Chapter 12
The Dreadful Commute to School
The Dreadful Commute to School
Vedas divide Hindus into different categories - Brahmins,
Kshatriyas, etc. - each performing a designated job. Brahmins are supposed to
be scholars and masters of our scriptures. Kshatriyas are a warrior community
ever ready to fight.
As students of the Brahmin-occupied Ramanathapuram village
we were studious, religious, and minded our own business. Our counterparts from
the adjacent Kshatriya-dominated Puthur village were well dressed,
self-confident and never took anything lying down.
The Ramanathapuram herd walked to school via the single-path
bund of the paddy fields. Half way the Puthur battalion would meet the RNP gang
from their direction. The two groups together had necessarily to walk past a
common bund for about one hundred yards before entering into the open. This
hundred-yard stretch was a bottleneck, and very often a battlefield between the
two clans.
The spark for the clash varied. Sometimes it would be
physical smartness. A Puthur boy would deliberately trip RNP boy’s leg from
behind when he overtook him, causing the RNP boy to fall on the muddy paddy
field and get wet. Or, when the Puthur boy overtook the RNP boy, he would rub
RNP boy’s shoulder a little too fiercely so as to let his books slip in the
muddy water.
On occasions it would be a verbal one-upmanship. Taking a
dig at an RNP boy for having given the right answer in the class the previous
day where the Puthur boy had miserably failed, they would tease, “Ask this
Pattar for any doubt, he is a Mr Know-All.” The word ‘Pattar’ is as detestable
to Brahmins in Kerala as the word ‘Paappaan’ is to Brahmins in Tamil Nadu.
Or, they would comment on the RNP boys’ casual walk, engaged
in a lively chat. “Looks like the Sambar-gulping Pattars had a little too much
of it this morning. Or, must be coming straight after a free feast at someone’s
house. Hence they are swinging, not walking.” They would then render in unison
a Malayalam poet’s lines: Eli, Panni,
Perichhazi, Pattarum, Vaanaram Tha Tha; Ivar Eivarum Illengil, Malayalam
Manoharam, (Rat, pig, bandicoot, Pattar (Brahmin), and Monkey; If these
five are absent, Malayalam land would be beautiful). The RNP group would
retaliate with a homespun Sanskrit slokam that hit them below the belt as it
invoked their parents.
Verbal dual has a knack of assuming physical proportions. It
is here that they displayed qualities of Kshatriya dharma. They all united to
pounce on the one that provoked them like a lioness and her herd on a prey in
Animal Planet. On the contrary, the RNP gang, firm believers of destiny, would
let their member fight it out single-handed. Their sole support consisted of
chanting peace mantras: Sivam, Sivakaram, Shaantam…, Sarvesham Svastir Bhavatu,
Sarvesham Shantir Bhavatu…, Sahana Vavathu, Sahanau Bhunaktu…. Here too each claimed
that his slokam was more effective than the others’, as their friend struggled
to wriggle out of the ravages of Puttur boys.
In a post mortem discussion of the episode later, each one
came out with his reason for abstention. “What if one day I returned alone from
school and they catch me. They would deal with me beyond repair,” argued one.
“His father and my father work in the same office, and if his father complains
to my father?” justified another. Yet another would defend his action: “Well I
am not into either friendship or enmity with them. I go to school for studies.
As simple as that.”
The net result was the Puttur boys soon realized our
weakness - that we would never unite in adversity - and they could have a field
day at their asking. Each time they began targeting a new prey.
Kittamani came to grips with the situation and suggested
that we should not allow this to go unchecked, but should join hands. His pep
talk included: “Our numerical strength vis-a-vis Puthur’s is in a ratio of
65:35, and we have the physique of the likes of Ganai. These should embolden us
to mount an attack, rather than be at the receiving end.” His specific
reference to Ganai had a hidden agenda.
Despite his better physique than most of the others in either group,
Ganai got beaten up mercilessly the last time and no one came to his rescue.
Kittamani didn’t want Ganai to hold a grudge on that score.
Everyone agreed.
It was decided that Kittamani would provoke the Puttur boys the next day
and, when attacked, all of RNP boys would spring a surprise on Puttur boys and
show them their place.
Things went as planned. Kittamani deliberately made a
sweeping comment on their clan as a whole that hurt Puttur boys’ sentiments.
With a sudden swoop they pushed him down the muddy water. Seeing the swift turn
of events, the RNP boys who had hitherto promised to unite, realized it was not
in their interests to associate themselves at this stage. They abstained,
content to watch the proceedings with their customary prayers.
Badly shaken, clothes torn, but not totally lost, Kittamani
challenged the Puttur boys that he would avenge their onslaught the next
evening on return from school. They were only glad at lapping yet another fresh
opportunity.
“Are you all men or mice?” Kittamani shouted at us in
distress as soon as the Puttur boys were out of sight. He ordered us not to
accompany him the next evening on return from school, and he would handle them
alone. This precisely suited us - what we had individually been praying for.
Come the next evening, Kittamani left school soon after the
last bell. He wanted to be sure to meet them. Yes, they were all there. As
reinforcement they had brought along two or three seniors who were not part of
their group. In the intersection between the Puthur and RNP bunds, Kittamani
stood like Goliath, but in a frail frame. The Puthur boys arrived all too eager
to have a renewed go at Kittamani.
Kittamani wielded the large sickle that he had hidden under
his shirt: “Come on boys, decide which one of you would like to be dispatched
first, before I take on the second,” roared Kittamani and charged against them.
The boys fled in terror in all directions, apparently through the muddy paddy
fields. Most of them fell flat in the slippery mud. Kittamani stepped on the chest
of the boy close by and warned him, “You better listen carefully and tell your
boys. Hereafter if any of you try your dirty game on the RNP boys, this is the
fate you will encounter. One or two of you get ready for the dispatch. That is
for sure.” That boy lying half under water was number two in the Puthur team,
the number one having fled, instead of braving Kittamani. With tears in his
eyes and gasping for breath, he profusely apologized, touched Kittamani’s foot,
which was still on his chest, and promised to behave themselves.
Since then if ever the Puthur and RNP boys happened to reach
the intersection at the same time, the Puthur boys never failed to mention,
“After you, please,” for the RNP boys, even if the RNP contingent consisted of
only one boy and the Puthur five or six. For RNP boys it was no more Kittamani;
it was Veeramani thereafter.
Continued……
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