Dating : Fortitude — Part 3 of 3

Translator’s Note:

This is the third part of the short story “Vanangaan” by Jeyamohan in Tamil on his website. You can read the first part here and the second part here.

Dad made the office itself his home. There was a water tank and a toilet within the office compound. He built a stove for himself in the backyard. He bought utensils and groceries and began to cook for himself. The peon Kandasamy would assist him daily. Headman Thevar would drop in once in a while, for his time was mostly spent at the Zamin.

Within a month, dad had scrutinized all the files. His predecessor was an Iyer³⁴, who had more or less managed the Zamindar without conflict for eight months. He had then, somehow obtained a transfer and left for better pastures. Since then, for several months there was no work done. Dad started creating records with the facts as they were. He compared the figures with the original documents. And then he wrote a letter of notice to the Zamindar, asking the latter to submit the genuine accounts backed by the original paperwork. He had also highlighted the falsifications and errors that had taken place.

After about four or five days, Sankara Thevar brought word that the Zamindar’s accountant wanted to see dad, who refused to go. A couple of days later Thevar returned, this time with word from the Zamindar, commanding dad to go and meet him. That too, was refused outright. Dad could imagine the shock his refusal would have caused in the Zamindar’s office.

The very next day, Headman Sankara Thevar came to the office accompanied by another Thevar man armed with a spear. “If you don’t come without making a fuss, we would have to bind you hand and foot and drag you there” he warned. “Take me if you can, man” screamed dad in a rage “I am a representative of the British Empire on which the sun never sets. The empire knows how to protect its servants.”

The headman was stumped, for he had never thought of matters in that fashion. The dark man seated at the table was the representative of an immense white empire. Artillery, tanks, rifles, horses, sealed envelopes, uniformed soldiers, the majesty and power of it all. Thevar did not utter a word more. Twirling his mustache, he stood there for a while. Then he walked out, after giving dad a parting glance.

The very next day, dad fired Headman Sankara Thevar from his post. In the afternoon, when Thevar arrived with the mild reek of alcohol, staff in hand, twirling his mustache, the peon Kandasamy handed him an envelope. Thevar was illiterate and asked him what it was. “The Nadar has fired you”. Thevar was taken aback. He had not anticipated this. He strode towards dad, waving the envelope at his face “What the hell is this?”. Dad was calm “It is a paper issued by the government. You cannot wave it about like that. You do not have work here. You can go and work for the Zamindar.”

Sankara Thevar was stunned to silence and left in defeat. The next day he and his wife came again to plead for mercy, with their two small children. The woman wailed “This drunkard barely brings anything home. I manage the household with greatest difficulty. Please spare our family”. One of the kids was a toddler on her waist. Another stood by timidly, digging his nose. Thevar cowered behind a pillar watching with an anxious eye.

“Alright, but for your sake only, I don’t want to bring any family to ruin” said dad. He addressed Thevar strictly “You are to be here every morning. You can leave only after I permit you to. You will do as you are told. You are responsible for anything that happens in this office, you heard me?”

“Yes.”

“You will address me only as ‘sir’, henceforth. This is a government order. It is written on this paper here.”

“Yes, sir” cried Thevar and unexpectedly threw a smart salute.

On the next day the Zamindar’s accountant summoned Thevar and berated him for not bringing dad to the estate. “Look here, I am a government employee. Our government has tied down the sun in the sky. You may do as you please outside, but in the office, my sir is my master and I am his servant. If my sir ordered me, I would not hesitate to behead ten men. Later, kindly don’t blame me.” Thevar was polite, but firm in his newfound knowledge about the powers of a government employee.

“Moron, will you behead me on that fellow’s orders?!” screamed the accountant. “Of course! If sir says so, it is the government rule, no? You are a puny Pillai gentleman, let alone you, I would even behead the Zamindar if asked to.” This was going into unfamiliar territory. “It is the government which controls the sun by magic, you see. It is all part of the rules” said Thevar in all glory and brandished a paper “Look, so says the notice!”. It was his dismissal order earlier issued by dad. Pillai dared not touch the omnipotent notice.

===

The stalemate continued for almost a month. After the third notice was sent and received, the accountant came to the office, notice in hand. He attempted to stride in casually but was blocked by Thevar “Can’t you see, sir is busy writing? Wait to be called” and waved him to a seat outside on the porch. When he entered, he was inarticulate. When dad pointed out the issues, he merely said “Things have always been this way here, even the government knows about it.”

“Fine, then I will write to the government.”

“We don’t have that practice here, no?”

“How else would I do my duties, then?”

“Periyakaruppu Thevar is the Collector’s³⁵ protégé. One word from the Zamindar and the Sahib will be here in a moment. They are hunting buddies, you see.”

“What is all that to me? I will write to my superiors. Let the Collector do as he deems fit.”

Pillai stared at dad as though at a madman. “Listen, Nadar. I will give you one piece of sane advice, as I would to my own son. Do not be bull-headed. Go away. Go away on leave. Go away on transfer to a better place. Get married to a good Nadachi and beget children. This is a murderous town with bloodthirsty people. You will be slaughtered and buried without a trace, child’s play for the Thevar ruffians around these parts.”

Dad replied with perfect equanimity “I had to climb out from a manure pit to reach here. I have experienced several things worse than death. In this birth, I fear nothing and no one. You might have several accounts to settle. You may do as you please. But I have just now got my grip and I don’t intend to falter here. This is a grip I am taking for seven generations hence. Failing which we will never rise. Go, tell them that the Nadar is ready to die.”

The accountant left, befuddled and Sankara Thevar arrived soon afterwards with news from the street “Sir, please do not step outdoors. Their men are out and about, to cut you down on sight”. Dad stayed confined in the office. The next day, the Zamindar himself rode up with a few huntsmen for company. He was in the British officer’s uniform and carried his rifle and strode up to the office. Dad did not rise, or greet him. The Zamindar pointed his gun at him, hand on trigger, wordless, eyes steady.

Dad’s stomach turned, but his face was impassive. Once more time, so many years after the incident under the elephant’s feet, he was yet again, inches away from death and yet again, found his courage. “Go ahead and shoot. I would be blessed to die in service as an officer of the British government. You are the bigwig around here, aren’t you? Licensed to kill and loot? Shoot, if you dare to and stir up the hornet’s nest. We will come here, wave after unending wave. How many would you shoot down?” Dad imagined, in that dingy office room, that thousands of people were hearing his challenge thrown at the Zamindar.

The Zamindar did not expect such dauntlessness. He wavered and lowered his rifle momentarily. Dad drove home the advantage “You think you can shoot me and walk away? I am the land revenue officer. Your Collector friend cannot hush this matter up. The British will send you to the gallows. Your own kinsmen would be too happy to testify and grab your lands once you are gone, do you realize?”

The Zamindar’s face gave nothing away, but his eyes glinted with cunning, “You are a wily fox, but we are rulers for over ten generations and have encountered several of your type. Your rules protect you only here in this compound. Once you step out, you could be trampled by an elephant, or hacked by a Thevar knifeman, anything could happen to you. Step out, if you dare to.” Hooves clattered, as he left with his men.

Dad locked himself up in the office. He avoided his usual haunts as the Zamindar’s men were on the prowl. The peon Kandasamy disappeared on leave. But Sankara Thevar camped in the office, with his long spear. He would eat whatever dad cooked and would sit guard on the porch at night, with a sack cloth wrapped around himself to ward off the chill, not sleeping a wink. In the day time he would curl up in the porch itself. Even a lizard on the roof would rouse him up. The impasse continued for twenty-seven days. Sankara Thevar fetched the groceries and also the inbound and outbound mail. While he went about his errands, he had his “Government Notice” proudly tucked at his waist, head held high.

While dad waited in hiding, death stalking him everywhere, one night he had a dream. He dreamed of Ambrose’s tea stall and someone walking in for a cup of tea. “What’s up, le?” boomed the familiar voice, as the figure flicked his collar back and rolled up his shirtsleeves. Dad sat bolt upright. He drafted a letter detailing all the events from his arrival at Ilanji and had it posted to the one person whom he thought could help. And then, he waited.

Dad hoped the letter would reach Nesamony and he might have taken it to the Collector of Tirunelveli. Perhaps the police might help. But there was no news. He had no way of knowing either. Five days later, there was a great commotion outside. Dad heard shouts of “Mahatma Gandhi ku Jai! Pandit Nehru ku Jai! Subhash Chandra Bose ku Jai!³⁶” quite inexplicably.

He proceeded to step out and check what the noise was about and was stopped by Thevar “Stay in, I will handle them”. Nevertheless, he stepped out of the office door and found that his path was blocked by what looked like a huge dark rock. It was an enormous tusker elephant and around it a crowd of about eighty people, armed with spears and machetes. It was only then dad noticed someone and uttered a cry of relief and surprise. “Behold, Thevar!” he cried, “He is our Thalaivar³⁷, our very own Advocate Nesamony!”

Nesamony hugged dad warmly and smiled at him. “You are a fighter! Proud of you. You stayed your ground, le, and you won. We got to stay our ground and hit them back. Where are the thugs hiding, the ones who threatened you? Get up above, on the elephant!”

“Ayyo³⁸, not me” hesitated dad. “Get up above, it is I who says” urged Nesamony and signaled to the mahout. The elephant bent its forelegs and knelt. Dad gripped its ear, climbed on one of its forelegs and swung himself above and perched on the elephant’s neck. He felt like sitting astride a huge boulder.

At a command from the mahout, the elephant rose. Dad went up. The sensation of upward movement must have barely lasted for a couple of moments, but it stayed with him for the rest of his life. He would describe it with great passion each time, on several occasions and with diverse descriptions each on each occasion. The upward movement must have been not more than three feet, but the distance it covered in his mind was immeasurable. He kept on going up. The earth fell away from below him. The run-down office and its tiled roof went down. Tree branches, the road, the people around him all kept dropping downward. The luminous sky descended towards him. It was bright all around. The radiance of the heavens spilled everywhere. When the elephant walked, he felt one with it.

“You can only know what is an elephant when you sit astride one. The elephant is might, you hear me? Immense might. You would feel the urge to smash down a fortress with a mere pin. The elephant’s gait…it is the real gait. It is majesty in action. Dad would recount and recount and recount without ever finishing. With the majestic lumbering gait, dad walked in the skies that day.

The procession went all around Ilanji with great tumult. Crowds had gathered on both sides of the streets. The windows of homes were packed tight with female features. The procession reached the temple and then the main market and every other spot in town, with shouts of joy and challenge. The Zamindar’s armed men who lay in wait could only watch in silence.

The procession gradually reached the Zamindar’s bungalow. The gates had been locked in anticipation. “Smash them down” commanded Nesamony. One kick from the elephant and the gates shattered inward. The caged leopard and the bears sensed the elephant’s presence and circled their enclosures in disquiet. The wildcats and hyenas screeched from their corners. The crowd was soon in the main courtyard, laying siege to the house. From his perch, dad was above the edge of the roof of the main house. He symbolically kicked out a tile from the roof. The crowd became delirious. They went around the house for half an hour. Shouts of “Congress ku Jai, Mahatma Gandhi ku Jai! Pandit Nehru ku Jai! Subhash Chandra Bose ku Jai! Kamarajar³⁹ ku Jai! Nesamony Raja ku Jai” rent the air. The Zamindar’s family remained indoors, wisely, till the crowd left.

They dropped dad back in his office. He felt the residual movements of the elephant in his body. His thighs ached and stung, and he walked with legs slightly spread, with a floating sensation. “Boy, that day my gait changed. My swagger remained forever” dad reminisced. “No one dare lay a finger on you now. Stay fearless. Always” said Nesamony and left.

Indeed, after this incident dad was posted in Ilanji for seven more years. He recorded all the legal and financial transgressions of the Zamindar and made formal complaints. He got the land re-surveyed and re-allocated to the rightful owners. At one point, the Zamindar’s kinsmen collaborated with dad and helped him with original documents and records. When dad went around, the locals would stand aside and greet him respectfully. To him, it felt that they were making way for an elephant to pass. “To their eyes, I was always astride an elephant. It was there in my mind always and therefore in my gait too. A man on an elephant cannot bend or bow. Nor can he step aside for others to pass. It is to the others to make way.” Somehow the elephant stuck to him as a prefix. He began to be referred as Aanaikaruthan⁴⁰ Nadar. He began signing his papers in that fashion too.

While he was working in Ilanji, he got married. I was born. When it was time to name me, dad had a flash of a thought and the name came to mind.

“Vanangaan”

Mom turned around “What kind of a name is that? Sounds weird.”

“Oh…come on. That will be his name, all right. Vanangaan Nadar” declared dad. He had not just given me a name, but a commandment for life.

When I was seven months old, he took me and went to Palliyadi. He entered the house of Appavu Peruvettar and stood in front of his illustrious son. Nesamony was in the living room, reading the newspaper. “Sit down, le” he said. Dad sat down and handed me to him.

“What have you named him?”

Dad replied. Nesamony looked on, smiling.

34. Iyer: Tamil speaking Hindu Brahmin group who are nominally followers of Shaivism or worshippers of Shiva. However, most Iyers venerate Vishnu also in practice.

35. Collector / District Collector: Refer 13 in Part 1 of 3

36. Jai: Hailing, in this case, leaders of anti-colonial and political movements.

37. Thalaivar: Leader/ Chief/ Chieftain in Tamil, used with awe and respect

38. Ayyo/Aiyo: Most often used southern Indian exclamation of dismay, fear, sadness, regret, vaguely meaning “Oh,no!” or “Oh, dear!” or “Damn!”. Several Sinhala, Chinese and Malay speakers are also known to use this expression in similar contexts.

39. Kamarajar: Kumaraswami Kamaraj (1903–1975) Prominent Nadar leader and Congress politician. He would become the 3rd Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and a king-maker in the national capital circles in New Delhi at that time.

40. Aanai/ Yaanai: Elephant, in Tamil.