Tearful Ocean Kurumpanai C Berlin 17 04 2023

TEARFUL OCEAN
(Short Stories)
Kurumpanai C. Berlin
Translated by
E. James R. Daniel
A. Philo Fragrance Serene
NEW CENTURY BOOK HOUSE (P) LTD.,

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Ambattur, Chennai - 600 050.
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2 Tearful Ocean
Language: English
TEARFUL OCEAN
(Short Stories)
Author : Kurumpanai C. Berlin
Translated by : James R. Daniel
A. Philo Fragrance Serene
First Edition : April, 2023
Copyright: Author
No. of pages : 104
Publisher :
New Century Book House Pvt. Ltd.,

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Ambattur, Chennai - 600 050.
Tamilnadu State, India.
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Kurumpanai C. Berlin 3
FOREWORD
Witnesses of the behaviour of the ocean are multitude among
the fishing community. One can go on listening to every account
of the experiences of the fisher folk. The excitement that they create
while narrating challenging events and the skill exhibited are very
captivating.
Author Kurumpanai C. Berlin has an enchanting way of
narrating events concerning seas and oceans, particularly related
to the life of the people in the fishing community in south
Tamilnadu. Not all of us possess special skills for storytelling and
I can dare remark that Kurumpanai C. Berlin is endowed with
abundant skills for narration of simple events in a touching manner,
with which he is able to hook the readers and sustain their attention
to complete not only one of the ten short stories in this collection
of short stories, Tearful Ocean (Kanneer Samudhiram), but also read
all of them. He is able to keep the reader thinking about each
incident much after the reading is completed. The author uses simple
words to make the reader desire for visiting the place of occurrence
and live and experience the same.
The spirit of the fishermen is always kept alive while in the
sea and on the shore, despite the confrontational and surprise
experiences they have. They say, no two experiences of the same
person in the sea are same. Kurumpanai C. Berlin keeps alive the
fisherman spirit through his writings. Here, I would like to note
one verse from “Uncertainty” written by me to reiterate that a
fisherman keeps his hopes ever alive, even when the ocean does
not always provide for the basic needs of his family:
Many an emotion to provide for the family
Expecting a good catch in the ocean.
Empty returns shattering the needs and dreams
Still hopes alive for a better fortune from the ocean.
4 Tearful Ocean
Indeed, the high voltage of emotions and the expressions of

the same are part of the day-to-day lives of the fisher folk, no matter
where they are, in water or on the shore. The narrations in some
of the short stories such as “If We Stay Alive”, “We Stand by You!”,
“Tearful Ocean”, “Inebriation Justified”, and “The Soul is Departing”
are very intriguing; the narration in other short stories to attract and
engage the readers whose personal thought process do influence
their reading style and the influence the short stories have on them.
The style of writing creates an interest to look forward to the very
next line, to the words being used by the characters and the turn
of events. There is not only excitement in the life at the sea and the
coast, but also in tale-telling quality of Kurumpanai C. Berlin.
Dr.James R.Daniel and Mrs.Philo Fragrance Serene, the
translators of this work, entitled Tearful Ocean, into English have
done a wonderful work of justifying the original text with choice of
the language that equally engages the English readers. I congratulate
them for creating an interest in the readers, for the desire to experience
and explore life not only in the beauty of the sand in a clean beach
but also to comprehend the life of the families of fisher folk and share
their emotions.
I wish the readers are able to find the underlying excitement
and emotions that lie in the works of Kurumpanai C.Berlin.
Dr. S. Isias
Principal
St. Alphonsa College of Arts and Science
Soosaipuram, Karinkal, Kanyakumari District
Tamilnadu – 629157
principal@stalphonsa.edu.in
April 8, 2023
FOREWORD
I am really happy drafting the review for yet another
translation of Kurumpanai C.Berlin’s short story collection. As a
hardcore reader and fan of his works, I am indeed in ecstasy reading
the English version of them. The ten short stories in the collection
titled Tearful Ocean are the embodiment of different emotions in
life, and definitely kudos to the translator Mrs. Philo Fragrance
Serene for bringing out those emotions without losing the essence
embedded in the original language. The pain and effort rendered
while translating these stories, which are undoubtedly the
powerhouse of emotions, is very much visible while reading them.
Doing so, the translator has broken the shackles which hindered
these stories from reaching the hearts of the international audience.
Such a translation paves way for a regional work of art to enter
the global arena and become a part of Global Literature. It is an
undeniable fact that the majority knows little about the day today
struggles in the life of the minority. Through such translation of
regional works, the readers of the learned community are exposed
to the core of the vibrant fisher folk’s life. It is highly essential to be
knowledgeable about them as they teach a lot with their life to the
outside world. But the majority depend more on the media to learn
about the fisher folk, who in turn present them commonly as
illiterates and criminals. As a strike back at media, the literary works
that are sprouting from the Neithal landscape is keen on exposing
the real nature of these innocent, genuine souls- the children of
Mother Ocean, with utmost clarity and truth. I personally believe
that the works of Kurumpanai C.Berlin is speaking a lot more
truth than other writers and never forgets to touch the hearts of
the readers with the narratives.
All the short stories in the collection are clustered with thought
provoking ideas which triggers the readers and urges them to react
for the happenings in the stories. The readers will be carried away
by the brilliant narration of the author and would be enlightened
6 Tearful Ocean
about the simple yet profound emotions embedded in it. It would

be difficult to come back to reality as the tragic events in most of
the stories pulls the heart and pushes the mind to render help to
the characters by any means. More than a reader, I was reacting
like one of the characters in the crowd in the story, empathizing
and sympathizing with the characters. The short story “Hoist the
Flag” is like a satire on the attitude of the politicians who take
advantage of the weakness and needs of the poor fisher folk. The
stark reality of the politicians is exposed here. “We Stand by You”
is yet another satire on the government who claim to be the support
system of the fishing community but ‘who, how and when (is the
support?)’ is the huge question because during the adverse
situation, the one who promised to support and rescue the missing
fishermen themselves go missing when called for help.
In “Tearful Ocean”, one could witness the tragic experience of
the fishermen in sea and their families in the shore praying for
their safe return during rough weather conditions. Also, the
inhumane conditions set by the government, as helicopter will be
deployed for rescue operation, only if five or more than five
fishermen go missing and if it is less than that, government couldn’t
help. How ridiculous is that! However, the unity of the villagers
must be applauded who irrespective of their safety and financial
loss, are ready to venture through the dangerous tides to rescue
their fellow fishermen. Similar situation is found in the story “The
Soul is departing”, where the government completely disowns them
even without rendering financial help for the rescue operation. In
addition to that, the traumatic moments experienced by the dear
ones of the missing fishermen are pathetic and unfortunately their
prayers go unanswered most of the times. Anybody who reads the
story “Woeful… Injustice”, would be fuming in anger to avenge
the unfair death of Shiny. Besides, what I see is not just a woman
who is raped by a man, but the pure Mother Ocean who is
plundered of her resources and left impure by the people in power.
The high budget projects which are brought to the sea and the
shore are violating the rights of the people and seizing the modesty
of Mother Ocean without her permission and I am furious to
avenge the injustice done to her.
As the series of short stories reflect on the tragic life of the

fishermen, comes the story “Splendid! Splendid! Chicken Feast”,
rightly placed to serve as a comic relief. Generally, the friendship of
men is glorified and that of women are ridiculed saying it doesn’t
last long. But, here we have Selva Nayakhi and Alvira to prove it
wrong, as they are the best friends for more than five decades now.
Their gossip and comments on the people waiting for the
sumptuous feast are humorous and invites the female readers to
reminisce the funny moments spent with their friends. Though
comical in nature, the story touches upon the ungrateful nature
of children who abandon their old parents after oozing out all
that they have. Through the gossip of two friends, a strong and
deep thought is expressed by the author. There are several analogies
like comparing the sea without waves to the naked little boys
running in the shore. These kinds of figures of speech enhances
the beauty of the narration altogether.
All throughout, several thought provoking questions were
raised by the author through the stories. The questions address
not only the government or people in power, but also the common
people. They were ridiculed with such questions of their greed,
pride, stupidity, vices and inhumane qualities. This work is a plea
to the powerful to just look at the innocent people with fair eyes
and support them during calamities, expecting nothing in return.
Mrs. Benitta Linjo Pozhil.B.E
Assistant Professor of English,
St. Alphonsa College of Arts and Science,
Soosaipuram, Karinkal- 629157,
Kanyakumari District.
8 Tearful Ocean
Content
1. If We Stay Alive … We Shall survive on Grass 11
(Usuru Kidanthal Pullai Parichu Tinnalam...)
2. Hoist the flag 23

(Kodiyetru)
3. We Stand By You! 33
(Naanga Irrukom)
4. Tearful Ocean 41
(Kanneer Samudhiram)
5. Woeful…Injustice 48
(Ayyayo… Aniyayam)
6. A Thousand Oars 54
(Aayiram Tholavai)
7. Inebriation Justified 64
(Nyayamaana Bothai)
8. The Soul Is Departing 71

(Jeevan Piriyithu)
9. Splendid! Splendid! Chicken Feast 82

(Kollam Kollam Kozhi curry)
10. The hard worker earns…. 92

(Nalla Vaayan Sambaathichu…)
Glossary 103
10 Tearful Ocean
1. If We Stay Alive …
We Shall Survive on Grass
Usuru Kidanthaal…
Pullai Parichu thinnalaam…
Nobody stayed indoor

They were all on the shore
Laying a mat on the floor and spreading a towel over it,
I just went to bed in the hall, at my home with my right hand
under my head for a pillow.
Thud! Thud! came a noise just as I went into a deep slumber
and I got up quite hastily, wondering what had gone wrong and
where. It sounded as though someone was trying to break the
door from the other side. I could also hear wailing and moaning.
Not being able to guess anything at all, I hurried to open the door
and see what was happening there. I was keen on getting some
clue from the direction I heard the sound from.
All on a sudden, I remembered a similar incident that
happened before a month before. Yeah, one night I heard a hue
and cry and when I opened the kitchen door and stepped into my
backyard, I realized that there was an unimaginable heat around
and in a moment’s time, my face, hands and chest were charred.
‘Is this heat radiating from a thousand boilers at a time?’ I
wondered…
My moustache which had just started to grow - a hair here
and another there, had seared within a moment. The hair on my
chest was burnt black by the intensity of the torrid flames!
‘Is something happening like that now too?’ I pondered.
12 Tearful Ocean
‘This time I should open the door with the utmost care,’
I decided.
But now that the cry was heard from the front door, I opened
it slightly and peeped through the narrow gap, though quite
scared.
Kurusu Mikelu, (Cruz Michael) couldn’t be patient until then
and so he pushed his way through the door and rushed in.
Gasping, he expressed his anguish, “The whole village is
running in all four directions trying to save their lives and here…
you are snoring!”
“Get up, run away! All the people are by the sea shore already.”
Saying so Kurusu Mikelu ran as fast as his legs could carry
him never turning back to see even whether we rushed out of the
house or not.
He then hurriedly went to Uncle Arockiam’s house which is
to the west of ours and knocked his door ravenously. Kurusu
Mikelu is none other than my father’s brother’s son, older to me
by a year.
“Hey, hey, you just came on your own and without giving
any reason at all, just hurried us to the shore, and for your part,
you still continue to run. Just tell us the matter and then go ahead.
Let us know what’s happening around us.” But if only he were
there, he could have heard me! He was literally running fast
knocking at everyone’s door. It seemed his mission was to thump
at everyone’s door and just disturb their sleep!
Kurusu Mikelu ran like the one in the ‘Boss Game’ where one
runs forward calling out, “The ‘Boss’ is coming closer, run away,
run away and hide yourselves,” thus scaring and chasing the other
players and in turn they immediately run fast and hide away from
the ‘Boss.’
We had to abide by the old saying,

“When everyone speeds, along
Never ask, “ Hey, how long?’’
But if a single person speeds,
Go forth not, where he leads.”
We had to abide by the saying and we decided to run along,
hoping to face whatever we had to. And so, we saved our mother,
our elder sister and our younger sister and with all difficulty
brought them out of the house and haphazardly locked the door
and headed towards the seashore in all haste.
Oh there! The power supply has failed … Should electricity be
disrupted right at this hour ?
Even if there is just a splatter or a strong wind they simply
try to ‘save’ power. Do the EB officials need any instructions from
anyone at all, to shut down the supply?
I didn’t know where to run in the pitch, dark night. So, I just
made my way, not knowing in which direction I was moving - all
in a hurry. All on a sudden I heard a thud right in front of me. The
next moment, I realized that I had stamped on to something supple
under my feet. When I took the next step, I fell flat, stumbling
over something.
I could hear a voice screaming, “Amma… , help me out…”
“Oh! My God!” I cried out of pain; for right then, my forehead
dashed against the side wall of a house and it pained me terribly.
I wondered who had screamed a few moments before? Whose
voice was that? What had I trampled over? When I sensed what I
had set my feet on, I had the shock of my life. I saw my younger
sister lying on the ground over whom I had stampeded. I lifted
her, gave her a gentle stroke, consoled her and rushed towards
the sea shore with her.
There came my mother, “Oh my children… where are you…
what has happened, I heard a whimper and was that you?”
14 Tearful Ocean
Since my mother heard my sister’s sobs she was in a flutter.

“Nothing has gone wrong, she just stumbled over to the
ground.”
My mother tried to cool her down, “Is that so…? Hope you
weren’t hurt. Oh dear! It’s ok, don’t cry.”
My sister complained, “Amma… actually I didn’t get hurt when
I fell down. My bone has got fractured just because my brother
fell over me.”
“The heavy elephant that you are, can’t you watch your
steps…? Why the hell did you fall over her – the little kid that she
is!” My mother just chided me, “Be careful…It’s not good on
your part to fall flat on her…,’’ just to console my sister so that
she would stop crying.
Somehow, we reached the seashore. To my surprise a huge
crowd had already gathered there.
Everybody including the tiny tots of the village had assembled
by the shore. Thank God! But for the elevated sand dunes by the
break waters, we would have been drowned one after the other
into the large ocean.
Way back when tsunami hit the coast, the sea water came
into the land and dragged many people into the sea whereas now
the people by themselves have rushed towards the sea and in no
time might get drowned too.
The sea shore was crowded. In the dark, nobody could make
out even the person standing close by. By and by with the help of
the dim sky light we were able to recognize each other.
One among them was Manuvel Pillai (Manuel Pillai). Both
his children were holding his hands somnolently and seemed very
meek and mild as deer, quite innocent…just as I was. They had
been brought here hurriedly woken up from sleep.
Oh! Is that the Mighty Manuvel Pillai who was flaunting

that he would be reigning over the whole world? Isn’t that the
very same person? He stands trembling with fear and goes down
…his legs.
A week before, there was a strife in his neighbourhood. The
village panchayat had installed a garbage bin in the street near his
backyard. The people from that street used to empty their
household waste into it.
Once in two or three days and at times, even after a week the
dump truck from the village panchayat would collect the garbage.
Until a few years back Manuvel’s house was just a thatched hut,
facing the north. Now his sons are grown up and they go fishing
and earn a good sum. We have heard of tiny shrimps turning over
a huge ship, topsy-turvy. Similarly, the family who was nobody
until yesterday, all of a sudden assumed status. And recently they
have built a large house facing the south overlooking the sea. The
garbage bin happened to be near the front yard of his house all
because he has built the house with the entrance facing the coast
and it is an inconvenience to Manuvel Pillai now. Earlier the place
around the garbage bin belonged to the village and it was a
convenient place for the villagers but now Manuel Pillai with his
influence has made the village area his own territory. He wanted
his surroundings to be neat and clean. Therefore, he made a
representation to the village head and the panchayat president to
shift the bin to another place, far away from his front yard.
The village committee and the panchayat stated, “Yeah! Very
true! This garbage bin would be a great hindrance in the long
run. Mosquitoes would be bred, unbearable stench would be
emitted, communicable diseases would be spread. It would be
unhygienic for the common man.”
They discussed so and were stern and firm in their decision.
Manuvel Pillai being a member of the church committee as well as
a ward member of the panchayat used his influence and got it
done for his personal advantage. Nobody would dare to utter a
syllable against him because he was influential.
16 Tearful Ocean
But there was commotion among the street dwellers. All of

them had to use the same garbage bin. So, they were actually
against it. The panchayat board faced hostility from the villagers.
A shift was recommended. They wanted the garbage bin in a nearby
place, in their vicinity somehow.
The shifting process went on for two days. Wherever the bin
was shifted an opposition was faced. Everybody retorted.
They questioned, “For so many years the garbage bin had
been right in the same place. How come all on a sudden the stench
is perceived to be horrible? Didn’t the villagers put up with it all
these days?”
“So long we had borne the bad smell of the garbage bin and
existed in the same area silently without any complaints. Where
were these people then? Why didn’t they come up with such a
benevolent service in those days?”
“Does it emit a nasty smell only for those who turned out to
be rich just recently? Would it be pleasant for the rest of us?”
Every house owner objected, saying, “The stink would be
disgusting for us. Mosquitoes, worms, germs, bacteria etc. would
be bred and as a result epidemics like, Chicken Gunia, Malaria,
Typhoid and Dengue might break out.”
The villagers and the panchayat officials went on from one
place to another moving up and down trying to settle down
somewhere as a cat holding its young ones between its jaws in the
process to find out a better place of safety for its kittens. They were
trying to install it somewhere or the other and thus put an end to
the matter.
Finally, they relocated it right in front of one Amala’s house.
Amala had recently lost her husband who was suffering from oral
cancer for quite a long time. They conveniently placed it there,
breathing a sigh of relief and left the place. Somehow their mission
came to an end.
The very same Manuvel Pillai was now at the sea shore with
his children without a spare clothing, abandoning his sea view
house and all other belongings that he had possessed and relished
so much.
And next, came the proud Pani Pitchai. He is seen carrying a
gas cylinder over his shoulder and walking towards the sea. As
soon as he reached the sea shore, he just let the cylinder fall off his
shoulder with a loud thud and sat on it gasping for breath. He
had been walking the distance carrying the heavy gas cylinder.
If only what Pani Pitchai did this morning comes to mind,
my heart begins to burn hotter than a gas stove. Pani Pitchai had
behaved so meanly to Anathasi who lived in a house that was to
the west of Pani Pitchai’s house. She had lived a happy and
contented life in her middle age. She had seven children and she
had settled all of them and they are well off too. But now she and
her husband have become old and weak. They are not able to work
hard anymore and quite pitifully none of their children lends out
a helping hand to them. All of them are wealthy and prosperous.
They have built large houses and they go about in motor bikes.
They can even afford to help a few poor families by providing them
sufficient food and clothing. Yet, the woman goes to the shore,
goes on errands and buys fish from children who sell small varieties
of fish and also bids an auction when the merchants call aloud
and buys small portions; she carries them in a tiny basket and
sells them in the villages in the south. With the money that she
gets, she buys tapioca, brings it home, boils it and they have a
meal with ration rice together with the curry prepared out of the
unsold fish. They thus pull along their livelihood in poverty and
hard work. When they sought a government pension allotted for
senior citizens, their application was rejected under the grounds
that they had sons. They lead such an irksome life. Still, Pani Pitchai
has no sympathy for these people whatsoever.
If at any point of time the woman salts the unsold fish and
dries them in her court yard he cannot put up with it and his wife
would be fuming within.
18 Tearful Ocean
“What the hell is this! How is it possible for people to live

here, in this rotten smell? We can’t exist in this condition. All our
children have become sick because of this. She doesn’t mind our
words at all. How many times have we told her?”
“If she wants to dry salted fish she might as well choose to
dry them within herself. The body temperature would facilitate
the fish to dry much faster too. Why should she put us into
trouble?” Pani Pitchai’s wife, little realized that her husband Pani
Pitchai himself caught these bad smelling fish and sold them and
that it was thus that they earned their living. She used to speak as
though she descended as a Brahmin.
Pani Pitchai and his wife would use abusive words at her.
This old woman never used to speak a word even when she got
emotionally hurt. If at all she replied or back mouthed, she had no
one to stand by her.
If there arose a quarrel, she would have no moral support from
anyone in the village. Taking her poverty into consideration the
Panchayat gave her two goats so that she could make a better living.
It so happened that one of her goats chose to ease her bowls at the
small veranda of Pani Pitchai’s. This made Pani Pitchai very furious.
He caught the little animal’s leg and lifting it, hit it against the wall
and now the goat lay in its owner’s house, sinking to death.
This made the owner very sad, “In what way did my goat
disturb him? Does he imagine that his house is made of gold? Did
he get wild that my goat dirtied his golden palace? Had he told me,
I myself would have cleared up the area and wiped it clean. Since
he has broken the legs of an animal with just five senses, I wish
the Good Lord makes him lose mobility and just crumble on his
bed.” She cursed him and carried her goat away.
He who made such a big scene for as silly a matter as such has
now left his ‘gold crafted’ house and is here with just a gas cylinder.
Now that his house is left without anyone to care for, who knows
which goat is roaming about and which hen, is littering in his house?
“My dear child, do you have a mobile phone with you?” Soosai
Packiam the silly began… “I have given my daughter in marriage
in Thoothoor village…I don’t have any idea whether she is aware
of the situation here right now? I must pass on the information to
my daughter. If she faces such calamities while in deep sleep, she is
sure to be doomed. That’s why I make this humble request to you.
Do you have a mobile phone with you?”
“In the hurry-burry, I totally forgot about my mobile phone.
I have no phone with me….” As I replied, I remembered an event
that happened some time ago.
It’s all about the waste. The Administration Office of the Solid
Waste Management Scheme was situated at the west of the village.
It was a firm that arranged for hand carts to be pulled along all the
streets and at the ring of a bell everybody would dump their garbage
and it would be sorted out into gradable and non-gradable waste
and then natural fertilizer would be manufactured from the
dumped garbage. There were some workers who work for the
natural fertilizer company under the Solid Waste Management
Scheme. An amount of Rs.20 was collected from each household
and a fixed salary was paid to these workers. And so, a few
unemployed men started working and the village appeared cleaner
too. Natural fertilizer was also made available to everyone. The ocean
which was the livelihood to the villagers was dirtied by dumping
all the garbage into its depths and after this scheme was implemented,
the sea was no more seen unclean, it appeared tidy enough.
Soosai Packiam bought a coconut grove near the Solid Waste
Management Scheme Office and annexed the porampokku land of
the AVM channel also and built a palatial bungalow. He also
conducted a gala function for his daughter’s marriage spending
the money generously sent by his sons from abroad.
All of a sudden Soosai Packiam planned to put an end to the
Solid Waste Management Scheme. He came up with reasons like
bad smell, unfavourable conditions for existence and threat to the
environment.
20 Tearful Ocean
He therefore spent some money from the amount his sons

had sent him on distributing alcohol among some of the villagers
and deliberately created a dispute between two parties and finally
put an end to the scheme itself. And ever after that, the village is
strewn with garbage. The whole village experiences an unpleasant
smell. The sea is playing a dump truck. And Soosai Packiam has
just now abandoned his bungalow and is now right at the sea
shore. He pretty well knows the danger he would have to face if
he goes home for the sake of the mobile phone. So, in fear and
fright he is held up at the sands of the shore.
Now, I realize that it’s quite some time since I came to the sea
side. What is the matter? Why have we gathered at the sea side? I
had no answer. Is a tsunami anticipated? If that is so, we are not
going to come by the shore anyway. We would be looking for an
elevated area which would be protective. But now we are on the
shores. Oh! What’s happening? So many of them are carrying a
gas cylinder each and running from their homes and yet no one is
able to give any clue at all. I am driven crazy.
“What has brought you to the sea shore?” I stood over the
break water barriers and asked loud enough for everyone to hear.
“An accident has occurred at the Atomic Plant where the
atomic waste is seeping. The atomic rays would kill anyone on the
spot. We received a phone call and that’s why we are right here.
We have vacated to save ourselves.” voiced a middle-aged man.
“And what has the cooking gas cylinder got to do in this
context?” asked I.
“We are told that the atomic rays would spread widely if there
is gas around so we are also advised to leave the gas cylinders in
the open space. Hence everyone is at the shore with their gas
cylinders.”
“Who said so?”
“Someone has informed through phone. Some of the villages
by the east have already been destroyed and many are already dead.”
The people who are seen here are the ones who once before
went on to affirm and convince the public,
“The Atomic Power Station is quite safe.”
“Atomic power is pure.”
How come? They are the very first people to run away from
the houses and seek refuge at the sea side. Why then did they speak
in favour of the Atomic Power Station earlier? But the trainers
who organized the training program on Natural Calamities
Management had given us a totally different picture about the
Atomic Power Station. And that says that when there is leakage
in the atomic boiler, we are supposed to cover our face with a wet
cloth and stay indoors.
But what’s happening here? All of them have come to the sea
shore along with their gas cylinders. Why so?
Weren’t you the ones who preached :
“No harm losing an individual,
For the sake of a single family.
No harm losing a whole family,
For the sake of a single village.
No harm losing a whole village,
For the sake of a single country.”
“Are you prepared to lose your life in order to save us?”
“Why are you running to save your life from danger?”
“In what way are you called patriots?”
“You are not willing to die for the sake of the country’s
prosperity.”
“So do you deserve to be called patriots at all when you don’t
practice what you preach?”
22 Tearful Ocean
At the end of the break waters, I saw a dark skinned, figure

wailing as loud as possible and jumping into the sea and
disappearing before me. I was not able to make out whether it was
an illusion or a reality. I stood all the more perplexed.
The mighty yet mean Manuel Pillai,
All in fears that soon he’d have to die,
The silly Soosai Packiam in a sad tone,
So humbly asking for a mobile phone
The proud Pani Pitchai utterly selfish,
Could not bear if Anathasi dried fish
One and all, were just in the open air,
Nothing to own, and nothing to share.
2. Hoist the flag

(Kodiyetru)
Outsider, a panchayat president!

Oh! what? not a resident?
“Peace talks? With those villagers? No…no… can we ever
categorize them, as humans? If we volunteer to talk to them, they
might as well ask us to register our whole village in their names.
So, no more peace talks…we shall face the challenges.”
“The same thing happened last year too. A few priests, the
Collector, the RDO and the Tahsildar called us for negotiation and
peace talks. But what happened at the final stage? Nothing was in
our favour. And now what do you think they would do at last?
They will hold round after round of interactions and ultimately,
dodge us. Have we yet forgotten that?”
“And now too they would call us. ‘Let the murder case take
its own stride. You are not supposed to catch fish here. If there is
any rock straight to your village go find it out and fish there …or
else we would have talks with the government and ask the
government officials to decide upon creating an artificial rock for
you.’ They would force us to sign on the papers and put an end to
the issue concluding, ‘In the name of The Father, The Son and The
Holy Spirit... Amen. Go forth, the mass is over.’ The mighty are
always backed and the weak are just ignored.”
“After clearly having an idea about how the end is going to
be if we go and if any fellow gives us false promises there and
makes a fool of me, I myself don’t know how many people I would
slay then and there?”
“Henceforth, we ourselves have to challenge the other village
and win over them. At the utmost, what would happen? Would
we be beheaded if we indulge in it? If so we shall take it. The whole
village is in tension anticipating something bad at any moment,
so we should decide upon some change.”
24 Tearful Ocean
The Cross Rock is the only money minting machine for both
the villages from the days of our ancestors. When we look at the
sea through the water we view the shape of the rock and it very
much appears like the Holy Cross where Jesus was crucified. If we
have an anchor and use the hook and the rod we would get a lot
of fish there. Right from a catamaran steered by just a single person
using a single hook to two or more men going fishing with several
hooks, there would invariably be a good catch. Even if three or
four fishermen set out and stay at sea for one or two nights and
catch fish with hooks, it pays them well. The canoe that was meant
exclusively to catch squid and also the nylon nets and the like,
which are laid at the bottom of the sea by the fishermen, give the
catchers happy returns. Whatever it be, we gain a lot from the sea
for sure.
From the time the ‘Cross Rock` was discovered it was claimed
by this village as their prerogative. It has never been specifically
owned by anyone and it can’t be that way either. In the vast ocean,
nothing can be claimed as ‘that is mine’ and ‘this is yours’. The
ocean is common to everyone as all of us know. It is not possible
to be claimed by anyone because the ocean is the significance of
equal rights. Anyone can venture into the ocean and fish. Whoever
comes here and whichever village they belong to, come for the
same purpose - to catch fish and they fish by The Cross Rock. All
of them benefit by it. And the sea had never been partial to anyone.
It shows no favour to any particular village or villagers so to say.
But now, one village claims that the Cross Rock is theirs! If
fishermen from other villages come over here, the natives do give
them the space and freedom to catch fish, but only if they wish so.
If they don’t feel comfortable, they object to it and ask them to
catch fish elsewhere. Every year we face such a problem. There
seems to be no end to this issue at all. In fact, it has become, a
never ending dispute!
That’s because the village is larger in area and the people there
are haughty and think that they can do whatever they want to.
The sole reason for this is that there is no rock straight to our
village.
Our sea has no rocks. It appears just purely naked, so plain

and nude like the little boys, who walk along the sea shore, with
no clothes on. The locals are totally dependent on that rock for
their livelihood and it is understood that hence the anger and the
anguish right at the moment.
And also, that was because during the days of our fore-fathers,
around a hundred vessels were catching fish. And the catch those
days was more than sufficient, giving them peace and plenty. But
just imagine now, each village has six hundred to seven hundred
vessels. And what can we expect? Won’t there be a dissatisfaction,
if instead of hundred vessels a thousand to thousand five hundred
vessels share the resources?
Whom is the rock for?
Who can claim it?
Whom does it belong to?
Who was the first to catch fish there?
What engine speed was applied?
What are the nuances and techniques to fish by the rock?
With various arguments as such every year, days go on and
on but still it is a question mark forever. A number of catamarans
and other new-pattern vessels are being introduced every year in
large numbers. But that Cross Rock doesn’t grow that
proportionately. And the fish for every catch is not that remarkable
either. Day by day the catch is becoming fewer.
While fishing in the sea, there had been instances where the
two villagers had fought with each other just for ample space within
the fishing limits. Many a time there had risen quarrels at sea and
unable to set it right amicably, both the villagers had to stay away
from fishing.
Earlier at the sea if there was a quarrel while catching fish,
they would just ignore it, “Hey this is our Mother Ocean who
really helps us to earn our living and all of us are brothers – in fact
we are Mother Ocean’s sons. We are like, born in the same family.
Then why do we have differences of opinions? Let us sort them
out the moment we reach the shore.”
26 Tearful Ocean
And whence they reached the shore, they would forget it and
discuss at their respective village committee meetings, figure it out
and say, ‘forget the past’ and they get reconciled.
When at sea, the oar is supposed to be used only to steer
through and move a vessel, forward and steer through the ocean.
It is very much considered unethical, to use it to assault others
during any disagreement while fishing in the deep waters.
But these days they don’t hesitate to attack each other at sea
and quite un- hesitantly these groups develop animosity between
themselves even as they are still in Mother Ocean. They forget that
all of them are the sons of the same Mother.
Last year due to the lack of fishing space at sea there arose a
dispute right in the middle of the ocean. The other people around
made a compromise and settled the affair without much casualty
on both sides. But, a solo-crafted catamaran, was seen farther,
wobbling over the waves. There wasn’t anybody in it. Who would
have sailed so long in that catamaran and thus far? And where is
that sailor now? There is no possibility for anyone to find protection
from the attack and the assault in the sea as such and the sea is not
a safe place either to seek asylum. Were it on land, we could guess
that the person has spotted some safe zone to hide himself. Which
village does he belong to actually?
“Hey, our village resident Xavier Adimai had been killed by
the neighbouring villagers and the corpse has been thrown into
the sea…”
No sooner did that bad news spread all over both the villages,
than the people became tensed and turned violent. Everyone was
scared as to what would happen next.
What to do now…?
Actually, it was just a small strife. But before it could develop
into a horrible dispute the problem was solved. But how did he
meet with death?
“He is a heart patient indeed who always goes about with

medicines and tablets in his pocket. As he carries four sets of betel
leaves to chew around so does he carry two doses of his tablets
everywhere he goes. When he saw them fighting, he would have
become shocked and would have swooned to death. And should
our villagers take the blame?”
Whatever was said on behalf of Puthu Thurai Village, the
only statement that was made final was that Xavier Adimai was all
alone in the sea in his catamaran and taking advantage of his lone
sail he was murdered by the other villagers.
And having this reason in mind they almost decided not to
allow Puthu Thurai natives to catch by the Cross Rock.
Well, the village committee members at the right juncture hit
upon a plan and started pondering about who would save them
from the murder case as well as allow them, to catch fish by the
Cross Rock.
And then, when the situation is so bad, the parish priest is
out of station. He had gone on leave for a month for his higher
studies, we were told. The priest from the neighbouring parish
visited this village to conduct the Holy Mass, to administer
anointing of the sick and to give Holy Communion. The church
activities were going on half and half but the village activities were
not at all being performed. No one was bothered.
Well, quite often the parish priest under the evasive pretext of
higher studies would keep himself away from the parish. Couldn’t
the bishop designate someone who has completed his studies as a
priest was the feeling of the villagers? That was the feeling of the
villagers.
“We should make a representation to our Bishop regarding
this. A change should be brought about.”
“Yeah! But what after all is the parish priest going to do for
us? Either he would convince us and take us for a reconciliation
or he would just leave the village forever and seek refuge, in the
diocese.”
28 Tearful Ocean
“And why should we still depend on the parish priest? Let’s

do, whatever bit of thing, that we can. Let’s wait to see who will
extend their support at this final hour and save us.”
There was a discussion at the village committee.
“Only if we contact the ruling dispensation, we will become
strong. The police would also go by the party’s orders. The officers
would tow the line of the government. Otherwise, no way out.
We might be in trouble. The ruling party MLA had already attended
the funeral of Xavier Adimai.”
Thus, he put it…, “This incident is indeed painfully heart
rending. I would certainly do whatever I can, to make get the
murderer punished. I shall also bring it to the direct notice of the
Chief Minister.”
“Will he ever be helpful to us? All that he wants is the whole
chunk of votes from the village. He wants a lump sum number of
votes from our village. The fact is that the other village has, twice
the number of votes than we have and that’s obviously why he
stands by them. The ruling party men who are in our village have
no calibre. They are like the white leghorn chickens that are
incubated in electric incubators.”
“Then what about the opposite party?”
“Not able to save themselves, they are shuttling between the
police station and the prison. They were in their loin cloths tucked
in ready for a fight when they were the ruling party and now,
they have gone helter-skelter and are expecting others to save them.
These Dravidian Parties are heroes of course but only until they
are in rule. Once their ruling tenure gets over they are back to
square number one – just a zero.”
“The Communist Party would be the most suitable one for
us. Even if there are very few members they would come out, to
the streets and agitate.”
“And what about them? We have our party branch in that
village too. There are also a few branches of associations like, The
Youth Association, The Women’s Association, The Students
Association and The Fishermen Association. We cannot take two
different stands for these two villages. Worse still, they have lost a
man from their village, so we cannot lead a group against them by
any chance.”
“What other scope do we have right now? Nothing absolutely.
And don’t we have anyone to speak for us at all? We need someone
to effectively present our case.”
Only then, the committee president, opened his mouth – “Why
not? Just this morning a party came here. We have MLAs and
MPs. We also have ministers. Actually we are the ones who are
ruling in the Centre too. It’s we who dictate terms to your State as
well. We will by all means quash the case. And they have promised
to give permission to fish on the Cross Rock…What do you feel
about it …?”
“Oh! Is that so? Well and good.” He nodded.
“The party, is not against us. They are not the ones who are
in the process of literally burying the fishermen, especially the
Christians on the coast. But they would never allow us to hold
our heads high. If these people seem to extend their support to us
there should be something fishy about it – I smell a rat.”
“What can we do? Just suppose that you are walking along
the road and say – four people are coming to attack you and if
someone is coming to save you, would you be questioning as to
who he is or from where he is or which caste and religion he belongs
to? Or even whether it is our enemy in that case? At such crucial
circumstances the help and the favour extended when it is a dire
necessity is more important than the other factors.” Thus
responded, the Head of the Village Committee.
“This is a good idea. No matter how many lakhs is spent.
Let’s levy Rs.500/- per head and if it is insufficient, later on we can
demand more depending upon the requirements. We shall entrust
all the responsibilities with the party people. I shall keep the
accounts tallied.” The treasurer who has tasted ‘illegal money’ just
made a sly suggestion. “They have come to help us because our
village is in adversity. We have no other go but accept their favour,
what else can we do?”
30 Tearful Ocean
“They don’t demand anything great. Just a membership card

for each of us to be sure that we are members of their party. Another
expectation of theirs is that we have to install posts from street to
street and hoist their party flag. And we are not supposed to go by
the instructions of the Bishop or the Parish Priest thereafter. The
church and the priest’s presbytery should be shut. Fishermen
should go fishing even on Sundays.”
‘The Cross Rock’ should be rechristened as ‘Pillaiyaar Rock’
because before we had converted to Roman Catholics the Cross
Rock as we call it now, bore the name ‘Pillaiyaar Rock’. This fact is
already in history and also inscribed on rocks and stones. They
claim that they have evidences.
“The Head of the Committee, spoke like, he has gone through
the pages of history. What does he know after all? He just repeated
what he was asked to say. That’s all.”
“He had no other go. This is the best way. This is the way to
show that we oppose them. Gone are the days when we just spent
hours offering prayers and listening to the sermon and the counsel
of the parish priest which we know is of no use. So here we go.
Hey! You there! hoist the flag in every part of the village. Soon the
whole village must be adorned with the party flags.”
All done! Poles were erected all over the village and the
particular party’s glossy flags were proudly waving. The party
people got what they wanted so easily. Now weeks have passed.
Months are gone and it’s already a year.
A lot of brandy was poured into a big ewer and served to
everybody generously. This arrangement was for Manikandan to
become the Panchayat President in our village on behalf of the party.
The alcohol did make a remarkable history. Manikandan who was
‘imported’ from somewhere was now our Panchayat President –
the Panchayat President of Puthu Thurai. An outsider became our
president.
No change was noticed in the scenario. The murder case was
still pending. We could not fish by the Cross Rock. And the
problem remained unsettled.
The diocese did not interfere. The parish priest did not come
to the village. The church remained closed.
Now, there is a plan going on to demolish the church and
construct a Pillaiyaar Temple in the very same place. They claim
that, already, a temple had existed there and that, the details of
which are believed to have been recorded in history books and in
inscriptions, on stones. They have evidences. And thus, they
make claims.
The Rs. 500/- that they collected per head in the village is all
over now. The fund raising campaign was successful. Each one of
us had borrowed here and there and given Rs. 500/- for every family
and our children have barely anything to feed on.
The account showed as follows:
The travel expenses, to buy the flags…
The travel expenses, to bring the flags…
The travel expenses, to buy the flag poles…
The travel expenses to bring the flag poles...
The travel expenses to buy the flag ropes…
The travel expenses to bring the flag ropes…
They showed us the accounts exclusively for each expense.
And they finally said that there was a debt of a lakh and odd for
which the Treasurer of the Committee had borrowed from his wife
and his wife’s sister and that it has to be paid off and if not paid,
the reputation of the village would be at stake and the accounts
shown were accurate and every detail tallied as well.
After their mission was over, the party focused, on canvassing
in the next village. There they incited the people like: “At any cost
we should never give up. The poor Xavier Adimai has been killed
by them and so we should fight for death sentence for all of them.
Whoever comes and however mighty they are, we should face the
situation and never allow any of them to fish on the ‘Cross Rock’.
And to achieve this, whatever we have to do for you, will be done
by us for sure. Hoist the Flag!”
32 Tearful Ocean
In this village too, all other party flags were removed and the
particular party’s flag stood proudly waving.
Now…
The Cross Rock or The Pillayaar Rock? To whom does it
belong? The problem should have been solved within a day and
brought to a compromise but now it’s burning like another Ayodhi
– an unending fire that has been burning in our hearts and it still
continues to…
The far-away Cross Rock yonder was for everyone,
Actually for, all sea-faring men, under the sun;
But, it is the nuances that they ought to know,
And the techniques, to catch fish, at a single go;
If at sea, among them, they happened to fight,
At the shore, the village committee, set it right.
The oars, are exclusively, to steer through,
Not meant to attack or assault, the sailing crew.
3. We Stand By You!
(Naanga Irrukom)
Not the coast guard

It’s the natives that guard
When Vincent saw a new boat by the sea early in the morning
he was taken aback. ‘Until 12 PM, last night, when I came to the
seashore to attend nature’s call, I didn’t see this boat here. After
midnight within so many hours, who has stationed this boat here?’
Vincent was quite justified in becoming so astonished as to how
the boat was brought there.
‘The Public Works Department had laid a road in order to
transport large stones in huge trucks to build a harbour in that
area. They might have brought this boat through the same road
in a lorry. Even then I should have heard the noise when it was
being unloaded. How did I miss on it?’
Oh! It just came to his memory now. Around 12 o’ clock he
went down south, to ease his bowels and as he returned and lay
down on the mat that he had spread over the sea sand, he sensed
that it was drizzling and when he looked up at the dark sky, he
wondered whether it was covered with a black tarpaulin. Neither
the moon nor any star could be spotted out. It was also spattering
so he anticipated heavy rain and got up. He shirked away the
sand from his mat, rolled it, clutched it under his arm and loosened
his lungi from his waist and drew it upwards, so as to cover his
head to protect himself from the rain and made his way fast, to his
house. After a comfortable sleep all through the night, in the
morning at 6.30 when he came to the shore, if he saw a new boat
there, wouldn’t he be baffled?
What he saw, was in an extraordinary shape. It neither looked
like a canoe nor like a proper boat. It was a blend of both of them.
34 Tearful Ocean
No fisherman can ever use it for fishing purpose because such a

boat has never been crafted by any of the sea farers here, so far. It
cannot be used in the place of a canoe because it didn’t have any
facilities like the deck, or the box, as a canoe normally has. If it
can’t be used for fishing, why is it halted near the seashore? Vincent
had no clues as to why it was left there. He believed it was a tourist
boat to help the tourists sail in a lake or river just for pleasure.
And it was a mystery to Vincent as to why it was positioned by
the shore where there were constant waves.
And where from did such a big crowd gather near the boat,
just like houseflies hovering over palm jaggery? Vincent slowly
went closer to the new boat out of curiosity. When he ran down
his fingers over the surface of the boat, he sensed that it was as
smooth as a banana stem.
The paint appeared glossy all over. The boat was shimmering
when the morning sun’s rays fell over it. Vincent couldn’t make
out whether it was made of fibre or rubber. It was of such an odd
texture and quality.
“I want to make one such for me!”
“Oh yes! You can, but you can’t go fishing with it. You can
display it for public view in an exhibition. Look at it; so slippery is
it that, we would just slip and fall off and that would be the end of
us,” Vincent interjected Augustine.
“If it were so, it would just be a show piece! Is it for people to
have a glimpse at it and get away? Can’t we go fishing in it?”
asked Augustine with all anxiety.
“What else is it for?” asked Vincent. “The space within is
insufficient and where would one keep the ropes and the fish net?
And there is no room to keep the diesel and the oil either.”
“They who have crafted this canoe, wouldn’t they have
certainly left some working space? Yes, certainly they would have…
Take a close watch and you will see that.”
“Hey! yes… it would be at the bottom; you see, this is not

meant to be used for fishing; this is a launch which may take
tourists around Kovalam, for sight-seeing, where the sea lies like a
lake,” Vincent offered explanation.
“Why have they left it here? If the sea waves are rough and
they beat against the boat, I am sure it would break into pieces!”
“I presume, they have planned to use it for the tourists, once
the harbour construction is done, the sea would be calm and there
won’t be any waves.”
“Hey, if the harbour work is carried out at this pace, it will
take another fifteen years for the work to be completed and if until
then this boat is left here, won’t it wear out? Are you aware that
already the ‘Vallampuri’ boat was built for a crore and it hasn’t
been steered through even a single day; it lies stuck in the sea.”
“The Budget announced that an amount of rupees ninety-
nine crores, was sanctioned for a harbour. Now in 2012, it has
been reduced to rupees twenty- seven crores. But the harbour that
is coming up seems to accommodate only fifty boats. Then, would
it be possible for them to take the tourists around for sight- seeing?”
A large number of people had assembled by the shore to see
the glistening boat. Many came and left, one here and one there
took out their mobile phones and clicked photos too.
Augustine and Vincent went a little northward where they
had pitched a shack for their rest and to mend their torn fish nets.
They had swept away the wet sand on the surface and sat down
stretching their legs to relax a bit.
At a distance from the sea side, towards the north was the
gravel road laid to facilitate transport for the harbour construction.
Vincent just very casually cast a glance towards the north and he
couldn’t believe his eyes; he saw a row of Tata Sumo police jeeps
painted in white and all of them were simultaneously rushing
through. A few policemen got down with their guns and hit them
against the jeep with a hard blow, as if to swear and saluted with
36 Tearful Ocean
their right hand and Vincent and Augustine, were driven to think
that a police officer of a high rank had arrived at the spot.
Quite true! From the vehicle behind, came an officer with
stars on the chest as well as on the shoulders and when he stepped
out, all the eyes that were over the boat turned towards the officer
to see what was happening there. The police team didn’t take notice
of anyone there. They walked through the seashore quite
unmindful of the people around. They made their way past the
fishermen who were drying their fishnet after their catch; some
were drying nethili fish just scattering here and there while some
others were shoving their catamarans to the shore, a few others
were carrying fish on their heads that they had bought; some were
playing cards on the sea sand wearing a topi and an ear stud.
Pushing away the little ones who were playing around, the officials
walked across the sea shore as though they had landed down on
earth from some other planet, evidently showing it out that they
had nothing to do with any of them there around. They put on
airs that they knew everything and the people around were mere
dullards.
“What has happened? Why are the police there when there is
no strife or fight between groups?” enquired Augustine.
“Don’t you know they are going in search of the boat towards
the left side, by the rock?” pat came the response from Vincent.
“Oh! I see! So, is it their product? Good! I was really scared
about it,” wondered Augustine.
“What do you mean?” asked Vincent.
“Either militants or smugglers might have come at night
without falling into anyone’s glance,” replied, Augustine.
Vincent assumed, “Will such a thing happen at our shores?
Terrorists may invade some odd deserted place where there are no
fisher folk or absolutely no humans for that matter , but not a
village as ours.”
“It comes to my memory right now. Remember, last week I

read out a news from the newspaper…”
“What’s that?”
“… that the government had launched a coastal guard to
search the lost fishermen during storm or undercurrent in the
middle of the sea or to solve their work-related disputes and also
to tackle the militants who attack mid-sea?”
“Yes, yes…quite true… and you even opined that, youngsters
from the coastal areas should be appointed as coast guards and
wondered whether the government would do it. I remember that
you also mentioned that you made a representation on Grievance
Day…what happened? Is this related to that? Augustine went on
piling questions.
“What do you think about it? If we seek to be employed as
coast guards to brave the waves, the wind, the gale, the tornedo,
and the turbulent waters, they say that it would be impossible to
do so and that they would train the candidates selected by the
Uniformed Personnel Recruitment Board to work deep sea and
swim in the sea as well and send them into the deep.”
“Splendid! So, is a fisherman just a tool to train others? Isn’t
a fisherman a citizen of this country? Instead of seeking the help
of the fishermen to train people who have got nothing to do with
the sea, what is wrong if the government gives the job to the
fishermen themselves who live with the sea and in the sea like
fish?” asked Augustine.
“You asked me who would go fishing in this boat…right?
Now see the fun…keep watching what is going to happen…”
The army bearing guns, marching forward, along with the
higher official, all for his protection halted in front of the boat.
Seeing the commotion, the boat watching crowd stood aside
in fear of the police or perhaps they thought that the police belong
to another clan and they have no place there.
38 Tearful Ocean
They fit a twenty- five horse power Suzuki outboard engine,

at the rear end of the boat and at the forecastle they installed a steel
pole and hoisted a flag. They had no talks with anyone else and
neither did they ask anyone for any help. They were conversing
among themselves as if there was nothing on earth that was
impossible for them to do. The official who had come with them
was the Coast Guard Officer for the south zone.
Somehow their preparations were over and were ready to
shove the boat into the sea. A green flag was given to the higher
official. Eight of them, a DSP, an Inspector, an SI, a head constable
and just four constables were the ones in the boat. The gun bearing
policemen fixed their guns in the wet sea sand and leaving a
policeman to take care of them, got ready to shove it. As the higher
officer flagged, the others pushed the boat into the sea.
Each one of them strained as much as they could… “
mmm….mmm…”they went on…
“Hey, if four of us make an appeal to our Lady of Presentation
to pray for us and with all our might, push the boat with a
maritime song such as, Eilleilo… Aylasa… the boat would smoothly
slip into the sea, in just a second. Look there, they are straining
their nerves yet the boat doesn’t seem to move. Augustine beat on
his head in anguish telling, “If only all of them push unitedly, the
boat would move. Instead, if each one individually pushes in one’s
own direction, would the boat move at all?”
Was it apparently because of their ego? Well, that was indeed
why they did not solicit the help of the fishermen around. The
police were watching four men giving a prop under a boat and
shoving it into the sea with all ease, by just lifting it as one would
pick up a rabbit by its ears.
It seems that still the ego of the police did not give way. And
that’s why they did not want to ask for the help of the fishermen
around.
For half an hour they tried their best holding their breath,
“mmm…mmm…” and still since it didn’t move an inch but for the
DSP, the others were let out of the boat and with their strong
efforts, the boat moved into the sea little by little. The Inspector,
the SI, the Head and the cops leaped to get into the boat and their
clothes got drenched in the sea water. They were shivering with
cold as they got wet in the morning chill weather. The boat was
speeding fast into the sea in leaps and bounds.
“Hey, what is the driver doing there? Even after the boat has
gone into the sea he has no idea to start the engine! When will the
boat cross over? Or else the boat should be oared forth. It has to
win over the high waves.”
“As goes the saying, ‘In impatient hurry, even if you put
your hands in an ewer, the hands wouldn’t go inside at all.’ “
“I presume, he is trying to locate the start button.”
“There rises a huge wave over there.”
Somehow the engine started and the boat mounted over the
stupendous wave and fell thudding over the water.
“Oh! We have escaped,” with a sense of relief they lay their
hands on their chest.
The next wave came rolling high. Watching that, the policemen
started screaming. When the waves tossed the boat this side and
that, the police personnel feared like children and women, who
are not exposed at all. They frantically moved helter- skelter within
the boat and the boat tilted to one side and capsized.
“Help! Help!” cried the officer on the shore flinging his green
flag in the air. The fishermen who were watching all of these just
jumped into the sea to help them out, bearing no grudge over
them for ignoring them until then. They were not keen to know
who were on the verge of drowning. They just saved them and
lifting them on their shoulders brought them to the sea shore.
Had the rescue operation been delayed even by a fraction of a
second, the eight officers would have drowned.
40 Tearful Ocean
The rest of them shoved the boat safely to the shore. Vincent
who carried the DSP on his shoulder lay him at the feet of the
higher official and remarked sarcastically,
“Mark, who believed that they could set into the sea and look
for the missing fishermen. Very well said!”
He then very coolly removed his dripping vest and lungi and
casually squeezing off the sea water went on his way home.
Neither a boat, nor a canoe
A seafaring vessel? Oh no!
Smooth, glossy, attractive,
Seemed to be innovative;
What quality and texture!
That’s Vincent’s pleasure…
4. Tearful Ocean
Kanneer Samudhiram
The undercurrent so strong

Something had gone wrong
“Oh! Our Lady of ‘Thenkathara’, who protects us and bears
us, we implore Thee! We fall on Thy feet, to save us and redeem us
without any flaws and protect our families.”
There came a woman pathetically beating over her chest and
abdomen with both her hands. She fell flat on the shore and rolling
at Mother Ocean’s feet, wailed and screamed. She was smeared with
the wet sand granules, all over her body and even over her head
and her face.
‘What’s wrong?’
The whole village was in anxiety.
“Don’t you know what happened? Kaspar’s canoe which went
for a catch the day before yesterday, hasn’t yet turned up. It was
supposed to have reached last evening. It has not returned so long;
it is now mid-day.”
If the canoe is missing for such a long time quite unusually,
won’t the neighbours be curious? And will the villagers be silent?
Nobody had any clues. God alone knew what had happened.
“Which Kaspar are you talking about? Is he the son of
‘Moustache’ who lives in Middle Street? Oh my God! He had
borrowed money from many people in the village, to invest on his
boat and fishing materials and is actually in debts. The sea shows
very unfavourable conditions today. It’s quite rough and violent.
The weather keeps on changing and no one is able to rely on it. If
we set assail when the sea appears as calm as a lake, half way
through, we are likely to meet with challenges. Now-a-days our
predictions on fishing points, aren’t right.’
42 Tearful Ocean
Someone said, “The canoe would have landed ashore

somewhere or the engine would have gone out of order. Anyway,
the canoe would be anchored in some place. If we go right away,
we might be able to find them and we can also tow the canoe to
the shore. Nothing would have gone wrong. Don’t panic.”
“Hey, for the strong undercurrent that prevails, even if
anchored, the canoe wouldn’t withstand. It would be just dragged
away, like a puppy being pulled along, by its ears.”
“Yeah, but those who go fishing should remember to wind
up when the time is up. They aspire for more. ‘A little more… a
little more…’ and should they prolong for the sake of a better catch
at all?”
“Whatever it may be, they think that if they get a little more
fish, they would be able to feed their children without letting them
starve. If you were in their shoes you would have done the same.
Not only that, regarding the sea, we cannot actually be sure of
anything and who knows what would happen and when?”
“Oh! My God! For three days all four of them have been
without food or water and we don’t know what suffering they
face right now in the cold wind and the rough sea. Oh Lord! We
wish that you safeguard them.”
This has been the talk of the village.
“Today, is the third day after the four of them left for the sea
in Kaspar’s canoe. We know that they would withstand the odds
of the sea for a single day but now three days and three nights
have passed! In all probability, something might have gone
wrong…”
It was a terrible shock to the whole village.
A wave that came to the shore reached up, touched the woman
who lay on the sea sand and receded. And she was totally covered
by sand and water.
The village men, who were standing by the shore, trying to
predict the sea weather, came running to her rescue. They carried
her and made her recline on a fish net which was left unused for
a long time. Gone are the days, when we used to catch kuthippu,
kooni ,chaavaallai and mural and carried them in our nets, fearing
that the fishnet would tear away and the catamarans would almost
sink when they are heavy laden. These days catamarans and other
such fishing vessels are just crafted and left abandoned without
any utilization.
“Leave me! I shall die with the other four.” She pushed their
hands aside and attempted to run into the sea. The men brought
her to the shore, holding her by her arms and would not let her
go. Each one had their own perception of the event and suggestions
too...
“Hey, make a call from the presbytery to all other coastal
villages to make sure whether this canoe has been washed to their
coast,” said one.
“Let’s inform the A.D. Office and ask them to search with the
help of a ship,” said another.
“Send emergent telegrams to the Collector, the Fisheries
Minister and the Chief Minister without sparing anyone, appealing
to them for an urgent helicopter search.”
Suggestions were given by the very few literates of the village
standing by the shore. Soon, some of them were on their way to
the presbytery, to meet the parish priest with a view to translating
their ideas.
“Let them search with the help of helicopters,” a deep voice
was heard.
A smart man hurried the others, “We are not here to just
stand watching without plunging into action. Let’s take our canoes
with the maximum fuel in the engines and some kerosene and also
sufficient food for all of us and set out immediately.”
“Not only the canoes, we also have a few others, with their
nets cast at the bottom of the sea. Let us fill diesel in their tanks
and ask them to set out in search of the missing four.”
44 Tearful Ocean
All the canoes rushed into the sea splitting the waves in all
directions. The sight was worth seeing. And the boats were sailing
as they do, on a Canoe Day where the village holds competitions
during the boat race festival. But it wasn’t the time to relish the
scene whatsoever. All were in a hurry, to set into the sea and look
for Kaspar’s canoe. Even the boats which were anchored moved
on.
Once before, when the steam boats came into vogue, the canoe
and the catamaran owners joined together and there has been
consistent strife between the steam engine boat parties and the
country vessel owners. But now, forgetting their differences of
opinion, all of them together set out in solidarity. Bearing no grudge
against each other, all the six steam engine boats plunged into
action with the least hesitation, totally oblivious of the past, of
even thirsting for the blood of the other.
All of us were waiting for a positive response from the
government.
“If a minimum of five fishermen went missing at a time, the
government would send a helicopter, as per the government order,”
came the reply.
“Now that, just four have gone missing, the government
has refused to send one and look for the missing four.” When the
youngsters who returned from the presbytery, shared the
government’s stand, even the very little hope that they had nurtured
got dissolved in the thin air.
The government that provides security for politicians with a
thousand cars, a private plane, and a helicopter, doesn’t care a
tuppence to rescue the life of a dying fisher man, all because of an
order.
“Let them approach us for the next election. We’ll teach them
a lesson then. And by the by, where is the rescue launch that cost
rupees one crore that the government provided last year, in order
to search the missing fishermen?”
“Oh! There it lies out of order and not set right yet. And the
important fact is that, no driver has been appointed yet to steer
the launch through.”
“Oh! Villainous rogues! They have spoilt the happiness of the
innocent children.”
“Oh! My dear Lords, I offer you a royal salute. I shall have
my house registered in your names and give you whatever I wear
around my neck and my hands and also the jewels of my
children… won’t you request them to bring back my husband
from the sea with a helicopter search… I will place you anything
that I can,” implored the woman.
The woman went around, begging each and everybody and
her weeping and wailing melted into empty nothings before the
government order, that stipulated a helicopter search only if five
fishermen were found missing. Perhaps the only remnant was
bursting forth from their eyes? Not being able to supress their
inability some of them cried aloud shrieking. Can ever men cry so
bitterly? When the hapless mother was clinging on to the feet of
the people around, they stood aghast neither able to wriggle out
nor to assure her that they would bring her husband back.
“Hey, haven’t we lost many of our men at sea? I’m curious to
know how many fishermen from our clan, have we missed so far?
Was there any instance of the past that the government searched
for the missing fisherfolk and brought them alive or dead? Now
that our people have gone in search, they will soon bring the four
alive. Leaving the burden over the Lord, let’s plead.”
A fellow sailor shared his view with such confidence.
“Henceforth, there is no point depending upon the government;
we have to rely on our priest absolutely.”
“Oh! Saint Antony, crore miracle performer! I shall offer milk
and honey for the devotees, for thirteen weeks.” She vowed.
“Oh! Our ‘Lady of Good Health of Vailankanni, I beg you to
give back my husband who had gone missing in the sea. I will
remove my thaali and offer it at your church.”
46 Tearful Ocean
“Oh! St. George of Edathua, I vow to visit your shrine with

family, every festival,hiring a vehicle.”
“Our Lady of Konan Kuppam, St.Peria Nayakhi! I shall buy
an expensive silk sari and drape it on you.”
“Oh! Mother, St. Mary Fatima, in Valliyoor…”
“Mother Mary from Sahaya Puram…” and she went on
calling all the Saints.
And rather desperately, she switched over to plead to Mother
Bagavathy of Mondaicaud, “Aren’t you the righteous Goddess? I
shall make a statue of you in gold and present it at your temple.”
Irrespective of religion, she made vows to all the saints. She
had faith that one or the other saint or Mother Mary would bring
back her husband alive.
The search boats and canoes that went to rescue the missing
men came back to the shore. The sun had set long before. It was
pitch dark and no one could identify each other’s face, after night fall.
“And how can we search the canoe and the four of them? The
unfavourable weather amidst under current is still intense and if
the people who go in search of them, go missing too? The search
can go on for as many days as necessary but everything is impossible
when it is pitch dark. It would be an utter waste to search when
the sky is moonless and starless; so, they decided to call off their
search.”
The whole village was in sorrow. None of them had supper
that night. Nobody really was in a mood to eat anything. Everyone
was immersed in the thoughts about the people at sea. When none
of them knew what happened to them, how would the people at
the shore relish food at all? They couldn’t even wink an eye.
The school going urchins also, remained awake, hoping for
the arrival of the dawn. Even the still breast-fed babies would
suddenly and intermittently wake up in a shudder and start crying.
And, when it dawned, one by one, the engine boats, as well
as the canoes began their search campaign. The engine vibration
sounded all over the ocean.
Again, people gathered in small groups and were sharing

words of sympathy with Kaspar’s family. Everyone was discussing
the same matter but gradually the conversations waned away with
the least hopes. Wailing could be heard street to street. Yeah! It
was not a single woman’s problem. It was everybody’s sorrow.
Special prayers were offered, masses held and adoration sung in
all the churches amidst hue and cry.
All their tear glands had dried up and their eyes had become
as pale as turmeric boiled fish. There was continual weeping and
crying and so their voices had become shrill. Some others spoke in
a coarse voice. Their throats were as dry as their eyes.
Two canoes came steering, hand in hand with black flags on
their canoes. The flags sang the song of sorrow all over the sea. All
of them, came to the seashore. The crowd gathered like ruffling
waves so much so that the sea waves, even seemed to recede into
the ocean.
They switched off the engines as soon as they reached the
shore and took three lifeless bodies out of the canoe. The fourth
person, was in a very critical stage. They had tied their legs to a
log and brought them to the shore because they wanted the family
members, to at least see the bodies. The very log narrated a thousand
stories to the people around.
The villagers around cried so loud that it could be almost
heard on the other side of the sea. Their tears of sorrow had created
another big tearful ocean.
She’d give the only belonging of hers;
Yes, to bring back her family members.
It was actually a very pathetic situation,
Where none could express any emotion;
If five fishermen set assail and are lost,
Certainly, a helicopter would reach fast.
For just four men, they will never send;
And that makes everybody’s heart, rend.
48 Tearful Ocean
5. Woeful…Injustice
Ayyayo… Aniyayam
Her better - half simple at heart

Yet, ought to have been smart
To Shiny, that particular daytime moved on like an era. She
was waiting with distress for the day to creep out and the night to
peep in. She woke up late and wasn’t very sure whether it had
dawned or was still dark. Normally, her husband stays with her
and she makes it a point to wake up a little earlier to do her
household chores, but today, she took the liberty to spend some
more time on bed. Her husband’s grandmother, rather too old,
takes care of her five-month-old baby and offers her support to
her. The granny’s last days went on happily at the presence of and
in the company of the child.
Shiny could very well be at ease. But she wasn’t. She wriggled
like a worm cast on fire. She was literally counting every second
waiting for her husband’s arrival.
“Today, I’ll make things fall in their right places.” She was
determined.
Already she had discussed ‘that’ with her husband but his
response wasn’t quite satisfactory. He wasn’t capable of tackling it
by himself.
“What can be done my dear? I dare not ask my brother about
this, and even if I dare to, you know that he would take the machete
to hack me,” escaped he.
She had told her parents about ‘that’ several times and had
also hinted it many a time. They had discussed ‘that’ time and
again. It was, of course, a delicate and embarrassing matter. What
could they do? They were upset over it. They advised her to tell
her husband and make him handle it because ultimately it is he
who has to solve the problem and other people’s interference would
seem awkward. They were right in a way. So, she decided that
she must sort it out with the help of her husband. She didn’t forget
to constantly remind him about ‘that’.
Her husband every time voiced out showing little interest.
That wasn’t what she expected from a responsible husband. She
was determined that ‘the problem’ should be rightly dealt with,
that very night, by all means.
Shiny, who was born in a poor family in the coastal area, had
lived in a tiny hut and got married to a man earning Rs. 4,000/-
per month in the nearby town. But life there was hell. There was
no space between one house and the other. Most houses shared
the same side walls. There were studio houses, just a hall which
provided space for the living room, a bed room, as well as the
kitchen and the pantry.
But her husband’s house was in a better living condition. He
was a simple fellow. He loved his wife very much. He never lost
his temper with his wife or even anyone else for that matter. It was
this nature and this characteristic of his that was his strength and
at the same time, his weakness, too.
His younger brother was just the opposite. He had earned
the name ‘notorious rowdy’ in his village. If at all anyone dares to
question him, he would make their life miserable thereafter. And
since he was close to the pucca rowdy in the town, all his
relationship and friendship was obviously with the other rowdies
of the group. This created a fear in others. So, nobody would
approach him. And in fact, nobody was close to him.
When the alliance talks were going on, ‘this’ behaviour of his
brother’s, had been the topic of discussion in Shiny’s family. But
Shiny decided to get married in that family because she believed
that her husband was very good and that was all that mattered.
Why should she worry about anybody else?
Little did she imagine that though her husband was good,
he was not enough to question against evil even in his own house,
and she had to live in a house where there was a callous daring
rowdy too.
50 Tearful Ocean
Shiny’s charming beauty did disturb the brother- in- law every
now and then. When they came back after the maru veedu all his
eyes fell, on the twenty-three-year-old’s, angelic beauty. And quite
unethically he was eyeing her from every angle possible.
On and off he went beyond limits. He touched her in some
part of her body whenever he opened a conversation with her, as
if to draw her attention towards the topic. He would deliberately
jostle her shoulders while walking up and down. She knew that it
was ‘bad touch’. Pretending to stumble, he would attempt to fall
over her. Little did the people around in the family, know about
this. In their presence he behaved affectionately and no one at
home took it otherwise. They thought that he treated her with
love and respect. Nobody in the family noticed that he was
embarrassing her by making advances.
His eyes set on her physique and as a young girl she couldn’t
face him when he cast his wicked look on her. She was very
uncomfortable in his presence. Well, the rowdy group in the village
brought in more encouragement to this rowdy fellow. And so, his
harassment knew no limits.
“ ‘An older brother’s wife is very much like your own
And a younger brother’s wife is not for him alone…’
So go ahead, it’s in your hands.”
They incited him to take liberty and extended their support
and from that day, he was waiting for an opportunity to seduce
her and bring her round to his own whims. When all alone at
home, he used to speak fondly to her and had even gone to the
extent of discussing conjugal life point blank. She, however, paid
no attention to him.
She noticed no change in him, even after reporting the matter
to her husband. As for her parents they were helpless. A year
has gone by, in this fashion. Now she is the mother of a child and
still his lust lingered on.
He would glance at her, even as she fed her baby with a mother’s
dutiful responsibility. That was really terrible to bear. She could,
no more, put up with it.
Today, he directly invited her to share his bed and added that,
if she refused to, he would force her into it.
Had she wanted ‘that’ she could very well have indulged in
it, even as, side by side getting ahead steadily with a happy life
with her husband, too. But a girl who cares for her dignity and
honour that she was, she had no intention at all to get into ‘that.’
She was a lady of integrity and character. She never ever
entertained such ideas. She was persistent in her oruvanukku oruthi
cultural consciousness. Today, she wanted to talk to her husband
about ‘it’ and once and for all, put an end to all her brother-in-
law’s atrocities.
Never in her wildest imagination she thought that ‘that’
danger would lie on the way the very same day. In the backyard
when her husband wasn’t at home, she began washing the kitchen
utensils. Since there was no one around, she had conveniently
tucked her sari around her hip, lest the dirty water should spurt
on her and spoil her sari. Soon his eagle eyes fell on her exposed
parts as he came around and with an evil intent made advances
towards her.
No one was at home but for the ninety-year-old granny who
was hard of hearing and had lost her eyesight years ago. She was
rocking the cradle, singing a lullaby to make the baby fall asleep.
‘Wonderful opportunity,’ mused he.
He thought that it was the right time and moved ahead
forward surreptitiously and right from behind, he hugged her.
She was startled at the sense of touch by the rough and strong
hands of another man. She tried to extricate herself from his harsh,
hard embrace. Unfortunately, she couldn’t. She had to defend
herself, and so she hit him hard with the heavy utensil that she
had in her hand. His forehead was hurt in the sudden attack and
immediately his hold got loose. She tried with all her strength to
escape from him. His pain in the forehead and the unquenchable
fire of lust, drove him into a mad frenzy and grinding his teeth in
a rage he held her head and hit it against the wall. She fainted
with the very first knock.
52 Tearful Ocean
He soon forcibly entered her, even as she was lying down

unconscious. And it took some time before he realized what he
had done; yet he did not mind it.
And then, he brushed his hair and as usual, he made a fluff
right near his forehead and set out, after some time with a face
make-over and left the place.
And soon he had a discussion with his company of rowdies.
They went on to plan in diabolical ways. He brought a wicked
friend into the house, dragged her into the washroom, poured ten
litres of kerosene over her half-clothed body. He then took five kg
of sugar that was distributed by the Civil Supplies Department
for each family. In no time, he spread it all over her. Quickly, he
washed his hands with lux soap to leave no trace of the kerosene
smell in his hands. He casually lit a match stick and threw it
ruthlessly over her and locked the washroom from without. The
flames spread all over charring her hair and face and all the other
parts of her body. She gained consciousness and tried to get up in
vain. All her efforts proved fruitless. The last few seconds she spent
in the intolerable heat and agony and fretted all through. In a
few minutes her soul left from her body.
Soon the baby in the cradle, shrieked and the granny tried to
make the baby sleep, but she wasn’t able to. The child didn’t shut the
eyes, perhaps the mother’s soul conveyed something to the baby…
Hearing the baby’s cry, the neighbours rushed over to see
what after all was happening. The worst shock of their life, they
had when they saw smoke coming up from the rest room. They
broke open the door and they saw the burnt body of Shiny as
black as coal. The news spread all over the village that Shiny had
set herself ablaze.
“Why should she consider self-immolating, if at all with, just
her innerwear and petticoat and lie half undressed?”
“How came the door had been locked from without?”
“Why wasn’t her cry heard outside at all, while burning?”
Nobody had the guts to openly question anyone.
“How came no one had heard the scream and cry of Shiny?”
“What’s the reason for her suicide if that be the case?”

“Getting married and committing suicide is the fourth incident
in the coastal province.”
“There is something fishy about the whole affair.”
“I smell a rat.”
“Only proper investigation would bring out the truth.”
A mysterious call alerted the police station in their jurisdiction.
The girl’s parents and her husband at work were informed.
Her parents lodged a complaint with the police that there was
something mysterious about her death and Shiny’s brother-in-
law was the one they suspected. They collected her mortal remains
and left the place carrying away the child too!
When Shiny’s husband cried aloud when the baby was taken
away, any stone-hearted human would be moved. And even the
eyes of the intoxicated cops were filled with tears. Many an agitation
and many a demonstration have been staged so far but nothing
tangent had been established. But the police proved their loyalty
for the bribe they had received. And he, in all pride of his
masculinity, loiters about wearing a saffron veitti.
“My darling wife is gone. The past is past. I want the surviving
family members to live in peace and happiness. My brother should
not be charged or convicted,” Shiny’s husband made every
attempt under the table to close the file as ‘suicide’!
Now, Shiny’s dumb husband has shaped his mind to accept
another young damsel as a wife who would share her bed with
his brother too.
She did several times cry and confide,
The murder is now turned to ‘suicide’,
If only he had taken poor Shiny’s side,
She’d now certainly have been alive!
His brother tried to draw her attention,
Yet, however, she had no such intention,
Oruvannukku oruthi was her contention ,
Alas! Now the beautiful girl is not alive!
54 Tearful Ocean
6. A Thousand Oars
Aayiram Tholavai
Though in a corporate company

He didn’t send home any money
“Hey, George, do you know the matter? My thambi is coming
home. Since the time I came to know of it I have become very
anxious. I have a feel of floating in the air. What am I to do now?
Just give me an idea.”
Quite sarcastically, came the reply, “Shall we send word for
the decorators who generally come to our village every year to put
up the arch at the entrance of our village for our Patron Saint’s
feast? We shall also erect a board that reads, ‘Welcome, Welcome,
my upright thambi’ and install arches all around the village.”
“What rubbish are you speaking? My thambi’s homecoming
is a moment of great joy to me, and I want to celebrate it, but you
are passing cynical comments.”
I very much felt like slapping Anto left and right when he
told me this. I just had control over myself and so I remained calm
and cool.
Agreed that Jesus said, “But I say to you, do not make use of
force against an evil man; but to him who gives you a blow on the
right side of your face let the left be turned.” But not as such! Anto
is incorrigible in such matters. How many times has his brother
turned ungrateful to him? Still, he hasn’t changed a bit. Anto is a
sailor, quite well built and at this young age he knows all the
different techniques in fishing and the related works.
Seafarers can normally go on just a single sea trip each day.
Even then they lie down of severe body pain and fatigue. To regain
their energy and enthusiasm they would take a full bottle of brandy.
Yet, it wouldn’t suffice. But Anto goes on into the sea repeatedly
to catch different varieties of fish and also indulges in all kinds of
fishing related activities each day. He goes for sardine, anchovy,
shrimps, and sometimes for overnight fishing too. So
hardworking, is he! Even if he lies in the sea the whole day, he
won’t become fed up, neither will he complain of bodyache. And
the fact of the matter is that he doesn’t ever visit a brandy shop as
the others do. Everybody wonders at his physical strength. He
never hesitates to venture into the sea for the third or fourth time
on the very same day. He comes back with sardine and immediately
leaves for anchovy. With such dexterity he would locate the nets
that he had even laid before three days, at the bottom of the sea.
Such was his skills at the sea.
“My beloved son works hard to educate his thambi and get his
thangachi married in a well-to- do family. He gets back to the sea
even before his clothes get dried. The brother is literally sucking
his blood and finally my grandson won’t even have a napkin to
wear,” Anto’s grandmother would chide Anto’s mother, her
daughter-in-law.
“Shouldn’t the elder children in the family earn and settle their
siblings?” She would politely ask her mother-in-law.
“As long as your husband was alive, he shouldered the
responsibility of the family and so your daughters were married
and well settled in affluent families. And then when your husband
was diagnosed with jaundice and he passed away all of a sudden,
the burden of the family fell on my husband. And didn’t we see the
family gradually prosper? And you are jealous about it, I think.
Why do you cast your evil eyes?”
“Am I jealous? He works day and night without sleep. All my
concern is if in the days to come gets weaker, who would take care
of him? Today he bears all the burden of the family and if he falls
ill, what will happen to him? And I don’t think we would live up
to see that.”
56 Tearful Ocean
“We won’t live up to witness such things. If he settles his

thambi and his thangachi , they will look after him like a royal
king.”
“They would! They would! She blurted sarcastically. I don’t
see any such signs at all. He actually doesn’t even hesitate to borrow
money and spend for them and I know what degree of respect they
pay him.”
The mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law continually
argued over this. Anto’s grandma sat stretched her legs on the
floor as she was smashing betel leaves, areca nut, tobacco and
dried lime and chewed and chewed and spat into the copper bowl
as her paambadams dangled.
How long could the daughter-in-law maintain silence? Even
the most patient soul would turn wild. After patiently putting up
for times without number, at times she retorts and there arises a
big bickering.
When Anto came and shared with ecstasy that his thambi was
to come home, his face shone like a thousand milk-white-bulbs
that are used to light the church on festival days. There was such
a radiance on his cheeks and a brightness in his eyes. I got terribly
wild.
“Hey, do you have a bit of the grey matter in your head? Will
your thambi look after you in future when you become old? That
is your long-time trust on him. You educate him. You consider
everyone your family but would they reciprocate in the same way?
Can you expect that? He just kicked you into the garbage bin and
still you are jumping to the sky from the ground,” said his friend.
“That’s nothing at all? Though he is my thambi I consider
him my child.”
“You never take any one’s advice how much ever you suffer.
I don’t care if you go to the dogs.” He shouted with the utmost
irritation.
His thambi actually did an unpardonable act. Even the Almighty

would not forgive him. As soon as the father died of jaundice the
Grade VIII little boy Anto by himself volunteered to shoulder the
family burden.
“Well, I will not be able to continue school anymore. I will
educate my brother and sister no matter how expensive it’s going
to be. After that I would lead a royal life.” Anto would share as
though he was in a dream land.
And that’s why he wanted to educate his siblings. His thambi
for his part was keen on doing his higher studies in no place
other than Chennai, the capital city of the state. Pat came the annan’s
voice, “Chennai? You can even go to Delhi or to a country like the
United States of America and get your degree. I’m here as strong
as a rock. I shall meet all the expenses for your studies. Don’t be
bothered about any other difficulties. I want you to focus only on
your studies. Even at the cost of my own life I’ll see that you become
an engineer.”
Although he hadn’t any money at that time his eagerness
made him speak thus .Thank God, the fees levied by the
administration in Jeppiaar college is just Rs.50,000/- per year and
it accounted towards the hostel fee, mess fee, books, uniform etc.
Other colleges would have charged at least Rs.2,00000/- per year.
“But for Mr. Jeppiaar our children wouldn’t have gone for studies
in Engineering. The children would be jobless and would have to
depend on their parents for their survival.” Those were the very
words of a pretty old woman who hardly knows anything about
education as she went on smashing her betel leaves with the other
ingredients that go with it to be fit to chew for hours at a stretch.
Amidst hard times he borrowed money at the rate of three per
cent interest and even as high as five per cent and got him admitted
in the college.
The college stands magnificent at Sholinga Nalloor like a
Maharaja’s Palace. Acres of landscape and sky-scraping buildings
58 Tearful Ocean
looked so pleasant. For the students’ conveyance more than five

hundred buses ply up and down during peak hours. The hostel
was quite good enough to accommodate a large number of students.
The kitchen and the pantry reminded me of those in kalyaana
mandapams. It seemed like five kalyaana mandapams were together
as a single dining hall. The kitchens were large enough too.
Sumptuous food was served, every day. No limit for even
mutton and chicken which were considered extravagant. Ice cream,
an all-time favourite for everyone irrespective of the young and
the old was loaded in abundance and the students could enjoy it
any number of times. Different varieties of fruit-salad were at
everybody’s access. Everyone just enjoyed in the college campus.
Anto was a little hesitant to put his thambi in a boarding college
because he knew that the coastal folk cannot do without delicious
food. They cannot manage otherwise and many students became
dropouts missing their desired food. Food had always been a
problem in seminaries and in general for students from villages
who migrate to cities for the purpose of education. Sometimes that
is the case with young girls who aspire to become nuns and shift
to other states also. Anto didn’t want his thambi to suffer thus. He
felt bad when he thought that if after borrowing here and there
and paying the fees and if his brother comes back saying that he
didn’t get acclimatised, his future could be at stake. “Now that I
had my meals at Jeppiaar College hostel, I understand that my
thambi would not have to suffer with regard to food.” It was almost
like a son-in-law enjoying a delicious and sumptuous meal hosted
by a mother-in-law as is the custom in Tamil Nadu, South India.
Anto spent all his money for his brother ’s education in
Chennai.
Whenever he asked for financial support for educational tours,
industrial visits, project work, pocket money etc., Anto paid
without a second thought. He also had to spend on education,
clothing, food and miscellaneous expenses. At home, together
with domestic expenditure, for minor ailments, wedding gifts and
for all and sundry of course he had to set some money apart. When
he had to pay the money lenders he would make minor adjustments
here and there, rotate the money and thus keep up his good name.
Only when his thambi completed his Engineering Course after
four years Anto breathed a sigh of relief.
“My thambi has completed his course and soon he would be
employed. He would pay back his education debts in a few months.
He would also shoulder the family responsibility and since he would
be earning in six digits even my debts would be over in a year”,
Anto would proudly tell everyone he meets on the way.
“Dear annan , I am placed in a good company,” came a call
one day.
Anto’s joy knew no limits. Anto celebrated in Hotel
Ponnappan with his friends rejoicing over his brother ’s
appointment. He gave a treat to all his friends and wanted them
to enjoy the delicious food. All of them had parathas with mutton,
onion salad and chicken gravy and that made them happy.
He went round boasting, “My thambi has got a job for himself
now that he has completed his studies.”
“Yes, yes, Anto doesn’t have to struggle any more. Your
engineer thambi will not let you down. Car, bungalow, boat, we
too really have thambis who were doing their courses in Engineering
Colleges and they have already completed their B.E Civil, B.E
Mechanical, B.E Electrical and Electronics, B.E Mechatronics etc.
But for three years, they haven’t found any job, they have been
loitering around the village. And for their pocket money we have
to be ready with cash in hand. They still depend on the elders in
the family for their expenses.”
Anto was literally floating in the air, to be precise.
Since that particular call, there had almost been no phone
calls from Anto’s thambi. Anto expected a call from his thambi and
imagined him to say, ‘My scale of pay is so much… I received so
60 Tearful Ocean
much as salary … I have set so much for my expenses for this

month… and I am going to transfer so much to your bank account’.
Nothing as such was shared by his younger brother with Anto.
Even if Anto or his mother or his sister made a call he had some
templates like,
“I am busy in my office,”
“I am on line with my boss,”
“I am in an important meeting,”
“I am on a company tour,” which he texted.
Thus he evaded his people at home, but they remained calm.
Even after six months of corporate job he had not sent home even
a single penny.
Someone told him, “Anto do you know the matter? Your
thambi had been married to one of his colleagues last month. Hadn’t
he invited any of you?”
Anto’s heart burst with shock. When Anto’s appa died the
family experienced a similar shock there was a similar shock in the
family. How Anto, his amma his thangachi and his brother were
shattered! Now again all of them were dumbfounded and couldn’t
speak a word.
“I knew it quite earlier. How many times did I warn you not
to pet and pamper him? You didn’t listen. You thought that as
soon as he completed his course, he would turn up to uplift the
family and imagined him to be an innocent soul. Now see he has
registered his marriage in our absence and for years we cannot
face the society.”
“He will never prosper in his life,” cursed the mother, “My
eldest son’s anguish will not let him come up in life. May he be
doomed and damned.”
My daughter has attained marriageable age. He should have
got her married first but instead he has settled for himself. What
atrocity! Isn’t it his responsibility to get her married before he thinks
of his marriage? After all, she is a fatherless child and it involves a

lot of money for the marriage of a girl, in terms of jewellery, cash
and home appliances. What can Anto contribute at present? He
has already raised money beyond his capacity.
“Did he ever think of his annan who made things easier for
him to pursue his studies? My eldest son only wished his younger
brother’s prosperity and his sister’s wellbeing. He had no second
thoughts about educating his young brother. He sacrificed all his
happiness for their sake. He has no wealth of his own. He has no
savings or bank balance. Had his engineer brother ever thought
about it even for a moment?”
“Let him go to hell and get lost. He has no ideas of caring for
his elder brother who spent so much on his studies.”
“If he marries before his annan gets married, won’t it tell upon
Anto’s potency. Should he earn such a shame? All because of his
younger brother, Anto is now keeping mum. What a lovely gift in
return from a thambi to his annan who has given him all that he
had?”
“We are not speaking about his love and his love marriage.
We are a family and we elders are here to guide him.”
“Can’t he get the consent of his amma and the annan and then
marry? And we could have conducted the marriage at the village
church with all our traditional propriety. We have brought him to
earth. We paved way for him to gain knowledge.”
“We educated him. We were his pillars to be well placed. We
provided him with money and thus facilitated his Engineering
degree. Now that we are no more necessary for him he has just
thrown us away like waste paper.”
“He didn’t even show us a single month’s salary. He will never
ever thrive,” cursed his mother again. She kept on lamenting and
her electroplated paambadam also kept on swinging this way and
that.
62 Tearful Ocean
How to pay off the amount borrowed for his education? And
how to get the girl married in a good family? A lot of money is
required to settle the girl in life. Thinking of these problems the
whole family was upset.
Anto instilled confidence, “Why do you behave as you would
in a funeral house? I am here for you, with God’s grace, if I am
healthy enough, I would pay all the debts in one year‘s time. Don’t
be afraid. Are we dependent on this fellow? The Good Lord would
be gracious enough to give us plenty of opportunities to earn
money and pay off.”
Anto tried to console everyone around still he couldn’t digest
the fact that his thambi had breached the trust.
He faced the challenge and started working double-fold. He
ventured into the sea in a shark boat still farther where he had to
stay twenty to thirty days to bring sharks ashore. Without resting
or relaxing he worked day and night, paid off his lenders, and
had also bought a few gold ornaments for his thangachi’s marriage.
He had erased all memories about his thambi because he no longer,
had hopes on him.
And there came a phone call one day, “Annan dear, I am your
thambi on line. I have a baby who is three months old. I want to
have my child baptized. As it is difficult to hold the christening in
Chennai, I would request you to help me out. When I have all of
you as my family members, so close to my heart, why should I
celebrate it in another city? Won’t the whole world blame you? I
want you to speak in the parish and pay the church membership
fee if any and make arrangements for the christening ceremony at
your expense. Isn’t my child yours too?”
He was quite smart.
He persuaded his elder brother and coaxed him up to bear all
the expenditure for the grand function.
Anto told his friend, “George, my thambi is coming with his
family so I must make arrangements for the baptism ceremony.
It should be held in all grandeur. I don’t mind spending for him.

Just help me to make a checklist.”
He was so enthusiastic and his joy was boundless. He rejoiced
at the very idea.
And George couldn’t hold back his anger.
You shall for sure, become an engineer,
You can study anywhere far or near…
I am for you, hereby, I make it clear,
Neither have doubts nor have any fear
Thambi, of course became an engineer
‘Am here with wife and a child so dear’
Wrote he, yet his annan did never sneer
Though words pierced him like a spear.
64 Tearful Ocean
7. Inebriation Justified
Nyayamaana Bothai
Devotees queued up in veneration

During festival celebration
Just before 10 years this very village had been an adorable
haven but now it isn’t so. The villagers really yearn for the good
old memorable days.
Those days when fishermen went fishing, in a single catch
they brought shrimps, king fish, and many other kinds, for just
Rs.1000 to 1500, and that would be shared among those three that
oared-forth and the families enjoyed the benefits. But these days
we don’t get fish even for Rs.100. The catch is rather lean. The
scenario being so, how can they run a family and feed their children?
The water-body where they fish is just four hundred square
kilometres in area. It is ‘their’ sea. It appears like a small ocean. No
waves whatsoever. The lake fishermen have an advantage over the
sea fishermen that anybody could go fishing there, at any time. And
above all there is no fear of waves, storm, rough winds, under current
or whatever. There is absolutely no worry about anything that would
misdirect the boat and drive them far away leaving them wretched.
If we steer through the ocean’s extent and cast the net in the
fathomless sea we would get shrimps, vanjiram, vaval etc in the net
and it would all fetch a handsome amount.
The business in the provisional stores, the brandy shop and
the arrack shop, nearby would be enhanced in no time. The
youngsters would enjoy the profit by reaching Chennai, the
Headquarters of Tamil Nadu by train, watch movies and visit
Muniyandi Vilas Hotel and fill their stomachs with tasty non-
vegetarian food and come back contented. When they return, their
pockets would be empty. The next day if they don’t have a good
catch at all, the family members would starve.
There was also a loop-hole to keep the pot boiling and that is
to lease the whole village. A village would fetch an amount of rupees
twenty to twenty-five lakhs through the lease agreement. There
would be an intense competitive spirit among the rich fish merchants
and that was mainly because once a fish merchant agrees on getting
a village on lease, for another three hundred and sixty-five days
he is the uncrowned prince of that village.
From the money that is received around rupees five or six
lakhs is set aside by the village heads to conduct the ten-day festival
in the village in an extraordinary manner and split the rest of the
money, among each and every family, equally, irrespective of high
or low in social status, rich or poor, so that all the family would
have enough to feed on. Even during famine nobody would starve.
We had a suspicion as to how these merchants would
compensate from the sea for the amount they have given as lease
money.
It wasn’t as we thought it to be. The merchants didn’t give
the lease amount as an act of philanthropy so that the village
people would have enough when times are very hard and neither
did they do with the purpose of celebrating the village festival.
with a faith that their Patron Saint would be glorified and thereafter
they would get a good catch. It wasn’t also with a good heart or
nor was it done with a view to giving alms. The fact is that they
were greedy to suck the blood of the fishermen. All the fishermen
from that village would have to sell their fish exclusively to the
lease merchant and it was considered unethical to try selling to
anyone else.
And they had a conscience like what the voters have, like,
when they expect money for votes from a politician, they promise
to vote for the same person and to nobody else. And does their
conscience ever let them vote for someone else? Never!
Is it ethical to breach the trust? Won’t God punish them? And
thereafter is it possible to stay in the same village?
66 Tearful Ocean
No harm in selling the fish to the lease merchant but what

matters is the rate they fix. The fish that can be sold near the village
for Rs.100, for instance, has to be obligatorily given away to the
lease merchant for half the rate - Rs.50. The people don’t bargain
with him. They receive whatever he gives, with loyalty and
gratitude and they don’t mind if he even mints millions, out of the
daily transaction.
Every year the Village Head, with the consent of the village
people, leases out the village, without the slightest knowledge that
they become bonded slaves to the merchants. The number of lease
merchants who ask for lease is also on the rise. Recently, a few
multi-national companies have also joined the bandwagon of
competition.
There is one more advantage whether it is a Panchayat Election
or The Fisherman Co-operative Society Election. They were
allowed to elect either the lease merchant or anyone else he points
to, and the whole village votes for him in unison and ensures his
victory him win. But now the situation is totally different. Even if
we get Rs. 100, it is considered great, in the village. The village
which had been leased out for rupees twenty-two to twenty-five
lakhs now goes to a meagre amount of rupees five to six lakhs.
Day by day, the village shows improvement and development
in so many ways. The people have turned out to be knowledgeable
and modern to a certain extent. New model houses are built and
the village looks grand now. We see the development in all aspects,
but in comparison why does the lease amount decrease, by and
large?
In the past when the village festival was held, the statue of
the Patron Saint used to be draped in silk and mounted on to the
palanquin and taken round the village to most of the streets and
at the very sight of it, the devotees queue up to touch the feet of
the Patron Saint’s statue and kiss it with veneration. But now
how about that practice? It has disappeared like the waning moon
and now-a-days there is no pomp and show. It has become very
modest these days.
The festivals conducted in the modern days are devoid of

Karagattam, Thapattam, and firing crackers. How have things
changed down the years! The villagers themselves are clueless
about it.
Research shows that the lake was destroyed and tiny shrimps
and certain kinds of fish have almost become extinct. The
government has given permission to some of the business magnates
to go on boat rides. Those boats move in circulatory motion and
the water gets stirred and resultantly the sand particles and dirt
come to the surface. The fishes have no peaceful asylum in the lake
for the boats disturb them and the vibration of the engines drive
them away. The reason for the scanty fish in the nets has come to
light in recent times and it is now that the people get a glimpse of
their rather lean catch. Nobody knows what to do. The village
people are opposed to boat riding as well as the industrial waste
being dumped into water bodies where fish live. The boat owners
wisely caught trapped some of the volunteers who agitated and
they gave them a quarter bottle of alcohol and biriyani on a daily
basis and took over, all of them to their side. The beneficiaries of
alcohol and biriyani did what was expected of them. They were too
intoxicated to be in the know of things. They didn’t mind whether
the boats went on tourism trips or the industrial waste entered
into the lake.
With the vogue of departmental stores and big shopping malls,
the widows and the differently-abled, whoever were making their
living by running petty shops and provision stores are no more
to be seen. People have given their hearts to well organized and
systematically arranged provision racks of the margin free shops.
Not only that, in the name of tourism, large resorts have
mushroomed and are flourishing in flesh trade. In course of time,
they have also convinced the girls of the village to indulge in that.
The young boys thought of a plan to put an end to this horrible
practice and said,
“In order to safeguard the village and the villagers there and
to preserve fishing as well as the village culture, we have to join
hands.”
68 Tearful Ocean
Some of the villagers as extended their support while some

others opposed it.
Someone complained, “The whole village had tried its best to
rephrase wind up the rich proprietors of the village. But all their
efforts have proved futile. What are these small fellows going to
achieve? The elderly people have already fallen a prey and shown a
green signal, and how are these adolescents going to bring about
a change?”
The youngsters were hopeful that even if there is a single
person who is responsible, wonders could be done. The four of
them were confident that in solidarity they could plunge into action
and the results would certainly be positive.
They started right from the school. There was the government
primary school in that village where the teachers were regularly
irregular. The pupils who go to school, go for the sake of having
mid-day meals that is provided free. The teachers visited the school
once in a blue moon as a School Inspector would. And they don’t
fail to fill up the attendance register for the whole year at one stretch.
These four chaps made their representation to the Chief Education
Officer. But the authorities responded that the teachers had put in
‘regular’ attendance and declined to toe line with the young guys.
The boys wondered how come the records were perfect. For a year
and a half, the teachers had been receiving salary without working.
Next, their endeavour was to stop the tourist boats and thus
save their village from the gulp of the ‘anaconda’ called tourism.
That night when the village was asleep when even the barking
dogs had gone into deep slumber the four lads came surreptitiously
near the tourist boats. One by one they snapped the ropes, tied to
the fibre boats with Suzuki engines and let them off into the sea.
They came home as ever and went to bed. They thought that the
next day the boat owners would come to the spot to find the boats
missing and would decide to leave the place. But it did not happen
that way. The next day the panchayat gathered. Had it on one of
the days in the past, the whole village would carry these guys on
their shoulders, as Madurai Veeran was honoured, during a village-
festival. But contrary to their plan what happened was that, the
four boys were summoned to the panchayat. The elderly people of
the village who lived on the graft received from the boat owners
were the important people who were to take the decision. The four
of them could guess what the verdict would be like. They thought
that at the most each one would be imposed a fine of Rs.5000/- as
penalty. And with that money the senior citizens would supply
free arrack packets for alcoholics. The elders beat around the bush
and ultimately came to the point. They stood by, “For whatever
reasons they might have done it, what they did was not acceptable
at all.”
“Are we supposed to betray our boat owners?”
“Would anyone take a boat for lease for fifteen lakhs when its
worth is just five lakhs?”
“Isn’t it our duty not to harm them whether we do any favour
to them or not?”
“So ...” the Village Panchayat head dragged on.
Everyone was waiting for the verdict because after this,
everyone would get free liquor. And the Panchayat head continued,
“So, if each of the four pays Rs.50,000/-, it can be spent on
brandy and would be equally distributed.”
The Village Panchayat heads got up abruptly, shook off their
towels, put them on their shoulders and sped away.
Punishment and penalty should be imposed for something
good. All the four of them were aback. They were not only worried
that they were imposed a penalty of two lakhs which was indeed a
difficult sum to pay, but more than that, what upset them was the
fact that the two lakhs would be spent on drinking. They felt that
the penalty money should be used for a good cause like putting
up a school building or on anything that would serve a public
cause. In that case the entire village would acknowledge that the
penalty paid by the four boys has been used for a good cause.
But the unscrupulous panchayat head did not want that. And their
70 Tearful Ocean
only interest was to spend it on alcohol. The men who had gathered
at the panchayat were so excited that, they would get five or six
brandy bottles each instead of the local arrack packets. And they
left the place quite happily. But the families of the four boys stood
there stunned under the banyan tree.
The village has turned modern to an extent
It has shown, lots and lots of improvement
Every day, we see growth and development
What’s the lease money fixed by the merchant?
Of recent times, there’s tremendous change
Karagattam, thappaatam, no one to arrange
Riding boats is so common, no more strange
The tiny fishes? Did they think in that range?
The officials there appeared extremely strict
“All the attendance registers are just perfect;
The teachers were regular,” was their verdict;
And the question is, ‘who will reap the benefit’?
8. The Soul Is Departing

Jeevan Piriyithu
It was her husband Amalan, for sure

Who was full of love, with a heart, so pure
“My dear daughter Flower Mary, the phone has been ringing
for quite some time, just find out who is calling me, this midnight.”
Flower Mary had just dozed off having cried and lamented
all day long, until the phone call interrupted her. She staggered
towards the phone, half asleep, took the phone, handed it over to
her mother, “Not able to make out who it is. There is no number
on the display, it shows ‘unknown’, so better that you attend it
yourself.” But the mother had no intention of attending the call,
for she was not sure as to who would be at the other end.
Rani Mary in a coarse and rather husky voice attended, “Hello,
who’s that?”
She was tired because she did not have proper food for a week.
Her mouth was dry. She tried to speak in a low voice.
“Hello, Rani Mary speaking, who’s on line?”
“Rani Mary, it is me!” Tring ... Tring... the phone went on
with a disturbing noise. And soon after that, it got disconnected.
Rani Mary exclaimed, “Who’s that? The voice sounds very
familiar. The very same voice that has always been ringing in my
ears.” She became perplexed and she was not able to identify who
had called her.
“Who could it be? Damn it! Before I could , the connection is
out. Who would call me ‘Rani Mary’ with all authority? No one
other than my husband would call me so endearingly, I wonder
who it could be!” Rani Mary was non-plussed.
72 Tearful Ocean
“I am damn sure it is my husband’s voice. How is it possible?

We had got his body, just before three days and buried him last
evening. And the funeral was over in the presence of the villagers.
I buried him with my very hands, and how …?”
Glory, her husband’s sister, was trying to console her, “Since
you are always immersed in thoughts about your husband, you
probably feel that any voice on line is that of your husband’s.
Actually, it is not so. Calm down dear.” But Glory’s attempt to
cool her down was all in vain. Rani Mary stood firm; she was
certain that it was her husband’s voice and despite the rumpus in
the phone she was able to recognize her husband’s voice.”
“I am able to decipher his voice. It has been fifteen years since
he married me and I have been conversing with him all day
through, almost every day. I dare say it was he who called me.
And she stretched out the phone to her daughter, Flower Mary,
“Can you please identify the number?”
“It might be a foreign number from abroad since there is no
clue,”
“Some relative or friend from abroad would have called to
express their condolences. But now-a-days the Telephone
Department has turned out to be like our Electricity Board, that
often puts us into trouble, taking the liberty to disrupt power at
any point of time. Sometimes we are not able to get through. But
we have to wait patiently; the same person might call us again. I
am sure the very voice that called me by my name is without an
iota of doubt, that of my husband’s.”
Glory thought that since, her brother and his wife led a
pleasantly harmonious life, it was rather difficult for her brother’s
wife to bear with the tragic loss.
“That’s okay, let us wait for some more time. We might get the
call again,” consoled Glory.
But can Rani Mary be convinced that easily? It is just fifteen
years since Amalan ‘tied the knot.’ Separation within a short period
as such is indeed difficult to come to terms with.
Unlike many others, Amalan was never in the habit of coming

home, fully drunk, neither was he used to beating his wife and
children creating a scene. He was a loving and responsible father
and an affectionate husband. She just cannot ignore his death as
a natural event. He never got involved in any of the village politics
or showed any interest in joining the gangs of idlers. He was not
prone to mingling with evil and he never involved himself in vain
arguments or insignificant issues had no interest in mingling with
bad company and whiling away the time, gossiping all day through.
The villagers held him in high esteem. And he didn’t debate over
unimportant or unnecessary matters and spoil the family’s
reputation which would have had negatively and rather viciously
impacted the family too. His only concern was his family’s progress
and well-being.
Rani Mary was happy that she had a good person as her
husband. He was dignified, and wouldn’t accept any charity as a
few of his neighbours did. He was self-reliant. Never was he found
lethargic at any point of time in his life; he worked very hard. He
kept off lame excuses to stay away from work. Always he was
seen doing something or other, regarding sea faring. She went on
pondering… He bought everything needed for home. He couldn’t
imagine his wife beg or borrow in the neighbourhood. Rani Mary
lived a contented life with her children unlike the people around
and took pride that her husband stood unique in their village.
Could she ever forget her full life as if it were a dream?
When most men of his age group would avoid getting into
the sea even for no reason or even for a little unfavourable sea
weather, he was just the opposite. She just tried to erase the memory
of his death but she couldn’t… So contented was she, all because
of the pivotal role with her life that Amalan played. The general
say in the village was that no one was as efficient as Amalan.
Maybe someone is yet to be born. He is very soft spoken and gentle
in nature. He would go out of his way, put in all efforts to help
out anyone in trouble. She was mired in deep thoughts….When
he called his wife ‘Rani Mary’ it reverberated… with all affection for
her. Even over the phone, he was all love and adoration for his wife.
74 Tearful Ocean
He used to address his children ‘my dear’, ‘my darling’ – all

endearing terms. Never did he utter any word in anger. Nobody
had seen him sneer at any one at home or even elsewhere for that
matter. Such an admirable personality was he! He had a golden
heart and every third person feels sorry for Amalan’s death. How
would his wife and children endure it? And that’s how shattered
by the inconsolable event she claims that the one who called her
was her husband.” That was how Glory reasoned.
Amalan went fishing that day as usual, “Bye, my dear” he
bade adieu to his wife, Rani Mary, stroking her long black hair. He
then softly held the children by their neck and raised their faces,
brought his lips close to the forehead, registered a kiss, least
disturbing their sleep and left the house.
“The next twenty-four hours the weather would be humid
and the sky would be overcast in a few areas. In a few places in
South Tamil Nadu, along the coast, medium rainfall is expected.
During the next forty-eight hours there are no signs of storm or
rain.” All the media channels in the evening screened Ramanan, of
the Meteorological Department in the weather forecast, moving
his head this way and that. Hence, Amalan believed that the
weather wouldn’t be unfavourable at sea.
Amalan’s only wealth was a fibre boat with an engine. He
flourished in fishing and after every catch he would bring a lot of
fish. He was blessed on earth. He had a generous heart and perhaps
that is why his everyday catch was always over flowing. If ever
there were just two boats setting out to the sea, Amalan’s boat
would certainly be one of them. The fishermen would compete to
go with him in his boat for a sail. Now-a-days everywhere,
especially in Kerala, the owners of the big boats are making big
money in fishing and there are not many competitors to go by
small boats. He would fill the large boat with a large quantum of
fishes and struggled to sustain it all through the season. Since the
quantity was more, they went in ships. The first day four or five
men would go into the boat. The second day a batch of five to ten
would venture into the sea. They would go in shifts but now
including Amalan there were only four people to go fishing.
Amalan and his fishing mates went into Saint Antony’s shrine
and prayed, “Oh, Saint Antony! Thou art known, for Thy miracles
all over the world, please bear us in Thy hands , safeguard us
and make us live happily.”
They shoved the canoe into the sea after offering Rs.50/-, they
kissed the statue of Saint Antony and finally touched the statue
of Infant Jesus over the glass shield, and walked off.
As St. Antony was associated with, more number of miracles
than any other Saint, most people were more devoted to St. Antony.
The canoes slipped quite easily as an oil smeared bucket. The
sea lay still and calm as a lake and there were no signs of any
waves at all. Panimayam, jokingly commented, “I presume the
sea has fallen asleep.”
“We shall go to the same rock as we did yesterday and if it is
God’s will, we will get a fine catch for sure.” Amalan put forth his
ideas as he fed the number in his GPS.
The canoe was quite new. The engine was a speed engine as
well. And they reached the fishing spot in an hour and a half which
otherwise would take a couple of hours.
Amalan told Michael, “If you steer through for another five
minutes towards the south west, and then towards north east, we
would reach another spot.” There was no one to oppose Amalan.
They had that much trust. Steering for five minutes, they spotted
out the fishing location.
Even before a thousand hooks had reached the bottom of the
sea there poured heavy showers. It rained hail stones as though
the sky was split into two and it was like someone throwing 1.5-
inch-heavy-stones over the head. Nobody could withstand the
heavy rain that poured all of a sudden. In a few minutes came a
gale sturdy enough that it could even lift a grinding stone. He
couldn’t go ahead with fishing. “Why such rough and heavy winds
are named after girls who are imagined to be soft hearted and docile?
Catharine, Rita, Nisha etc.” Amalan asked his associates, “Shall
we wind up and go to the shore?”
76 Tearful Ocean
Michael replied, “We shall just cut off the nets and hurry up
to the shore. We are running short of time; we cannot wait to
draw our nets before it becomes tempestuous and unruly.”
“We have to leave our belongings which we earned. Doesn’t
matter, if we stay alive, we can build as many fishing boats, and
fishing materials as we need.” Amalan just cut off the net with his
folding knife, turned the canoe and steered to the shore. On account
of the tidal waves, the canoe wouldn’t move ahead that were
repeatedly troubling, the deep sea water.
They exhorted Velankanni Mother Mary, “Please save us as
you saved the ship from Portugal along with the Portugese sailors.”
“O Jesus! Thou Who guided Thy disciples walking over the
sea, do show mercy on us and save us also,” implored they.
“O Saint Antony! Thou art known for millions of miracles!
Won’t you please miraculously help us out,”
They prayed to all gods and all saints, tears flowing down
their cheeks.
Oh God! How unfortunate! The rain water had made its way
into the kerosene tank and the engine wouldn’t move. They had
their own technique to try. They continually start the engine and
it works. On the other hand, if the engine is raised again and again
it would get switched off. They tried several times and finally gave
up.
“O God! We leave it unto Thy hands. It is Thy will and wish.
If someone comes to our rescue, we would reach home or else we
would be doomed and what more? Our families would be orphaned
and shattered.”
Tears were flowing down his cheeks and he wasn’t ‘shedding’
tears, he was indeed ‘raining’ tears, so to say. Tears rolled down
like water gushing from a cracked water tank and he could feel
the salt content in his tears although he was drenched in rain.
Poor Panimayam! He was married just three months before.
His wife is on the family way. We cannot bear to think what would
happen to his family if something goes wrong with him. Although
others felt very sorry for him, he stayed emotionless just holding a
plank from the storage room and vacantly staring at the sky above.
If the weather conditions change and even if they have no
food or water, they can manage to live in the canoe. And when
the people there come to know that it has not returned, wouldn’t
they look for the canoe? There was a ray of hope. In that case they
would reach ashore. If the rough winds continue and the velocity
is on the rise, they would not stand a chance.
Amalan called out, “Wear your life jackets, it would protect
us to a certain extent.”
Michael commented, “Even when our children use a life jacket
and bathe in a pool, they are always in danger and safety conditions
being such, how would the life jackets save us in this turbulent
sea and typhoon?” They decided to wear the life jacket and hoped
that they would be safe at least from the small waves.
They were almost nearing the last few minutes. Amalan
removed the plastic cover in which his mobile phone was wrapped,
switched it on but alas! It got drenched in the heavy showers.
Thank God! The rubber outer cover on the phone was a protection.
First of all, he dialled, 1093. The voice from the other end sounded
coarse.
Neither of them could follow what the other spoke yet they
tried repeatedly though desperately, and finally Anto called his wife
Rani Mary. When she attended, the voice was very clear. Amalan
spoke aloud, “We are caught in a very bad sea weather, our boat
engine is out of order …” and before he could close his conversation,
up came a large wave that rose high and splashed against the canoe.
And it capsized. Nobody knew where the canoe was or where the
mobile phone fell or what happened to the life jackets. None of
them saw the other. God knows where Amalan was!
Rani Mary kept on repeating, “Hello! Hello.” She never
realized that her line got disconnected a few seconds before. She
presumed since the signal was weak, there was ramming of the
lines and hence, the phone connection was cut and ran gathering
78 Tearful Ocean
all her strength to meet the parish priest and seek help. Little was
she aware that the men and the canoe had gone missing.
The people who sheltered themselves from the rain stood along
the road. They wondered why a lady was running in her night
dress at that early hour; she knocked at the door of the parish
priest’s presbytery. Fortunately enough, the priest had been awake,
for, in a few minutes, he had to conduct the mass. He immediately
rang up the Canoe Union head.
The fellow fishermen said, “In our 40-years- experience, we
have never witnessed such a bad weather. With god’s grace we
have just escaped and come ashore. We don’t know whether the
canoes which go on search are safe. Such are the weather
conditions. Still we will go in the canoes and look for them. Those
fishermen who had lost everything at sea came home empty
handed, and unmindful of their miserable state at once set out
into the sea to look for the missing people. Least bothered were
they of their own life when it came to rescue operation. Fighting
the bad weather, losing everything else in the sea, and reaching
home they were all in tears, yet in no time without losing even a
wink of a second in sorrow they rushed back into the sea.”
The parish priest informed the Assistant Director of Fisheries
Department, the District Collector and the coastguard. But it was
of no use because they are just officers and do not really get
emotionally involved in the rescue operation. And obviously they
are not trained in any fishing activities. They will definitely not
step into the sea because they are not used to seafaring. They would
be like spectators watching from the shore. But urged by the
concern to redeem them from the danger that the struggling
fishermen faced due to bad weather, all the search canoes went in
full swing reaching far beyond the waves, overlooking the gale
and the depth of the sea water.
It was just dawn. “Search in all directions and even if you get
the slightest clue don’t miss it; deepen your search,” voiced out a
caring fisherman.
The canoes splashed across directions on their mission. For

an hour they went round looking here, there, everywhere. They
couldn’t detect anything on the surface of the sea water. And one
called the other, “Hey friend, just look there. There seems to be a
hand up above the white lather.”
“Go closer, I, too ,feel the same.” In the midst of the white
foam a dark hand appeared above the water.
“That’s Michael.” They confirmed.
“Lift him gently” said one of them. They took Michael to the
canoe. And, at the same time, another canoe saved another fellow
fisherman, Oomayan.
“Two more are missing, we will look for them, meanwhile
you take them to the shore,” said one of them.
Michael and the other one, were taken to the shore. No trace
of Amalan and Panimayam. All the canoes were engaged in serious
searching. The scene that the sea presented then, was evident that
they should have been spotted by one of the searchers, had they
been alive.
Nobody believed that Amalan and Panimayam were alive.
They lost hopes yet they thought if they were alive, they should
be taken to the shore. Although three days had gone, the Canoe
Union decided to continue the search. All the three days, the three
canoes had spent at least three lakhs each for the search and still
they did not give up; they did not mind the loss either.
The saddest part was that despite having enough access to
the most modern and the latest technology like the modern ships
and the coast guard boats, none of the officials from the Fisheries
Department took any steps to involve themselves in the search.
In such a bad weather of course the government officials can’t
just set out for search. The elders at the seashore were discussing
the expense and wondered if the government would reimburse the
amount to the searchers who risked their life.
80 Tearful Ocean
But their discussion and their doubts weren’t heard by anyone

when the giant waves came high and splashed all over. It was the
third evening and nothing fruitful happened. Since it was dusk
the canoes had to return. As they returned near the canoe of Francis
they saw something floating near them, something rather big in
size.
When they went near and had a closer look, they discovered
out that it was a lifeless body. The body was decomposed, the skin
had peeled and it looked as white as the lather around. The people
in the canoe jumped into the sea, took the decomposed body and
put it in the canoe. When they tried to touch the body the skin
peeled away and came off.
The World Fisheries Committee officials gathered at the sea
shore. When the news spread fast that a canoe carried the body of
a fisherman, the message sent around the village was that, it was
of Amalan’s. Rani Mary lost all hopes that her husband would
ever come alive. And she had already cried and cried and her eyes
had gone dry. When the news reached Rani Mary, she fell into a
swoon. People around lit a wick, put it off and brought the fuming
wick near her nostrils to make her regain consciousness. Of course,
she did but it didn’t last more than two minutes. Again, she fainted.
The body should be sent to the nearest Government Hospital for
autopsy, by the World Fisheries Committee officials and the Fisheries
Department authorities as early as possible and it was very
important for two reasons; the body had started decomposing and
also Rani Mary was unconscious and hadn’t regained her senses
as yet.
After the post-mortem the body was taken to the village church
right-away. The rituals were performed by Rani Mary. They buried
him removing the wedding chain from Rani Mary’s neck half an
hour after the priest conducted the funeral mass. When she returned
home after her husband was buried, she fell flat at the door step.
The people around carried her into the house.
That night came a phone call. She couldn’t make out who it
was as she was mentally disturbed.
As soon as she heard the buzz, she gripped the phone and
exclaimed, “Hello, Rani Mary speaking, who is on line?”
Promptly came the reply, “Rani Mary it is me, Amalan, how
are you and the children?” Rani Mary’s joy reached the heavens.
“It is my husband”, said she to the people around. They were, as a
matter of fact, scared that it might lead to some psychic aberration.
They coaxed her to be cool, to just wait, and not to be anxious,
but to speak quietly. And she asked, “How are you, where are you
now? Are you doing well my dear?”
And his rejoinder: “I am fine here, I am in the jail in Maldives.
Please try to get me released.” And just then the mobile connection
stood disconnected abruptly.
Once again, she fell into a swoon.
Tring…tring…tring, tring…tring…tring,
The mobile phone went on, to ring…
Amidst all the ruckus and the noise,
She could clearly hear, Amalan’s voice;
“Rani Mary!” sounded with all propriety,
She immediately, swooned in, all anxiety!
82 Tearful Ocean
9. SPLENDID! SPLENDID! CHICKEN FEAST

Kollam Kollam Kozhi curry
Though their wealth they shared

None of the children cared
For the mass held in commemoration of the couple that passed
away recently, there wasn’t much of a crowd, but at the auditorium
there was a large gathering for the dinner party. When the priest
came out of the church and went to the cemetery to bless the grave,
the people in the church followed him. Along with them came
Alvira and Selva Nayaki. The parish priest offered prayers for the
departed souls to rest in peace. He then sprinkled holy water over
the people around.
“Both of them have had a glorious death, together.”
With the mindset that they need not have to wait until they
start reciting the Rosary, and that, they should hasten to the
auditorium where food was being served, they rushed through.
They were trying to find a convenient place and sit comfortably at
the first pandhi, so that they could gulp something and leave home
as early as possible. But on reaching, they were astonished to find
that the auditorium was overflowing with a large gathering.
Selva Nayakhi was musing to herself, “ ‘First come, first
served,’ goes the famous saying. The people who attended the 30th
day memorial mass, are still at the burial ground praying for the
souls whereas those who did not go for the prayer for the departed
souls, landed at the auditorium. They have come only to fill their
stomachs.”
Alvira expressed her anguish, “Anyhow, ‘The early bird catches
the worm.’ “
“You there! Don’t speak loudly, if it falls into their ears they
could come and pull you up by your braid and fight with you.”
Selva Nayakhi shut Alvira’s mouth.
Alvira shot in, “Forget it, if they pull us up by our hair what
do you think we would do? Don’t we have hands to meet the
challenge? We are not going to fold our hands,sit quiet and watch
the game. Why should we bother about the others when we have
enough space to be seated? We can just help ourselves and wash
our mouth and leave the place. We don’t have to worry whether
they attend the holy mass or not. That’s not our business.”
Alvira and Selva Nayakhi are childhood friends from grade I
to grade III. Both of them studied together in the same school, in
the same class. Selva Nayakhi was weak at Arithmetic and wasn’t
able to recite the fourth table. Hence, the teacher had beaten her
with a cane and her hand became swollen. She didn’t want to go
to school anymore and decided, to stay at home. And so, her friend
Alvira too discontinued her studies. And thus, both of them
became dropouts. There are many friends who get along together,
but these friends have been intimate with each other, even after
they got married and gave birth to children and even seen
grandchildren. They have continued their friendship for years
together. Yet another strong reason for their longstanding intimacy,
is their fish vending. They carry fish in an aluminium basin on
their heads and go along to the nearby village and sell them and
return home together enjoying each other’s company.
Selva Nayakhi was keen on what was served at the
auditorium. She stretched her neck, stood tip toe and tried to get a
glimpse of the dining hall. “Alvira do you know what is being
served? A sumptuous meal. Jaya brand rice, mutton curry, chicken
roast, fish fry, avial, poriyal, mango pickle, sambar, rasam,
buttermilk, papad and plantain with two varieties of payasam for
dessert. Well, a delicious feast is going on.”
Alvira teased Selva Nayakhi, “ Dear, you just peeped in and
how can you be sure that all these dishes are served? You have a
police sniffer’s nose I feel.”
“Oh! One should really give birth to such lovely children.
Just imagine, how they have gathered the village together to pray
for the souls to ascend heaven! Our Almighty would surely listen
84 Tearful Ocean
to the prayers of one or the other among this crowd. They are
ideal children indeed. If we die, will our children bring such a big
crowd and offer prayers for our souls?” Selva Nayakhi asked
Alvira.
“Don’t be silly! Don’t you know how they treated their parents
earlier? When the parents were alive, they didn’t care to feed them
even with gruel or porridge. Now, they spend so much only to
trumpet up the pride and glory of the family. They have served
mutton, chicken, fish, payasam etc… And without even an inkling
of the way they looked after their parents and their unsympathetic
treatment towards their parents, you are praising them to
heavens.”
‘Is it true?’
‘You know, they have three sons and a daughter.’
“Didn’t any of them look after their parents? Wasn’t their
father quite well off with boats and other fishing materials. They
had spent a lot on their children but… do you mean that they
were ungrateful? Are you sure you aren’t lying to me, Alvira ?”
“Why should I lie to you? What am I going to gain out of it?
Do I expect anything from them, like salt for my daily kanji or
chillies for my curry every day? Nothing absolutely! I just told
you what had really happened. Let’s move away and see what’s
happening. Look, some people are seated at the dining table
enjoying the feast, while the hungry ones are jostling with one
another impatiently huddling behind them to steal a seat. They
are just standing very close to them impatiently. They are a real
nuisance to those who are seated and even embarrassing them
from having their meals peacefully. I don’t think we will get a seat
that early, until two more pandhis are over. A good number of people
are waiting.”
They then moved to a lonely place to have, as it were, a
heart to heart, chat.
Selva Nayakhi continued, “Are you sure that the children didn’t
take care of the parents? I just can’t digest what you say.”
“I’ll tell you in detail,” began Alvira, “Just listen and then
you can choose to believe it or not. Their father was the very first
person in our village to launch a fishing boat. Since all the three
sons worked hard with the father, whatever they earned, remained
well within their family. He also had canoes with engines and other
auxiliary fishing accessories of his own. Then they employed other
people and developed their business fast. They flourished. The
second son Menakettaan was the one who was in and out looking
into the accounts. The father was literally floating in money. He
built two bungalows. He married off his only daughter in a good
family with a handsome dowry and she was well settled.”
Selva Nayakhi interrupted, “Then, why did he depend upon
his children? He’s already quite rich and he had enough and more.
Hadn’t he?”
“Listen, I still have more interesting matters to share. When
he became old, his children fought among themselves for his
earnings. When he was strong and healthy, he worked hard and
earned. But now the children are at loggerheads demanding their
share of properties. The father sold the boat and the canoe and
apportioned the amount equally among his four children, and it
was agreed to have the remaining two lakhs as fixed deposit in the
bank so that the interest that accrues would keep them going,
meeting both ends, so long as they were alive.”
“What did they do with both their houses?” Selva Nayakhi
chipped in. One house was given to the eldest son and the aged
parents stayed alone in the other and of course they were each
other’s companion. The hard worker that he was, he felt terribly
ill at ease to stay idle and waste his time and he was roving to do
some work or other. He stepped down to the shore and joined a
team of fishermen who indulged in drawing the fishnet from the
catamaran and so he got a share that was good enough to buy
fish, tapioca and rice for their daily meals.”
“Don’t the children or the children-in-law visit them?” Selva
Nayakhi continued her query by way of getting her misgivings
cleared.
86 Tearful Ocean
“Once in a blue moon the daughter visits them, enquires about

their health and if need be, takes them to hospital, gets medicines
and then leaves for her home. The sons and the daughters-in-law
don’t visit them at all not even once in a while. This is the gift and
gratitude the parents received from their children who are now
well off. They were brought up with all care and concern and
love and affection, once before by the very same parents, when
they were kids.”
“Really? Didn’t they visit their parents who have given them
so much wealth despite being settled in the same village? Have
they totally neglected them?”
“The three daughters-in-law are shrews. They attend to their
own parents, feeding them and making them happy. These hapless
parents who had begotten earning husbands for their daughters-
in-law and bequeathed their wealth to enjoy their life, do now
stand stranded, nothing to fall back upon. Now the same
daughters-in-law are wearing black colour saris symbolic of
sorrow and offering the charity of food for everybody, tucking
their sarees on the left flank. And just look at their tom -tommy,
being hospitable in front of everyone, as though they are the very
chosen daughters-in-law on Earth. When the parents were alive,
the daughters-in law never cared to feed them even, but they are
now showing off their status in the society thus…”
“That’s okay, but they had deposited rupees two lakhs in the
bank and a big house for them. They could have very well arranged
a housemaid or a nurse to look after them. Couldn’t they?”
“Don’t you know the matter? Today the man who stepped on
to read The Holy Bible, is their second son. Do you know what
this fellow did to his parents? He had the parents’ house registered
in his name, on the pretext that he needed a property of his own,
to avail himself of a bank loan for his start up. The Panchayat
President fully sided with him, fuelling his greed. He said that it
was just for the sake of bank borrowing, but alas, a month later,
he threw his parents out of the very same house. Oh! Gosh, Look
at that! Isn’t he the one who is serving mutton for everyone,
exchanging pleasantries with the guests and enquiring whether

they needed to have anything more?”
“Eat sumptuously, only then, the souls of my parents would
rest and rejoice,” he was heard saying.
They continued their conversation. “And see how hospitable
he appears to be? Will such people ever prosper in life,” cursed
Selva Nayakhi.
“And can’t just imagine that he is the President of the Peace
Committee in the parish?” continued Selva Nayakhi.
“He is the one who had thrown his father and mother to the
streets. I am only reminded of the parents The devil sometimes
quotes the Scriptures. The third son, then, took custody of his
parents.”
“Well done! Thank God at least he had a kind heart.”
“Her story continues, keep listening… his ‘love and affection’
for his parents came to light within a week’s time. His wife’s brother
wanted to join the MBA course. This third son somehow convinced
the parents and made them cancel the fixed deposit in the bank,
took hold of the two lakhs and gifted it to his brother-in-law.
And just a week after, he and his wife mercilessly drove the parents
out of the house.”
“My God! I pity them and I’m really sorry that a well-
established family has fallen upon evil days.”
“When the daughter came to hear about her parents’ plight,
she hired an auto rickshaw and brought her parents to her house.
She was unhappy, about her parents lying uncared for. And so,
she had very much wanted to be with them. But tragically her
husband lodged a complaint with the police, that ‘when all the
three sons were rich enough and when the old people had given
all their wealth to their three sons it was their duty to look after
them and why should at all, they come to stay with their
daughter?“
88 Tearful Ocean
The only contention of the police was that, if the old parents
were willing to complain about their sons, the department would
initiate action and put them behind bars. The parents were quick
to respond, “Sir please ever don’t do that, it doesn’t matter even if
they don’t care for us… we don’t mind starving ourselves to death,
but we won’t give a written complaint against our sons. We beg
you not to take any action against them at all.”
“This is our very weakness. All parents feel the same. Shouldn’t
we file a complaint at the police station and get them punished ?
Only then, no children would desert their parents like this. It
would be a fitting lesson to all children. On the other hand, if we
are soft and tender hearted and we don’t ever want our children
to suffer the dire consequences of law they would never course-
correct them at all.”
“And then?”
“What then? The police made it plain to them that they would
be booked for what they had done. And because they were
intimidated by the police, the second son half-heartedly agreed to
take the father with them. And the third son came around to
take the mother with them. Finally, what happened was, the old
couple who were even in their adversity together, lost each other’s
companionship and were forced with the impending disaster of
being abandoned and doomed. The old man’s mobility was
restricted and he was totally confined to his bed. Although, he
very much yearned to meet his wife, his daughter-in-law made it
impossible for him. When, however, the old lady took tiny steps
and made a move to go and have a chat with her hubby at her
third son’s house, showers of filth rained on her from her
daughter-in-law, “Can’t you stay within, not ever seeing your
husband? Why the hell should you move from there to my home
to meet him?Why after all, do you bend on meeting him? Any
biological urge? The old lady was utterly shocked to listen to such
low, meanest guffawings and she was so upset and ashamed and
that she could not even look at her husband’s face.”
“We both were comfortable enjoying each other’s company.

Even amidst our pain and sorrow, companionship was the only
comfort we were blessed with. We dreamt to stay together, ‘till
death did part us.’ But now we are thrown asunder, each
endlessly pining for each other.”
Selva Nayakhi got wild, “Will any wicked woman ever ill-
treat the parents-in-law to this extent? We have heard of mothers-
in-law forcing the daughters-in-law suffer and robbing her of her
joy and happiness. But here, it is the other way round. Look, there
she stands showcasing sorrow on her face as though her heart
flows for her mother-in-law’s absence. Wasn’t there anyone in
this village, who can plead on behalf of the old couple?”
“Who can ask her anything at all? If anyone dares to open
the topic, she would make all noise about human rights. She thinks
she is far beyond, being questioned.”
With a sharp tongue she retorts, “Were you born of my father?
Were you conceived by your mother for my dad? Or did your
mother ever have an affair with my father? Then, what, on earth
made you question me?”
“…Who can bear such verbal abuse? Once the parish priest
discussed the issue with the second son. Since the second son was
a member of the parish council he used his influence but he would
not allow the priest to interfere in matters that are purely
personal…”
“And another day, he went to Velankanni Church by way of
fulfilling a vow, when he bought a new boat... At that time, he
took the parish priest with them. The Velankanni parish priest
and this priest who had travelled all the way to Veillankanni, had
been good friends. The Velankanni Parish Priest therefore requested
his old friend to offer the sermon for the day. The village parish
priest too, consented happily and delivered an excellent message.
As he stepped out of the altar, he was shell-shelved, to notice that
he was left in the lurch, and the family had set off to their village
on their own leaving the parish priest.”
90 Tearful Ocean
“Was it so? What had gone wrong with his sermon?”

“This is what happened during his sermon. As part of the
sermon he narrated a story of a family, well known to me had
come to Velankanni Church to offer prayers and fulfil their vows.
Before leaving the village, they had carefully kept their dog in a
room with enough food for 4 days and gently stroked the dog
with affection and locked the house. The old mother was left outside
the house in the veranda. None of them had thoughts about who
would look after the bedridden woman? Who would feed her?
When people asked him what would happen if it rains or the sun’s
rays hurt her, all of them in a chorus chanted, “That would just
lie there. That doesn’t matter.”
“They miserably failed to offer the parents even the care and
reverence that they showed to their dog.”
“Thus, he closed his sermon.”
“He had only given an honest account.”
“Their guilty-conscience pricked their hearts. And they just
couldn’t face the priest. Hence, they left the place out of shame.”
“I really feel very sorry for the parish priest.”
“Even after that incident they continued to torture the old
man. He was even denied food and water, the basic necessities of
life. One day he lay dead, and when his old wife got the information,
she crawled slowly in anguish and as she staggered along, she fell
over a rough stone and rolled down. Her soul departed then and
there…”
“Now the children are in a way, convinced that both of them
died on the same day thus relieving them of the need for spending
twice for the funeral and the 30th day prayer ritual. And today is
the Remembrance Day. After the old woman’s death following her
husband’s demise, they held an in-memoriam mass. And that’s
why we are here witnessing their flaunt and ostentation.” Alvira
finished her narration.
Selva Nayakhi and Alvira decided to get to the auditorium

where the gala meal was being served. At the very entrance of the
auditorium, the father who was the head of the family was
displayed in a photo and his gait very much resembled that of a
movie celebrity and next to it was the mother’s photo wherein she
vibrantly appeared like an angel. A rose garland adorned the photos
together with a flickering serial light. Close by, were the children,
the children-in-law watching the photo and posed themselves as
if to hold back their tears.
The people who had gathered had the meals and praised the
children whole-heartedly, “I haven’t witnessed such a grand feast
even in any wedding. Such was the taste and grandeur of the
food items.”
“Mutton, chicken, fish, vegetables, fruits, sweet porridge, O
my God, everything was in plenty and we were satiated. With all
your prayers, we are certain that both the souls would rise to
heaven.”
“How much of love do they have to spend thus lavishly!
The blessings of the parents would forever be, with the children
and their children-in-law and their children’s children.”
Those who participated in the celebration and enjoyed the
fine meal wished them all well whole-heartedly.
Selva Nayakhi couldn’t recite the fourth table
Alvira too couldn’t; she was not that capable
Both of them never wanted to follow any rule
And very soon decided to drop from school
One told the other about the poor old couple
How they separated and had to survive still
And now their ungrateful children serve
And earn a name which they don’t deserve.
92 Tearful Ocean
10. The hard worker earns….

(Nalla Vaayan Sambaathichu….)
Money would fall in her account

Multi-fold the original amount
Valan returned after three months of stay in Kerala where he
had gone fishing. He had been there especially for shark catch.
The children could discern a total change in the father. His
behaviour was quite different and sent shock waves at home.
His wife too, didn’t fail to notice the change.
Quarrels are very very common in any family. Since the time
Anbarasi was married into this house, even if there were bickerings
and misunderstanding in the family, at the most, Valan would
avoid his wife face to face. He would avoid eye contact with her
and turn his face this way and that, when she goes near him.
This state of affairs would linger on only for a day and soon they
get reconciled. The next day they would be cheerful. But this time
his behaviour was quite odd.
But quite unusually, this time it has been a week since he
returned from Kerala and until today, he hasn’t been himself. He
didn’t talk to his wife and children and didn’t take proper food
either. Evidently, he wasn’t at peace with himself nor was he able
to sleep well.
He seemed like he had lost something valuable and precious.
He had an empty look and it was clear that something had
disturbed him.
“Appa, appa,” both his children moved over to the father,
hoping to have the feel of the hug and fondling.
“Hei, dear why do you look so odd? Are you not well? Shall
we go to a doctor? We shall have a master check-up and handle,
whatever the problem may be, easily.”
Anbarasi’s words expressed her real concern. He just pushed

his wife’s hand when she was gently feeling his forehead with the
back of her palm, obviously to see for herself if he was running
temperature. He did not respond to her loving overtures. Anbarasi
was totally non-plussed. She was just could not understand why
he behaved in this strange fashion. Was he possessed? Did he accost
any devil or evil spirit on his way back?
“Oh dear! I think I have done something displeasing to you
much against your wishes. The way you keep your face only
shows you are angry with me. Would you be kind enough, to
share with me as to what has gone wrong. I shall certainly stand
corrected.” Anbarasi begged him but nothing seemed to work.
There was not even a nod from Valan’s side. Anbarasi exploded,
“Should you continue to be silent as you have been, perhaps that
is the worst punishment that my children and I can ever endure. I
would rather be happy to undergo any other kind of punishment.
Please don’t kill me with your silence.”
Tears welled in her eyes like a flowing stream which she was
unable to control. Her two little kids could feel that something
was going on between the parents and looked pathetic. Tears
gathered in Valan’s eyes. Valan brushed aside Anbarasi’s hands and
little caring for his children’s innocent plea, walked out quite fast.
Anbarasi thought of committing suicide with both her children
as her husband’s mysterious behaviour had madly pushed her with
her back to the wall. For a moment, she closed her eyes, ruminated
for a while and in all her sadness, tears rolled down her eyes
though closed.
The tears drenched her night gown. She thought to herself,
‘Is there any meaning in living at all?’ and since Valan who had
been all to her has of late been so unkind to her and the children.
Does her very existence, mean anything at all?
She somehow realized that there could be no solution. Valan
never beats his wife. To him to beat a wife or physically assault
one’s wife is the crux of cowardice.
94 Tearful Ocean
All these years never has he stretched his hand in anger, nor
ever slapped her. Such an affectionate husband of hers, behaves
so strange now, she needed to know the reason. She knew that
the Holy Scripture proscribe suicide as a sin and her soul would
only go to hell. And in her scheme of killing herself, she wanted to
keep her children off. She wasn’t for including the children in the
suicide attempt. And with a mind so firm, she picked up the mobile.
“Hello, Anbarasi speaking, your bosom friend, these days
doesn’t talk to me and our children at all. And that makes me
terribly upset. I thought that my domestic problems need not be
brought to the notice of a third person, but ever since I entertained
the idea of putting an end to our lives, I have thought it, wise
enough to disclose it, with a person like you. Please do whatever
you can.” She abruptly disconnected the line immediately, on
dropping the message into the ears of Advocate Justin, so intimate
a friend of her husband’s.
Valan placed himself on top of a rock, by the sea side, and
was gazing at the statue in the shrine nearby, when all on a sudden
his phone buzzed.
“Where there is peace?
Where there is peace?
There, I need a space.”
The SIM card company, in an advertisement had offered a
choice for a caller tune, just before 4 days. Playing a few of Shivaji’s
songs, the advertisement said, ‘if you wish to have this song as
your caller tune, press 1’ and he did press 1 and he pays forty
rupees a month to the company for downloading this song. And
there can be no tune more relevant than the caller tune of Valan,
in his desperate moment, seeking out peace.
‘Men should not cry’ thought he. And when struggling to
resist his tears, rang this song and he attended the call. It was
Advocate Justin. “Valan what has gone wrong in your family?”
“Nothing wrong, everything is fine and, we are getting along
well,” Valan answered in a sad tone.
“Be frank, don’t hide anything from me.”

“Nothing of the sort. Why?”
“Please for heaven’s sake, don’t think that I am interfering
into your personal life. Things have gone to such an extent that
your wife and children have decided to put an end to their lives
and you are saying that everything is okay.”
“Is it so?” Valan couldn’t continue the conversation. “We need
to talk about this matter, bring your wife to my office and we shall
sort out in no time.” Valan was terribly shocked, dashed off home
and he sounded his little daughter, “Tell your mother that she and
I have to go to the advocate’s office, at Nagercoil by the 9.15 bus
tomorrow.” Anbarasi asked directly to Vallan, “Can’t you tell that
straight to me. Do you have any precious pearls in your mouth?
Would they drop one by one, if you open up a converse with me?
Do I look so awkward that you should avoid looking into my
eyes?”
Vallan didn’t mind Anbarasi’s exhortions. He turned his
face away and went to bed.
Anbarasi cried out, “ Before you go to sleep have at least your
supper.” Vallan slammed the door hard, both to irritate Anbarasi
and to show her, his anger.
She fully covered all that she prepared for dinner, poured water
into the rice pot, and went to sleep, muttering to herself, “If he
doesn’t want any food, why do we need to fill our stomach at all?”
Luckily, the children were fed around 6, in the evening and
they were ready to go to bed. Had they not had their stomach
full, the urchins would have, out of hunger, disturbed her, and
her response would have been, blows on them for no fault of theirs.
When Vallan shut the door, a thousand thoughts clouded
into his mind. And he couldn’t doze his eyes.
Anbarasi, for her part, was also trying her best to fall asleep,
but she couldn’t. Her mind didn’t halt at any place. She was hopeful
that Advocate Justin would certainly settle the matter and that,
kept her mind, for the moment, out of the very idea of suicide.
96 Tearful Ocean
She wasn’t aware when she dozed off. ‘Cock-a-doodle-do’

came the early siren from her surroundings. She quickly prepared
breakfast and lunch, and got her children ready for school and
once she saw them off, she went to catch the 9.15 bus to meet the
advocate at Nagercoil. Valan had got ready by then, saw the wall
clock, cleared his throat, the very signal to tell his wife that it was
time for the bus. He slipped into his sandals and stepped out. She
locked the house with her key and followed him. Both of them got
into the street. Valan went in front and Anbarasi, walked behind
him leaving a walkable space. Oh! What a wonder! The 9:15 bus
has arrived on time. They sat in two different seats, sulking, in
each corner. The villagers gathered in the bus stand were
wondering why the couple chose to be seated apart.
They surmised that something was fishy between them. At
10.15 both of them, walked into Advocate Justin’s office. The junior
advocates in his office were just putting on their black gown to set
off to the court. The advocate welcomed them and enquired their
wellbeing and pointed to two adjacent chairs in front of them.
Valan pulled a chair aside and sat a little away from his wife.
Anbarasi sobbed in front of the advocate, “Now do you know
what he is up to? Am I an untouchable? He treats me so badly.”
“What did I do to him?” She tried to control the tears when
she saw the advocate’s clerk standing by. She covered her eyes with
the fringe of her saree while her eyes rained tears. Advocate Justin
asked his clerk to fetch three cups of dry ginger tea. Valan was in
the habit of taking a cup of dry ginger tea whenever he visited
the advocate.
Advocate Justin opened his mouth.
“What is the problem between both of you?”
“ If both of you are going to keep mum, how can I help you?
In fact, I have cancelled my trip to the court. Just open up, what
has brought you here? I always feel that both of you were a ‘
made for each other couple.’ “
“………………”
“Anbarasi, won’t you speak?”

“Ask him. He doesn’t utter a single word to me or to our
children.”
“Yes, Valan what’s your problem?”
“Sir, I want you to get a divorce from her. That will do.”
Anbarasi on hearing this wailed and beat her chest. Justin
got up from his chair and held her hands and told her, “Why do
you become so emotional? Would I give divorce as soon as Valan
asks for it? Is it a cucumber business? It is all about life and family.
Why should you turn so wild and scream thus? It’s rather
disturbing.”
Luckily the advocates who were in the adjacent rooms had
left for court, otherwise her cry would have invited them from
the neighbouring offices. What a shame it would have been?
“What have I done against him? Have I committed any
unpardonable sin? Look how he talks. Should I live with him
even after hearing such abusive words? The life that I have had
lived with him has no meaning at all…” She ignored Advocate
Justin and again hit on her chest, “ Let me beat on my chest and
die of heart burst.”
Advocate Justin looked hopeless. He sympathized with Valan.
Vallan asked her, “Where is my thali?”
“Are you asking about the thali?” Don’t your eyes see that
your thali is on my neck.” She held her thali, and showed it to
Vallan.
The thali chain was glossy, whereas the pendant was quite old.
“Is it this? Is this the one that I tied, on your neck, on our wedding
day? The one she is wearing is an electroplated thali. It is not of
gold. Where is the gold one that I tied? I want to know that.”
“Who’s that who told you that it is an electro plated one?
Bring her here. She is trying to divide the family,” she said angrily.
Vallan exclaimed, “Whoever tells me is not the issue. I want to
know where the thali of mine is.”
98 Tearful Ocean
“Instead of answering me straightaway why do you beat

about the bush?” queried Valan.
“I am not scared to respond to your query, listen to me” she
said very boldly, “For you and your children to come up in life, I
sold it and deposited the money in a firm.”
“She has sold the thali. Did she ever have the idea of consulting
me? Am I given due respect as the head of the house, and as her
husband?”
“Have I frittered away the money, after disposing the thali?
The eight lakhs that I deposited has grown into twelve lakhs now.”
“In six months, I have got four lakhs, as interest and do you
call this a loss?” She was fully convinced that she had made a fine
saving and earning, for the family. Be that as it may, Valan retorted,
“Whatever be it, who told her to do as she would love to and
why does she need personal savings without ever taking me into
confidence?”
“Since he was in Kerala at that time, it was not possible for
me, to consult him. All I knew was that, I would get three lakhs
out of my thali chain and I sold my children’s jewels and got another
three lakhs which I had lent to other people for a handsome interest
and that is the way I was able to raise the eight lakhs.”
As both of them were presenting their cases, dry ginger tea
was brought. The advocate asked them to taste and they found it
comfortable as they sipped it.
Valan asked her what guarantee was there for such deposits
in such banks. What if the bankers go missing? Anbarasi
convincingly replied that the company has been there around for
twelve years.
“If they have any idea of cheating the public, they would have
done it long before. All these years, the company has well
established, its proven integrity and reliability and would they
ever aspire for the money of these poor villagers? This has been
the talk around for ten years and that is the way that I have missed,
saving around ten lakhs. This is the way the people scared me
telling my money would be squandered by the bankers if I
deposited in such a bank. I would have had ten lakhs by now.”
“Didn’t a girl from that company go missing all on a sudden?”
“Yes, she did. But she was too greedy. She left that company
and started one, on her own and allured people that she would
pay rupees fifteen thousand as interest, for each lakh. The people
who were taken for a ride, deposited lakhs and lakhs, which she
used for publicity for her firm and that in turn, attracted more and
more customers. Soon she herself went around wearing jewels
adorned like a goddess in a Hindu temple. She also made false
promises to the villagers that she would soon make arrangements
with the State Transport Corporation for a bus for the benefit of
the villagers, who otherwise had to walk a few kilometres to reach
the nearby institutions and their work-spots every day. Moreover,
she assured the village heads that she would provide a helicopter
to search the missing fishermen, in times of emergency. In addition,
she extended financial aid to politicians, donated a pretty sum for
church festivals, sponsored sports and games activities and various
other sports related competitions, and won over the whole village,
and finally she became bankrupt. The company liquidated and she
fled the village. But this gentleman is not like her. He is known for
his honesty and integrity. Deposit a lakh and the company transfers
Rs. 8,000/- in your account every month.”
“Ask her what she did with the sixty-four thousand, that
she received every month. Eight thousand per lakh, per month,
amounts to sixty-four thousand per month, right?” In all anguish
Valan told Advocate Justin.
“Yes, yes ,together with that, I added rupees twenty-five
thousand, which I saved out of the money that my husband
had sent and also borrowed some money and deposited it as, full
rupees nine lakhs.”
“The next month I earned Rs. 72,000/- as interest. With the
amount I got in two months, I added a little more and the deposit
mounted as rupees ten lakhs. And, of late, my total deposit comes
100 Tearful Ocean
to rupees twelve lakhs and that fetches an interest of rupees ninety-

six-thousand every month. From now on, every month I would
get an interest of rupees one lakh.” Advocate Justin himself was
tempted to deposit, when he heard how money multiplied, in her account.
“Just imagine how clever she is!” remarked Valan sarcastically.
“After depositing her money with him once, shouldn’t she
have stopped with that? Look here, she has borrowed money
from others, and adding it with the interest she has once again
deposited the earnings with him. If people deposit more and more
who would gain? Is it he or she? Can’t she realize this?”
“There was a company which canvassed people from the
Tsunami hit and allured them to invest their compensation money
in their bank with promises of returning the amount four-fold.
The people who had lost their houses and properties and their
dear and near ones and had nothing else to lose, did one fine
morning lose even what they had in hand. The finance company
proprietors who assured them a fabulous amount, swindled every
pie and fled the place, as the maturity dates of the deposits were
drawing nearer. Is there any guarantee that this fellow wouldn’t
do the same?”
“This gentleman will never do anything of that sort. He is
very trust-worthy.”
“What made you lay your trust on him?” Justin put a sensible
question. “How did he win your confidence? And you, what
made you deposit the hard-earned money there, without even your
husband’s knowledge?”
Anbarasi replied with a sense of pride, “Our parish priest is
an agent to that company and for every lakh he is paid a commission
of Rs. 10,000. What more guarantee do I need?”
‘What ? Your parish priest is involved? For what?’
‘Yes, yes, actually three of them are into it.’
‘Why do these priests, who have renounced all luxuries, have
such a craze for money?’
“That priest had already had his hands in real estate business.”
“Flash news: The finance company owner who enticed the
poor innocent people and cheated them, has taken away crores
and crores. The people who lost the money have laid siege to the
building.” That was Thanthi channel news and all of them who
were listening to it over the television at Advocate Justin’s office
were frozen with shock. Anbarasi almost went into a swoon.
Valan’s eyes welled with tears when he realized that he had lost all
his savings. The advocate looked at the couple pitifully.
“Oh! My God, none of the women by the coast have any gold
jewel in their ears or neck or hands or fingers. Not even a single
gram of gold!”
“Don’t worry about it .The parish priest has already assured
us that in the event of the financiers failing to return the money,
the priest himself would pay back the money on time. He is quite
well off and we can receive our money soon.”
All that the advocate could say was only this: “I see that you
are mentally very strong. Valan, you better take your wife and
meet the parish priest and demand your deposits.” They left. On
reaching the presbytery, Valan and Anbarasi saw that the whole
village had gathered there. All of them assembled there, had given
money to the priest.
“How many crores was involved in the transaction and how
much would he have received as commission!”
“What can I do? I tried to help you, all because you could
have a permanent income. You reaped your ‘profit’ every month.
Now that he has disappeared with the money let us all get together
and look for him. But how can I give you the money?” the priest
uttered with the utmost perfection.
“Father, it was you who promised to pay the money, back
and claimed responsibility for the amount.”
“I trusted him and took up the responsibility, after all I am
just a human being and God has proved it.”
102 Tearful Ocean
“So, all these days had you been imagining that you were
God? Well, coming to the point, let’s resort to direct action.”
The priest thus sermonized and shut the door of the
presbytery. Anbarasi found no way out. She fainted and fell to the
floor. Valan who was beside her comforted her.
The money would soon multiply four-fold,
And that’s what the finance firm had told,
Chains, bangles and the ear-rings of gold,
All their jewellery, the women quickly sold.
She complained that Valan treated her bad,
And Anbarasi had to lose all that she had,
She cried, sighed, then sobbed, and was sad,
And high time she knew it’s a passing fad.
Glossary
1. amma an endearing term for mother.
2. karagaatam, traditional dance forms performed
thappaatam during festive occasions.
3. maru veedu return feast after the wedding.
4. oruvanukku oruthi a concept that a woman can have
conjugal relations only with one man,
which is traditionally and culturally
followed.
5. veitti a long piece of white cloth worn
around the waist by men as a clothing.
6. panchayat a local civic body.
7. nethili, kuthippu,
chaavaallai, mural,
vanjiram, vaaval. kinds of fish.
8. kooni tiny shrimps.
9. lungi a long piece of cloth stitched together
on both the sides and worn by men
as a casual wear.
10. meesai moustache.
11. thambi younger brother.
12. biriyani an aromatic rice meal cooked in spices
and chicken or mutton.
13. avial a mixture of many vegetables cooked
as one dish.
14. poriyal vegetables chopped into tiny pieces
and cooked with spices and coconut
and sauteed in oil.
104 Tearful Ocean
15. rasam a syrup of tomato and tamarind

mixed with some ingredients, seasoned
and boiled, to be had with cooked rice
and other dishes, in the place of curry.
16. papadam crispy, crunchy, flat round chips fried
in oil and eaten with cooked rice along
with other dishes.
17. thaali a chain tied by the groom on to the
bride’s neck during wedlock.
18. thanthi a local newspaper.
19. thangachi younger sister.
20. annan elder brother.
21. kalyana mandapam a marriage hall.
22. parathas a kind of pancake made of refined
wheat flour, often relished with meat
curry.
23. appa an endearing term for father.
24. paambadam a dangler worn on the ears by the
women of the past generation.
25. paayaasam sweet porridge
26. pandhal a temporary shed or roof to conduct
functions
27. pandhi serving

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TEARFUL OCEAN

NEW CENTURY BOOK HOUSE (P) LTD.,

New Century Book House Pvt. Ltd.,

ISBN.978 - 81 - 9530 - 040 - 2

Printed at : Pavai Printers (P) Ltd.,

Indeed, the high voltage of emotions and the expressions of

about the simple yet profound emotions embedded in it. It would

As the series of short stories reflect on the tragic life of the

2. Hoist the flag 23

8. The Soul Is Departing 71

9. Splendid! Splendid! Chicken Feast 82

10. The hard worker earns…. 92

Nobody stayed indoor

We had to abide by the old saying,

Since my mother heard my sister’s sobs she was in a flutter.

Oh! Is that the Mighty Manuvel Pillai who was flaunting

But there was commotion among the street dwellers. All of

“What the hell is this! How is it possible for people to live

He therefore spent some money from the amount his sons

At the end of the break waters, I saw a dark skinned, figure

2. Hoist the flag

Outsider, a panchayat president!

Our sea has no rocks. It appears just purely naked, so plain

“He is a heart patient indeed who always goes about with

“And why should we still depend on the parish priest? Let’s

“They don’t demand anything great. Just a membership card

Not the coast guard

No fisherman can ever use it for fishing purpose because such a

“Hey! yes… it would be at the bottom; you see, this is not

“It comes to my memory right now. Remember, last week I

They fit a twenty- five horse power Suzuki outboard engine,

The undercurrent so strong

Someone said, “The canoe would have landed ashore

“Oh! St. George of Edathua, I vow to visit your shrine with

Again, people gathered in small groups and were sharing

Her better - half simple at heart

He soon forcibly entered her, even as she was lying down

“What’s the reason for her suicide if that be the case?”

Though in a corporate company

“We won’t live up to witness such things. If he settles his

His thambi actually did an unpardonable act. Even the Almighty

looked so pleasant. For the students’ conveyance more than five

much as salary … I have set so much for my expenses for this

of his marriage? After all, she is a fatherless child and it involves a

It should be held in all grandeur. I don’t mind spending for him.

Devotees queued up in veneration

No harm in selling the fish to the lease merchant but what

The festivals conducted in the modern days are devoid of

Some of the villagers as extended their support while some

8. The Soul Is Departing

It was her husband Amalan, for sure

“I am damn sure it is my husband’s voice. How is it possible?

Unlike many others, Amalan was never in the habit of coming

He used to address his children ‘my dear’, ‘my darling’ – all

The canoes splashed across directions on their mission. For

But their discussion and their doubts weren’t heard by anyone

9. SPLENDID! SPLENDID! CHICKEN FEAST

Though their wealth they shared

“Once in a blue moon the daughter visits them, enquires about