from my mind and made my way to the temple. After offering flowers to Sri Renganatha Swamy, I joined the queue for prasadham. I loved the puliyothere (Tamarind Rice). It is said that Iyengar’s puliyothere is the best!

I was very eager to grab the dhonnai (Leaf Cup), when Vasudevan crossed me again. This time it was for the prasadham. The priest, who was serving, spotted Vasudevan walking near the corridor adjacent to the place where these prasadhams were served. He suddenly got up, packed some puliyothere in a dhonnai and rushed to Vasudevan and handed it to him with due respect. We were all still standing in the queue. I felt like shouting but just made my way out from the temple. I had all sorts of bad words running in my head for Vasudevan.

I grabbed my slippers from the Charu chappal stand and started walking towards Ganesh Juice stall, right in front of, one of the gates of the temple. Suddenly, Muniamma, the flower vendor in front of the juice shop got up, folded her arms and stood in an upright position. I was totally stunned! I turned around, and it was Vasudevan. I decided to pass some comment and waited for him to come near me. Instead he crossed and walked towards a kid who was sitting near the heap of garbage He was a special kid, probably spastic.

There was a small plastic plate in front of him with some coins. The boy was just waving his hand and his head wasn’t stable in one position. Vasudevan dropped a couple of coins on the boys plate. He then bent down and asked the boy something. The boy pointed his finger towards the Tea stall. Probably he was asking for tea or something else. Vasudevan walked to the Tea-Stall, got a glass of tea, walked to the boy again, sat next to him and literally fed him – gulp by gulp. I pinched myself and I was totally surprised.

Vasudevan, then walked to Muniamma and asked her “Who is this kid? What happened to his mother? Muniamma at this promptly replied, “Sire, he is Ram. His mother is a construction worker. She leaves him here everyday in the morning and takes him back home in the evening. There she comes. Hey, Vasantha, come quickly”. Vasantha came running to Muniamma, “What’s wrong? What happened to Ram? Did somebody harm him?” At this Vasudevan said” Nobody has harmed your child and nobody will in the future. Tomorrow, bring him to my residence and I will make the arrangements for his admission to the Special School.” At this, tears started rolling from Vasantha’s eyes. She rushed to Ram, hugged him and wept. Muniamma in her own accent said “Ayya, should live for 100 years.” That day I understood that people respected Vasudevan for his deeds.

I started walking to the bus stand but I was all the time thinking of that incident. It had left a big scar in my mind. I could feel the heaviness in my breath. I couldn’t hear anything that was happening around me. My mind was only occupied by Vasudevan, Vasantha and Ram. Irrespective of being poor and having a special kid, she is struggling in life to take care of her kid. For her, Ram is a normal child. She is the only soul who can understand him and will weep for him. She is indeed a “Special Mother”. There aren’t anymore words in my dictionary to describe Vasudevan. All I can say “Appearances can be deceptive”.