The legend of Kodanda
December 1991, Chittoor (A.P.) 13:30 hrs.
I had moved to Chennai by then. I used to visit Chittoor often. Often as in once in ten days. I used to count minutes before I made a trip. I hated Chennai and the loneliness that it spelt to me. I was also broken-hearted at that time. The girl simply wouldn’t budge; so there I was with a sad smile, heart in pieces, and head hung low… making trips to Chittoor just because I had to see her and also to hang out with my friends. It’s another story that my sympathy-collection tactics never worked. I was so foolish and had little clue about it.
However, I found solace in hanging out with my gang: CK, Vijay, Gnana, Ravi and… Kodanda. The first time I met Kodanda he made a big impression on me. He was fixing boilers in huge dairy plants. He ran an electronics shop in Greamspet. He always paid for our beer and the MSD hotel’s ‘kushka’ (biriyani without meat, eaten with mint chutney and onions). Though he didn’t chew ‘mawa’ (a mixture of beetle nuts and flavored tobacco), he bought tons of it for us. And yea, he thought he had a great sense of humor.
On the aforementioned day and time (I always wanted to use this term ‘aforementioned’ so please adjust) I was in Vijay’s home in the Co-operative Dairy Quarters. Kodanda’s home was some four houses away (his father worked in the dairy too). Vijay’s mom asked him to go get some clothes pressed. So he packed the clothes in a duffel bag and we set off towards the dhobi shop. We would have hardly taken a few steps and Kodanda sprang in front of us from no where. He was wearing ‘Roy-Ban’ sunglasses and was carrying a haversack. His t-shirt was tucked into his jeans. It appeared that he had spent considerable amount of time at home covering up his receding hairline by pulling the hair onto the front; but the wind played spoilsport and his hair –whatever little he had on his head that is- stood at 90 degrees to the scalp and gave him a grizzly look.
‘Where you guys going?’ He enquired.
Vijay and I exchanged glances and Vijay said,
‘We are going to Ooty.’
I thought Kodanda would get the sarcasm. I mean Vijay had a bag full of clothes and he was clad in shorts and chappals. There was a pause. The wind got excited with Kodanda’s hair and now the hair started moving in a zigzag fashion.
‘Mother promise?’ He asked.
‘Yes’ Vijay said (he defended later by saying ‘I didn’t specify whose mother!’)
‘I’ll also go machaan?’ Kodanda pleaded.
Before Vijay could respond I took over and said,
‘You got shoes Kodanda? What about winter wear? It’s awfully cold up there in Ooty… how much money you got on you? We have only three bottles of rum; can you get us more?’
Kodanda pounced upon the chance and said,
‘Yea, yea yea I got all that and I will get two more bottle of rum. Hercules would do?’
Vijay was staring at me and Kodanda. He was obviously confused.
‘Ok, Kodanda, why don’t you land up near the Menaka lodge junction? Our van will wait for us there… four o clock this afternoon on the dot. If you are late, you miss the trip. Simple.’ I said.
That left Kodanda in deep thought. After what seemed like ages during which Vijay and I were trying hard to suppress our laughter, Kodanda said,
‘Machaan, I am going for a service request to Palamaner… if I am late I’ll take a bus and join you straight in Ooty…?’
I had a lump in my throat when I said,
‘Yea that’s fine. Get to Ooty and head straight to Hotel Charing Cross and ask for Mr.Shimjeet. He is the one that is arranging our stay there.’
Vijay had tears in his eyes by now.
Kodanda laughed out loud and said,
‘So, there! That’s settled… I don’t care if I miss your van, I will take a bus and for all that you know I’ll be in Ooty before you guys! Ha ha!’
Realizing that Vijay could no more handle his laughter I said,
‘Ok we got lots of work why don’t you run along and try and meet us at Menaka?’
And Kodanda scooted with a spring in his step.
Vijay and I fell on the ground laughing. We caught Gnana who was playing cards with his buddies in Valliappa Nagar and told him the story.
At around 1500 hours Vijay, Gnana and I were walking towards CK’s home when an auto screaming in full speed screeched to a halt next to us. Murugesh, Kodanda’s brother popped his head out and yelled,
‘Hey count me in ok? I’ll try and make it but I don’t think I can,’ and was gone, leaving the three of us on the ground. Again. Rolling with laughter. We forgot about the whole thing after an hour. I mean Kodanda never made it to any of our planned trips; he always had some excuse or the other, and he was too lazy to actually travel all alone to Ooty. We knew it for a fact.
At four that afternoon all the gang members met up in CK’s home and we all went to NGO home. Ravi played some chess and we headed for a movie in Lakshmi Talkies.
30 minutes into the movie, Gnana who was sitting next to me nudged me and whispered,
‘What if he goes to Ooty?’
I said, ‘Impossible. Not him.’
But I had a churning sensation in my belly. ‘What if…’
The next morning I was the first one to arrive at our hang out: Tea-shop outside Vijay Mahal run by our friend Kulla Ravi (not Chess Ravi). Every one but Kodanda turned up. I started panicking. Two more hours and still no sign of him. Later, Vijay told me that Kodanda had called from Palamaner and told his folks that he’d be staying in Palamaner for two more days as there were some serious problems with the boiler there. And even Murugesh, his brother confirmed it in the evening. I heaved a sigh of relief.
After two days I arrived at the tea-shop quite early; around seven o clock in the morning. We had a cricket match that day. The place was empty but for the guy with an unkempt beard and bloodshot eyes. He looked a bum to me so I paid no attention to him. I ordered a tea and lit a smoke. I let the sun fall on my face. I needed the warmth; it was cold. I felt a pair of eyes boring through my back. I turned around to find the bum staring at me. The tea-shop was dark inside; so I couldn’t clearly make out that guy. But I knew he was staring at me. Once in a while he rubbed his palms together, as if he was feeling very cold. But he kept staring at me right through. I ignored him. Gnana and Vijay arrived after a few minutes. They ordered tea and lit up smokes. And I noticed that that bum was on his feet. He emerged from the corner in which he was sitting; the sun fell on his face. I was shocked out of my wits. I stood up slowly. My mouth was open. Kodanda screamed at us ‘Are you guys humans or some kind of animals?’ I was wondering why Kodanda was in the disguise of a bum. Before we could say anything, he just walked off. He never spoke to me again ever.
I learnt later that he had actually reached Chittoor quite early. He had gone to CK’s place around five O clock in the evening and met CK’s dad.
‘Uncle where are these guys?’ He had asked CK’s dad.
‘I don’t know, the entire gang went towards the town…’ uncle had said.
‘Come on uncle I know that you know where they are headed hee hee’ Kodanda had said.
‘What do you mean?’ uncle was irritated.
‘They went to Ooty, no?’ Kodanda had asked.
‘Ooty!? In December? I don’t think so; it is so damn cold there… you’d freeze to death! No way.’ Uncle had said.
‘No uncle they put mother promise!’ Kodanda had said.
No one knows the rest of the story. Each one of us has our own version. So I leave the rest to your imagination. And funny as it may sound; all the versions seem to retain the same core. You know what I mean? 😉
(Next Part: ‘The Curse of Kodanda’ Coming soon!)
Write to me: suman ‘at’ sumankumar ‘dot’ com
