Almost all oldies, except me and including my brother Vicha, feel that they have all the problems under the sky but unrecognized or underestimated by others.
Early morning today, he neighed from his bed, ‘Anna, odivaa, come rushing!’
‘Enna aatchu Vicha! Are you still on the plain or flying up?,’ I enquired and went to him.
‘Press, press, here, one inch above, not there -two inches
below, just to the right, no to the left, a bit below’
I massaged applying the balm Megh had brought.
‘Chukku vellam !’ Medicated water, he wanted.
I gave him that.
‘Kaapi!,’ he ordered. I made him hot coffee.
He enjoyed the coffee and remarked:.
‘You don’t realize my struggles. You have a habit of taking everything light!😔’
‘Fool! I take everything light, that is why I’m here to press your back, foregoing my luxurious of living with my children’
He couldn’t have heard. Still he laughed! I love this old man born two years after me. He is a SudhAtma. A pure soul.
Real fun enjoying his company. What do the children know about my exciting life here? They feel Appa is struggling. ‘Don’t go near the stove’, warns Sarath. How can I avoid that, though there is a part time cook.
‘Appa, don’t walk to Habsiguda,’ warns Megh. How can I avoid that. Aparna, Atchu and Sri.watches through face time, whether my eyes, ears, hands and legs are safe in their respective places. They are my children. I’m fit like a fiddle.
Vicha’s back pain will vanish soon. Then, he will start singing Pattanathar and KalyAnasouganthikam kathakali songs. I too will join him. That will be real fun, for both. Not for our neighbors as they are not deaf, partially or fully, like us!
I sang for him an instant multilingual composition:
‘You’re a Sundarakuttan ( handsome boy)
Don’t trouble this ‘chettan’ (elder brother)
You are a Sundarakuttan!
Vicha, no more are you a ‘batcha'(child)
Though your health not ‘atcha'(good)
See how the world is ‘patcha’ ( green)!
You’re a Sundarakuttan!
Your shirt shines, but no button!
‘Athee!’ ( my god!) goes down your dothi,
Man you’re mind, not a kothi( monkey)
You’re a Sundarakuttan!
Don’t trouble this chettan
Vicha, you ‘re a sunderakuttan!
In the picture below Vicha Anna, soon after getting up, enjoying the beauty of his face, before the mirror!