Literature and Philosophy seem to be two deeper forms of expression of the human self, of course without a denial that there exist other forms as well. This mutually non-exclusive existence is that which would characterize this editorial of mine. ‘Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty’ – a line from ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ one of the splendid works of the Keatsian era has brought to me, at times an unexplainable bliss or excruciating pain. The incident(s) I wish to share in this article pertain to the former. This incident is my observation which took place a couple of months back while I was in my hometown on vacation. After experiencing a scorching day in Chennai, I stopped to have a few tender coconuts. The traffic police
man’s whistle to control the traffic, a book sellers stall crowded with school kids looking at comics and magazines he sold, Indian women bargaining hard with the jasmine flower seller along with thickly polluted air suspended with dust particles were those that characterized the ambience surrounding the coconut sellers shop.
The shop itself was built on a big wooden table movable with wheels carrying the coconuts, a plastic cover with straws & an “Aruvaal Kathi” – The Tamil term for a big knife used to cut the tender coconuts. The coconut seller was a puny lady exhausted by the Chennai heat with a thick lining of kumkum in her forehead. She was the one who cut the coconut with the big knife though it did not fit in well in her fragile hands. Beside her were three kids, two girls and one boy running here and there shouting “Amma…Amma” – the magical words which would light her face up with happiness. While I stood there sipping the coconut water, I noticed another quite vocal man sitting next to the lady in chair asking the people who passed by for some tender coconuts. For a moment I thought, what’s the guy there doing leaving the lady to do the tough task. But as I moved closer with a pity for the lady, my heart became even heavier with despair to see that he possessed just one of his moving limbs and was hence immobile.
In a few seconds all the earlier moments of regret for not having acquired certain possession in life
fleeted through my mind and an unimaginable sense of shame followed. If this was a liberating sight, then what followed as I completed sipping my waterless tender coconut humbled me further. The lady had noticed my frowns while I drank the tender coconut as it did not have much of water. As I picked my wallet to pay Rs.20, the cost of a tender coconut, the lady said Ayya.(meant ‘Sir’ in Tamil) – ‘Athula neraya thanni illai athu naala verum 10 rubai kundunga pothum’ – (meant ‘as the coconut did not have water hence just give me 10 rupees’). I experienced a sense of bliss while I witnessed this moment of truth which seemed beautiful and is the same as I reach the end of this editorial.
Guest Editor: Karthik Ganesan