When I saw God --[Kerala V] -[Nostalgia] --Icarus.
Paul C. Chemmanoor
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"Anjoor pravishyam cheyda dhaivathine kannam."
-- If you do this 500 times you can see God.
My cousin John knew I was easy prey for his criminal
drives. He told me that since the sign of the cross
is made with the thumb held against the forehead, it seems logical
that many such gestures would surely result in a divine experience.
He told me I could never manage 500.
I told him I could. He said I could not.
So I retired to the nook behind the wooden staircase and assumed
a relaxed posture, and began to draw my thumb against my forehead.
"Onne"
"Randu"
"Munnu"
.
.
.
-- One, two , three.
I counted slowly and meticulously. Soon there was a warm fuzzy
feeling around my forehead and I felt I was on the verge of seeing
God. I found myself wondering if I would know the right questions
to ask.
Of a sudden I remember the taste of tender mango slices disolving in
fish curry.
Once while we were sitting on the edge of the brick walls of our
courtyard watching the women dressed in white sarees go to the temples
we met a kid our age who seemed to be looking for trouble.
So we asked him his name.
"Pere endada ninde ?"
-- whats your name ?
"Perekka"
-- pomengrenate.
"Nallu enda ? Narenga"
-- Do you want to know whats my birth sign too? Its an Orange.
the boy spoke needlesly. And very hastily.
We watched him go with deep hatred in our souls, and promised revenge.
The next day, we had every kid in our family sit on the edge of that
wall and wait. And when Pomengrenate went by, our team of 4 to 10
year olds burst forth:
"Da! Perekke!"
-- Hey you pomengrenate!
Pomengrenate, used to sweat tears of shame when he was forced to pass by
our house, as he had commited this tactical blunder on the only route
available from his house. But for crime there is punishment.
Upstairs we had a huge room all to ourselves, and one summer we decided
to devote entirely to developing the muscles of the body, so we tied
up a bag of sand and punched it till our knuckles turned red. We discovered
a pile of fresh tiles in a corner, and soon began to practice karate
of the palm-edge, breaking several tiles every hour.
In those days there were sections of the house that were being renovated, so took
to sky-diving from above into the soft sand piled up for construction, until one
day we dived past an open window of a room that had guests in it, along with my dad
who was talking to them. They had the shock of our lives seeing three kids fall from
the sky past their window.
Once my cousin francis, said he wanted to tell me a secret, so he called me out of
the house to the place he was standing and waited for a minute and said:
"Athe, ninde kallume nariye urumba!"
-- I just wanted to tell you you have ants all over your feet.
And I looked down to see tiny red ants that bit like hell, beginning to settle,
while francis laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks.
"Nannuti thonuti ombuthu"
"Anjoor"
-- Four hundred and ninety nine. Five hundred.
I waited a few minutes and then opened my eyes.
There was nothing there. No God.
The next day my mom discovered a huge bruise on my forehead.
"Engene pattiyada ?"
-- How did this happen ?
"Veenada"
-- I fell down.
I had grown up overnight.
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Note: Thanks to Ganesh M. for pointing out that
perekka is not pomengrenate but gauvas.
I couldnt think of the right name at the time
in english.
I hope this is not a repost.
I didnt see it in ack after sending to the gateway.
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. ~ ~ .
. o o signito ergo sum. .
. | i sign therefore i am. paul chemmanoor .
. = washington d.c. .
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