That was when Achakunju realized that his friends were mocking him. Thereafter, when anyone spoke to him about Chembankunju’s boat, he would snub him. Soon the people found his snubbing hilarious and began provoking him with pointless queries.
One day the catch was poor. Achakunju got three rupees. He owed some money to Ahmed Kutty who ran the tea shop. It was an old debt. That day Ahmed Kutty pounced on Achakunju and prised it out of him. And so Achakunju reached home empty-handed. Meanwhile, Nallapennu, who had no provisions for cooking supper, was waiting for Achakunju to come home with some money. A great quarrel ensued between the fisherman and his wife. She accused him of squandering his earnings on drink, tea or snuff. She refused to believe Achakunju’s version of what had happened.
He opened his mouth and blew his breath into her face so she would know that he hadn’t drunk away the day’s earnings. But she wouldn’t still believe him.
Nallapennu said, ‘You spend everything on drink … which is why we can’t even manage for a day without your earnings.’
‘Did I drink today? Don’t you dare accuse me!’
‘You probably didn’t drink today? But isn’t that what you do on the days you have money?’ It was the wail of a woman who didn’t know how she was to provide supper that night.
But Achakunju reprimanded her in a terse voice, ‘Don’t you dare be arrogant!’
‘Am I being arrogant? Your playmate is buying a boat and nets and here we don’t even have enough for supper tonight. Am I being arrogant?’
Achakunju’s answer: Two blows on her back.
What kind of a bloody ill fortune was this? He was being scoffed and teased by everyone on the shore because Chembankunju was buying a boat and nets. And he was not to have any peace at home either.
‘If someone is buying a boat and nets, why are you taking it out on me? Why am I being made to pay for it?’
Chembankunju accumulated the money by starving himself. Neither Achakunju nor anyone else there would be able to do the same.
From the northern end of their hovel, Chakki and Karuthamma eavesdropped on the quarrel.
Chakki called out, ‘Achakunju chetta, did we ever come begging to your house during the days we were starving ourselves?’
Achakunju turned towards Chakki. ‘Don’t … don’t you dare … I have known Chembankunju since we were boys.’
But Chakki wouldn’t stop. ‘What do you know? If a fire has not been lit in your hovel this evening, that’s your wife’s fault.’
When the conversation veered towards her, Nallapennu bristled. She said, ‘Don’t you dare insinuate things about this fisherwoman…’
‘Ha … And what will the fisherwoman do?’
Achakunju demanded of Chakki, ‘Do tell me what is our fault?’
‘Jealousy!’
‘Of whom? Your fisherman?’ Achakunju showed his disgust by hawking and spitting out a huge gob of saliva. ‘Which man’s going to be jealous of that lowly piece of riff-raff?’
Chakki was furious. ‘Do you think you can get away saying anything you want?’
Achakunju retorted, ‘What will you do?’
‘What will I do?’
‘All this conceit because you suddenly have some money!’
Karuthamma grew perturbed as she watched the argument turn into a squall. She tried to gag Chakki by placing her palm on her mother’s mouth. But as Achakunju wouldn’t stop, Chakki’s wrath too grew. In the end Karuthamma dragged her mother away.
When his anger had subsided, Achakunju began to ponder. The quarrel troubled him more than the fact that no food had been cooked that night in his home. It was customary for the women to squabble. But he had never got into a row with either Chembankunju or Chakki. And it had happened now. Achakunju couldn’t sleep.
The next morning, before he went out to sea, he borrowed two rupees from the boat owner and gave it to his wife. And that afternoon he handed over to Nallapennu his entire earnings for the day. Then he proclaimed that he was setting a pattern for the future.
‘Listen, Nallapennu, I am going to give you all that I earn. Keep it safe. Let us see if we too can put some money away.’
Nallapennu was delighted by this turn of events. She said, ‘Even if we don’t buy a boat and nets, we won’t at least go to bed hungry.’
‘Who says we won’t have a boat and nets of our own? Don’t be so dismissive. It may just happen, you know.’
That’s true. Nallapennu thought with a surge of hope. She said, ‘Look at what has happened to our neighbours … they were like us once … now they won’t even talk to us!’
Achakunju didn’t like that. He said, ‘Why talk about other people? Let us just mind our own business.’
‘No … I just mentioned it. But I must say Chakki has become such a conceited so and so. That’s what she is now.’
Achakunju reprimanded her, ‘Hold your tongue, woman.’
‘I am not saying a word.’
‘That’s best. Let us see what we can do with our lives.’
Nallapennu had only one complaint. ‘If only you had thought of this earlier.’
Achakunju grunted. She was right. But more to assuage himself, he said, ‘Woman, why does a fisherman have to hoard anything? His wealth lies to the west; a whole expanse of it. And do you know what the ancients said – a boat and nets are for the people on the shore. Never mind all that! If a fisherman makes up his mind, who can stop him from owning a boat and nets.’
‘All that’s fine … but can’t you see that a playmate of yours is now the owner of a boat and nets.’
Achakunju said, ‘Chembankunju is a smart man. A real smartie! All he thought about was buying his boat.’ Achakunju grunted again as if affirming what he had deduced. ‘Let us see!’
And so a decision was made.
In the evening, he had to go to the boatyard to mend the nets. That day several fish had escaped through the gaping holes in the nets. By the time Achakunju got there, the other fishermen too had gathered and had begun their work. Once again the conversation steered towards Chembankunju.
Achakunju asked, ‘Don’t you have anything else to do, you lot! Why gossip? Go on, go on, say and finish it and let the poor man rest thereafter…’
Ayankunju demanded, ‘What are you so upset about?’
Achakunju replied quietly, ‘Why? Did I say anything wrong?’
Raman Moopan put on the countenance of a judge. ‘Why? Don’t we have the right to discuss Chembankunju?’
‘What right do you have?’
Raman Moopan was astounded. ‘That’s wonderful, Achakunju. If one of the young boys were to say it, I would let it pass. But you … you are an experienced fisherman.’
Achakunju didn’t understand the implication. All he had meant was that they shouldn’t gossip. And wasn’t that expected of a mature man? Wasn’t that a good thing?
Achakunju asked, ‘Why Moopan … what do you mean?’
Raman Moopan put down the string and flung a question into Achakunju’s face. ‘Achakunju, don’t you know the dictates of the shore?’
Achakunju knew that indeed. Nevertheless…
Raman Moopan continued, ‘Do you think that Chembankunju has followed those decrees?’
Achakunju couldn’t understand where all of this was leading to.
Raman Moopan elaborated, ‘Have you heard of anything like this on our shores? Not just in the past, but even in recent times … has it ever happened that a grown-up girl is left unmarried?’
Ayankunju filled in the pause. ‘In the past, the shores had a protector.’
Raman Moopan added, ‘Listen, when you have a marriageable girl in the house, what kind of a man buys a boat and nets instead?’
In ancient times, the Shore Master wouldn’t allow it. Those were laws that couldn’t be defied. And the fisherman, who was protector of the shores, would make sure that the laws were followed. For those laws had a purpose. It was for the well-being of the fisherman that these laws were made.
> Ayankunju asked, ‘So what does the law say? What age should the girl be married off at?’
Raman Moopan was an old-timer. So he said, ‘Ten years!’
Vellamanalil Velayudhan asked, ‘And what happens if the girl is unmarried after she has turned ten?’
The rhetorical query carried the tinge of insolence. Seeking to question the dictates of the shore.
Raman Moopan pounced on it: ‘What happens if she is not married off? It cannot be. It is not meant to happen.’
Velayudhan allowed himself to reveal his mind. ‘What can the other fishermen of the shore do?’
‘The family will be excommunicated. They won’t be able to live on this shore any more.’
Another young man Punyan commented, ‘But all that was in the past…’
Ayankunju’s retort was fiery, ‘No, no, it holds good even now. Do you want to test it? We will show you … we will show you how we make that big man Chembankunju run around in circles.’
Raman Moopan exhibited his tacit approval. Then he brought forth another decree. ‘Is everyone meant to own a boat and nets, Ayankunju?’
Ayankunju responded, ‘No, of course not!’
Raman Moopan now elaborated this dictate further.
The children of the sea are the inheritors of countless riches. It is customary for their palms to brim. So it is quite possible for each one of them to acquire his own boat and nets. If every man on the shore has a boat and nets of his own, who will go out to the sea?
He demanded, ‘If one of us on the shores here wanted to buy a boat and nets, don’t you think it is possible?’
That was true!
Ayankunju threw up a question loaded with gravitas now. ‘In which case, why is it that not everyone has a boat and nets of his own?’
There is a reason for that as well. The children of the sea are of five kinds: Arayan, Valakkaran, Mukkavan, Marakkan, and a fifth caste of no particular name. And then in the east there are some subsects of men who man the boats.
Only the Valakkaran is allowed to own boats and nets. In fact, in the east the protector of the shore, the Shore Master, would permit only the Valakkaran to buy the boat and nets. And that too based on his judgement.’
Velayudhan asked, ‘So which kind is Chembankunju Uncle?’
Punyan smirked.
Raman Moopan said, ‘Mukkavan!’
Punyan sneered, ‘He now wants to know Chembankunju’s caste!’
Achakunju asked, ‘Why is that, Punyan?’
‘They made him a marriage offer. To marry that girl.’
‘That’s good,’ Achakunju said. ‘She is a good girl.’
Ayankunju didn’t like that though. He said, ‘For you, Achakunju, everything about Chembankunju is good.’
Then Ayankunju turned to Velayudhan with a piece of advice. ‘You are not going to get anything from that skinflint. Remember that … and as for the girl, she is not what you think she is.’
Achakunju was annoyed now. ‘What are you saying? How can you thwart that girl’s marriage proposal? Is that any way for a fisherman to behave?’
Ayankunju replied, ‘I am merely speaking the truth.’
Aandi who was silent until then spoke up now, steering the conversation in another direction. ‘What happens if a man unauthorized to buy a boat and nets buys one? Has anything like this ever happened before?’
‘Yes. But he didn’t enjoy the benefits of having a boat and nets for too long!’
Then Ayankunju wanted to know who in their community were of Valakkaran caste.
Raman Moopan said, ‘Cherthala Pallikunnath are the Valakkaran kind; Alapuzha Paruthikavalakkaran, and here Ramankunju’s family, Kunnale etc…’
‘What are the offerings one must make to the Shore Master before buying a boat and nets?’ Punyan wanted to know.
‘Seven shags of tobacco and fifteen rupees. And the Valakkaran too have to do it.’
Next, the conversation moved to the protector of the shores and his jurisdiction. ‘The Shore Master has a great deal of power.’
Blowing a whiff of rebellion against that power, Velayudhan demanded, ‘One’s buying a boat and nets with one’s own money. So why should one make an offering to the Shore Master?’
Punyan pounced on that. ‘Look at that! He’s already behaving like Chembankunju’s son-in-law!’
Ayankunju added his two bit to that. And then some more. ‘Go on, why don’t you and your prospective father-in-law oppose the Shore Master when you bring your boat and nets here. You’ll find out for yourself what happens then…’
That was a challenge. For without the Shore Master’s permission, Chembankunju wouldn’t be able to put his boat and nets out to sea. It just wouldn’t happen, Ayankunju proclaimed.
It was a challenge Velayudhan wanted to take up. But what right did he have? Nevertheless, Velayudhan protested. ‘You are jealous.’
‘A fisherman, jealous?’
‘Of course!’
Achakunju saw that it was leading to a quarrel and so he intervened. ‘Hold your tongue son,’ he advised Velayudhan.
For a little while, no one spoke.
And while such gossip and arguments heated up the shore, Chakki sat weaving daydreams. In a few days, she would be the wife of a boat owner. The dream of a lifetime was coming true. And how they had worked for it – her fisherman and she! It was only because she was better than all the women around. And once they had a boat and nets, it was quite possible that they would find a better alliance for Karuthamma too.
The mother spoke to the daughter. ‘Daughter! Your father has big ideas. With the big catch this year, he will buy land and a house of our own. And then he’ll get you married off.’
Karuthamma didn’t respond. Chakki continued to speak aloud to herself, ‘The sea mother has blessed us. We don’t have any debts. And if the big catch doesn’t happen, no one will demand anything of us…’ But before Chakki could finish, Karuthamma demanded, ‘Are you claiming that we have no debts, Ammachi?’
Chakki understood then that Karuthamma was referring to the debt they owed Pareekutty.
Chakki squirmed. She scrambled around and found an answer. ‘No, you don’t have to consider that as a debt.’
Karuthamma asked a trifle brusquely, ‘No, you don’t think so?’
‘That’s not it. If we don’t pay it, he’s not going to seize the boat and nets.’
‘That’s because the Little Boss is a gullible soul.’
Chakki feigned anger and asked, ‘What is this? When you talk of that Little Boss, your words drip a sweetness?’
Karuthamma didn’t speak. Neither did she blanch under her mother’s questioning.
Chakki continued to query her. ‘If you stay unsullied, you’ll find a good, able-bodied young man … it is up to you to decide your fate!’
Karuthamma was unruffled. And she felt a certain courage gather in her. She asked, ‘Am I the one who is tainted?’
As if she hadn’t heard Karuthamma’s retort, Chakki demanded, ‘Who is the Little Boss to you?’
Karuthamma didn’t say he was nothing to her. But her eyes filled. What crime had she committed?
Chakki too knew that she was innocent. And that she hadn’t transgressed. That she is still the girl she was.
It was wrong to have borrowed money from Pareekutty. Was it a crime for Karuthamma to ask that they pay the loan back? Yet … and yet, she had a certain tenderness for Pareekutty. And she was troubled by the thought that he would have to suffer such a loss. They should have married her off a long time ago. Chembankunju didn’t seem to realize this.
‘It is for you, darling, that father’s working so hard,’ Chakki continued. ‘My dear, will you be the reason we lose all of this…’
Karuthamma didn’t speak.
Chakki asked, ‘Can Ammachi ask you something? You must speak the truth? Do you like that Muslim boy?’
Karuthamma who should have said ‘No’ didn’t speak. That stony silence frightened her mother.
Karuthamma clapped shut Chakki’s mouth with her palm. ‘What rubbish is this, Ammachi?’
Chakki turned a pleading gaze to her daughter and implored, ‘My daughter, don’t betray us!’
And yet Karuthamma wouldn’t say that she felt nothing for that Muslim boy.
That evening Achakunju came to Chembankunju’s home. He told Chakki all about the discussion on the beach. ‘The people of the shore are planning to instigate trouble. Ayankunju and Raman Moopan are the main troublemakers,’ he said. ‘When Chembankunju comes home, the first thing he needs to do is find a solution for this. Chembankunju and I are playmates. I can’t agree with what the others say about him. Nor will I go along with it.’
And so Chakki’s new-found fragile peace was destroyed once again.
Chakki knew what it meant to have the shore go against them. What crime had they committed to warrant this? That they hadn’t married their daughter off yet?
Four
Ayankunju, Raman Moopan and two other men of the older generation went to meet the Shore Master, taking it upon themselves to represent the interests of the entire fishing community. They took with them an offering as a mark of respect. After all, they were the bearers of ill tidings. The news they carried with them would ruin the entire shore and the fisherfolk. This was their petition of sorrow and prime complaint: Chembankunju has a grown-up daughter. He hasn’t yet married her off. She frolics on this shore.
The Shore Master listened to them carefully. He would look into it, he promised.
However, somewhere within Ayankunju a thought rankled. Their complaint hadn’t been viewed with the importance it deserved. The Shore Master hadn’t given it its due weightage.
The petitioners continued to wait even after the Shore Master had spoken. He asked, ‘What are you continuing to stand here for?’
Ayankunju had one more charge to make. ‘While the girl is determined to ruin our shores, Chembankunju has gone off to buy a boat and nets.’
Now that was news to the Shore Master. ‘But where did Chembankunju get the money from?’
The older men didn’t have an answer.
Chemmeen Page 3