I was the privileged one among the cantankerous cousins
making merry at my uncle’s house every summer, with the fortuity of being a
young patient of my benevolent uncle. An annual rendezvous of the paternal
family, gave us the unmatched happiness of the entire brood coming together and
painting the small town of Madurai red in the scorching summer month of May
when the Vaigai river was all parched with not a single drop of water. The
large patriarchal house playing host to the bubbly effervescent baker’s dozen
whose talents ranged from solving cryptic puzzles (the genes inherited from the
patriarch himself...read more at http://www.sunitasriram.in/2015/11/grandsire-greatness.html)to playing the Mridangam, or excelling in academics with the added flair for
the English language(that could cringe even Her Majesty!) to the Math genius,
who had answers at the blink of an eye, a magician adept at pulling out
wonders! Among these multitude of stars, I was a heavenly body that never
emitted any light and while these children of the greater God worked wonders,
I, the myopic with specialization in astigmatism (well, for the hawk eyed who
have never stepped inside an ophthalmologist’s lair, the term means the
irregular surface of the cornea of the eyes) accompanied my philanthropic
ophthalmologist uncle to his quaint little clinic on a very busy street that
was synonymous with TVS (http://www.tvsgroup.com/pages/group.htm) and
Dr.Subbaraman, a man who has only charity as his second name!
Noticing the deep anguished and disappointing contours on
my face that for see the torture and tumult of the ensuing couple of hours
where my eyes would literally go wide, with the annoying irritating drops to
dilate my pupils, the altruistic Doctor would make a pit stop at a famous
bakery and order “Jupiter” cake, a delight that matched the name in size, and
the rich creamy toothsome was a great consolation. The inspection of my
amplified eye at his adorable clinic stocked with abundant and copious
medicines, surgical tools, lenses and hordes of writing pads and pens, by the
expert took place only when he ran out of patients, (a period of eternity) as
it never happened for two obvious reasons, (apart from his expertise and skill),one,
the meagre fees, a trifle that was charged, and the cheerful banter between the
stethoscope wielder and the gossiping mothers in law or the complaining
daughters in law. These repartees were a ploy to ease the pain and the tedium
of the whole exercise. Finally, just as I was on the verge of reaching
saturation point, with all the patience (and patients) drained out, he would
finally examine mine with his tried and tested traditional tools, an epoch span
of confusion and indecisiveness, as each testing lens on that rickety outlandish
frame would blur my eyes further leading to disoriented perplexities! The
outcome, a foregone conclusion – power would have increased by leaps and
bounds, geometric progression in reality!
His man Friday
Manickam was his compounder, apprentice, henchman and in fact everything, a
person who would wait on him and all the flipped and freaked out guys of the
Thathamangalam household!
The shutters down for the day, my uncle drove through the
crowded by lanes and stopped at his favourite optical shop to order the frame,
the over enthusiastic owner keen to spread his ware, an assortment that is a
far cry from today’s collection, with the one and only chunky bold black
spectacle frames making style statements. (they were the only ones that walked
the ramp!) No payments were made leaving me bewildered, but soon I understood
that his benevolence in the form of free surgeries, bulk orders of lenses and
frames and many other things left them itching to reciprocate and I became the
benefactor! There would be more shopping for goodies such as ground nut candies
( I am drooling with saliva frothing like that of a cow’s at the very mention
of this) and other sweets and savouries including a medley of pappads, he would
often be at a loss as to what could be excluded from the list, inundating and
showering us with his generosity! Following us like a faithful dog would be
Manickam on his bicycle with an oversized carton on the carriage!
Buoyant at our return, the jingbang brought the roof down
with chaotic scenes of delight, glee and jocundity. Carrom, (the elders teaming
up with their beloved nephew and niece), cards ( the beguile betrayers in a
game of bluff master) , scrabble ( the walking lexicons manipulating with the seven
alphabets)and hide and seek ( the destructive dickens) were the all time
favourites, obviously not for the grumpy neighbours!
The excursions to the circus and the exhibition stalls
with my father as the Pied Piper who patiently but sternly steered all the
crazy cousins into the magical world of performers and artists are etched in my
minds! The countless stalls illuminated with dazzling lights and playing loud
music with magical mirrors, flying parachutes, rocking animals, merry go rounds
was a paradise and we soaked in the fun and frolic unmindful of the heat and
dust!
The sombre anniversary ceremony of my grandmother would
take place amidst all the anarchy and bedlam on the next day, followed by the
grand feast on the plantain leaf with an array of dishes. Whoever licked the
leaf clean without wasting even a morsel of food stood to win a prize from the
Doctor Uncle and I became the unassailable champion, invincible and
unconquerable by the envying cousins!
The icing on the cake was the event that unfolded
immediately after lunch – all the rambunctious girls and boys (including the
children of my uncle) of the smart smartha ‘Thats’ family ( a sobriquet for the
village called Thathamangalam in Palakkad town of Kerala that was our ancestral
home) were made to sit in a circle and Periappa( Father’s elder brother in
Tamil) dumped loads of gifts from huge cartons and we were free to decamp with
anything that we liked. These gifts were carefully and lovingly collected by
the charitable Doctor over the year and secretly stored away from the prying
and greedy eyes of his children and comprised of all and sundry that had us
squealing in absolute delight, a salmagundi of knickknacks, souvenirs, trinkets
and whatnots! A deluge of pens, diaries, scribble pads, paper weights, board
games, playing cards, and other compliments and freebies given by
pharmaceutical companies lie in a heap waiting to be grabbed by the avaricious
lot!
My Uncle, an amiable human being with a fair share of
eccentricities and idiosyncrasies takes extreme pride in pampering his guests
irrespective of the caste, strata or community they belonged to and so from the
vegetable vendor to the minister’s son, all got drenched in his affection,
goodwill and compassion!
This annual jaunt became the most looked forward to affair
for all of us and I go teary eyed at the joyful reminisces of the past. These
family get-togethers gave us merriment, love and affection and taught us the
profound and grand meanings of life such as sharing, caring, benevolence, and
impartiality, bonhomie, partaking in ceremonies and rituals and the ultimate
pride and regalement of one large extended family with my dear large hearted
Periappa holding the reins! I salute and bow in reverence and gratitude to my
dear Uncle and Aunt who are instrumental in moulding my character and attitude and
for showing me what philanthropy means!
