Palani got out of his car and ambled in, with measured steps befitting a head of the village. The train station was unusually bustling with activity, he thought, compelling him immediately to exercise the grey matter. He otherwise kept that material snugly dormant, saving it for use at a more opportune moment, should one come about in the distant future. Given a choice, he would have preferred to keep in its pristine form, unused and fresh. If the railway authorities had a device for measuring the bustle, he would have been notified that it was three times the annual average on this specific, sunny day, with supporting data. Ignoring percentage increases, which were clearly beyond his ken, Palani could discern that there were nine other individuals on the platform, including the station master, who made earnest attempts to be on hand whenever a train passed through, despite all his other extraneous engagements. And that was at least eight too many overall, in Palani's opinion.
He knew at least one villager came for each train, as a rule, to pick up some visiting menace from the city and had provided for that. He also knew that Bala (as was the village practice, this name would never be mentioned by this author after this occasion; he was known as and called Uncle by this and all the neighbouring villages) that resident maniac with a brain bubbling like a sulphurous geyser in a seismic zone, with almost no avenue to channelize that energy, came there every single day for this train. Not that anyone came visiting him ever; he just liked looking at the train daily, especially the engine and waving at the passengers as it departed. After that he performed the routine of a pow-wow with the aforesaid villager who had picked up the visitor (Uncle called this the `juice extraction process'), with a view to ascertaining the circumstances of the visit and other related facts. Then Uncle chatted with the station master with his typical avuncular zeal for the personal welfare as well as professional development of the latter. Since station masters kept changing every six months, none of them realised that the motivation for Uncle's solicitude was that lovely cuppa that came to the station master's office at that specific time and the newspaper that arrived by that train daily.
But today, Palani observed with an electrifying quiver running up his spine, that most of the station platform was taken up by the massive presence of his village nemesis Mani, retired from the Indian Army. Mani was built along the lines of a stone column in a 11th century temple - dark, with a generous coat of some smelly oil on his body, without any clue to the observer as to whether the oil was being imported into or exported from his body; sporting a fragrance very similar to the ambient one in ancient temples where bats have resided for centuries. Mani also nurtured a healthy crop above his upper lip, the bushy salt and pepper growth on either side twirled into shape daily with more oil . For some strange reason, the creator had provided for some extra nooks and crannies in his face, resulting in the impression that this countenance has undergone extraordinary weathering changes or maintenance repairs. All in all, he was a forbidding presence. He was well aware of this most salient feature of his personality and never failed to use the fear his physique instilled in people, to gain the upper hand in his dealings with others. But, while God blessed him in this respect, He seems to have bypassed Mani, while doling out the usual quota of brain. As a result, Mani was all brawn and very little brain, a huge chink very few villagers exploited, not on ethical grounds, but due to the intimidating brawn factor. Unfortunately, Mani refused to acknowledge this shortcoming of his and tried to substitute what he did not have with an extra dose of what he possessed in ample quantities, which process made for a vicious cycle.
Palani was wondering why Mani and his cronies were congregated in the unlikely environs of the railway station. Did it have anything to do with the last mild disagreement the two had regarding the annual temple festival, provoking a melee in the main street of the village between the followers of the two worthies? Then it came to him in a blindingly inspirational flash that Mani's son was studying in the city and probably he was also coming home for the holidays, just as his own daughter was. This realisation made Palani breathe a bit easier, for, otherwise he was very clear that a small railway station was not a bush in which two robins like them could co-exist for any length of time!
Even as the turbulence in Palani's anxious mind was easing up, the daughter he was thinking about, Padma, was displaying signs of severe stress, as her destination drew closer. Usually, the tingling anticipation of seeing her parents and other friends made her beautiful face light up with radiance as the train neared the village. But this time, she was fidgety, as nervous as a first timer waiting for her turn to walk the fire-pit during the temple festival. The reason for the stress and nervousness was sitting right next to her on the train - Subbu, son of Mani.
Padma and Subbu had known each other all their lives, studying in the same schools and now in the same college in the city. This continuing proximity for the best part of their lives had gradually changed their friendship to love and both were contemplating informing their parents about their desire to marry during this vacation at home. This has been prompted by the decision of the Palani family to get Padma married in the next year or so, since she would be completing her graduation. While Padma was tense about the reaction of her parents, she was prepared for the disclosure, whereas the male of the species in this drama, Subbu, was a mental wreck thinking of facing his father with this hitherto undisclosed information. Padma had come to the conclusion that she would have to somehow manipulate the information flow towards Mani and his wife, because Subbu had seemed absolutely incapable of delivering these tidings. That made her doubly nervous; but she was still in a better state than her companion, who was almost ready to hide in the toilet of the train and give his village a good miss for the rest of his life. People who had seen Subbu grow up (many would actually question the accuracy of this statement, but the fact that he was physically grown-up was there for all to see and was therefore beyond dispute, this author would like to submit) would not have been surprised by such lily-livered behaviour and they genuinely sympathized with the youngster for his misfortune in having two rare specimens for parents.
Now, this scribe would be doing grave injustice to his readers, if all things were not put into perspective. This is as good a time as ever, he avers. Palani and Mani were themselves classmates and also soul mates when they were children. They were what the Americans would have called `joined-at-the-hip' for a long time, till that fateful day when they were about sixteen or so, a few days prior to the closure of their high school. It was that time at dusk, when vision tends to get blurred a bit and even the most gifted visionaries and seers wonder if they really saw what they thought they saw. Mani had a quarrel-based-on-principle with another friend regarding the quality of two brands of the mundane beedi which they were all smoking surreptitiously during the past few days. Friendly jibes led to abuses, followed by fisticuffs and missives being thrown at each other. It was the routine progression seen in all school-boy-fights, nothing new. Palani's efforts to pacify the warring brethren yielded nothing and soon he was cowering under the barrage of stuff being thrown about by both the parties.
As would happen eventually, when people could not see what they were throwing and at whom, but still insisted on bombarding the general area where the enemy was presumed to be (reminiscent of American troops in Afghanistan), disaster struck soon. Mani had launched two round, semi-soft handfuls of something warm and being a good marksman, scored with both; rather, to be exact, he hit with both, but not the intended enemy; one had hit, of all objects around, Palani himself and the other homed in on a relatively new and absolutely blameless entrant into the theatre of war. This unwitting stranger who got it smack in his face was none other than the headmaster of the school, who was strolling home after a very torrid day in office, which had drained from him all the milk of human kindness that usually flows through headmasters. To boot, he was sleep-deprived, because some overdue reports had robbed him of his one-hour siesta in the afternoon; so he was already in a sinister mood. More unfortunately for the boys, the headmaster was carrying a good torch; that was his equivalent of Amex card - `dont leave home without it' was his maxim- with him and with a howl, he switched it on and deciphered another form close to him with similar substance masking the face. After some effort at wiping what turned out to be freshly produced cow-dung from his own face, the headmaster proceeded to unmask the other person and identified Palani.
By this time, the actual culprits who were spraying the projectiles had vanished, leaving the two victims - one starting to assert himself with all his authority and winning the battle of unequals. For the headmaster it was a matter of a jiffy to procure the requisite facts from Palani, who was anyway fuming at having been unexpectedly fed some reasonably fresh cow-dung. He did not relish cow-dung for any meal and at that time he was not even hungry! Justice was delivered swiftly thereafter because Palani, having blabbered something about beedis in his desire to begin his account at the beginning , had to come clean with everything including who the culprits were in a specially organized inquisition, with his parents and the headmaster leading the way. The rest was simple - Mani got thrashed by his father on the one side and punished by the headmaster on the other, going through double jeopardy- if you will. Mani never fully forgave Palani for betraying a close friend, so what if he stuffed you with cow-dung once!! The latter, for his part, justifiably felt he was the aggrieved party and never again tried to restore the relationship to anywhere near status-quo-ante. Being head honchos in the village, they had to interact from time to time, but it was always a bristling, simmering kind of relationship where a single scratch could produce a massive explosion, with plenty of collateral damage. Intelligent readers would have, by now, grasped the reasons behind the stress experienced by the youngsters on the train.
Mani's physical valour has always been restricted to the external world; at home, he was the veritable underdog, with his dominating wife ruling the roost and everything else. So, everyday on his way home from anywhere, Mani had to consciously undergo a gradual transformation from being the oppressor to the oppressed, so that the change did not hit him in the face all of a sudden when he was inside his home. He felt that this cultivated habit had served him well all these years since his marriage. Mrs Mani had a small physique, but she made up for the lack of size with her larynx, gifted with very strong vocal chords. And she had more cerebral content than Mani. Now, some malicious neighbours may counter that was not saying much; something like a company showing a stupendous increase of 200% in profits, when the base was a measly amount. But an author has to be impartial in his portrayal and this one would vouch that Mrs Mani could match wits with many in the village and stand on her own! Mani was mortally afraid of Mrs because the latter did not have any qualms about berating him in public for his faults and stupid actions, of which there was a continuous supply in the pipeline. He was happy if the dressing down took place in private or if at all an audience had to be there, if it was restricted to his own son, Subbu. Mani had a good reason for making this allowance. He expected the son, with his college education and city habits, to miraculously do something and free the father from the clutches of his mother one day. But ironically, this expectation did not prevent him to bullying his son whenever he got an opportunity, away from the domineering personality of his wife.
As the train chugged in to the station it first passed Mani on the platform and both the youngsters saw the village bully, looking as if he was in mid-season form. Subbu had hoped that through some miracle, his father would have shrunk in size and his visage would have mellowed a bit and was devastated to notice that nothing much had changed. He was still debating whether to implement his plan of using the toilet to hide, when Padma glared at him and said 'One week is all you have to tell your parents; if you dont, you will probably get my marriage invitation in the next month or so'. An ultimatum Subbu was not even in a position to comprehend, so it was as good as returned undelivered! With that, she got out of the train with her bag and waited for her father to come over.
Subbu waited till he had no choice because the train started moving again out of the station and reluctantly got down, to get the first reprimand of the holiday season from a hassled parent. 'Why are you ambling along like a lady? Couldn't you have got down faster?'. With those warm, welcoming remarks, he shepherded the son to the waiting car - one of the two in the village, the other one being Palani's. During that short walk to the car, Subbu's face had developed a more bovine look and he was easing into the accustomed routine of shaking his head up and down pretty much like cattle did. This was his defence mechanism against any verbal onslaught of either of his parents!! As he got into the car, he saw Palani's car passing them, with Padma looking at him directly in the eye, holding up seven fingers! In his confused state, Subbu could not make the connection and was wondering what that signal meant. Padma was just telling him seven days were all he had!
For a couple of days there was no sign of any eruption in and around the village, so it looked like all was well with the two families. Actually, neither Padma nor Subbu had yet given any indication to their parents of what was on their minds and the latter was getting very comfortable with that kind of stable status quo. He was wondering, from time to time, whether it was worth stirring up passions in two dormant volcanoes like his parents by bringing up the subject of marriage with Padma. It was in this state that he walked into the local restaurant for a cup of the stimulating stuff and ran straight into the wily Uncle. Even though the latter had not established direct communication with the former in the past two days of co-existence in the village, Uncle was perceptive enough to notice even at the railway station that all was not well with the boy. The degree of bovinity in Subbu's face had increased in the last couple of days, indicating to Uncle a marked deterioration in the situation. So, when he waved the boy to his table in the corner, his mind was made up -- here is a case which requires his wisdom-backed intervention immediately.
With the adroitness of a seasoned navigator, Uncle started in right earnest. `Why are you looking like a calf forcibly separated from the cow? Something bothering you??'. Subbu sighed deeply as he lowered himself into the chair, even as Uncle asked for two cups of hot tea. `Is your father still pestering you to settle down in the village after finishing college?' Uncle asked, recalling the last known source of friction between the father and son during the previous vacation. Subbu was weighing all available options. He had to be very careful with Uncle because the latter was notorious for muddying the waters in his scatter-brained attempts to find solutions. During earlier confabulations Padma had almost barred him from involving Uncle in any 'loony venture' in this context. But Subbu was also painfully aware that the village was not really teeming with smart people who had the mental faculty to grapple with a problem of this magnitude. And time was running out. So, over the cup of tea, he succinctly laid bare all the facts of his case and the onerous situation facing him.
Uncle absorbed all the information like the veritable sponge and ordered another cuppa for further stimulation. With uncanny wisdom not very different from Chanakya's, Uncle divined that the two warring fathers had to be brought together in amity, in order for the proposed alliance between the progeny to work. `I see. Difficult situation, indeed', he pronounced, with the same assurance Newton would have displayed when he figured out why the apple had dropped from the tree. But, behind the facade, his feverish mind's creaking wheels were turning rapidly and it was no surprise that within a jiffy he had the outlines of a plan in his mind. `No choice, you have to save Padma from a dire situation and win the appreciation of her parents'. Subbu was irritated. `I am in the direst of spots myself and you are asking me to save Padma from a dire situation. You have to get your head examined by the vet'. That was a clear indication that Subbu had his wits about him, for the villagers believed more in their vet than the doctor!
Uncle smiled sympathetically at Subbu and said `How about fighting with a few ruffians and saving her, when she is on her way back from the temple, with her mother'? Uncle was always eager to test cinematic situations in real life and here he saw a clear window to be the director of a small but interesting episode. Subbu was beginning to grasp Uncle's drift but had a serious objection. `You know I cannot fight one guy; how am I to fend off a few of them?'. Very valid, coming from the hero himself, who had a gratifyingly acute awareness of the self. But Uncle was in his elements and was not going to be denied. `Dont worry about that. I will set everything up with the bad guys. Nobody will get hurt, but our objective will be achieved'. Subbu had his own doubts, but had to go along for he knew he could come up with no viable alternative at all by himself. By the evening Uncle had arranged for some `town' youth to be part of his directorial venture and the enactment was fixed for the next evening, since Padma and her mother went to the temple every single day at the same time. Subbu's bright suggestion that they should notify Padma of the plan so that she did not panic was shot down by the director because he wanted the spontaneous reaction of the girl to the situation in front of her mother to enhance the outcome. That night Subbu had a series of nightmares of thugs relentlessly chasing and battering him, with Uncle on the sidelines roaring with laughter and egging the thugs on!! Whether it was in self-defence or there was some other reason we will never know, Subbu spent all the time between nightmares in the bathroom, cringing from imagined invasions of army of goons! The next day he fared no better, but avoided nightmares by eschewing the horizontal position completely.
When the appointed time drew close, Subbu met Uncle and had what he imagine was his last cuppa before execution and then they both proceeded to the venue where action was to take place. Uncle was a keen advocate of realism in movies, so it was no surprise that he wanted the forthcoming event to be realistic to the extent possible. But he made it clear to both Subbu and the set of hired acting-goons that he did not want any bloodshed or injuries; this was a great morale booster to Subbu. But when he actually saw Padma and her mother approaching at a distance, he started having entirely fresh nightmares even though he was standing upright. He stumbled along, shoved forward by Uncle and just as he was closing in, the bunch of acting-goons put on their menacing best and started saying things about Padma and moving towards her from the other side.They were supposed to converge near Padma and commence the fracas when the hero was to do justice to the script and bash up the bad guys, thereby earning the gratitude of Padma's mother. But fate intervened in the form of a sizable stone protruding in his path, as he made tentative progress and was almost in the midst of the other participants in the drama. Even at his somnolent speed, Subbu tripped on that stone and took flight, crashed with a thud amongst his fellow actors and was so frightened he went into an imaginary coma.
Padma, who could not clearly see what transpired, concluded that the thugs were beating up her loved one for some reason and reacted with previously undisclosed alacrity to take matters into her own hands. Those who were blessed to be in the vicinity, as Uncle was, saw her in a new avatar that evening and were so overawed that they did not play any part in what ensued. Padma rained karate blows and kicks on the bunch of boys and as we all know, the latter were neither built nor prepared for that. They just packed up without waiting for the signal from the director and vanished into the sunset. Subbu lay fixed to his spot on the sidelines, rendered absolutely speechless by the demolition job done by Padma and for a change, the loquacious Uncle joined Subbu in the speechless state. Both just gaped at Padma as she asked Subbu if he was okay, without any trace of emotion as if the latter was a complete stranger and started propelling her mother away towards their home. So, this particular enterprise mounted by Uncle ended up by not conforming to his script in any way. That also meant Uncle had to dole out double the compensation to the hired actors, who were clearly told that they will not be bodily harmed. They demanded their pound of flesh for the ironclad contract being breached badly and that too with karate blows from a young girl.
Despite all his violent protestations, Subbu was forced to go to the doctor for minor treatment, even as Uncle's brain was in a whirl, trying to see how to make the best of the messy situation on hand. Subbu kept bleating that Uncle should have accepted his idea of informing Padma of the plan, simply because it was seldom, if at all, he generated an idea of any sort and could put one across Uncle. So, he was rightfully miffed at having been ignored, when he had something significant to offer. The older man, for a change, was clearly on the back foot, but no one could keep a genuinely good man down for long, as we all know. And Uncle belonged to that exalted category of individuals who always look for positive takeaways from fiascos and try to extract good thread from stones! As Subbu was getting bandaged in a few places to cover the bruises, Uncle got the solution in a flash, much as the sun breaks through voluminous dark clouds. This time he would not even share the plan with anyone but would see it through himself. He asked his ward to go home with his bandages and asked him to pretend as if he has been injured badly and to say the barest minimum to his parents about the incident. He sought to convert the failure of the evening into a victory through some shrewd manoeuvring which he always thought was the hallmark of his plans.
Uncle gave time to Padma and her mother to reach home and also for the mother to adoringly explain the evening's incident in detail to her husband. Valour being alien to his own character, Palani wondered where Padma got this trait from, but wisely desisted from analyzing any further. While he felt very proud that his daughter took on a horde - yes, by the time Padma's mother finished with the tale, the simple woman had given the impression that there were a few hundred people involved - of thugs and emerged victorious, he was extremely peeved that the victim who was saved was the scion of his tormentor, Mani. `What is the need to get involved in a fisticuffs with boys? And that too, in defence of that lout's son? What would people think of you and our family? I made a mistake sending you to the city to study' he grumbled to Padma. The daughter was happy to note that her father's resentment was not directed at Subbu. 'On the contrary, Appa, you should be proud and happy that city education and environment have given me the ability to be independent in a lot of ways. Would you rather I left that chap at the mercy of the thugs and walked off? After all he is my friend too'. And the mother extended her wholehearted support to that line of argument.
At this juncture, Uncle entered the fray. `Hmm, are you alright, my child? You made quick work of those guys'. Padma blushed and said `yes'. Then he turned to Palani. `You should be flattered you have an action heroine for a daughter. She was just amazing out there. The unfortunate part was that Subbu was actually rushing towards the guys who were teasing Padma to warn them off, when he stumbled on the protruding stone and fell in a heap. If he had had his way, Padma would not have been involved in that melee'. Now, Padma, her mother and father were all surprised by this revelation. `Really? You mean to say Subbu was prepared to fight those boys for the sake of Padma', Palani asked. `Of course, that was why he surged forward without looking where he was going and hit the stone to fall in a heap. Poor chap is badly injured and the doctor thinks he will take a few days to recover'. By now Padma's mother was all gooey in the true tradition of Indian cinema because the youngster got bashed up for her daughter's sake. Palani was very touched too and felt ashamed that only a minute ago he was criticising Padma for going to help Subbu. For once, his animus towards the father was drowned in the goodness of the son's heart. Padma was wondering how badly Subbu was hurt. Uncle said `let me go and check on that boy. He may need some help and might have to be moved to the hospital in the city', trying to drive home the initial advantage gained in the exchanges.
Subbu was softly moaning in pain and his mother was fussing all over him. `What happened? Who did this to you? Tell me and I will break a few limbs tonight' Mani was heard roaring at his son. Uncle made his timely entry. `How are you doing, my boy? You did very well staving off that many boys, I should say'. He briefly went through the scene of the evening's main event for the benefit of Mani and his wife. `When Subbu was down and at the mercy of that bunch of goons, you know who saved him from more severe damage?'. `Who?'
`None other than Padma, your friend's daughter'. Mani rose a few inches from the floor, as if something blew and lifted him up. `Stop your asinine prattle. How and why would that idiot's daughter help him?'. Seeing the opening and with his immaculate sense of timing, Uncle went in for the sucker punch now with subtle variations in this new version of the tale, aimed at enlightening the parents in attendance. He gave Subbu an honourable exit route by saying that while his intention was absolutely impeccable, his execution fell short simply due to the intervening stone. But when the boy was down and could not have fended off multiple attackers, it was Padma who came to his rescue and how!!
Well, by late night that day, Uncle seemed to have accomplished something well nigh impossible - some initial thaw in the relationship between Palani and Mani. Like the true diplomat he was, he made the next logical move two days later by suggesting to Mani that his family should express gratitude to Padma by visiting the latter. Mani initially bubbled up a bit at that, but when his wife exercised her lung power he succumbed like a lamb and went with the family to Palani's house. The latter was simply overwhelmed by the truly generous gesture of Mani's family and by the next day the friends-turned-foes-turned-friends were back-slapping and recounting precisely that incident thirty years ago which caused friction between them. Uncle was, of course, part of the conviviality and he promptly suggested why the two families could not strengthen the ties further through the marriage of Padma and Subbu.
At the engagement ceremony, while Subbu was getting ready to slip the ring through Padma's finger, Uncle said `Wait, my boy. Everyone, please get out of the way and also remove anything that Subbu is likely to stumble on. We need him to stand upright for this'!!.
