We'd set off for Palakkad, after lunch, to attend the wedding of a young niece tomorrow. The plan was to go via our house at Guruvayur as the short route via Mannuthi after Thrissur was clogged with traffic due to the extensive widening of the highway that has taken off now, in right earnest! Thank god for minor mercies because the roadwork had been held up for a long time thanks to the difficulty faced in the land acquisition process!!
It was a half past 3 and we'd crossed Guruvayur, on our onward journey. As it was approaching teatime, I was looking for a good wayside tea stall that had an adequate parking space. And sure enough, at Vaadaanakkurissi, I found what I was looking for and brought my car to a stop. As I moved into the shop, after parking my Chevy, a well dressed, elderly gentleman accosted me and asked for Rs.10/- We'd never met each other before, but the confidence with which he'd asked for it saw me giving him the money without any hesitation.
While having my cuppa, I enquired about the elderly gentleman with the tea stall owner. And it was he who'd filled in the details for me. The gentleman was from a respectable house in the neighbourhood and he was in his mid 80s. He usually walked that way, twice a day - once in the morning and the second in the evening - and approached only certain people with his unusual request. And received one of the three responses - ignored totally, shooed away or gave him what he's asking for! The important fact, however, was that he never asked for more than a paltry Rs.10/- and he never reacted if he did not get what he'd asked for.
And why he does so, no one knows!
Tailpiece.
Why did I react in that manner? Connected from the past birth, maybe?
It was a half past 3 and we'd crossed Guruvayur, on our onward journey. As it was approaching teatime, I was looking for a good wayside tea stall that had an adequate parking space. And sure enough, at Vaadaanakkurissi, I found what I was looking for and brought my car to a stop. As I moved into the shop, after parking my Chevy, a well dressed, elderly gentleman accosted me and asked for Rs.10/- We'd never met each other before, but the confidence with which he'd asked for it saw me giving him the money without any hesitation.
While having my cuppa, I enquired about the elderly gentleman with the tea stall owner. And it was he who'd filled in the details for me. The gentleman was from a respectable house in the neighbourhood and he was in his mid 80s. He usually walked that way, twice a day - once in the morning and the second in the evening - and approached only certain people with his unusual request. And received one of the three responses - ignored totally, shooed away or gave him what he's asking for! The important fact, however, was that he never asked for more than a paltry Rs.10/- and he never reacted if he did not get what he'd asked for.
And why he does so, no one knows!
Tailpiece.
Why did I react in that manner? Connected from the past birth, maybe?
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