Chapter-IX
With a burning sensation in the joints, swollen eyes, George was not able to see clearly, Blood kept flowing from the gums of his teeth, when he spit saliva, it came in red color. The spots where he was hit were all burning as if it is smeared with a green chilly paste. The driver was still lying under the truck and was busy with repairing, when George returned guessing the location of the truck where he left it.
"Bro, when you are going to start the truck?", George tried to ask in a normal voice, but he soon understood that the words that came through his swollen lips were strangely distorted.
“It is over now,” he said, coming out of the bottom of the truck. He put the cloth in his shoulder which he spread for lying under the truck. He did not see George until he was about to open the half door near the driver's side. He saw him while placing one foot on the steps of the truck and immediately jumped down. “what is this? what happened? Half an hour ago you were perfect and now…? Where did you go? How did this injury happen?”, he queried continuously. Looking around him he said, “Here is a dint, here is a wound, here it’s torn” “I am alright , bro. You start the lorry”, George said, sitting in the seat next to him. “I went to the shop to buy cigarettes. One man who drove the Bic rashly hit me and went away…”
The sun was setting behind the truck, the full view of the full moon was slowly rising directly in the opposite direction. George hung his hand outside the window door and showed his face outside as the wind blew in his face and soothed him. The wind made his hair flutter, like a friend who ran along with him chit chatting. Whenever the vehicle turned on the curves of the road, the breeze continued blow across his face, making the wounds in his face cool and at the same time giving a burning sensation.
Oh,God,What all had happened within five or ten minutes! Is that all a dream? He squinted his eyes. Everything is true! Real! Jaya! You are a mystery! You shouted and called the man close to your hut to beat me, and then, out of pity, you yourself, came in between and stopped him from beating me!... I understood! It was the touch of in-depth love within you that forced you to save me from him.
“Let him go...He did it without any intentions”, you convinced and sent the crowd away.
That good for nothing fellow, saying” I leave you because Jaya says! Get lost stupid!”, he pushed me away.
He was not listening to the lorry driver saying “We should be on the road to Punalur tomorrow at six o'clock. There's a paper load from Punalur.” He didn’t see that the streetlights are starting to light up. “Yeah! I deserve this”, he said to himself. Why did I long to see someone else's wife? This punishment is appropriate for someone who do not have any ethics in life.
George used to meet Kesavan at least once in a day, but he did not go to meet him for the past four days. He waited for the swellings to disappear and the wounds to heal.
But what happened was, Kesavan himself came looking for George as he did not come. By the time Kesavan arrived, George was busy cleaning the truck with the black grease masking the wound marks which were in his face and body.
“I have a message for you. Why are you not coming to my home?”, Kesavan said.
"What is that Kesu?" George asked without looking at him.
“You asked me to send money to your mother, My brother-in-law went to your hometown in connection with some of his office work. I gave him that money and told him to give it to your mom...”
“Is my mom fine?”
“It seems like she is very much longing to see you. She wants to meet you at the earliest”.
“Why so urgent?”
“How can I know what is in her mind? There must be something. It is better that you go and see her”, Kesavan said.
“Kesu, You know my current position now, how can I meet my mother without a regular job, I have failed in my duty as a son in looking after my mom. What pride is there in meeting my mother now, Kesu?”
"Yeah, True," he said in a slightly mocking voice. “Oh then, do you think that it is a matter of pride to have an affair with a married woman and to get beaten up by the neighborhood?”
His words made George more poignant today than it was earlier! “Hey, Kesu...Who told you?”
“Driver bro told me the whole story,” when Kesu said, George was shocked. “But I didn’t…”
“You think you didn’t tell him anything? He told me that he called you after you have moved away from the truck. When you didn’t answer, he came out in search of you and saw that you are getting beaten up by a man. He came back quietly and lied down under the truck as he didn’t want to interfere with your personal affair. When he saw me in the chala bazaar yesterday, he asked me ‘What is this, your friend is having an illicit affair with a married woman'. I guessed that would be Jaya’s case, when he said the word woman”
George just laughed to hide his shock and shame.
As George got off the bus in the main road and walked down the single-lane road, he had in his hand a bag and a bundle of snacks he had purchased for his mother.
The fully grown paddy fields, when wind blew through them were making noises all the way like the schoolgirl’s chit chatting. I have played under this tree so many times. I hit the water snakes with stones in this field so many times. I climbed this tree many times, his mind longingly, recollected all the past incidents. In the midst of all these thoughts, His mother's withered face stood out in his mind most of the time.
Mom's wish was that he should study well and come up in life, get a good job, earn lot of money and her son should return to the village by car. To fulfill this only, she sent George to school. When most of the villagers sent their wards to school for noon meals. They used to debate with the teachers saying that "Only if our kids work and earn with us, we can run the family". But George’s mother was not like that. What he would have earned, if at all he worked, she earned by working herself.
George’s father?
He had no job. One day he would plough the field. The next day he would wash the bullocks. Another day he would be collecting firewood from the nearby forest for the farmer. He would spend the money he earned lavishly in the liquor shop. George was never friendly with him. If ever George go near him, the foul smell of alcohol made him to stand at a distance.
One day when he was standing near the blackboard with a chalk piece not knowing how to draw the map of Kerala State, as per his teacher’s instruction - His mother ran towards him with tears and yelled to the teacher,” Sir, I was betrayed”, She ran down the street holding George’s hand. When George asked, “What happened mom?”, she didn’t answer. She folded, squeezed and bent his hand and dragged him to the government hospital-like a freak. He still remembered the scene like it was carved in wood in his mind forever.
Quite a number bodies were lined up in the veranda. One policeman kept removing the cloth off each of the bodies and was asking, "Is this one? This?"
“This is him! “George noticed only when his mother fell and cried- he had never seen his father's face so crooked. It was scary.
"Death by drinking varnish" had been highlighted in the press for several days. His father was one of the ten. His photo also came in the newspaper.
George’s schooling came to an end. He was roaming around the village for a few days. He worked as a Labour for a few months during the construction of the village bridge. Then he worked in a mill. Whatever it was, his mom’s wish went unfulfilled. He also became one among those who upheld the rule of ‘born to the poor must be a poor…’.
He entered the village street. The village women were gathering the paddy that was spread before the doorstep of the hut. As it was the evening time, his long shadow was walking before him. The woman who looked up said, “Hey,Gracy, Your son is coming,” All of a sudden from where did that energy came in that withered body no one was able to explain.
“George! My son come dear! Come!”
George took hold of her wrinkled elbows and looked at her face, tears streamed down her face. “How are you mom? Kesu, said you wanted to meet me immediately. I was a little worried. What happened, mom?”
"Wait a minute," said her mother as she went inside the hut. A few minutes later she came out wearing a spectacle, “Oh,Jesus,I can see my son better now”
She had a spectacle now on her face.
“When did you start wearing this, mom? Is your sight better now?”, George asked.
"One Eye Hospital people who came to the village for a free eye camp gave this dear”, she said, as she removed her glass and wiped her tears off. "I told you last time when you came that, ' My vision is becoming dull' Don't you remember? “I was worried only about not being able to see you, dear! Now I am able to see everything clear.' There is no meaning in wearing this glass without being able to see my dear son! That's why I told Kesavan's brother-in-law…."
"Very happy mom. Now dear mom, look at me here … there", he said turning back and forth before her. Seeing this, the neighborhood girls laughed.
"You asked for hot water aunty. Here it is", a young girl who came inside said.
"Keep it there dear", his mother said.
She kept the water near the door, and immediately turned back to go. All this has happened with lightning speed.
"Her name is Jasmine. Very good girl. I would have died if she were not there"
