Raman
Jalota's Stories
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1. Aamakaar - The Turtle People 2. Basmati - A Special variety of rice Karela - A bitter vegetable Rumali Roti - A thin flat bread (Rumal - Hankerchief) 3. Rasgullas - A sweet dish made out of milk and cheese and sugar 4. Sari - An Indian dress for women 5. Biri - A hand-rolled Indian cigarette 6. Hookah - A smoking pipe |
Monkeys Are
Made Out Of Chocolate
By Raman Jalota Raghava was one of the Aamakaar1. He sat outside his hut staring at the coconut trees, the sand and the sea. There was a family of monkeys running around looking for food and shrieking at each other. He laughed at their antics and threw a coconut shell at one who got too close to him. He stared at the sea and confirmed his realization that it was creeping up. Or else the beach was shrinking. The whole beach was less than 100 meters by 10 or 15 meters. Even some of the huts were creeping on to the little beach. The construction company's trucks had been loading up sand from the beach and dumping it into rich people's mansions for landscaping. He needed to remind everyone of that during tonight's meeting. They needed to fight the monsters. He didn't like the idea of skipping an evening of drinking, but this was too important. He knew that one of these days he would be able to afford 'English' whiskey and wouldn't have to drink the coconut concoction that they drank all the time. Till then he would drink what he could find and dream of women. He ran his toes through the warm sand and looked up at the patch of clouds that were drifting in. I need to go catch some fish before the sun sets. Otherwise there will be no dinner for me. Or for Rita either. Damn I can go without dinner tonight it feels so nice and warm ... but then there's Rita. He got up and gathered his net, walked across the beach to his little handmade boat, stashed the net into his boat and started rowing to his fishing spot, just to the south of the tip of the beach. He laid out his net and sat patiently in the boat. A very soft breeze was blowing and the hot sun didn't feel so hot anymore. He lay in his boat and stared at the clear blue sky. The gentle rocking of the boat, the soft caresses of the wind and the sweet smell of the sea had him asleep in no time. They are bringing in more food. Wow! I am already full. Let me see what else they are bringing. The fish and the shrimp were so good, the basmati2 rice, the karela pickles and the rumali rotis were heavenly. Ah! Here is the desert. Surely I can put away several rasgullas3. He reached with his hand and grabbed two rasgullas. They feel tough? What's the matter? He woke up with his hand holding a coconut. "Damn" he yelled. "What happened to that great feast?" He looked up and figured it was time to bring in the net and head home. He slowly pulled in the net and separated the fish into a pile. Nice catch! I will keep a couple and give the rest to Rita. She hasn't been getting much food lately.
..
Rita was sitting in
her hut, her head hanging low and a fire burning just outside her
hut. She was kneading dough and waiting for someone to bring her
something that she could fix for dinner. She looked at the faded
picture of a god on her wall and silently prayed for food. She wondered
if Raghava would show up today and leave her some fish. As if her prayers were answered. He walked into her hut. "Rita, are you making a feast tonight?" She laughed, "Yes, an exquisite feast of bread and nothing else. Would you like to join in?" He laughed, "When you live like us, you cant but have a grand feast every day." He sat down on a little torn sheet that she had spread on the floor. "Here, I got you some fish. Maybe you can have something decent tonight." "God bless you, Raghava. Without you I would have starved to death many years ago. I don't know what I would ever do without you. Relax, while I make some tea for you." "Ah! Rita, I am just doing what little I can. We share this world together. This world doesn't belong to just the rich but to us too. We don't need much, just a fish or two a day and maybe some rice." Rita brought two glasses full of dark brown tea and handed one to him. She wrapped the end of her sari4 around the other and sipped from it. "Raghava, I never have anything for you and you are always so kind to me. All I can do is pray for you and I do that every day. But today I am going to give you a gift." His eyes lit up. "A gift? For me? Hmmmm what can you give a man that has everything?" "You have everything?" "Yes, I have my boat and my net. What more does any man need? I am so rich, I can't even think of anything else that I need." "Ha ha ... Mister rich man I have gathered a lot of fire wood - there were some trees that were uprooted by that construction company just beyond the beach and I brought as much as I could carry in the last three days. I am going to bring you some of it, so you don't have to look for firewood for a while." "Ah Rita, you are so kind to me. I am going to be lazy for the rest of my life, drinking coconut liquor and just letting you bring me all I need. About the construction company Have you noticed any more of their trucks?" "You know, they are starting to build some more homes well they are so huge they are not homes, they are mansions every now and then a truck sneaks by and loads up with sand from the beach. Soon there will be no beach and the mansions will end up right next to the ocean." "We have to come up with a means of fighting them. Maybe God will help us." As he was leaving, he gave her all but two fish. "Rita, here are some fish for you. Dry the ones you don't eat right away or sell it for some money, whatever you want to do." Rita tried to give him some rotis, but he refused.
..
He ate the fish
with some leftover rice and drank some tea made from used tea leaves
and dried berries to give it a sweet flavor. He took a nap before
Girdhar woke him up. "Damn, is it dark already?" "Come on Raghava, we need to help the turtles. They have started coming over already." Raghava splashed water on his face and walked out with Girdhar. "How many of us tonight?" "I think we will have about five now and then another five or so after midnight." "Good, we need to share the work and get the turtles through." As if on cue, it started to rain. "Well! Now they know it's their time." They hurried to the birthing beach and watched as six Olive Ridley turtles waddled their way to almost the far edge of the beach and slowly dug holes with their feet. The men helped scoop up the sand and piled it near the holes. When the holes were dug, the turtles crawled in backward and started laying eggs. Raghava and Girdhar wandered the beach looking for mounds of sand. There were others, some silently helping the turtles dig, others digging up the turtle nests and removing eggs. Every so often, men and women would come with baskets and collect eggs from those on the beach and carry them away. After collecting eggs for a while, Raghava decided to go to the hatchery himself. He walked the 20 minutes to the bank of Kottappuzha River where the hatchery was. He carefully unfolded his thin towel and removed the eggs. One of the attendants took them from him and laid them on a shelf covered with three inches of sand. He immediately covered the eggs with wet sand and waited for the next batch of eggs. "How's everything tonight?" "Good. We have got 55 eggs so far; maybe we will double it tonight. We want to release maybe three thousand turtles this year." "How many did we release last year?" He lit a biri5 and gave one to Raghava as they walked out of the shelter, "We did just under 2500 from about 2600 eggs. We want to increase it more and more." "Any more thefts this year?" "We caught a few people last week, hopefully these people learn not to mess with the Aamakaar. This is our religion, they should learn real fast."
..
Raghava inhaled
deeply and passed the hookah to Girdhar. They stared at the
coals under the large pot they were using to boil the coconut juice
with the other ingredients to make their own 'Aamakaar' whiskey. The
liquid was not yet boiling, so they waited anxiously while smoking the
hookah6 and keeping an eye
out for unwanted intruders.Slowly the liquid started to boil and the vapor started pushing through the coil and into the other pot. They could hear the drops as they liquefied and fell in the empty container. Their faces were lit. "Ah yes, the first one of the season." "Yes, I enjoy these. For the next three months as we wait for the hatchlings, we can have a gala time drinking and smoking. What a great life we have." Girdhar smiled, "Yes, even the town folks don't know how well we live. Them folks with their fine clothes and what not, they don't know how to live." "Yes, they would be jealous of us, if they just knew how we lived." Raghava scooped up some hot coals with the help of a few sticks and put them in the hookah to get it going again. The makeshift hatchery was quiet as the egg-laying season was over and the hustle and bustle of people looking for eggs and bringing them over to be prepared for hatching was over. Raghava got the hookah going and passed it to Girdhar. "I like this silent time. Nothing but the beating of the ocean waves against the shore, like the sound of the beating of the turtle's hearts in our hatchery. When do you think the first babies will be ready?" "I think another three weeks before the first ones are born. We will have to bring the tribe back again when the births increase."
..
The little turtles
wriggled through the egg shells and lay flaying their legs in the
shallow sand. Raghava picked them up tenderly and placed them in
one of the baskets lined with sand that a woman was holding. The
shallow basket was specially designed for transporting turtles and
often doubled up as a basket for displaying fish for sale on the
shore. As her basket filled up with the baby turtles, she picked
it up and singing a traditional Aamakaar song of birth and rebirth, she
walked to the sea and slowly let the turtles out of her basket and into
the sea. Instinctively, the turtles started swimming. The
woman looked at her brood swimming away and came back for more.Raghava heard the visitors and was surprised to see a foreigner among them. He was introduced to the foreigner, who took out a notepad and started writing. "Raghava, is this the first release of the season?" "No sir, we started several days ago and now it's in full swing. The volume is now too high for the two of us to handle, so we called the rest of the tribe to help us out." "How many years have you been doing this?" "Huhh?" "How many years have you and your people been taking care of the turtles?" 'I don't know sir. Many generations many centuries our tribe is named after them." "Your tribe?" "Yes - Aamakaar. It means the turtle people. My parents and their parents and their parents and so on have been doing this forever." The Australian looked at Raghava with amazement, "And all this for all these centuries, without pay?" "No sir. Never. This is our religion. We will fight to help the turtles and will fight anyone who puts a price on them and their babies. The souls of our ancestors are in the turtles. I was a turtle once and will be a turtle again. Some of these babies we are releasing today are my family being born and re-born." "Wow!" He took out a pack of cigarettes and offered it to Raghava. "No sir, I don't like them. I prefer the biris." He unrolled a pack of biris and offered one to the foreigner, who took it and lit it. "It's not too bad. No paper, wrapped in a leaf. It's probably healthier." He smoked the biri, inhaling and exhaling slowly and nodded his head. "Not bad at all. Here, can I offer you a chocolate?" He unzipped his backpack and took out a candy bar wrapped in shining foil. "Chocolate?" "You have never had chocolate?" "No sir, I don't know what that is?" "Take a bite. It's sweet and has it's own taste." Raghava took a bite of the candy bar and closed his eyes relishing the sweet but pungent taste. He took another bite and then wrapped the remaining candy bar in the foil. Rita I will give some of this to Rita. This is so delicious ... I want to eat it all but I must share it with her.
..
Raghava sat in his boat as it bobbed lazily in the hot sun of the afternoon. He made sure the net was secured and lay down in the boat. The clouds were soon replaced by food. He was sitting down to a huge feast. There were gold plates loaded with fresh fruit and silver goblets for drinking wine. A whole roasted pig was on the table along with dishes of mutton and several types of fish. Raghava ate heartily. I haven't eaten for three days but this makes up for it. I better eat slowly so my stomach doesn't explode. He smiled at the thought of an overgrown, fat stomach on his body. He relished the new dishes that he had never tasted before. How I love this wine. Is it made out of grapes? Ah! It's time for desert. I should eat one of everything and maybe even save some for Rita. His dream broke abruptly. He sat up rubbing his eyes. My God! Rita. I haven't seen any sign of fire or smoke from her hut the last three or four days. I haven't had any fish for her for almost a week now. He ran his hand over his deflated stomach. How many days has it been since I ate? Three no maybe four. But what about Rita? If I don't help her, who will? She can't do anything for herself. She needs my help. Like those little turtle babies, she is completely at the mercy of others. As he walked past her hut with his empty net, he cursed himself. He felt impotent for lacking the courage to walk into her hut and seeing how she was doing. He slowly walked into his hut, threw the net in a corner and started warming some water for some weak tea. There's no food again, but I know I can survive. Yes! I will have a feast again as I sip my tea and dream of all types of grand food laid out before me. He sat drinking tea and dreaming. A river of rich, brown chocolate came flooding into his palace and he swam in it and drank its sweet nectar till he couldn't drink any more. He turned on his back and slowly floated past dishes piled up with exotic food on a river of chocolate.
..
Raghava woke and
tried to focus his eyes. He felt hung over but he hadn't drunk anything
other than his weak tea for days now. Did I really drink some
chocolate last night? Is that why I can't focus right? Or
am I just weak from starvation? He got ready for fishing, moving slowly because all his joints ached. Will I make it through today? What if there's no fish today either? Will I wake up another day? And what about Rita? He strolled past her hut, afraid to call out to her and wearily climbed in his boat. The paddling was harder than he ever remembered, but he made it to his spot and set his net. He sat on his knees, half-exhausted, half-desperate and angry. "God! You have to give me fish today. For me and for Rita. If not for me then for Rita. If I get one, I will give it to Rita. If I get more than one, then and only then, I will take one. OK God!" He sat in his boat dreaming of dried fish and roti and weak tea. He woke up realizing it was too dark and he had stayed out too long. His heart sank as he pulled in his net. No fish again. Walking towards his hut he ran into Girdhar. "Have you heard Raghava? We were looking for you earlier." "Heard what?" "Did you not visit Rita lately?" "No. I haven't had any fish for her or for me either. What happened?" "She died maybe during the last few days. One of her neighbors found her this morning and we cremated her this afternoon. We tried to look for you." "Oh God! No." He slowly walked into his hut. The sun had set. A group of monkeys were running near the huts searching for food and playing with the kids. It sounds so nice and peaceful. I will make some tea no I will first take a nap. What was it that man gave me .. oh yes chocolate I want to eat chocolate He lay down dreaming. Big turtles were gently scooping up Aamakaar eggs and placing them in little baskets that other turtles were carrying to the hatchery. As he stared and stared he could see little babies crawling out of eggs and turtles picking them up and taking them to the sea. Little monkeys ran shrieking to the seashore and watched the babies swim. As soon as the helpless babies touched the water, they started swimming instinctively. They swam and laughed. They dived out of the water and under other babies and swam towards the deep ocean, playing their own games in the sea. The sea welcomed the laughing Aamkaar babies as they swam to her sumptuous breasts and started feeding. Yes I want to eat too I want to eat that sweet thing chocolate I want to eat chocolate. He saw monkeys running around him deep brown monkeys. Ah chocolate I want to eat all the little monkeys monkeys are made out of chocolate. The
end 3210 words
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Copyright © 2004 Raman Jalota. All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the author. |
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