HUNGER......KALLIDAI KURICHI
COMMUNITY FEEDING:-
In Kallidaikurichi death of elders was celebrated with great
enthusiasm. These functions attract all relatives and friends of the same
community who dine together and enjoy a sumptuous spread of delicacies. These
functions were looked forwarded to and people organizing these functions feel
that mass feeding give lot of good “Karma” leading to salvation of the soul.
They encourage all to come and enjoy the feasts.
It was one such occasion the person who had breathed his
last was an illustrious banker who had a bank known as Hundi Shop typically
catering to merchant bankers who trade in commodities. He used to discount
bills and pay cash to traders instantly. On account of his fair dealings he was
very popular among the trading community in that area. His children were
married into big industrialists families like Amalgamation group, Shankar
Cement group etc.
We were living right opposite to his house and we used to
admire the gentleman’s taste. He was a widower and had very clean habits.
Around 9 PM in the night after the English news his bedside transistor used to
be on and he used to listen to Carnatic music and go to bed. Mornings were
devoted to visit to Tambarabarani for bath followed by Pooja and then go to his
bank which was across the street.
When this Gentleman passed away the functions were held in a
grand scale. The last day known as Shubhaseekaram marking the end of mourning
period and beginning of regular normal life was celebrated on that day. People
from the community from the entire village were invited for lunch. People
belonging to other communities stay away from such functions as per tradition
as they may not be able recite specific prayers and adhere to such customs.
We children were watching the whole event from our house and
were awaiting our call for lunch which was supposed to be the next batch. We
saw one gentleman from a minority community rushing towards the house where the
function was being held. He removed his lungi in a hurry and changed into a
white dothi. Put a sacred thread on his shoulder in the wrong direction
initially and then on seeing others changed it in the right direction.
Applied the specific religious mark of holy ash on his fore
head and was trying to sneak into the household. By then my younger brother had
gone to inform one of the organizer of the function.
He rushed to the front yard confronted the man and asked for
his name and Gothra etc. This poor man was unable to answer anything correctly
and confessed that he was very badly in need of food as he was hungry and
starving for the past two days. He was politely taken to the back yard and
served the full spread to his complete satisfaction and seen off with all respect and gifts!
Though the person was pushed to his limits to satiate his
basic human need HUNGER, to conceal his religious identity, he was treated with
respect and helped to get going in his own way!!!
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