Original: Ganga Snanam (கங்கா ஸ்நானம்)
In English: Saravanan Karmegam
Chinna Swamy was standing on the banks of the river Ganga,
watching it flow, swirling and eddying. The banks looked as high as three
quarters of a coconut tree. The blue light coming from a nearby storied house
was falling on the water dimly. The thoughts oscillated between water and his
home, rendering him almost oblivious to either Ganga or Kashi.
His wife asked him something.
“….”
“Listen here.”
“Mmm.”
“The width seems double that of the Cauvery River in
Kumbakonam. Doesn’t it?”
“Mmm…it looks so."
He felt someone laugh. His back shuddered once with a deep
chill.
“You are still unable to forget that. Aren’t you?” She
glanced at his face as she was washing her legs in water.
“Mmm”
“You haven’t bathed yet. How much longer would I stand here?”
He climbed down the steps further into the water." “It’s
said our karma would never leave us, even in Kashi. Now you see... that
scoundrel is standing right in front of me.”
“Let him stand. Let him. He must have bathed in the Ganga
yesterday. My mother Ganga would have washed all his sins away. Why should we
remember all those things now? You please take a bath now,” she said, getting
into the river, and chanted, “O! Mother! My Mother Ganga!” and bathed with her
heart full of happiness.
“It is easy to say not to remember anything. Now, in a short
while, I have to face him. What if I am destined to share some words with him?
The very thought of it gets me astounded. It is that the remaining thousand
rupees, apart from the three thousand rupees, have brought us here. Right?
Would we have dared to visit this place if it had been only for the sake of my
sister? Or would that have been so destined for him to visit here before us?
What is God doing in this? He is just playing with my destiny?”
“I too don’t understand all these that clearly. But we can
think of it after taking a bath. We can inform our landlord and leave from
there with our luggage to find some other place to stay. You please first take
a bath. Mother Ganga would offer us some solution.”
A boat went past them with its steady noise of rowing.
Chinna Swamy again felt someone laugh. He too felt like
laughing. He stepped into the water, got into it, and bathed fully.
"Gosh, the water is as chill as crystals.” He scooped a
handful of water and gently dropped it through his fingers. His body shuddered
once. The tenderness of water coupled with the weird circumstances that tend to
mock at his situation. Would anyone ever believe this coincidence?
**
The train reached Kashi at about eight in the night. Our
travails with the crowds in the train, layers of coals, dust, and dirt of three
days, the reek of old butter from the co-passengers who boarded the train at
Nagpur, and rushing crowds in louse-ridden shabby shirts and Veshti—all
disappeared the moment we set our feet in Kashi, and an inexplicable peace and
an innate desire to see the River Ganga overwhelmed our hearts. A man from a
Tamil priest who settled in Kashi a few generations ago had come there to
receive us.
As we sat down, keeping our luggage in the house, the owner
came to me and asked, “Where do you hail from?”
“Savukka Natham”
“From Thanjavur district?”
“Yes”
“We are also from Thanjavur district. But we own nothing
there now. We had long become the men of this city, Kashi, since the day my
grandfather settled here.”
He went to Vaitheeswaran Temple last year to have his second
child shave off his hair.
“You went there from Kashi?”
“Why not? Even if you go to the seven heavens, we can’t get rid
of our family deity. Can we? Kashi is a place where we had settled. But my
family deity is still the god Vaithyanathan.”
Chinna Swamy couldn’t help laughing when he was washing off
his three days of dirt, thinking of the house owner’s longings for his native,
which reared him up on its laps three generations ago.
“Last time I visited Vaitheeswaran Temple, Sirgazhi,
Kumbakonam, Thiruvarur... not a place left. Somewhere near Thiruvarur, a man
did come here a day ago. Right?” He asked an assistant standing near him.
"Yes, he is from Vilancheri. Do you know it?” The
assistant turned, adjusting his thick glass eye frame.
“Vilancheri? My sister has been married off there. We had
come here with the help of money she gave me.”
“Then you must be knowing this man as well.”
“Who’s that?”
“He came here yesterday early in the morning, probably from
Prayag. His name is Duraiyappa. He has gone to the temple to see the puja.”
“Duraiyappa…?” Chinna Swamy’s head spun as if a thunderbolt
had descended on it.
“Yes”
“Dark man, cleft-chinned?”
“Yes”
“On his forehead, on its right, is there a scar?”
"Yes, it is the same man. He’ll come back any time after
watching Puja given to God, Visweswaran.”
“O.K.”
Chinna Swamy grew restless and felt someone laugh. It seemed
Duraiyappa himself was laughing at him. A devilish laughter. ‘How come this
scoundrel is here? How could he opt this time to come here? That too, when I am
here at the same place where he stays.’ A barrage of unanswered questions hit
his mind. His entirety shook a little. “This bloke? Now? At this place?”
He came out of the water, towelled his hair, put on a new
silk cloth, got into the water, washed his legs again, smeared some Thiruneeru
on his body, and sat in prayer. His wife was changing her sari.
“I have to, now, face this chap. Whose mischief is this?”
Elder sister kept whining about visiting Kashi quite often.
After three years of family life with her husband in Vilancheri, she returned
to her parent’s house in her fourth year. Thankfully, Father and Mother were
not there to see all this amusement. Her husband became bedridden on the
seventh day after she left him. On the eighth day, he died.
She returned to the place from where she left, like an
unfamiliar man stranded in a forest. Yearnings and diseases started fast eating
up the woman who had lived three years in confinement and faced the ignominy of
an unlucky woman who wiped off every fortune from home. She asked me to sell
her husband’s land. Now I had four thousand rupees in my hand—the price of it.
She remained conscious till the day before her death and told me:
“Chinna Swamy, Duraiyappa isn’t aware of my pathetic health
condition. Had he known it, he would have paid a visit here. How much do we
have to pay him?”
After due calculation, it stood at three thousand and
forty-seven rupees.
“Don’t ever beg to condone this amount. You have to pay him
off without leaving a paise. Do you understand it?”
“First, get well, Akka. There is no urgency for it now.”
“No. I won’t make it anymore. I know my condition, Chinna
Swamy. I thought of going away from this world after seeing that debt being
paid off. It didn’t happen. You do it now.”
“O.K.”
“Some amount of thousand rupees will be in balance. I dreamt
of living in the fantasy of visiting Kashi with that amount. It didn’t also
happen. You and your wife go to Kashi and bathe in Ganga, bearing me in your
hearts. And you can use that amount for travel expenses on trains and other
lodging requirements. You must not bear a penny of expenses from your pocket.”
The next day, there reduced the total count of my family by
one. ‘Is it for what you were born, lived, and died meaninglessly, just to pay
off the debt your husband had left?’
After a month, Chinn Swamy left for Vilancheri with the
remaining three thousand and some odd sum. When he reached Vilancheri, it was
already dusk. The wind was chilly. One could keep watching admiringly
Duraiyappa’s house, veranda, and doorway. Exclusively shiny, smooth surfaces!
Duraiyappa was leisurely reclining in an easy chair.
“Mama”
“Who’s that?”
“It’s me.”
A hurricane lamp was dangling above my head in the main hall.
“Me? Who’s that?”
“Chinna Swamy”
“Oh! Our Chinna Swamy”
“Yes… Mama.”
“Please come in. Come in. When did you come?”
“Just a moment ago.”
“So pathetic… Sundarambal is no more.”
“Yes…Mama. That’s all her luck to be here.”
“Any serious ailments in the body?"
“No ailments in body. Just unfulfilled desires.”
“Pch…Hell with the chores! Neither he nor you are lucky
enough. The villagers were chomping on it for quite a while about it. May I
know the reason behind your troubled journey to come here now?”
“I came here to settle a pending matter, Mama.”
“No big deal about that pending matter. Does it?”
“Akka summoned me the day before her death and asked me to
calculate the amount to be settled. She wasn’t comfortable going with this
burden.”
“Pch…debt…what’s the big deal about it? Any big deal about
this big debt or what?”
“It stood at three thousand and forty-seven rupees at that
time.”
“Mmm.”
“It is one more month added now. Right?”
“Yeah…I would be able to purchase a village with that
one-month interest amount. Wouldn’t I? You fool.”
“Can we calculate it now? I have come ready.
“Have you brought the money?”
“Yes…I have brought”
“Why take trouble now? I am very tired. I have been standing
in the field since morning. Feeling hungry. Sleepy too. Isn't it a good idea if
I receive it in the morning?”
“O.K”
‘Is it for this petty matter that you took the trouble of
travelling this distance by train and bus?”
"Isn't it my duty to undertake that trouble?”
“You, a fool! Had you written me a letter, I would have come
there to collect it. Why this unwarranted troubled journey?”
“It wouldn’t look good. Handing it over to you in person is
respectful. Isn’t it?”
“O.K…O.K…We can settle it in the morning. You may leave now.”
“Then keep this cash with you now. We can settle it in the
morning. I am going to sleep here. The wind is cool here.”
“You want me somehow move away from my seat. Don’t you? It’s
O.K. Give it to me.”
Chinna Swamy gave him the bundle of cash. Duraiyappa kept it
in his safe and locked it.
“Please come in washing your legs. Let’s have dinner
together.”
After dinner, they were chit-chatting till midnight. The
village used to go to sleep by half past six. The place became quiet without
the bustle of the village, except for the chirping of crickets. The bells
hanging in the necks of bulls sounded somewhere. A child was crying elsewhere.
Duraiyappa gave Chinna Swamy a bedsheet and a pillow and went
in, locking the door. Chinna Swamy lay on the veranda, with his thoughts
growing perceptive. “What a big man Duraiyappa is! He is really a great soul!
How respectful he is! How lenient in negotiating hard things! When Chinna Swamy
got off the bus that evening at Vilancheri corner, he heard someone praising
Duraiyappa’s ‘offering food’ to everyone. One could get food at Duraiyappa’s
house, no matter who he is and when it is. He is popularly known as
“Annadada”—the man who offers limitless food to everyone—throughout the
district. In every train journey, one would be able to meet at least one
passenger who would praise it. What a difference! A beauty of politeness that
comes in handy to the great souls’
The cool wind that was blowing a while ago also stopped.
Chinna Swamy fell asleep.
In the morning he had a breakfast with four crispy dosa, some
curd along with the last dosa, and a coffee that prompted one to wonder about
its taste, a salubriousness fighting the sunlight in the hall after meals, the
floor that knew no sunlight—a sort of coolness filled in Chinna Swamy’s heart.
Duraiyappa came with a deed document, sat in front, put on
his spectacles, and closely scrutinised the document. After a diligent
calculation, he looked up to Chinna Swamy and said, “So, can we now make the
entry as settled?”
“Mmm,” Chinna Swamy said.
“O.K. Take out the cash”
“You are keeping the cash with you,” Chinna Swamy said,
smiling at him mildly, wondering if Duraiyappa might have confused it with
something else.
“You say money is with me?”
“Yes…Mama. You kept it in the safe last night.”
“What did I keep?”
“Don’t be funny, Mama…I gave you three thousand and
forty-seven rupees. It was bound with thick, red-coloured papers as a bundle.”
“Don’t be silly, Chinna Swamy. Don’t be silly like a kid.”
“Am I silly? You play funny Mama.
“Mama or son-in-law…does it matter anyway? Take out the cash.
I get late for the field. Don’t get me late.”
“Mama…please check your safe once again.”
“Again playing funny! Haven’t you brought the money with
you?”
Chinna Swamy started to feel his stomach rumble. At the same
time, he preferred to believe that Mama was still playing pranks with him.
“Please bring it, Mama…”
“What nonsense are you up to? You keep telling me to bring
it. Is it time to play pranks?”
“Mama…I am telling you the truth.
“It’s alright. I get to leave now. I have work to do.
“Mama…Mama”
“Leave your Mama now.”
“That red-coloured bundle, Mama?”
Chinna Swamy stood terribly stunned. He felt his abdomen
growing heavy as if a big stone had fallen into it.
“Did you come by train or bus?”
“Bus”
“Where were you keeping the cash?”
“In my bag. I brought it very carefully and gave it to you.
You told me we could settle it in the morning, gently sulking that I was trying
to move you away from your chair, and you kept it safely in your safe.”
“You are a sinner! How skillfully you could narrate it as if
really happened?” Duraiyappa yelled in a high pitch; his face looked pale as if
slapped by some demons. “Come here to see the… My entire body coils with
shame,” he shrieked and went in, opened the safe, and exposed its interiors.
Opened other iron boxes and wooden boxes. Look well…See it with your own eyes.”
Chinna Swamy was standing still as if severely smacked on his
head. He ran to Durayappa’s wife and then ran out. He took his complaints to the
accountant and village headman as his tongue dried up, lips shivering, and the
body trembling. The men of that village came there. Duraiyappa was sitting like
a madman, reclining in his easy chair. The almirahs in the hall were kept open.
Clothes and utensils were found strewn around the floor.
Everyone blinked, knowing nothing of what happened.
“Mama…what is all this? He is saying something,” the village
headman said.
“I first thought he was playing funny. But he kept pledging
it is true again and again. It is nothing short of a big thunder-like blow on
me. So I simply sat down, totally beaten. You can very well rummage the whole
house.”
The village headman and his men inquired about everyone and
everything again. Chinna Swamy cried helplessly. They searched everything
again.
“I never thought that you would betray me like this, Mama.”
Chinna Swamy sobbed silently as his voice grew heavier.
“You, the sinner! Let your mouth rot. He is our Annadada, da!
He is a saint-like man! He has offered food in heaps like hills. Never raise
your voice against him,” the accountant admonished Chinna Swamy.
A train was passing on the Ganga Bridge at a distance under
darkness. Chinna Swamy came there from a distant place and got entangled with
the men of Vilancheri Village, complained to everyone, cried in front of
everyone, begged almost everyone, and at last grew stoic at everything around
him—but what did he exactly win at last? Duraiyappa went to the court. The
travesty of judgment came with a compromise—that Chinna Swamy had to settle the
amount without interest. When Chinna Swamy refused to accept the verdict, he
was intimidated by the judge that he would pass the judgment, making Chinna
Swamy pay full payment with interest. At last, accepting this compromise by way
of settling it with his own money…
‘It had been four years now since all this drama was
orchestrated. Now I had come to Kashi to fulfill my elder sister’s second wish.
But on the very first day, God is testing my nerves by sending Duraiayappa to
the same place where I am staying. Chinna Swamy delved into thoughts.
Chinna Swamy’s wife was still sitting in prayer. Would anyone
believe it? Let alone what had happened. Would anyone believe what is happening
today?’
“Can we leave now?” His wife asked him, Rose?
“Mmm.”
Chinna Swamy rose. Climbing on two steps, he stopped and
said, “Wait, I couldn’t pray. My heart was just resenting Duraiyappa for his
deeds.”. He then got into the water and bathed again.
“Do have an ablution to wash away his sins as well,” his wife
said.
When he came out of the water, she said, “Don’t dig out the
old things when you meet him. If he had come back, do strike up a casual
conversation, thinking that you have washed away his sins by performing an
ablution. If he hadn’t come back from the temple, we would pack up and leave
the place immediately before seeing his wretched face.”
“Let’s see what is waiting for us.” Chinna Swamy turned
north, glanced at bathing bays emitting lights, and climbed on the steps.
