Advaitha [or Oneness]
So it is and so it should be,argue logic.If one were to attempt to interpret human behaviour in terms of logic however I am afraid one's efforts would be wasted>It is not possible to always express evrything logically.
So what I wish to say I will straihghtaway narrate without being shackled by logic.I shall state what I saw and felt as it happened. If You do not agree with my conclusions you are welcome to yours. But a word of caution:do not get into vain logic.
" I take care of my vehicle as I care for my wife,I use it myself.I don't lend it to others" I have heard this said many a time.I too have a moped,a 1985 model.Everyone at home uses it.Poorthing,it is a good peice.Ofcourse now it is in ramshackle condition.
"Sell it for scrap,I say," people tell me. "Why do you lock it? Nobody will touch it even with a long pole. send it to the scrapyard. "Though I have suffered such sarcasm frequently,I never felt bad or ashamed,but laughed it off. God these people do not know what they say. Pardon them.
Among others, Sita's remark goes like this:"Sell it off and buy a new one.Atleast do that." She does not know.Dear God pardon her too.None including Sita will appreciate it if I confess literally love that moped.Perhaps you too won't.I do not care.Pardon my arrogance.
You know what happened once?My aunt's son Subba and I had to go to my in-lawsvillage.[We have married sisters]On the way to Gauribidanur.a signboard pointed the way to Ghato subramanya temple,Theist Subba saw it and shoutes to me:"Hey Chandra!we are so near.Let's go to his lordship's temple."
We had very little time.I didn't know the way .I ignored his request. We reached the village some how on my ramshackle vehicle by midnight.On the way the shield screws got loose and we had a problem with the silencer. yet i was grateful. It had carried us for about 130km!
After two days in the village we began the return journey. Near Hindupur the vehicle skidded and a little later,the brakes failed.yet my faith in my moped remained intact. my atempts to get new brakeshoes in Gauribadanur failed.
Atheist as i am, I looked apprehensively at Subba when I again beheld the signboardpointing the way to Ghati Subramanya. but i could not suppress his desire to visit the deity.I could not muster the courage to do so.
As we entered the gradient,the vehicle pickedup speed. I braked,but the cable was gone. There were huge boulders along the leftside and a deep trench on the right.No way t o escape death. I was freightened and shouted:Subba,no brakes,jump!"The speed at which we were going had already stunned him.He sat dumb-founded.At the nick of the moment I decided to head for the trench rather than the boulders and turned the handle towardsthe right. At that point the ditch was about 8-10 feet deep.Our speed was 50-60 km and together,we weighed 170 kg.Thud! we fell,lock stock and barrel.Believe it or not I was hurt at all,Subba had bruised his right ankle.The mud gaurd was dented and the headlight broken,Nothing else.
Subba prided himself for his theism,but felt sorry for being unable to visit the temple. He vowed to put his mite in the lord's hundi on his next visit,I prostrated in reverence before the moped.My love for it had multiplied hundred-fold.
Shiva , you have to see him. A Tamilian,dark complexioned,grease all over his body,oil-stained face.Baggy dark-blue trousers he wears with a black shirt:18-20 years old.
The way he worked inhis small garage,I sometime thought that the fellow must have been born right there.It was perfectly located for work,for entertainment,chit-chatting,ogling passing beauties.Spanner,screwdriver and pliers were his playthings. He had become so attached to the placeork and everything there that once,when his toe was injured,he rubbed grease to his wound.i asked him about it.he giggled saying: "sir,any wound,you rub grase,the wound will vanish." He knew nothing about hygiene,sterilisation,or septic.I tried to convince him to see a doctor bot to no avail.Two days later the wound had healed.
Shiva enjoyed doing his job,not because of his earnings but for some other sort of joy. His skill and his good-mannered dealings with customers gave him pleasure and pride. His devotion to work gave him a sense of satisfaction. His parents sold bondas,bajjis and vadas in the nearby market place. He helped them selling these during evenings. But he never appeared cheerful then. I tried to cheer him up,yet he remained dull.
He used to become one with the job only when it was a vehicle. I too would become involved but I gaveup going to him when I found he was cheating me.
My moped had become unable to carry two persons>it could not even pull me alone. It appeared to have grown tired o frunning, making me suffer dduring my night shifts.I had to pedal even on perfectly level roads.I stopprd using it,but did not sell it.I dumped it in a corner at home. The seatr was torn.The tail lamp had gone.The vehicle had become discoloured and rusty in some places.
I felt disgusted. I decided to get overhauled.If I sold it i could not have got even a thousand rupees.So I took it to Shiva.
He was sitting on a broken chair,looking dull and depressed,on seeing me, his face brightened.
"what sir?" he said with courtesy.
"No pick-up.Got the silencer cleaned.Got it decarbonised.changed oilseal.Still no good."
" Bring the vehiclesir,I will checkup the bore and then tell you."
I brought thevehicvle.he opened the engine and said :New bore to be done,cahin and sprocket gone.." I decided to have a new bore,chain,sprocket,seat ,rear-view mirror,tail lamp charges Rs,1,300,had confidence in Shiva.gave him an advance of Rs.1,000.As I was about to leave I noticed his bandaged leg.Leg and bandages werer of the same colour.
"What is it?" i asked.
"Wounded by a stone.Pus formed." Limping,he sterted work on my moped.Smilingly , he went on talking about vehicles.He was happy conversing with me. I stayed there for quite some tome.
"Why don't you ru grease?" i said jokingly before leaving.
"Please don't pull my leg,sir.i know how ainful itis,you don't." but he looked bright and eager.
The next evening he had completed his job.Before taking the moped on a trial, Shiva said:"Please start it .siri will take it on a trial round."
He was limping very badly.I felt sorry for him.he had repaired it despite his hurting leg.
"Lift your pant,' i ordered him.Without fussing he obliged,\.His leg had become red and swollen from the thigh down.It had stiffened and hardened like a coorpse.I was shocked.
"Paining too much sir,"he said.
"Go to a doctor righht away.Don't delay." With one cick the vehicle started.I was satisfied.He took it on the trial round.When he returned he was brighth with satisfaction.
I joyfully rode the moped and felt on top of the world.the moped had been rejuvenated.For a month I had no occassion to go back to Shiva.
One day,I wentto his workshop unexpectedly.He was sitting on a chair looking depressed.His right legwas absent.I could not muster enough strength to ask,yet I asked.
"As you sid...15 days ago i went to doctor.I don't know."
he said.I had gangrene or somethuing.Admitted me...cut my righth leg.......I came out of there only today.Came straight here.My brother brought me on his bicycle,I phoned your office two or three times.You were noy in ypur chair.." I phoned your office two or three times.You were not in your chair....I listened with downcast eyes.I expected him to be in tears.But when I lookedup there were no tears.There was twinkle in his eyes.
I saw him again after a week.Not in his workshop,but in his bonda shopclose by,seeing me, he enquired:
"why sir,you came walking?"
"Sold it, my dear boy." He understood.He brightened up.
"For how much?"
"One and a quarter thousand."
"I could have got you atleast three thousand."
"Sure.But anyway,I sold it to my friend."
"Sold the workshop." he said.
I could understand. I bought bondas for a rupee. He had made them afresh. He made them so fast that I wondered whether he took birth making bondas. Once I had wondered if he had born in his autoworkshop.
My bus arrived. There was heavy crowd,I got up swiftly,jumped onto the footboard and without any difficulty secured a seat. A wonder.
"See you Shiva." I shouted.
"Will see you again..."
Do you see any logic in all this?I wonder.
Shekharpoorna
Kannada Orginal was published in Suddhi Sangaathi
Translated by:H.V.Bharadwaja
Translated version was published in Deccan Herald .Dated:Feb2,1992