191. Discourses Gone Sour

"indhath thiNNaip pEchchu manidharidam oru kanna irukkaNum aNNAchchi!" 
("Oh brother, Be wary of people chatting idly, sitting on the pial!")

Listening to these lines from an old Tamil film song telecast in Murasu television channel, Bhuvana asked Vedachalam, "What is a thinnai, grandpa?"

"It is a raised platform at the front of a house. Houses in village used to have it, to facilitate people sit on it and relax" said Vedachalam.

"No one is more qualified to talk about the use of the thinnai than your grandpa. After all, those days, he had been spending a major part of his day sitting on the pial, inviting people walking on the street to sit with him and chatting with them endlessly" said Vedachalam's wife Gowri, with distaste.

Vedachalam immersed himself into old memories.

Vedachalam had agricultural lands in his village, which he had leased out. With the lease rent he was getting from the land being substantial, Vedachalam didn't feel the need to go for any job or do a business to earn money.

He would spend the whole day sitting on the pial of his house. He would call out some people walking on the street, ask them sit with him and chat with them on sundry trivial topics, ranging from the weather to political developments in the country.

He would often talk about the glory of his ancestors like his father having constructed a bamboo bridge across the narrow canal in his village, the temple festivals sponsored by his family and his 'adventures' as a boy.

Often, he would repeat the narration of events already recounted by him several times, as if he was narrating them for the first time. People sitting with him would pretend to be listening to him, picking betel leaves, applying a thin coat of lime paste on the back side of the leaves, clipping the short stems and ingesting them along with liberal doses of sliced arecanut pieces and an optional pinch of tobacco, all from the small metal box kept by Vedachalam near him for his own frequent use and savouring the taste as the mix would be ground in their mouths, with saliva mixing with it and enhancing its taste.

If the stock of any item in the metal box got exhausted, Vedachalam would call a boy walking on the street and command him to buy that item from the nearby betel nut shop and bring it to him.

If Vedachalam was too engrossed in delivering his lecture to observe the depletion of the stocks, one of the people sitting there and listening to him would take the liberty of replenishing the stock.

"Hey! Buy two kavulis* of betel leaves, two packets of arecanut slices and two packets of first grade tobacco from Kanniah's shop. Ask for large packets. Get cash from aiya**," the person would tell the boy summoned by him.

Most of the times, Vedachalam would quietly hand over the cash to the boy. Occasionally, he would cast a look of reprimand at the person who gave the order to the boy. The other person would smile in a silly way. Vedachalam would then part with the cash.

Gowri had repeatedly tried to dissuade Vedachalam from continuing with this practice.

"If you don't have anything to do, lie on the reclining chair and relax. Or, just go for a walk around the village. You can even go to our paddy fields and observe the cultivating activities. Though you have no business to be there with our tenant doing the cultivation, you can idly watch the work going on there. But, for heaven's sake, don't spend your time in idle talk, sitting on the pial and spend money on buying betel leaves and tobacco for your chat partners!"

But, Vedachalam didn't pay heed to her advice.

Once, Selvaraj, a distant relative of Vedachalam, living in the village told Gowri, "Aunty! Uncle is under the illusion that people come and sit with him on the pial to listen to his talk. But, only people addicted to chewing betel nut and tobacco come to him. They sit on the pial for a while, pretending to listen to him, get a free supply of betel leaves and tobacco, chew them, relish them and go away. But, they mock uncle behind his back and laugh at his narratives. I heard one person telling another, 'I have to listen to his vain talk for the sake of a few betel leaves and a pinch of tobacco!' Another person said, 'The man is as hollow as his speech!' Why does uncle have to entertain such people and subject himself to this kind of ridicule?"

"I have told him many times to desist from this practice. But, he won't listen to me. He is not home. Maybe, he has gone to the nearby shop to buy betel leaves and tobacco! When he comes home, I will tell him what you told me." 

Vedacham had not gone out, as assumed by Gowri. He was inside the house, listening to the conversation. 

The next day, when Vedachalam sat on the pial, he didn't have the betel nut box on the pial. The regular visitors came and sat on the pial, as usual. They looked for the metal box and were disappointed that it was not there.

One person asked Vedachalam, "Where is the betel nut box, brother?"

"I intend to stop the practice of chewing betel nuts!" said Vedachalam.

After that, the number of people visiting Vedachalam and sitting with him on the pial of his house for a chat with him began to dwindle. Eventually, the number was reduced to zero.

Vedachalam kept sitting on the pial of his house, watching the people walking on the street, hoping that someone would step on to the pial for a chat. If a person who used to chat with him happened to pass by his house, he would walk fast while crossing his house and avoid Vedachalam's gaze by looking the other side.

Sometimes, Vedachalam would call out someone walking on the street. That person would say, "I have some urgent work to attend to. I will come after sometime" and move away, avoiding him

With hardly anyone to listen to him, Vedachalam's talk shows came to an end.

"What are you reflecting on? Old memories?" asked Gowri.

"Those days, people of my village mocked me. But, you are mocking me now, after so many years" said Vedachalam, feeling hurt.

"Those people were with you only for getting free supplies of betel leaves and tobacco. I have been with you all these years, without expecting anything from you!"

At that time, another song was being played on the television channel.

'pAnaiyilE sORirundhA pUnaigaLum sondhamadA'

('If there is food in the pot, even cats will be your kin')

"Change the channel. Listening to old songs opens up my old wounds" said Vedachalam, in disgust.

*kauli - a unit measuring 100 betel leaves.

**aiya - a respectful term used to refer to or address a person..

Thirukkural

Section 1
The Path of Virtue

Chapter 20
Avoiding Vain Speech

Verse 191 (In Tamil)

pallAr muniyap payanila solluvAn
ellArum eLLappadum.

Meaning:

One, who, to the disgust of many, makes vain discourses, will be despised by all.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'thiNNai' by the same author)

Verse 191 (Soon)
Verse 190