RandomPeople#2- The coconut-jackfruit bond.

   

 It has always made me wonder at how my mom has taught certain values that are deep rooted in me. She has never preached any; rather she showed me and I still imitate. But as it is said, none can be a perfect imitator!

Ours is a humble village, sharing its borders with Tamil Nadu. Though there have been issues, we the people of Kumily still have that irresistible urge to go down the valley and get our ‘fresh and cheap’ vegetables. Our family is no exception.  One can sight numerous roadside vendors, selling their produces and earning themselves a livelihood. There are bargains, shouts and street fights; all part of the 'market times'. The vegetable market I speak of is one of those places where perfect strangers have changed the way I see the world.

We have this coconut vendor,  an old man, slightly fat and without a moustache. ( I gave a thought on this feature just now! ) The first day, when Amma asked this man the price of coconuts, he smiled and replied , “ neenga edungamma, velayila enna irukk, ath naan ethappadi solluren.. “ This translates to: ‘do not worry about the price ma’am, I wouldn’t charge you more than what I think is justifiable’. Though this dialogue impressed my mom, it wasn’t well enough to impress her to buy the larger coconuts he had. We bought the smaller ones, each costing Rs. 7 and we earned an additional 3 cocunuts free for the Rs. 70 we paid. And this incident marked the beginning of beautiful bond.

  This old man, with his wife, selling coconuts in a local village market and that too in a different state became the people we eagerly looked forward to meeting every Sunday. This old couple has not given us anything more than two or three free coconuts, but they have shown a warmth that stands cherished. They haven't shared their personal details, not even their names for that matter, yet he would buy me snacks from the nearby tea-shop, no matter how much we insist him not to. He found happiness in that and seeing that happiness, we felt glad.

  Even a week back when we unexpectedly had to travel to Tamil Nadu, I saw my mom fetch a jackfruit for them.  I couldn't help but ask why, and the reply I got was this; “You are not gonna eat all those jackfruits alone, so do not refrain from sharing when you have. They yearn for it and this is the least we can do for them”.  

  When I saw her bring home that jackfruit , heavy and with rain pouring down, I really wondered at some truths of life. 

This lady has taught me the relevance of unconditional love; the need to have compassion. I have learned that it is not necessary to know what the other person is; it never matters what race they belong to or the religion they follow, all that matters is what they make us feel or what we make them feel. People might forget the words we said, but they will never forget what we made them feel. It doesn’t really take much effort to be kind. It never is painstaking to show love. But often we fail to see the beauty of goodness; of those random acts of kindness.