Visakhapatnam -2 : Some feeble memories

Dondakayalu, bendakayalu, kakarikayaluuu...this was a very familiar sound every day in the morning times. The petty vendors mainly women, carrying basketful of vegetables on their heads roam about from street to street to sell their products. That is the rhythm of our Indian streets. How many city and town streets do not wake up to the calls of the vegetable vendors? It is part and parcel of our day to day life, even in the modern days of big and giant retail outlets. FDI or no FDI, an average Indian home will wait for the vegetable vendor to turn up every morning. May those calls mixed with chirping of all kinds of birds bring about the mornings in our country like ever before

We lived in a thatched house adjacent to the restaurant. The walls of the house were made of mud. The restaurant had been doing well that time. My father, who reached Visakhapatnam for a job in a restaurant, could manage to start his own set up mainly because of hard work and of course with help from his well wishers. As the business started fledging, he brought many people from our village to Visakhapatnam. For several years, our connection with this port city continued. We were right at the heart of the city, just a stone's throw from the city's landmark Jagadamba Theatre. A disc holding muscleman about to throw it welcomes people to the theatre. Visitors to Visakhapatnam can hardly miss this eye catcher. It need not be the Eiffel tower of Paris or Great wall of China, but for those who know Vizag, Jagadamba centre is a place of great attraction

Idly, dosa, vada and tea were selling like hot potatoes in our restaurant. Our world was always revolving round this restaurant and the adjacent home. Not only parents but there were a host of elders from my village to take care of us. We did go around. The most subtle memory was about our frequent visits to a temple at Anakapalli, a nearby town of Visakhapatnam. The fiery eyed Goddess Nookalamma's images gave a frightening look in our tender minds always 

Nookalamma



Arukku Valley

Borra Caves



The beach- a view from Rishikonda

Visakhapatnam has many other attractions too. The enchanting Rishikonda gives a marvelous look of the Bay of Bengal from atop a scenic hill. A little far away, the Arukku Hills is one of the beautiful places to visit on a low budget trip. If anyone has a plan to make a budget holiday trip, make it to Visakhapatnam, it will not be a disappointing one. But it is always advisable to visit Vizag in winter.

 There were a number of our villagers working in the restaurant that time. It was pleasant playing around with the elders in the big extended family in a mini Olavaipe. Pankan chettan was the one whom I remember the most among them. He is the elder son Meenakshiyamma, the effervescent octogenarian who still visits our home at least once a day. He was the cook in our restaurant. Of late, he started a pan shop in a small portion annexed to the restaurant. The Gold Spots we drunk from that shop were the craziest thing we did have in Visakhapatnam once upon a time. Pankan chettan, at present is earning a living with the lotteries he sells in the streets of Kochi. A totally worn out person, he struggles to walk but the call of duty pulls him along. This man is also, unfortunately, bracketed  in a class called "upper caste fascists" in Keralam!!

 

The pan shop was just adjacent to the cash counter of the restaurant. So, it was very easy for us to reach out to the pan shop and pick those chilled heart stoppers.  O Goldspot, where have you disappeared? The cash counter was mainly manned by my father but there were many others too who sat at the counter when he took a recess. They were  all our own people. The cash box had full of coins of 1 and 2 paisa, beside many other higher denominations. Those smaller coins were separately kept in the drawer for a purpose. Every day, so many poor people visited our shop. Majority of them came with disfigured hands and legs. They looked so pathetic. They carried the curse of the killer disease  Leprosy. These little coins were dropped in the bowl carried by the unfortunate human beings. Felt always sad at the sight of such miserable lives. There was another marginalised group, whose main source of income was also begging. Hijaras came in groups. Danced in front of the shop, to the tune of some music played by instruments they brought. They too got a coin or two.

GoldSpot was the tastiest drink. But, "thatti munjalu" - the Palmyra fruits and "mamidi tandra" - the mango cake were equally tasty. Vendors used to carry thatti munjalu in baskets on their heads and came to every house. Our elders bargained so hard with the vendors to get them at the cheapest rate. In the scorching sun these fruits brought good relief. Mamidi tandra is a cake like jelly made of ripe mango pulp. I still love its taste. My taste buds were so extravagantly feasted with the mouth watering mango jelly always. 

Small people,smaller incidents. That was all about our life in Vizag as little kids. Even after several years, the little world around a thatched mud walled house annexed to a modest business unit instills a kind of positive energy. This is good enough to give out a pleasant smile at least once in a day.  So many faces are flashing through my mind, those simple men who brightened our little hearts long time back. A few of them have departed this world. Perhaps they had joined my beloved papa in the magnificent restaurant he would have opened in the Heaven.... 

 

 

Cycle yagnam - some black and white memories

 

A typical wedding photo

The gleaming smile conveyed a thousand word message. Like a black and white wedding photo of our parents, this thousand watts smile will hang on the wall of my mind for a long time. Santosh Sharma is leaving for his home. At last, after a wait for eighteen long months on Das Island, he got the chance to meet his own people back home. Now, his family will be celebrating Holi in all its great spirit with Santhosh himself drenched in a riot of colours.


I have never seen such a happy man in the recent past. Promise, I do not remember to have smiled like Santosh in my life! He is the cleaning boy in our office and he may be earning several times less than I do. Still, I could not stop asking myself, why could I never wear such a conquering smile! That is life. Happiness sometimes comes other ways too, not only through money! My perceptions at times go miserably wrong
 

The green buttons prefixed to so many familiar names popped up every now and then. Some of them stayed just for a few minutes. Some stayed for a long time. Many of them posted something or the other on the page. Many names were so tempting. I almost typed a hello to lure them to a conversation, but desisted. I know, they come to Face Book to relax.  To see the world through it. Stealing a few precious moments from their hectic schedules, they unwind themselves here. I have no much work. I am a paid prisoner, waiting to somehow complete the term and fly off. Nothing much to think about. I am free to eavesdrop the activities of the successful men and women visiting this social media. I see the marvelous photographs my good friends post from the scenic, awe inspiring spots around the world. There, they stand along with their happy, blessed nuclear families. They are fanned out all over the globe. They wrote many a success story in their lives. With my jaw dropped, I watch them steal the lime light wherever they are. I salute that spirit. I have no intention to intrude into their private moments on the social media.
 

Besides the Face Book and the television, I have another companion on this island- devaragam.com. After a long gap, today I remembered a song. "Akasaroopini anna poorneswari...."the song sung by Yesudas. This song has a mesmerising power to blow me over to the past. I remember to have typed these words in the "find" window of the portal and pressed the "play" tab. Next moment, I found myself at the premises of our village temple, yet again. It was not exactly at the temple premises but the open land just opposite the temple. This is the place we still call the heart of our village Olavaipe. The most happening spot of our village has a Ration shop located on one corner close to the road. Almost everyone in the village visits this ration shop. I too, for my grandma, bought wheat and sugar from the ration shop many times. No doubt, this shop, like anywhere else in our country, was a source of corruption that time too as it is now.


The open land had seen many political meetings by the two prominant parties Congress and the communists. Besides politics, this place was the stage for the exciting "cycle yagnams". Once in a year, a family along with a few assistants visited our village. Such small group of men and women were the propogators of the idea of circus at the door steps. Villagers hardly got chance to travel to big cities to watch high profile theme parks and circus shows. Those days, everybody turned up to see their performce because we were yet to see the television sets. Other than the All India Radio, there were nothing much to keep the people indoors.
 

The small time amateurish 'circus' team survived mostly on the sympathy they created with the presentation of their modest life. Their poor back ground and the struggle to earn a living evoked a sense of pity in the equally poor people of the village. There will be full attendance of the villagers by the show begins in the evening. Everyday, one difficult number and some cinematic dances and other tricks were the pattern of the show. We heard the famous Tamil song "yarukkaga, ithu yarukkaga..." first time through this circus company. The man who played the charecter along with the song did his job so aptly. They played another soul stirring song "ellam tharum daivam neeyappa..." before their performances. This devotional song, played before a presumably risky number made the onlookers wear tears.That was the secret of their success
 

A number of tube lights tied at regular intervals and then the surroundings were lit with fire. Then a man on a bicycle, comes riding so fast and breaks these tube lights with his chest. The audience looks at it with bated breath. The highlight of the show was always the song before he performs the number. "Akasa roopini anna poorneswari..." that was a heart rending song, given the ambience the performers creat. Everyone stands with a prayer in their lips. By the time, the song ends, many could be seen with their eyes moist. The cycle yagnam team wins everyone's heart. At the end of the show, the team would have enchased handsomely the hearts they won.
 

The next day evening, it was another 'heart stopping' number. One man stands upside down, with his head buried in sand. As usual, the prayer song is played. The theatrics followed and by the time his head is buried in the earth, the onlookers were thrown into a tizzy. As the seconds ticks, the heartbeat of the audience increases. They no longer permit the man to suffer like this. Heeding the public demand, he would be removing his head from the ditch to the cheers if the excited villagers. The performers needed just not the cheers but notes. The innocent villages never let them down. Most of the days, the villagers visited home after home, collected one or two rupee notes, stitched them like a garland and presented to the performers at the end of every stunt number.
 

The celebration lasts for a week. The sleepy village gets a new lease of life, at least for a week. Still, the children had a fear in the bottom of their hearts. We heard a number of stories about children being kidnapped by nomads. We heard that these people take away children, disfigure them and make them beg. With chillness down the spine, we all kept these stories in mind as long as the cycle yagnam team stayed in our village. One day they packed up their belongings and moved away from the village.


The saddened villagers bade adieu to the team only with a hope that they come back after a few months. They did come for two or three times again. But as the time passed, these amateurish acrobatic shows lost their sheen and badly beaten by the sops on the mini-screen lately. But, for the generation that saw those bare footed walks on the heap of glass splinters, breaking tube lights with the chest and the burying of a person alive with fire over the ditch have everything registered in their memories. Let the black and white pictures of the newly married parents and the exhilarating pictures of a village cycle yagnam among many other sweet memories hang on for ever in our minds. These are simple pleasures worth carrying, along with a bunch of "kani konna" flowers wherever we are.

 

Womenhood -the downslide to stone age...

The two flares has been burning so unusually since morning. Dark thick smoke has already formed a large patch of cloud in the northern part of the sky. The billowing smoke presents a stark reality. The frightening reality of global warming. Those huge ice blocks are breaking with deafening sounds in the far north. If we listen carefully, that sound from the north pole is clearly audible, clear enough to send shock waves across the heart.  No escape. In the recent years, in search of more comfort, big trees were mercilessly cut from the road sides of the Garden City of Bangalore. Here, in search of big money, the natural resources are exploited seamlessly. The tapped gas could not be processed due to some defect in the system. Now the gas that came out from the depth could not go back. So the most intelligent animal on the earth burns it away, as if, no one is the loser in this simple process!

The Global Restaurant threw a French menu to the languishing souls of the Das Island in the night. I am not sure if Camel Roast is a French dish but it was served in the restaurant as a special item. The predominantly meat based food items were not a pleasant thing to look at but the beautifully crafted shapes of animals and birds out of vegetables and fruits definitely were. How marvelous those handiworks were!

The Eiffel Tower carved out of a yellow pumpkin was really the eye catcher. This makes the difference between the human beings and the rest. The skilful hands can make anything he desires. The birds using oranges and carrot were a joyful sight. Once in a week, the restaurant serves country based dinner menu. I picked just a spoon of rice and then mixed it with dhal powder and oil. That was tasty.  La Tamil taste...French delicacies can never match with our humble preparations. Avial for the lunch was very delicious. I took two spoons of it while the rice was only one spoon.

The heavy wind has been rattling my cell for the past few days. Once in a while, the weather becomes so bad. Gusty wind carries dust and sand and also it makes the climate so cold. The wind at times rocks the cell as if it were a cradle. It is enjoyable but at the same time gives a feeling that the box may fly away anytime in the wind. The only confidence is that these accommodations were not made based on the principle of "chalega". Even after twenty years of its installation, these temporary cabins survive the highly corrosive atmosphere. We must appreciate it.

A serious thought 'constipation' occurred in my brain. After jotting this much, I could find no way forward. For many days nothing was coming out of my mind. To top it all, the TV was distracting my mind very badly. There are twelve Malayalam channels on the television. Channel surfing is a good time pass. It helps us avoid all those unreal advertisements and the tear jerker called mega serials. Most importantly, it helps us stumble upon some interesting programmes on an unexpected channel.

 

Anita Pratap

Like that, I just stumbled upon an interview . "Home is the most insecure place for women" -Anita Pratap says on a TV channel. http://www.anitapratap.com/  She says, she was told by a women's activist that 98% of the women are beaten at least once in their life. Shocking but it is true. Dussasans and Govindachamis are there right in the middle of our own society. They, most probably turn out to be our own relatives or friends. Women are running for cover.

 

 Frightening but as the world takes giant leaps in science, technology and living standards, the other half is left out far behind. Anita told one more thing in that interview. She is yet to see a man of true courage. Is it really true? May not be. But she was trying to prick the male ego. Most of the men sincerely believe that they are superior to women. There is no situational or scientific proof to support this belief. Physical strength and the "readiness to outrage her modesty anytime" as he pleases are mistakenly construed as superiority. Man feels insecure when he sees a woman trying to outsmart him. At any cost, he tries to stop her. Physical and sexual assault are the weapons he uses to intimidate her.

The Dirty Picture

Unbearable stereotyping of women in Indian cinema and lately on the mini screens had been damaging her prospects of a decent life. It is shocking to see that women are beaten in the TV serials even after we are into 13th year of 21st century. It was the Indian movies that made rape a monster and glorified chastity as something women must safeguard at any cost.

Women were shown raped at the drop of a hat in our movies. Women were the sole custodian of modesty and they killed themselves when it was brutally assaulted. The modern day cinemas topped it up with ugly depiction of womanhood. The women who donned skimpy dresses and acted as seductresses always roamed around  outside the celluloid with body guards. Here is the National Award winner for best actress for her "acting" in the "Dirty Picture". These women amass plenty of money made out of shameless skin displays. They were never affected by the ground realities. They even dared to term rape as "surprise sex". http://www.indiatvnews.com/entertainment/masala/rape-is-not-crime-it-is-a-surprise-sex-says-sunny-leone-1091.html

The sexually starved men folk in our country found easy access to their urges by attacking the poor unprotected women. Please don't pounce upon me if I make a statement here : A man who watches a present day Indian movie will be tempted to rape!! Some movies are certainly playing a role in such a downfall of morality in our society.  Men in India iconised Amitbh Bachan and Rajini Kanth but they always showed tendency to behave like Amrish Puri or Jose Praksh!!

Man must start accepting his limitations. I believe, there are hundreds of women in our society who are superior to men both in physical and mental terms. Kalpana Chaula, by any means was much superior to at least 80% of men in India.

There are so many widows and widowers living in our society. A close look at their lives gives an insight to their living conditions. No doubt, widows live much better than the widowers. Men always need women in their life for support. When the woman in his life disappears, the man comes to a naught. A widow on the other hand, survives the set back, though with difficulty. To a great extend  she comes back to normal life slowly. Like the poor mother of five children who was featured in a TV reality show, she learns to stand on her own feet. She brings up her children even if it involves a lot of hardships and miseries. In the last, she lives a queen's life whereas in all probability a widower leads a dog's life. Women concentrate mainly on their children's future and men look out for the second marriage! This is the general case. Of course, there are exceptions

I should add this too. Men spend hours after normal time in the office. They bend over backwards to please the boss. They always worry about their profession. Promotions, increments and the chauffer driven sedan...They enjoy everything, more than the presence of the all sacrificing wife and the children who need father's care the most.

 

Women like Indira Gandhi to the ordinary woman like the Kerala girl Amrutha http://newindianexpress.com/cities/thiruvananthapuram/article1466299.ece who challenged hooligans on the street are much above men mentally and physically.  The shell shocked men of the God's own Country are now crying foul. They say, Amrutha took law into her hands, as if men are law abiding and always call police when confronted by troubles!

 

Look at the reality shows. Women do everything that men do. They are never even a step behind the opposite sex. Give them level playing field. Magic will work out. A civilized society is complete when the women in it live in equal terms with men. We can only keep our hopes alive for a better future. In the meantime let us keep our women folks back home under our feet, lest they outsmart us, seriously denting the superiority we acquired by virtue of our birth.  It is true, behind every man's success there is a woman. It is equally true that behind every failed woman there is a husband. Hey, someone is squirming under my feet too, let me look who is that ..!!