Friday, December 16, 2005

Thoongu Moonji

Some characters get etched in your mind even before you know their names, and she is just one. I have grown all my life seeing her live across the road and I still don't know if she has a name! Everybody in the neighborhood refers to her as thoongu moonji(Sleepy faced) and so is she known. She sits there all day long, sells flowers, fruits and greens occasionally which people seldom buy. She has got her select customers and will readily give it to them even for free. But, she never complains.

What surprises me the most is her ability to follow a rigid time table! She runs a guest house in the locality and works on an accurate clock! I have never seen her sleeping in the mornings. She is usually up before almost everybody in that neighborhood. There are many families living in her guest house.. They are small portions, but many of them. She primarily rents it out to folks who are early-birds, working on early morning shifts. Though she is woken up as early as 3.00 AM or 4.00 AM by her tenants, she doesn't yell at them. She is such a sweet landlady. My mom, who has seen her in the neighborhood for 30 years now, never recollects one sour instance, when this land-lady got angry and asked her tenants out! I have never seen her chat with anybody either. In most of the conversations, gossips and chit-chats, she is only a silent spectator. She also does baby-sits when her inmates are off to work. Mostly, she doesn't agree to feed them, but definitely makes sure they don't get hurt. She is such a gem and I adore her..

In a way, am jealous of her...jealous of her sleep.. Rain or shine, storm or calm, she starts dozing by 6.00 PM and is in a deep slumber by 7.00! In my childhood, I would be surprised about that. Everyday, at around 6.30 in the evening, it was my habit to check is she has gone off to sleep and most likely, she would have. When I am strictly not allowed to go to bed by 6.00 PM (Godly hours - Sridevi enters you home and you shouldn't be sleeping), however tired I am, she just doesn't care!! Probably, that is why, everybody in the neighborhood calls her 'Thoongu moonji' (sleepy face), but she cares a damn about it!

For all her sweetness, it is quite unfair, people call her thoongu moonji! But she never complains, coz, she is a tree...Thoongu moonji maram (Rain tree) near my house!!

PS:
Customers - Cows and Goats
Guest house - Branches
Tenants - Birds
small portion - Nests

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yadhvi,
Good one. Kadasile thaan atha neenga solra mathiriyum sollalam illa maramnum sollalam appadinu purinjidhu.

srivat said...

huh..guess i think i typed some wrong password..athanala enna unga blog anonymousa aakiduchu..

Anonymous said...

yadhvi,
post panna appuram, konjam ping form update pannungo.

Vishnu said...

antha kaathu konjam adchirakanumey... ;)


Cheers!
:)

Yadhvi said...

anonymous srivat,
Thanks. I first read the anonymous msg and thought it is worded so much like you :-)

Yadhvi said...

balaji,
sure inime regular a ping pannidaren..

Yadhvi said...

Vishnu,
Good catch! and Thanks :-) innime, ennai yaaravadhu 'thoongu moonji' or 'mara mandai' nu thittina, I know, whom to blame it on!!

Anonymous said...

Idhu ellaam rombha too much ... I am reminded of an author or two (do not remember their names) who are known for a strange twist in the very last paragraph / line of their stories ...... Does somebody remember the story/lesson in Matriculation/Stateboard ..... there is a blind man going in a train ..... a lady comes in ... he knows it is a lady by the perfume he wears ..... presumes she must be pretty ...... he talks to her as if he is not blind ... makes up stories of beautiful fields/trees racing past them ....... only at the end does he realize that she was also blind and feels ashamed for trying to put on an act ???

Yadhvi said...

Naveevan, reading between the lines, for my convenience...en post avalo nallava irukku? idhaium lesson aakalama? ;-)

Vidya said...

Oie Yadhavi... loved this one :) .. enoda school rain tree maadhiri unga veetu rain tree.. Not everybody can connect to it.. Only ppl who have felt it.. thanx!!!