Monday, February 27, 2006

Ramayya and the Bulldozer

"Seekiram pa. We have more work to do" shouted the guy with a huge moustache. There was a guy on the bulldozer, a contractor and a few lazy souls sipping tea and munching politics in the nearby tea shop. Their gaze shifted from time to time on the huge bulldozer and the house near it, but their eyes were indifferent. Only one pair of eyes were getting mist witnessing the whole scene and they belonged to Ramayya. He looked at the name engraved near the gate of the house that read "LAKSHMI ILLAM".

LAKSHMI ILLAM. The name he had given to his house....no no...to his palace. 20 years before his Manager Mr.Ramanujam had suggested him to buy a piece of land in the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) and Ramayya had obliged. He got some money from his father and sold his mother's and wife's jewelry and built his dream PALACE.

A house is not just a enclosure built out of bricks, cement and mortar. It is the identity of a person. A person's desire, dreams, ambition, anger, love are all reflected in the design of his house. This house had shared a lot of emotions with him than his other family members. The house had witnessed the first child born here and it being named lakshmi after his loving mother, her first words "mmmmma", death of his father, birth of his son, his promotion, his daughter attaining womanhood, his son getting enrolled in a medical college, engagement of his daughter and so on....


The usual myth is that women are always very sentimental and emotional. But the oft ignored fact is that men are very sentimental about their belongings. You might have come across men who will never forgo their first bike, first car, first house inspite of the fact that they may be old and worn out. Today Ramayya's son was a prominent doctor in town and was married and settled in a posh apartment in Adayar. Inspite of repeated pleas to settle with him Ramayya had declined it. He couldn’t bear the thought of parting with this house.

But...the gods were laughing at him. The government had notified the destruction of houses on the OMR road to complete a 6 lane project. Ramayya had little choice but to oblige. He and his wife had moved yesterday to their son's house. Today was the day when the house...no no...his dream palace would be brought down. When the huge bulldozer brought down the compound wall Ramayya felt as if he was crucified. It was like a father watching his son being hanged to death.

Unable to watch it, he got into a nearby auto and said "Adayar po pa". The auto driver would never know why his passenger was sobbing.

P.S : Inspired from a split second image witnessed on OMR Road

13 comments:

Kavitha Jay said...

aww..thats so sad....all i can think at this moment is my paati..she just loves her home..no matter how big we build her a house..she wont leave hers..:)..

neighbour said...

harish:-- first achivement will never been forgotten in life time.

adhuvum veedu kaattaradhungaradhu saadhaarna vishyamaa enaa..

"kalyanatha paani paaru veeta katti paarnu summava namma makaal sollerukaangaaaa".. indha rendum valkaiala romba mukiyaama vishyaam.. will get lot of experience...

If you see the film "Veedu" it will portray the real constraints in building a house..

nandoo said...

appa neighbour... enn epdi ore thathuvama poliyre.. inge iruntha varaikum nalla thaane irunthe ;-)

True... I can never imagine my house even being sold... I have done every work during the construction of my house.. right from chittal.. kothanar...interior designer... front elevation designer..garden layout.. selecting switches..lights.. right bathroom fittings... wood work... ellame..

post peru thaan chumma nachunu irukku.. BULLDOZER AND RAAMIAH...

hey wait... dei athu crane illa ?? seri ennovo ryhminga iruntha seri :D

Anonymous said...

Amazing maaan!! I can now understand why my father doesn't say a word when we usually tease him (in a good way only :) ) about the piece of land and house he has bought in a nearby town..

Whatever be, men do keep in their cherished dreams to themselves and never let it out. Thats why people think that men are less sentimental.
Is my finding true?

Harish said...

Mystery
I m happy that this piece of fiction has matched some reality somewhere

Babu
Sema nachchu nu sonna...Perhaps Paandavar Bhoomi also showed the affection of a house with its people

kuttichuvaru said...

hmm.... very nice post...

nandoo said...

hey Harish.. U R TAGGED .. check out my blog for more details..

Ramya Shankar said...

That's really sad! But when a lot of moments are associated with one place, we tend to get attached to it. The process of a house becoming a home takes really long.

Anonymous said...

nice one harish...
it reminded me of our old house...
we had to sold our house in our hometome few years back.... at which place i was born and brought up... i remember each and every inch of that house and can never foget it...
we now have a nice apartment in hyd but still i love that house... and i want to buy it back at any cost.... but not sure if i can!!

Harish said...

Nandoo
part time kottanaar?dei...crane is to lift objects :-)

Bindu
yeah..u r rite..men remain unexpressive..u guessed ritely

Harish said...

Veda
48 years...u father must have had hard feelings selling that house

Ammu (a) lakshmi
Any similarities to person living or dead is purely coincidental :-)

Harish said...

kuttichuvaru
thanks pa :-)

VJ
ittanai peru veedu padam paarthirikiraanga nu terinja Balumahendra romba sandoshapaduvaaru

Harish said...

Ramya
rightly said.."house becoming a home"..that is y that split second image got registered in my heart...how many emotions the owner must have gone thru

chaitu
Nice to hear someone who has not forgotten her past..tho it is simple...how about building one similar to the one u resided?