RETIRED LIFE

MY LIFE – CS (CHANDRASEKHARA) PURAM VILLAGE I had fever, something I used to ignore, but this time it refused to leave me, even after seveal days. My wife and our neighbours persuade me to approach a doctor in a christian institution, I am not certain whether it was a church, near our quarter at Shirwad, where a nun doctor examined me and prescribed medicines. She took my bood for testing. I heard her saying : he is very strange; no complaning or grumbling, as if it is nothing, even though he is having high fever. When my bood test results were shown, she told me to postpone taking medicines for some days. She collected some plants from their land and told me to grind it into a paste and eat a portion daily and see her on the fourth day. Of course, it had no effect on my blood sugar level, but this very fact that she took so much trouble for me, gives me a strange sense of attachment, now whenever I recall it. I was nervous. I had seen the plight of many diabetic patients, includig my mother; can I escape their plight? Dieting reduced my body fat which was very high. I looked like a stand on which my skin is hung. Pichai, my officer, advised me to try “diabetic tea”, a very bitter soup, obtained by boiling a special tea for ten minutes. So I stoppped medicines. When this tea became difficult to get, I stopped taking rice and depended on eggs, morning, noon and evening, with plenty of vegetables, milk and curd. Now I use soyabean regularly, reducing eggs to six in a day. My blood sugar remans aroung 200 units. In that nun doctor’s hospital, I noticed something which impressed me. The hearth of the kitchen was outside, to avoid the nuisance of smoke.The boiler is connected to the stove, heated by the steam. Why not try it in houses, where plenty of wood fuel is available? When we settled at CS puram village, we thought that it was the end of our journey, as far as physical movemwnt is concerned. It was the first time we had a home of our own, it was in my wife’s name and she felt contended and happy. In our system, the first time a bride is ceremoniously received at the groom’s home, is called kudiveppu. She never had it because we had no home. My philosophy was, and still is, that constructing a home is meaningless in the industrialised society, because our life depends on a job, unlike in an agricutural society, where we are bound to the land we own. In our society, it is very rare that a girl is given in marriage to a homeless boy. After constructing a boundary wall in the rear, and making some alterations inside the house to make it airy, we had exhausted whatever savings we had; and spent the days, taking bath in the river, going to the three temples, one of Guruvayurappan at the west end of the village, consisting of two rows of houses, separated by a wide avenue, Ganesh temple at the east end and a very old Shiva temple, a little away, further east, where the settlement ends and rice fields begin. My morning walks were exploratory, enjoying the pure air, there being no industry within a distance of ten miles, crossing the river and experiencing the view from the oposite bank, when the village look enchanting. Ideal for weaving a love story, romantic and ending in happy marriage! There was a festival almost every month. The people in the village, all brahmins (no admission for others) depending on money coming from Bombay, Calcutta and Delhi, in that order, having to do nothing else but watch any new face coming along, for which pastime, a suitable veranda, from one end to the other, is availablle, are eager to have any activity involving a good meal,which the festivals provide. The temples are owned by all those who have ownership of the houses in the village. Whatever our need, mention it to the man or woman next door, and a solution will be found ! Very good for new comers.