the broomstick vendor

Dear friends

I wrote this story for a change on this happy Deepavali occasion.

THE BROOMSTICK SELLER J K SIVAN

Rain stopped but the crackers began making it noisy in the street . I closed the glass panes and was seeing the road from my verandah where I was sitting Kanniamma, the old woman who lived at the end of our street in a hut behind the old house belonging to Ramu Nadar, a grocery shop owner in nearby town.

Let me tell you about Kanniamma briefly.

Kanniamma  does not know her age, but may be about  75 years old  by appearance.  Mariyappan her husband deserted her more than four decades ago. Kanniamma did not bother about his absence and did not try to trace him to live  again with him.  She was in a way happy and felt  relieved  that her  meagre earnings and savings will not be snatched by him after beating her any more. He needed  money for his drinking  cheap toddy and countrymade liquor. It was sold for customers like him  brewed secretely in a palmyrah grove belonging to Guga Nadar in Sudalaipatti village

 Kanniamma's  son  Muniyandi was reluctant to pursue  elementary school education in the village.  Teacher Balamma tried her best to teach him and  failed in her sincere efforts. The boy grew in the company of  three or four urchins in the village. They were also school drop outs. Kandappan, one of them was an  expert thief  from childhood, his father Ellappan having taught him how to break locks.  The other two friends of Muniyandi  were employed ed in a welding shop in the nearby town Pallipettai as trainee employees learning without earning wages.  The welder Rahim, who employed them  gave them  only food and ten rupees every month for going to local theatres in the town. He supplied them old clothes from his house discarded by his sons.. But he was kind to allow them to go  to the local touring talkies to touring talkies for seeing films. He was not kind to entertain them because he did not have to pay for it,  He was a partner in  runnig the touring talkies filming old tamil films.  But the boys were very happy. They repeatedly saw the same film also because it was shown free for them. They were allowed to sit only  on the bench near the screen  in the first two rows, which was charged two ruppes for others.

Muniyandi  grew big and joined a  laundry shop in the morning and sold wet Iddly and Dosa  flour as part time sales man in the evenings. He also found time to procure vegetables in the town and sold them  door to door in the very early mornings. 

Ten more years have rolled by and now Kanniamma is too old to work anywhere as housemaid or undertake hard jobs. She chose a new profession. She would find discarded  dried coconut palm leaves, collect them from roadsides, sit under the shade of a neem tree near her hut, and make  broom sticks.  It will take 3 hours to 4 hours to make a broom stick out of the dried palm leaf branch.  Some times she would be fortunate to find 4 or 5   4 coconut palm branches cut and thrown out, lying on the streets.  She picked them and carried to her usual place under the neem tree and get busy making broomsticks. Many peole used to buy from her the broomsticks offering half the price she indicated.. We have that habit of bargaining with the poor and feel happy to cut their prices to our satisfaction.. They do so to atleast earn something for buying food for them. 

It was a Sunday and there was  a commotion around  8 am   with some loud exchanges. An old woman was being beaten by a young man and the woman was raising her voices defending his beating in pain and refusing  as well  to part with her money demanded by him. It was Muniyandi who tried to seize her tin box in which she kept her sale proceeds under the tree,  He was using one of her own broomsticks to beat her because of her refusal to part with the tin box.   It is unfortunate that Muniyandi has turned a regular drunkard and needed more money for his drinking .  He  succeeded in snatching the tin box and ran away leaving Kanniamma to cry out of pain and loss of her hard earned money. 

I asked Kanniamma  who ran to  our house.  She used to visit our house sometimes for sweeping the car shed and we encouraged her sales by buying all her products at whatever price she offered and distributed to temple and other places freely.''What is your problem and who is that man?

''My son Muniyandi. He wanted my earnings of  yesterday and today kept in my tin box..''

''why not you help your son when he was in need of money.?''

''I saved it for giving to the temple because today is Deepavali I vowed  to contribute for the temple's annadhanam to poor. I had prayed to Kali in the temple''

''Oh  what did you pray for?

'''To give him good sense and stop him from drinking ''  ''Kanniamma  dont worry. the money kept by you in the tin box was to correct him and he had taken it . You lost it to your son only.'''

''He wanted to spend it with his friends  to drink after seeing a new tamil film released today''

''Dont worry I will give you the hundred rupees for you to  give to the temple for Diwali annadhanam.  Why your son is crazy in seeing the film""

' You dot know becase  you dont see films.  It is not my son alone, even his friends and others I heard also are talking about the cinema to be shown today''

''What is so crazy about the film. I whislted mildly in wonder''''Yes you know it, it is the same film''''What are you talking Kanniamma?''

''It is the film, BIGIL....