Poonachi

Author: Murugan, Perumal

• The birth of an ordinary life never leaves a trace, does it?

• ‘She looks like a worm, but with her attitude, she is already an adult,’ he said.

• ‘She looks like a worm, but with her attitude, she is already an adult,’

• ‘I don’t know how many more hazards this creature will have to face. Will she overcome all of them or go under? Who knows what is fated for her?’

• It had been a long time since there was such pleasant chit-chat between the couple. Because of the kid’s sudden entry into their lives, they ended up talking a while about the old days.

• They talk about the highs of toddy and liquor, but those are not highs at all. Real intoxication comes from talking. The moment it crosses a limit, we forget everything

• The regime had the power to turn its own people, at any moment, into adversaries, enemies and traitors.

• Fortunately, old people don’t need more than a few hours of sleep.

• Everyone was well versed in how they were expected to behave towards the regime. They had mouths only to keep shut, hands only to make obeisance, knees only to bend and kneel, backs only to bend, and bodies only to shrink before the authorities.

• Goats have horns, don’t they? Suppose they get a little angry and point them at the regime? Such goats have to be identified, right? That’s why they all have to get their ears pierced.’

• ‘That’s the way it is, ayah. When did the rich ever suffer any hardship? It’s only poor people who come here like fools to stand in the queue and suffer.’

• ‘There’s an old saying that the regime is deaf.’ ‘It’s deaf only when we speak about our problems. When we talk about the regime, its ears are quite sharp.’

• Examining the earlobe while he stroked it gently, he noticed that the ear-piercing needle had plunged slightly away from the correct spot. It had damaged a nerve. So, that explained the high fever. If a goat owner caused even the slightest problem, the man in charge of piercing showed off his intelligence in this way.

• ‘I said nothing at all. I just asked him to be careful with the needle,’ the old woman said. ‘Folks like us can survive only if we hold our tongue. Even when they hit us on the back, we should only mumble to ourselves. We shouldn’t even breathe if our neighbours can hear us. You’ve survived all these years, yet you don’t know even this much.’

• The void in her home in the wake of her daughter’s departure after marriage was being filled by the kid. These days she hardly quarrelled with the old man. She served him food with love.

• Poonachi would then perform a leap. In that leap was the boastful question: ‘Do you all know the taste of an onion?’

• She also came in contact with a flock of sheep that came to graze there. But she took a strong dislike to the lambs. They always had their heads down. One must bow one’s head while grazing or drinking water, she reflected.

• Can you call it living when you live without looking at anything but the ground?

• Goats always tried to break free of their shackles. Sheep had none, so they didn’t need to make the effort.

• If it was in your nature to bow down, why would anyone shackle you? And yet, they were fortunate, these sheep. They had no inkling that to bow was to be shackled.

• ‘So, you suddenly choose to turn into a dumb owl. On the days you are all smiles and eager to talk, I have to speak to you. When you become mute, I should also shut my mouth,’

• ‘The difficulties of the dead leave along with them, those of the living are here to stay,’ the old woman said often.

• she alone had to deliver the kids. Others could bring her no relief.

• ‘It’s true, ’pa. Leave right now. These days, even if you fart, you have to register with the government,’ a woman said.

• ‘A miracle if we are far away, a nuisance from up close,’

• The old couple was so overwhelmed by their own good fortune that they were unable to sleep. Grief-stricken at having lost all her kids at one stroke, Poonachi couldn’t sleep either.

• All the love the couple showed her had shrunk to the length of this rope, Poonachi thought.

• The call of hunger sweeps aside all other invitations, to rise up in front of you.