The first call was from the tentwallah, Vijayan, who said
that he was erecting the pandal in front and at the rear of the house for the
pre-wedding reception on the 20th. It had rained last night and he
was apprehensive that the ground around would get waterlogged and soggy that would
spoil the mat that he planned to lay on the ground, beneath the roof, that he
was gonna erect. The job should be over before sunset, he said.
Ramadasan kochachhan, my dad’s younger brother, had called
up from Nasik to say that he would not be attending the wedding as he was
indisposed. I’d miss him but such drop outs are inevitable at certain times.
Moreover, he and chittamma had attended the engagement ceremony. It was around
a half past 10 and the three of us – my sisters and I – had set off for the
village office to hand over our application for legal heirship certificate,
with regard to mom, endorsed by the taluk office. I’d asked Sasi, our
next-door-neighbour and Vijayan, the caretaker to be our witnesses with their
ID proof.
The Village Officer did show his importance by asking me to
wait out but all that he did was to speak on his cellphone which was the usual
routine ones to his acquaintances, judging by the thread of conversation that
was audible. After making/attending those calls, he entertained a few people
before Sasi beckoned me to barge into the office. He was angered in the manner
that the village officer was making me wait. Sasi announced loudly my erstwhile
professional standing and as to who I was and had raised his voice in the
bargain. He clearly asked him as to whether he wanted to help us or as to whether
he was trying to make things difficult for us but the guy wouldn’t budge.
Instead, he was openly deriding the bank who’d asked for the
certificate because to his knowledge, it was the bank that was acting funny by
insisting upon the document. I’d then quietly narrated the process that we’d
gone through and he didn’t seem to have any more questions. He promised to
issue his certificate within the next week which he was willing to hand over to
us so that we could progress it at the taluk office and subsequently, hand it
over to the government press at Thiruvananthapuram where the gazette is
published. It’s the copy of that notification that the bank ultimately needs!
The time that is required for the entire process to be over will be about two
months!.......Is this the progress that we’re making? Power has been
decentralised and given to the lowest rung of the government. Yet, the
roadblocks and corruption exist. Sad!
I’d to put Sasi at ease and convinced him that there wasn’t
any point in showing off our capabilities at the initial stages. He’d be dealt
with sternly at the appropriate moment I assured him if he was lackadaisical
about it. On the return leg, we’d gone to the upper primary school to hand over
the Rs.5 grand to the school’s headmistress for the purchase of books in the
ongoing process of building up the section in the school library in dad’s name.
It was a boisterous lunch on return and soon after, the
entire lot had gone for their tying up of things while I was only too happy to
be left alone, so that I could catch up on my siesta.
The rest of the day was spent in putting things into their
respective places and getting the house back in shape. Ammu wanted to hear
anecdotes from me about her grandparents and great grandparents and I did just
that much to the amusement of the others and in turn, richly complemented by their
contribution. The evening turned out to be long, eventually but it was worth
every moment!
Tailpiece.
Vijayan was a no show after his morning’s announcement. He
came in his swanky sedan half an hour before sunset getting his assistant to
acquaint himself with the place! Yesterday’s tentwallah has metamorphosed into the suave ‘event manager’ of today – a change of
nomenclature and a foreign touch, in outlook, to boot!
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