15. Rain, the Blessing!

Parvathy was engaged in trapping the rain water that was dripping down from various spots on the roof of her tiled house in vessels, in an attempt to prevent the water from reaching the floor.

The water that was flowing on the floor seemed to be laughing at her for having completely failed in her mission.

Her husband Sivakkozhunthu was lying on the mud floor of their house, happily singing a tune, unmindful of the rain water flowing near him, on the floor.

"My dear! I am struggling to stop the water dripping from the leaking roof from reaching the floor and you are lying flat on your back and singing with excitement!" said Parvathy, in a tone of annoyance.

"Let the water flow! What can we do about it? After the rain stops, I will fix the roof tiles, to prevent any leakage in future" said Sivakkozhunthu, without even moving a little.

"It did not rain for the past two years. You could have fixed the tiles at that time!"

"There were no rains. So, there were no leaks either! What would be the purpose in fixing the tiles?"

Reconciled to the fact that she won't be able to prevent the dripping water from reaching the floor, Parvathy came and sat near Sivakkozhunthu. She then opened her cloth bag, containing betel leaves and betel nuts.

"Don't chew betel nuts so often. It will make you anemic" chided Sivakkozhunthu, in a concerned tone.

"It is the other way about. Only those who are anemic are tempted to chew betel nuts!" said Parvathy.

"Who told you this?"

"I heard it in the TV."

"You watch TV programs that give out unverified bits of information like these!"

"What do you want me to watch? If you want, you can watch the program giving tips to farmers. I can watch only what interests me!"

"For the past two years, there have been no rains. The river has dried up. We don't have the means to sink a borewell and do cultivation, using a pump to water the fields. What is the use of watching programs that give tips to farmers?"

"So, what will I do, sitting at home? I watch programs on health to while away the time. And you find fault with me for watching such programs!" said Parvathy, in an aggrieved tone.

"Okay, okay. Don't get annoyed. I just made a casual remark. I am very much excited that it is raining after such a long time. Don't worry about leaks in the roof. Once the rain stops, the leaks can be fixed. Just reflect on how much we suffered during the last two years, due to the failure of the monsoon" said Sivakkozhunthu, in an appeasing tone.

"Don't I know how much suffering we have undergone due to paucity of rains? We could not cultivate our lands. Only a few people in the village took up cultivation, by digging borewells and installing pumps. With the landowners who were unable to cultivate their own lands forced to work as labourers, the number of people seeking work increased and there was not enough work for all. We were able to get work only for a few days in a year. We faced an unprecedented problem of not having enough food for our family. To protect our children from starvation, we sent them to my parents' home, in a far off village...It has been several months since we looked at the faces of our children. They have also been pining for a reunion with us!"

As Parvathy was narrating the harrowing experience they underwent, her eyes began to well up.

"Don't cry, Parvathy!" consoled Sivakkozhunthu. Our ordeal is about to come to an end. The weather forecast is that the rains will continue for two more days. Once the rains stop, big landlords will start cultivation in their lands. If we work for them for wages for about ten days, then, using the money we earn, we will be able to start cultivation in our lands."

"That is fine. But, first go to my parents' place and bring back our children. Once we start working, we will have no time to go and bring the children" said Parvathy. 

"Yes. I will go there tomorrow and bring them back."

"You want to start, when it is still raining!"

"What if it is raining? The rain is bringing good things to us. Nothing will happen to me, if I get drenched during my travel. By the time I start my return journey with our children, the rain will have stopped!"

"Oh, rain! For two years, you tormented us, by not showing up. Now, you are blessing us, by descending on the earth from the heaven with vigour!"

Parvathy folded her palms and worshipped the rain.

Thirukkural
Section 1: The Path of Virtue

Chapter 2
The Glory of Rain

Verse 15 (in Tamil)
keduppathUm kettArkkuch chARvAy maRRAngE 
eduppathUm ellAm mazhai.

Meaning
Rain can ruin people's lives, by not showing up; again it can give relief to the suffering people, by showering water on the earth.

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

 Verse 16 

Verse 14

14. Govindan's Decision

Of late, Govindan had been looking at the sky quite often.

In fact, it had become a habit for Govindan to keep looking at the sky, the way an anxious mother would keep looking at the end of the street, hoping for her son to return home from work.

His wife Annam would taunt him occasionally, saying, "If you keep looking at the sky like this, your head may become permanently tilted upward!" 

However, she also shared his concern about the elusive rain. After all, she had also been affected by the failure of the monsoon.

"Did they say anything in the TV news about the chances of our region getting any rain?" asked Govindan, knowing what the answer was going to be.

"Yes. They said that it was raining cats and dogs in Mumbai. But, the cyclone that was expected to bring rain to our region seems to have changed direction and gone northwards!" said Annam, with dismay.

This was the third consecutive year of monsoon failure. When the sky failed to deliver, there was no life for people like Govindan, who were dependent on agriculture for their livelihood.

Annam asked him to have his lunch, but Govindan had no desire to eat.

All these years, Govindan had been eating the food prepared from the rice cultivated by him in his own land.

Govindan owned lands, got by him as his ancestral property. He had been cultivating his lands, growing paddy in them. 

After several months of hard work, from sowing seeds to nurturing the plants by watering them, applying fertilizers, pesticides etc, he would harvest the paddy and store it in huge bins in his house. 

He would mill part of the paddy into rice for consumption, sell the remaining part and use the sale proceeds for his expenses. There would always remain some quantity of paddy in the bins, till the time of next harvest.

But now, he had to buy rice from the shops in the nearby town, bring it home by bus and use that rice to cook his food. How cruel that a farmer like him has to buy rice for his own consumption!

When Govindan was taking his food mechanically, with no interest in relishing the food, Annam told him:

"Why are you being so adamant? The real estate people are offering to buy our lands. They are offering a good price too. Why don't you sell our lands to them? You can deposit the sale proceeds in the bank and we can live on the interest income. Our son has also been sending us some money."

"If the farmer decides to sell his land, deposit the sale proceeds in the bank and live on the interest income, what will happen to this world?" asked Govindan.

"Are you the only farmer in this world? In our village, many farmers have sold their lands, deposited the sale proceeds in the bank and have been living comfortably and happily, using the interest income as the source of their livelihood."

Govindan continued eating, without saying anything. Even gulping down the food was painful to him.

When he was washing his hands after the meal, a thought occurred to him.

'Rather than keep feel guilty about buying rice from the market in spite of owning cultivable lands, if I sell my lands, then buying rice from the shops will become the only option. There will be no need to feel guilty about it!'

When Govindan came back to the living room, after washing his hands, he called Annam and told her. "If the real estate people come again, I am going to give my consent for selling our lands."

Annam looked at her husband with a wonderstruck expression, unable to believe her ears.

Thirukkural
Section 1: The Path of Virtue

Chapter 2
The Glory of Rain

Verse 14 (in Tamil)
Erin uzhAr uzhavar puyal ennum
vAri vaLam kunRikkAl

Meaning
If the rains that enable the farmers to earn their livelihood are not delivered in adequate quantities, the farmers may have to give up farming.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'kadaiyil vAngiya arisi' by the same author)

Verse 15 

Verse 13

13. Nothing to Eat, But...

"My God! The price of rice has gone up so high!” exclaimed Selvaraj, in dismay. 

“What to do, sir? Due to poor monsoon, rice production has fallen. When the supply is inadequate to meet the demand, the price is bound to go up!” explained the shopkeeper, in the manner of an Economics expert, displaying his wisdom during a TV interview. 

Selvaraj murmured something incomprehensible in mild protest, paid the price and bought the rice.

Unlike Selvaraj, everyone couldn't afford to buy the rice needed for their family at such a high price.

Take for instance, Shanmugam, working as a labourer in the wholesale vegetable market at Koyambedu in Chennai.

These days, having rice for lunch had become a rare occurrence for his family, similar to the electricity that would show up only now and then. 

The fall in rice production led to a fall in the stock of food grains available with the Government for distribution.

The repeated assurances made by the Government that of ration card holders would get their entitled quota of rice only highlighted the prevalence of the problem of scarcity. 

During the past few months, supply of rice to ration card holders was irregular. During some months, the supply was delayed and during other months, there was no supply at all.

Since the quantity of rice supplied to ration card holders was reduced, even during the months when the supply had been regular, many people had to buy some quantity of rice in the open market, at a high price, towards the end of the month.

Steep rise in the price of rice in the open market made it impossible for Shanmugam to buy rice from the open market.

To Shanmugam's wife Muthazhagu, feeding her two children was a challenging task every day.

That evening, when Muthazhagu's son Murugesh and daughter Divya returned from the school, the first question they asked their mother was, "Will we get rice for dinner today?"

Avoiding a direct answer to their question, Muthazhagu with a question, "Did they give you eggs for lunch* today at your school?"

"Yes, they did" answered Divya,"but since the egg I got was rotten, I had to discard it. You didn't answer my question whether we would get rice for dinner today?"

"Sorry, dear. I couldn't buy rice today also. Your father has assured me that when he comes home tomorrow morning from the market, he will bring rice" said Muthazhagu, in an apologetic tone.

"Then, what do we have for dinner today?" asked Murugesh.

"I will buy you bread" replied Muthazhagu.

"Oh, I can't eat that dry bread. Don't bother. We will get rice in our school tomorrow for lunch. We will manage" said Divya.

"Tell me, Mom! Daddy gets something to eat in the place where he works. We get lunch in our school. How do you manage?" asked Murugesh, holding his mother's hand with affection.

'I have a daughter who accepts the situation of not getting enough food at home. And I have a son, who, ignoring his own pangs of hunger, is concerned about me, his mother, not getting anything to eat. How fortunate I am!' thought Muthazhagi.

This good feeling made Muthazhagu feel full, with her hunger receding into the background, for a while.

* In the state of Tamilnadu, India, there is a system of providing lunch to poor children in the schools run by the Government.

Thirukkural
Section 1: The Path of Virtue

Chapter 2
The Glory of Rain

Verse 13 (in Tamil)
viN inRu poyppin viri nIr viyan ulagaththu
uL ninRu udaRRum pasi

Meaning
Though this world is surrounded by water, if the rains fail, starvation will cause pain to people, from within.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'ammAvin mIthu akkaRai' by the same author)

Verse 14 

Verse 12

12. Rain, the Food

When Velayi returned home after completing her day's work at the construction site, dusk had begun to set in. 

Velayi's home did not constitute a building with rooms, doors, windows etc. 

Velayi had worked as a labourer in the construction of a large number of houses, but her home was a small place on the pavement.

Sometimes, Velayi would get a chance to live in the premises of a building under construction, when her family was given the responsibility to guard the house, till the construction was completed and the house occupied by the owners. 

During those times, she would have a house with four walls, a tin sheet roof and wooden structures. Her children would also get protection from the cold and the rains. And, her family could enjoy luxuries like tap water, toilet etc.

At present, her dwelling was on the pavement. Some other labourers were living nearby.

Velayi's husband Vadivelu was also a construction worker. Every day, he needed to consume liquor in the evening, to 'invigorate' himself, after a day of of hard labour.

Velayi would sometimes think, 'Will only men feel fatigued, after a day's hard work?' 

But she never posed this question to her husband. She didn't want to become even more worn out, after getting beaten up by her husband, for asking such irreverent questions!

A woman like her, should, after returning from work, procure groceries, water, firewood and other essentials, cook the food, serve it to her husband and children, eat the leftovers, skillfully clean the vessels using water economically and then go to sleep.

How can women like her talk about physical exhaustion or fatigue?

Since Vadivelu's daily earnings would hardly suffice to meet the cost of liquor needed by him to 'invigorate' himself, Velayi had to run the family with only her earnings.

When Velayi returned 'home,' three of her four children were playing. Her youngest child was just a few months old and would be with her always. 

Though Velayi felt some relief seeing her children playing enthusiastically, despite not having anything to eat during the day except for a glass of rice gruel in the morning, she also felt like crying.

When she checked the 'stock' of groceries in her 'home,' tears began to roll down from her eyes.

The quantity of rice available was not sufficient to feed all of them for the night. Since she was a pavement dweller, her family didn't have a ration card. She could buy rice at a price she can afford, from the shop which was selling smuggled ration rice, only the next day.

'What can I do? I have to manage with what I have!'

Of the water she had filled in a pot in the morning from the street tap by standing in a queue, about half the quantity remained, after her children had drunk some of it during the day, to quench their thirst as well as hunger. 

'Thank God. At least, I have water. Water is God, indeed!'

She cooked the rice, added some buttermilk and a lot of water and served the cooked rice-buttermilk slurry to her children. 

The children, not finding the need to take the food in their hands and put it in their mouths, drank up the slurry served on their Aluminium plates. Enthused by the fact that they were able to finish eating in a short time, they went out to play.

The children's hunger was satiated for now, thanks to the water that helped expand the quantity of cooked rice available. During the night, they would feel hungry. At that time, they would wake up from sleep, drink some water and go back to sleep.

There was a small quantity of food left in the vessel. Her husband, who usually came home late, in a drunken state, would demand food for him. So, Velayi kept the remaining food for her husband. She drank some water and tried to satiate her hunger, for the time being.

The baby needed to be fed too. Velayi looked at the bowl, in which she had kept the milk. There was only a small quantity of milk left. Only by diluting it, she could fill the baby's milk bottle. She added some water to the milk and boiled it. Fortunately, there was some sugar at 'home.' If she added a little more sugar, even the diluted milk would taste good for the baby!

Velayi laid the baby on her lap and fed the milk from the bottle. The baby relished the warm, albeit watery, milk. After drinking the milk completely and emptying the bottle, the baby looked at Velayi and giggled.

Mesmerized the baby's smile, Velayi momentarily forgot all her worries.

Thirukkural
Section I - Virtue

Chapter 2

The Glory of Rain

Verse 12

thuppArkkuth thuppAya thuppAkkith thuppArkkuth
thuppAyathUm mazhai.

Meaning:
Rain not only helps in the growth of food grains for people to eat, but also serves as food for them.

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

Verse 13 

Verse 11

11. Rain, the Nectar

(In this story, the renowned Tamil poet Subramanya Bharathi, extolled as Mahakavi, meaning the great poet, appears as an imaginary character)

Some people were standing under the roof in the front portion of a building, taking shelter from the rain. Mahakavi Bharathi was among those standing there.

Bharathi was singing with great excitement, a Tamil poem composed by him.

"vIra suthandhiram vENdi ninRAr
pinbu vERonRu koLvarO?

enRum Aramudhu uNNa Asai koNdOr

kaLLil aRivaich cheluththuvarO"

(Will those who yearn for freedom accept a compromise?

Will those who yearn to drink the nectar ever be attracted to liquor?)

A young man standing beside Bharathi asked him, "Sir, I can decipher the meaning of the first line of your poem, but I am unable to understand what the second line means!"

"What is it that you don't understand?"

"Your poem means that those who yearn to drink the nectar won't touch liquor, doesn't it?"

"Yes. Even the thought of tasting liquor won't occur to them."

Bharathi looked at the young man and sniffed.

"I sense a foul smell coming from your breath. Are you drunk?"

"Yes, sir" said the young man.

"Give up drinking, young man. The drinking habit will ruin your family" said Bharathi.

"I will try. But, I want to ask you something. Just now, you said that the very desire to drink the nectar would drive away the desire to drink liquor. Is it true?" asked the young man.

"Of course, it is true" said Bharathi, in an emphatic tone.

"I don't even know how the nectar tastes. How can I develop a desire to drink the nectar?"

"Are you in love with a girl?

"Yes, I am" said the young man, feeling a bit shy. "Why do you ask?"

"Did you ever have a wish to kiss your lover?" asked Bharathi, with a smirky expression on his face.

Embarrassed by this question, which, the young man apprehended, might have been heard by others standing beside them too, he twisted his body in a strange way and said, "Yes. Sometimes, I have had that wish!"

"Have you kissed any woman earlier?" 

"Definitely not. How could I have?" replied the young man, in a tone that indicated how revolting that idea was, to him.

"Without knowing how the experience of kissing a woman will be, how do you crave for such an experience with your lover?"

Unfazed by Bharathi's question, the young man whispered into Bharathi's ear, "Sir, I don't want others to hear this. But I came to know how the experience of kissing will be, only from one of your poems. It will be the same as the experience of getting drunk!"

Taken aback by this reply, Bharathi exclaimed, "What? From which of my poems did you get this idea?"

Now the young man began to sing in a loud voice.
"kannaththil muthamittAl,
uLLamthAn kaL veRi koLLudhadi." 

Then he said, in a triumphant tone, "This is from your popular Kannamma song. Since you have written, 'when I kiss on your cheeks, I feel inebriated,' you should have had the experience of consuming liquor!"

"How stupid can you get!" retorted Bharathi, in a voice filled with irritation, "That poem was about kissing a child, not about kissing a young woman. When I write conveying a particular idea, some people misunderstand and misinterpret it!"

Then he said, "Okay. You want to know how the nectar will taste, don't you? I will show you!"

He pulled the young man by his arm and descended into the street, which was still being battered by the heavy rain.

Standing in the middle of the street, Bharathi tilted the face of the young man upward so that he would be facing the sky and forced his mouth to open.

After some rain water entered the mouth of the young man, Bharathi freed him.

"What you drank just now is the nectar. Wonder how it can be? The nectar is in the heaven. The rain also comes down from the heaven. The celestials, the people who live in the heaven, need the nectar, for their survival. Human beings and other lives on the earth need the rain water, to survive. Therefore, the rain water is the nectar, for the lives on the earth. This is not my conjecture. This is what my forefather Thiruvalluvar had said.

Saying this, Bharathi became emotional and began to sing, extolling Thiruvalluvar.

"yAm aRindha pulavarilE kambanaip pOl

vaLLuvar pOl, iLangOvaip pOl

bUmithanil yAngaNumE piRandhadhillai

uNmai veRum pugazhchchi illai"

(Of all the poets I have known, there is no one who would match the calibre of Kamban*, Valluvar or Ilango*. This is absolute truth, not flattery)

Singing with excitement, Bharathi danced in the rain.

* Kamban and Ilango are renowned Tamil poets.

Thirukkural
Section I - The Path of Virtue

Chapter 2

The Glory of Rain

Verse 11 (in Tamil)
vAn ninRu ulagam vazhangi varudhaLAl

thAn amizhdham enRu uNaraR pARRu.

Meaning:
Since the rain facilitates life in this world, rain has to be considered the nectar.

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

Verse 12

Verse 10

10. The Journey of Life

A young man asked the sage, "Why do human beings need the support of God? Can't we humans live without the support of God?"

The sage looked at the young man for a minute and then asked him, "Do you know how to ride a motorcycle?"

"Yes, of course. I am very good at riding a bike" replied the young man, proudly.

"Do you wear a helmet, while riding a motorcycle?"

"Yes, sir. It is mandatory."

"Will you not wear a helmet, if it is not mandatory?"

"I will still wear it."

"Why?"

"It is required for safety."

"Why do we wear the seatbelt, while riding in a car?"

"For safety, again. Statistics show that in case of an accident, people who wear the helmet, seatbelt etc. have better chances of survival."

"If you ride a motorcycle, you wear the helmet. If you ride a car, you wear the seatbelt. If you travel by a plane, you have access to safety devices like the seatbelt, oxygen mask, parachute etc. Ships carry lifeboats for the safety of the passengers. Swimmers also have safety devices like floating rings, life jackets etc. Thus, for all the journeys we undertake in our life, we have a plethora of safety devices to save us, in case of any possible mishap, don't we?"

The young man was waiting to hear what the sage was going to say.

"Life in this world is a journey, similar to a journey through an ocean. We have to undertake this journey, by swimming through this ocean of life. In this long, hazardous journey by swimming, we should seek God's protection to safeguard ourselves from all possible hazards. Those who have taken refuge at the feet of God will find it easy to cross this ocean of life. Those who haven't will find it an arduous task" explained the sage.

Thirukkural
Section I - The Path of Virtue

Chapter 1

In Praise of God

Verse 10 (inTamil)

piRavip perum kadal nIndhuvar nIndhAr

iRaivan adi sErAdhAr.

Meaning:
Those who have taken refuge at the feet of God will be able to swim through the ocean of life. Those who haven't, won't be able to do so.

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

Verse 11

Verse 9

9. The Head That Won't Bow to God!

He was a person who came up by his own efforts. He had been proud of this fact. 

He didn't believe in God.

"What did God do? I studied. I worked hard. I thought, planned and did things in a systematic way. Whenever I encountered problems, I remained unfazed and took steps to resolve them. I didn't seek God's help. I don't know whether there is a God. I don't find any need to worship him" he would say.

He got married. His wife had faith in God. He didn't question her faith.

After many years of marriage, his wife posed this question to him: "We have five sense organs. Can you tell me what purposes they serve?"

"You are asking me a question a school teacher would ask his student! Okay, let me see whether I remember what I studied in the school. Eyes - make us see; Ears - make us hear; Tongue - makes us experience taste; Nose - makes us smell; Skin - makes us feel the touch."

"Fine. What do we have our heads for?"

"You are asking something that is obvious! The purpose of the head is to house the brain and to act as a cover above the face to protect the body by preventing moisture, dust etc. from entering the body from above!"

"The head has an even more important function. It is to bow to God!" said his wife.

"Oh! You are just back from the temple. Did you hear this in some discourse in the temple?"

"Not exactly. I met a person in the temple. He has a son, whose five senses have been dysfunctional from the time of his birth. His eyes appear to be open, but they can't see anything. His tongue cannot recognize any taste. He will swallow any food given to him, without sensing any taste. His nose can't smell anything. He can't distinguish between the fragrance of a flower and the stink of the gutter. He can't hear anything. His body can't experience any sensation. If he is hurt, he can't feel any pain. He is virtually like a dead body that still has some life in it."

"Very pathetic, indeed. It is cruel that all the five organs of the boy are dysfunctional. But, what is the connection between this and your theory that the main purpose of the head is to bow to God?"

"I remembered a verse from the Tamil classic Thirukkural."

"Which verse?"

"In this verse, the poet Thiruvalluvar says that the head that won't bow to God is like a sense organ that is dysfunctional."

"Thiruvalluvar is a believer. It is only natural for him to say so. If I ever become a believer, I may also accept this view."

"I have the faith that someday, you will develop the faith in the existence of God."

Thirukkural
Section I - The Path of Virtue

Chapter 1

In Praise of God

Verse 9 (in Tamil)
kOLil poRiyin guNamilavE eNguNaththAn
thALai vaNangAth thalai

Meaning:
The head that won't bow to the God, a power that has eight traits is useless, just as an organ that can't function is.

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

Verse 10

Verse 8