It was two days after my grandfathers death. People were coming in large numbers to console our family, especially my grandma. Thampuran was also coming to express his solidarity and sympathy in person. He is the heir of the estate that my grandfather had looked after for a long time till his death.
When my mother called me, I was busy with some work in the backyard. She said I have to drop Thampuran at his mansion in the estate. I had not seen him, so was curious to meet him. Although I did not expect him in a gaudy and ornate king-like get up, I still could not help but project him as an aristocrat with slight aura around him. When I went to the drawing room, he was waiting with an old briefcase in his hand, for me to take him to his mansion in the estate. He was very lean and wore a pair of spectacles. I saw no aura around him, but was looking tired after the long travel from Chennai. That's where his family resides now. Even his clothes were very simple and not of silk as I had figured. My image of the Thampuran was shattered beyond recognition.
I took my uncle's bike to drop him. When I started he said to me "There was no need of this" and smiled. He knew that I knew he just said it out of courtesy. My Thampuran would have made me feel that I was lucky enough to accompany him. As was expected of me, I said "That's not a problem" with a fitted artificial smile.
The estate was hardly two kilometers from home. We crossed the canal and opened the iron gate. The grills had begun to rust after the rainy season. Once in, Thampuran prayed with closed eyes in the direction of the Shiva temple. One could hardly see the temple through the coconut grove. Only construction that is visible in that direction is a well. Thickets and grasses had grown wildly and well into the path formed by daily use. It was clear that after my grandfather fell sick nobody looked after the estate. We walked through the path, past the granary across the ground and beside the old tractor shed to the mansion which stood facing the granary. All the buildings were very old, not well maintained and dilapidated.
Last time I went there was to play in the ground with my cousins. It might well be around seven years now. The Thampuran's family had huge land under paddy cultivation just behind the estate, by the side of the tractor shed. It used to be very boisterous with the workers during the harvesting period. They thrash the stalk to remove the rice from stalk in the platform raised from the ground by a few feet in front of the granary. My grandfather would be supervising the work from the open verandah in front of the granary. The ground where we used to play had a lot of bricks embedded in it making the surface uneven and unfit to play fairly. But there lies the challenge for a sportsman. I have heard accounts from my mother about a palatial three storeyed granary - 'pathayappura' that stood between the ground and the mango grove. It was demolished and the bricks embedded in the ground are the testimonial of their golden era. My mother grew in our ancestral home which stood across the mango grove by the side of our square ground.
I did not wait for him to open the mansion. I felt like an escort of a king, whose path always stops at the threshold of the kings room. Also, there was no much talking between us. He was tired, and I was unable to get rid of this queer feeling of him being a king and mine as his escort. I just left with a nod from him.
It was getting dark. The number of persons coming to console the bereaved had subsided. It was silent all around. The absence of grandfather had begun to be felt, and it was painful. My mother called me inside and handed over a tiffin box to give Thampuran. When I reached his mansion, it was pitch dark and ghostly. The sound of the crickets were echoing every where. After crossing the granary, I could see a 75 W incandescent lamp glowing inside the mansion. I had never seen its door open. Its wooden doors always remained closed. I became curious to be inside. From the threshold, I could see him lying with eyes closed in a cot which stood at the center of the room. The sound of the creaking ceiling fan mulled the cries of the crickets. I felt the fan would fall on top of him at any moment. It was wobbling but at a very slow speed, so slow that one can almost count the number of leaves in the fan. I ran my eyes around the room. It was dim and yellow inside the room. Three other doors from the room in the other three walls were closed. So were the windows. The cot was surrounded by a welter of farming goods, empty fertilizer sacks, ropes, spades, cross bars, an almirah, clothes, and a hundial. My expectations were set back for the second time.
I knocked the door gently. He opened eyes and looked at me as if he was expecting me any time. He saw the tiffin box and a bottle of drinking water in my hands. His face bloomed and he said "There was no need of these things. I would have had it from some hotel" to which I replied "Its not a problem". Again i knew, we both knew that these were just formalities exchanged. The silence was making me feel uncomfortable. I said "The hotels are very far. You will have to go the junction", just to make myself feel better. But this did not seem to reach his ears. He was looking at the tiffin box.
"What is in it?", he asked curiously.
"Idlies, five of them", I replied.
"That's too much for me", he said.
Again silence crept between us.
"Have u bought tea??", he inquired.
"Oh!! No", I said apologetically.
He smiled. I felt sorry for him.
"Can u tell your uncle to come by tomorrow morning??", he asked me.
"Sure"
I said good night and left him on his own.
In the morning, I came with breakfast for him very early so that he would not have left for the hotels near the junction. When i reached he was standing there with the floral prasadam and sandal paste in a plantain leaf, from the Shiva temple inside the estate. He was in the traditional kasavu mundu and had a kasavu towel draped over his shoulders. He was looking pleasant and very noble. He was talking with a servant of the estate, who had come to see him. He was looking at the amla tree that stood by the tractor shed. It had become very old. Its leaves, rotten and ripe fruits and broken twigs were strewn all over the ground. I felt it would fall to the ground with a gentle push.
When he saw me with food for him in his hands, he said "Oh! You did not have to bother about that". This time what he said was genuine and he meant that. But after a little persuasion he accepted it and thanked me. Extending the prasadam to me, he said "I went to temple". I refused it politely as I was not supposed to have those within fifteen days of my grandfather's demise. He then asked "Will your uncle come today??"
"Yes"
"Will u ask him to bring the keys of the hundial?? It was with your grandpa"
"Okay"
He then started asking me the routine questions, what I did, where I stay and all that usual formal stuff. He said he lived in a small flat with his wife in Chennai. He then went to the pond behind the mansion, to wash his legs. The steps to the pond was in a very poor condition. Weeds, algae and the mango trees that stooped over the pond on two side made the water green. It was remorsefully quiet. Nobody uses this pond now. My mother has told me that she and her cousins and everybody from the home used to swim in the pond. It was where they learned swimming. It was where I tried to learn swimming when all had gathered in our ancestral home for the wedding of my mother's cousin. Everybody were jumping into the pond from the wall which divided the steps to the pond. Water was splashing all over. There was so much laughter and fun. By the time I learned to be afloat it was time I returned home for final examination. My swimming lessons stopped there. The next time I went to the pond was to fish. We got a pretty good catch, but as they don't cook non vegetarian in my ancestral home, it was all given to the maid. We kids were so disappointed.
He asked me to wait, so that I can carry back the vessels after his breakfast. He offered me a share of his food, but I declined it very politely. The paddy fields which were once Thampuran's could be seen through the thickets forming the compound wall on the side of the pond. I stood by him while he finished his breakfast and washed them in the pond. After a brief friendly talk when I was starting to leave, he reminded me to bring the key for the hundial.
I returned after some time with my uncle. Thampuran was sitting in the chair behind the desk where my grandfather used to sit, doing some calculations. When he saw us, he asked us to take a seat. But only one more chair was left, so I sat by the steps. Grasses had grown from the cracks in the steps. I was plucking the tiny white and yellow flowers of those weeds while they talked. My uncle handed him the key for the hundial.
"Sasi, before u came I was looking at the record book. It says from the past hundred and two years, the properties of my ancestors had been looked after and maintained by your ancestors. I don't want to break this tradition. I request you to take the responsibility your father had faithfully and sincerely carried out for the past few decades". Though my uncle was reluctant at first to take over the estate, as he had a job in town, he finally reconciled to Thampuran's wish. Thampuran was very happy. Both stood up from their chairs and Thampuran gave my uncle the key to the granary, not before praying to lord Shiva.
Thampuran started walking in the verandah and then in the ground expounding his plans to renovate his deteriorated estate. My uncle and myself followed him where ever he led us, nodding for almost what ever he said. Thampuran's face could not hide the overflowing happiness. He was slipping to the glorious past which seemed to usurp the penurious present.
"The compound walls have cracks. We need to repair those. How many loads of cement and bricks do u think we would need?", Thampuran asked excitedly.
"Why can't we lend the temple pond for fishing??"
The temple pond was much more bigger than the pond inside the estate. The public had access to it. Given the size of the pond at least three watchmen should be employed to keep the robbers and miscreants away making it very expensive to start aqua farming in that pond.
"Won't we get a good collection from the hundial once we put it in front of the temple?"
The hundial was removed from the temple because the coin slot was on top and the rain water would enter inside. When my uncle reminded this to him he said
"Ah! you are right. I remember now", he started thinking and suddenly said "We should cover the hundial with a plastic sheet above". He seemed satisfied with himself for finding a solution to the problem. The temple, which is a very old one is believed to have come under attack from the Tipu Sultan's army when they came to Kerala. The scripts carved in the temple stones were found to be very old and came in news paper once. I was in school then, and I remember showing that picture to my friends and teachers. As its very far from the main road and no proper roads, in fact the canal and the narrow culvert on its way makes it impossible to build a wide road even if we want to, the temple is only frequented by very poor people and the workers living in the huts near by.
"The bricks embedded in the ground should be taken out and the ground should be made even"
"A new machine has come in the market. With that u can clear the thickets on your own without much difficulty". This was the solution he found when my uncle complained about the labor problem that had hit not only the region, or the state, but the country. Because of the daily wage program that the government has started, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the workers are assured one hundred and fifty rupees per day with minimum work. So working class was turning out for other works. This had a bad impact on the farmers.
And so went this flow of fabulous ideas for some more time. Thampuran's face was glowing. His head was held high, chin up, and looking at his mansion and estate with great pride. I felt he was seeing a dream, where all was back to the past, when they were the lords of the land, and prosperity and abundance was what he could see all around. But now, there was a scarcity for fund, to renovate as he said. The trees were very old to give a good produce as they once did. I feel Thampuran was trying to escape the reality that he was struggling hard not to sell this land and property where his ancestors lived and died - the land where his roots really are.
He had packed his brief case by then. We insisted that we will drop him till the junction. But he continued walking aiming for the bus stop in the junction.
I asked my uncle "Will his plans work?".
He replied "Its his dream"
We waited there by the canal and watched his petite body disappear around the curve in the meandering road.
