Nurungukal…3…

      It was a different experience the other day when we concluded a work shop on the glory of mangoes. Usually any such event concludes abruptly with number of promises to carry on an indistinct plan, which never happens. But this time strangely there were no assurances, instead left deep in us the sweet and sour taste of about sixty five varieties of native mangoes and a lost past. Each one took ample time to etch an incident which lay deep in their memory. Whether it was about the taste of the juice of the fruit they sipped which had fallen from a Granny  tree at dawn. or about the one they downed surreptitiously from the neighbour’s tree or the extra taste they enjoyed when their mother served the yummy pieces when they returned from school.The list was long and elaborate.

    When my turn came, the first thing that came to my mind was a flight on a rope swing tied on the branch of a mango tree. It was not a solo flight. In company was  a girl of my age. She was heavy and I struggled hard to lift the flight. I gathered all my strength to swing back and forth but in vain and finally lost the grip and fell flat on the ground, leaving the girl on the swing. I left the scene ignominiously. Dum..dum…dum..pee..pee..pi.But my self respect did not allow me to reveal the incident, instead just mentioned the thrill of other events, which the present day children miss. Instead I remembered about the smacks my mother had given when we spoil our dress with the mango stain or when our neighbour complained about breaking his tiles while we tried to bring down the mangoes with stones.

         As I passed through the row of mangoes displayed,my childhood instinct once again forced me to steal one or two for  sharing them with my wife nostalgically.

      Here I would be immensely glad and thankful to place on record my appreciation to that little girl who had once again proven her sincerity and ability to methodically conduct such events. But for her imagination we would not have been able to make a sojourn with our past. Thank you Suma.

Nurungukal…3…

v..chat… There was a time when we used to gather around a radio to hear eagerly the voice of Melvin Demalo, the famous news reader of all times. The husky rhetorics between Nehru and Lohia on the floor of our parliament still reverberates in our ears. When one praised about the ethos of India ,the other countered to remind the pathos. These are memories every Indian once again cherish to experience. So are we proud about the proceedings in the first Kerala assembly lead by EMS Namboodiripad. The never ending speech of V.K. Krishna Menon  before an august audience on the floor of UNO can not be forgotten so easily. There were many luminaries, to mention a few for eg. AKG, Dange, Vajpaye, etc. etc. who had made a mark of their own as good parliamentarians. If we search history  we can spot many such luminaries both in the distant past and in recent time worth emulating in speech and actions. I have read somewhere about the instant rhetoric of an advocate when he was admonished by the judge. The advocate by a slip of tongue addressed the judge as ‘you’. The judge immediately pointed out that there is no ‘you’ in the court. The advocate countered it by saying that …’but Me Lord …there is a U in the middle of the CO U RT’, making the entire court, including the judge to enjoy the counter. The above examples show the high degree of sense of respect the speakers held while driving home their point of view effectively.

       If one follow the language of some of the present day speakers, who are holding important positions acquired through public support, we shudder to claim a legacy of decency. Although many words in our language have derived different meanings, such as adipoli,kalakki etc. they are accepted as harmless improvisations.  But surprisingly now a days we venture to defend other’s intentional act of disrespect to others. Even an act of vulgar gesticulation of showing the inner wear in open by a public personality was pardoned off. These are situations which  can not at any stretch of imagination be compromised  by a society, which claim hundred percent literacy and progressive mind. It indicates that the time is ripe to initiate a sense of refinement among us to claim that top position. Otherwise posterity will blame us for the degradation.

         

Nurungukal…3…

        Some events in our life emerge most unexpectedly. That too when we are fighting with the time, for eg. to catch a train or attend a meeting. Narration of the details of such incidents are always an interesting part of our conversations. I remember a case heard recently from a senior officer. She was rushing to catch a train. There was not much time left for the departure. After hurriedly getting down from the auto when she wanted to make a call she was taken by surprise that her hand bag was not on her shoulder and lo it was left in the auto. A shiver passed through her and stood in aghast on the foot path at her wits end worrying about her precious belongings viz. ATM cards, mobile phones cash etc. etc. On seeing her predicament a police man came to her rescue. His directions helped her to retrieve the lost property intact  from the nearest Police station. To her surprise the auto driver who had dropped her at the station was standing out side with an expression of satisfaction of upholding the ethics of the auto drivers of Kozhikode city. Probably he was waiting to ensure that the property was returned to the correct owner, again a sign of good sense of duty.

            Another case I heard, was about the dangerous risk a young mother took to jump out of a moving train carrying her two children in one hand and a few luggage in the other. She was forced to be adventurous on this mission when she knew that she had boarded a wrong train and interestingly in the company of her father who was a retired railway staff. Her father with an exclamation was gasping to tell me how he managed to board the running train once again and jump out safely after retrieving a bag which he had left over in the first attempt. While her father was proudly highlighting his agility and technique in the act to me I was spell bound with a mixed feeling.

         On hearing these two episodes I am recollecting about one such situation in which I became a victim. It was in1958 when me and my younger brother accompanying our eldest brother were returning to college after vacation from our native place. As the steam engine  with a long whistle and puffing of smoke and steam made a thudding halt a few feet away from us, we had only one thing in mind that to squeeze into the compartment though the crowded door and never thought about the two bags in which we had stuffed our clothes and books. The thrill of that journey vanished at the moment we realised that we had forgotten to take the bags from the platform and became a target of reprimand from our brother and a laughing stock to others…..dum…dum…dum…pee…pee…pi….