First Day Gossip

First Day Gossip

First day in the bestest tiny town. The first thing to happen is gossip exchange right? Oh yes! With a grandmother and a grand aunt, the local stories take on romantic and seemingly mythic proportions.

The first one I was to hear was of the heroic local Talaivan (meaning leader and member of the municipal council) and his downfall. He was so good and so giving that the locals held him in awe.  A true leader, he remembered names, from children to senior citizens and unfailingly asked after people. As a council member, he provided water, electricity and much else. Sadly, the giving depleted his purse and after severe fights with his relatives, he left for a nursing home. He died of cardiac arrest and people were informed. “The middle-class just shed a few tears at the funeral”, said my grandmother. “The poor, so indebted to this great man decided to give him a send-off suited to his stature. They collected more that five thousand rupees and got the taara tappata (traditional percussionist who played at funerals, a n old art) for him. They also got large poster of him printed, with farewell quotes. Ah, his generosity was rewarded indeed, so much money from the slums!”  Such an interesting tale of hamartia and the fall of the great no? The news of his death was shared with a pressing need and provided much material for lamentations, discussions on good politicians and bedtime stories.

We had a visitor later, an old acquaintance, and the brother of an erstwhile playmate. “You may not remember me, but I’m sure you remember our dog Puppy”, he said. He didn’t need to mention the only Pomeranian I ever liked (a thoroughly annoying breed that can neither be hit or tolerated), he was a nice person and I remembered the elder-brotherly air. “You once poured mud over Puppy’s food”, my grandmother added with a laugh. Do they not remember the nice things I did? Well, to be fair I was the bitchy, ever-annoyed kid who demanded too much attention from dumb animals and was generous in avenging slights.

He began showing my grandparents his wedding photos and I was genuinely surprised at a certain new development, he had grey hair! We had grown old? He kept talking about the absence of his family at the marriage and his sister’s sudden marriage, which sounded like something that had been preponed by the family but the tension around convinced me that he was talking about a love-marriage. “I bought the jewels and the gifts but she called the other brothers and arranged all of it. I was to give her away. After all the effort, they took part in the ceremonies and I just showed my face and came”. A hint of sadness there, what was going on?

This story went back in time too, another grandmother’s tale about the evil world. Once upon a time, a couple had 4 sons and a daughter. As they grew old and infirm, their eldest three sons left them, never to communicate again. The man dies and his wife had a stroke that left her paralyzed and invalid. Her youngest son took a small job in the town and looked after her, with the help of his sister, whose housework and demeanor was good and noble. The pair did this for almost a decade, working, earning and caring. The girl left for Pune and later, the boy moved with his mother to a bigger city. His sister took a transfer and they rented a home. His brothers, being unwilling to help him find a bride were equally unwilling to accept his choice and he arranged the marriage alone. He got a permanent residence pass in a foreign country and having arranged for a full-time nurse, he arranged to leave. The brother who decided to pitch in went absconding today, unwilling to see her. Ah goodness! The only reward was…. Betrayal? The joint family seemed so defeated and crazy!

So, characters blown to epic proportion, the daily problems seem like the metaphorical tale of goodness unable to defeat evil. Westernization and the break-up of the joint family, the good poor who honoured their leader as the rich watched and talked. The plight of senior citizens in a country too poor to provide. Evil daughters-in-law and unsympathetic sons.  Runaway daughters and family feuds. Dwarfs the daily soaps we see eh?