Will You Walk With Me? - III

My dear, dear GFs,

Thanks a lot for staying with me in the campus of my alma mater, The American College. Now adjust your hair, take out your make-up kit, do some touch-ups here and there in your face. Yes, we are now to go.

We come out of the campus, cross the road and start walking on the otherside towards South.

A few blocks down the line we have the small, yet famous Visalam Coffee shop. I have already written enough about this small, successful venture which has become part of the <st1:city><st1lace>Madurai</st1lace></st1:city> culture. Just to brush your memory, Visalam was the very first coffee shop to sell their coffee-making “know-how”.

This know-how transfer happened somewhere during the seventies and they collected hefty amounts for teaching other coffee-shops about their coffee making method and also for using their name. Some 6 or 7 shops still use the name New Visalam Coffee.

As any good cook will tell you, cooking is not just following some recipe. It requires the cook’s active participation and complete involvement in the process. And involves quality materials too. These statements apply with greater force to coffee-making.

The other shops who paid royalties for the name and the know-how probably did not understand this. Hence they could not deliver the same quality of coffee after a while.

Real coffee lovers like yours truly swarm up to this original Visalam outlet (which is still run by the founders) for a good cup of strong, filter coffee.

Like Malligai Coffee Bar, Visalam is a business model which can be studied by the MBA students.

Now after a cup of steaming coffee we walk down a little further and then touch the famous <st1lace><st1lacename>Albert</st1lacename> <st1lacename>Victor</st1lacename> <st1lacename>Bridge</st1lacename></st1lace>, the oldest link between North and <st1lace>South Madurai</st1lace>. River Vaigai flows from West to East and divides <st1:city><st1lace>Madurai</st1lace></st1:city> into <st1lace>North Madurai</st1lace> and <st1lace>South Madurai</st1lace>.

Apart from some obscure causeways, this AV Bridge was the main link between North and South Madurai for a number of years. It is our own <st1lace><st1lacename>Brooklyn</st1lacename> <st1lacetype>Bridge</st1lacetype></st1lace>.

Many of the Maduraiites do not know that the warranty period for the Bridge is over. The English Engineer gave it a life of a hundred years and now it is 120 years old, but is still in a good condition. It is an integral part of our lives. I am posting a picture of the bridge here.

On the advice of experts the load on AV bridge has been cut into half by building another bridge parallel to it for traffic flowing from South to North.

It is a thrilling experience to walk on the side platform on the bridge when vehicles are swishing past you in great speed. And there is also a problem. Almost all people cross the bridge only in vehicles. Even the low-income group uses a bus to cross the bridge. Only the poorest of the poor walk over the bridge.

When you walk on the bridge people always tend to look down on you. People looking from the windows of the buses, throw sympathetic looks at you. At first it was embarrassing for me. But then I thought that this feeling of embarrassment is part of the penance.

 

Why do we tonsure our heads as an offering to God? Not that we want to make Lord Venkatesa rich by the export earnings from our hair.

The underlying idea is that when you tonsure your head you will be embarrassed in the company of your friends. And that feeling of embarrassment is good to one’s spiritual growth.

For a moment your ego gets a blow for you are no longer as good looking as you used to be.

Walking on the AV bridge, I tell you, is no less an embarrassment. About 7 years back when I was walking on the bridge, a two wheeler stopped near me causing the traffic to freeze for a while. The two-wheeler man did not care. On his pillion was his wife and child.

I recognised him. He was working as an accountant for a company which was my client at that time. The company had a turnover of more than Rs.300 million

This man, let’s call him M, parked the vehicle precariously near the platform asking his family to get down from the vehicle. Then he turned to me,

“Sir, how can you walk like this in this bridge? Let my wife and child wait here for a while. I’ll drop you at the other end or wherever you want to go. Please sir, get on. Fast. Get on before other people could see you.”

I was moved by his affection. I was moved by his sense of belonging to his organisation. His message was loud and clear. I can’t let the auditor of my company to walk like this. And for that he was willing to make his wife and child stand there on the bridge for some time.

He did not care about the fact that he was subjecting his wife and his child to the same kind of embarrassment which he thought I suffered.

“M, thanks for the offer. But no, thanks. You see this is part of my penance. I have been doing it for years. And it is not fair to make your wife and child stand here for my nerchai.”

“But sir, how can I let the auditor of my company to walk alone on this bridge?”

“I am not your auditor for the moment. When I am your auditor, I assure you, I will cross the bridge only a B-segment car. Right now I am one of the 2 million residents of <st1:city><st1lace>Madurai</st1lace></st1:city>. And this is what I owe to my God. So please let me go my way.”

Very reluctantly he let me go.

I recently heard this dialogue in a comedy show. “Madurakaranga ellam paasakkara pangalingappa.” “<st1:city><st1lace>Madurai</st1lace></st1:city> people are very affectionate.”

This incident increased my love for the mankind and hardened my resolve to continue walking on the bridge.

Not that all <st1:city><st1lace>Madurai</st1lace></st1:city> people are affectionagte. There are people at the other end too. Some of my friends and acquaintances who had seen me walking the previous evening, would call me first thing in the morning to offer their sympathies.

“Sridhar, I saw you walking on the AV bridge? Any problems? Had you asked me I would have lent my car and the driver.”

I know that behind this façade of affection there is a cruel eagerness to know what kid of misfortune had fallen on me that I have to walk on the bridge all alone. After all it takes all kinds of people to make up this world.

Now we get down from the bridge turn right and after a few blocks reach the Yanaikkal Junction. There is an elephant statue in the junction which gave the name Yanaikkal to that place. Now we need to turn left walk a few paces and turn right to get into <st1:street><st1:address>Vakkil New street</st1:address></st1:street>.

Before we make the turn let’s have a look at this place. This is a sort of wholesale market for vegetables, fruits and other perishables. At about 3 30 in the morning this junction will be bubbling with activity.

I saw a three-wheeled load vehicle going past me. It was loaded with vegetable bags. And on the top of these bags I saw a man sleeping as if he had no care in the world. Just imagine his position. The vegetable bags will be the most uneven bed in the whole world. Added to that you have the jolting and rattling of a three-wheeled load carrier. And this fellow could sleep peacefully in that position.

Once I had a very rich client. When he travelled to <st1:city><st1lace>Madurai</st1lace></st1:city> from Chennai he would always travel by First AC. The I AC compartment is the most comfortable compartment in the train.

The bed is pretty large and the attendants would pamper you with extra pillows and blankets. Once we were travelling together and my client complained in the morning that he could not have a wink of sleep.

I had slept like a log and wanted to know what was his problem. He told me that our bay was exactly over the wheels of the train and that he could not sleep in that rattling and jolting.

I could not help thinking about this fastidious client when I saw the man sleeping over the vegetable bags on a fast moving load carrier.

We have covered three-fourths of the distance. Let’s now take a rest before we resume our journey.

Will you please stay with me?

 

My Dear GFs,
I am pleased to tell you that my story has appeared in Kumudam today.
I have also posted a scanned copy of the story. Please go to this thread and read it.

http://www.indusladies.com/forums/v...ial/24571-my-story-in-kumudam.html#post284017

love,