Translated
into English by Saravanan Karmegam
***
Chapter
31: Penang
Pandian alighted from the Bangkok
Express that halted at Perai railway station. The passengers rushed to catch a
steamer leaving for Penang.
“Pandi”
The voice came from the left side,
Pandian turned his head. Manikkam strode through the crowd, came running to
him. He was wearing a white shirt and grey colour pant and a dark green fez hat
on head. A cigarette was emitting thin lines of smoke on the corner of his
mouth. Following him, came Abdul Kader in lungi and a cap on head and Chellaiah
in Veshti and vibhooti on forehead.
Pandian looked at them yearningly,
almost nostalgically. ‘What a change! What a change! In a very short span of
time, we have all turned to what we had been earlier, and are still changing.
The clerks wear pants, the Muslims from Venkusa shops wear fez cap on head, and
pawn shop attendants are with veshti on waist’
“Manikkam,, Kader, Chellaiah”
Welcome…Welcome…let’s be graced
with your presence”
Manikkam was theatrical in his
entreaties while his left hand touched him with a genuine love. Chellaiah and
Kader grasped his hands lovingly.
“Let’s have a coffee” Abdul Kader
said.
“It gets late. We can leave by this
boat itself. Can’t we?”
“You can leave by the boat
leaving for Kola Perai. We have car too.” Manikkam moved aside, and told “A new
has been opened there. Go and try Meekoreng”
“O.K. We may go there”
They boarded the car parked
outside the railway station. Manikkm drove the car.
“What is Resan doing? How is he? How
about Masanam and Muthaiah?”
“He has become an important
person in Bangkok with filthy money thrown away like water. He says Bangkok
will be his city forever. Masanam and Muthaiah also follow his suit. I don’t think
they would ever leave that city”
The car stopped in front of
Sungking restaurant. They entered and occupied a chair in south east corner and
sat around it.
“Is Navannaa around here?”
“Wouldn’t he have come here had
he been here? He left for his home by the first ship. Auditor is in Singapore. Anbananda
Adigal is in Eppo. I think Navanna would visit Pranmalai first. Taking advantage
of your absence here, he used to be our biggest nuisance with his repeated
admiration for Kalyani. Is she such fine quality material or what?”
“Very ordinary stuff. But this man
has found something in her and remain intoxicated”
The bartender came to them and
politely asked their preferences. Manikkam gave him the order.
“Challaiah, where is Avanna? Has
he gone to Medan? Or is he around here?”
“Even before the ship service resumed,
he left by lenj”
“Why are you going to Sumathra now? Manikkam
asked. “If you want to go back home, you can get into the ship from here”
“I have to meet some friends there.
It is Medan city where I first joined for my duty”
Plates with food stuff and
porcelain coffee cups reached their table. They began having meals as they
talked.
“I don’t like you going to
Sumathra at this time. Everywhere it is chaotic. The situation may grow worse
in coming days”
“I have already decided to pay a
visit there”
“O.K. It is your wish” Manikkam
said as his left hand fingers running through his hair. His turned his half-closed
eyes to Chellaiah and asked, “Dei….What are you doing? Eating Meekoreng or just
catching chicken?”
“Stupid stuff- full of fat. They
cooked some nonsense”
“Oh! Full of fats! Do you think
this is a ‘Coffee and meals restaurant’ run by some Brahmins? It is Sungking
restaurant”
“As a special case, we can ask
them to make him a meekoreng made of pulse and brinjal” Abdul Kader slapped
Chellaiah’s back with his left hand as he stood up wriggling his body. “Don’t betray
your tummy, pal. Eat well” he said.
“Deiii….you stout ass! It seems
the nutrition from meekoreng has got into your arms. “The Chinese has added
some meat too. Do you know that?”
“Let him add whatever he wants. All
are meat anyway”
They got into the car and left
for jetty.
“I hope there is no trouble in
Sundaram matter”
“How’d we be responsible if he
died of heart attack? Manikkam laughed. “Inspector Kuppusamy and Berkle screwed
him for three days. But the way he got them disappointed with his skills even left
the inspector aghast.
“I thought he is just an amateur play
boy”
“I too thought so. The inspector
is aware that there is one more unidentifiable person involved along with
Natarajan in causing Sundaran get heart attack.”
“”How did he know Natarajan?”
“I don’t know. The inspector
surmises that the ‘other guy’ is me. He keeps nagging me to re-enact the scene
of heart attack in the pretext of gaining professional knowledge”
Both laughed.
“Where is Natarajan now?”
“He is in Kuala Lumpur. We had a
damn tough time to get him out of this place. Every day he would pick fights
one or another”
“Rakbirlal matter?”
“It is over with Jarang camp.
Englishmen are smarter that way” He slowed down the car and stopped it. “They
are more interested only in current accounts. If they’d wasted their time in
digging out some useless old stuff, they would have left with no time to manage
such a big empire.”
Pandian reached Penang on
Saturday noon hours and stayed there for whole of Sunday and till Monday
evening. With the usual fervor of Tamils who returned to their mother land,
Pandian paid visits to Thanneer Malai, New Beach, and Snake Temple along with
his friends.
On Monday, he reached the harbour with the entourage
of his friends. Cryon! He didn’t notice the name of the ship. It was the same
ship that carried him to Sumathra when he went there for first time. After undertaking
numerous journeys in various oceans during war, it had now returned, ostensibly
to take him back to Sumathra.
The time of departure neared. He
said everyone good bye and boarded the ship. The siren of the ship went off
loudly. The ship Cryon left for Belawan harbour at fifteen past five.
Men, cars, buildings and ships became dimmer and finally disappeared from view.
Penang city and Malaya went
behind.
The crimson rays of the Sun in the
west grew duller, gradually.
***Chapter
31: Penang ended***
Chapter 32: “Cryon” will be
posted shortly.
