The year was 1998.
It was almost noon and the sun was overhead.
Krishna and the gang marched down the Periya Veedhi - Big street, name sake - but it was the only street in Melakadaiyur. Cycles in hand, but not riding them - they were almost dragging a boy alongwith. Dust drifted from the muddy street, as the whole town (village of 42 households) watched in amusement, head held high, Krishna and gang - Velu and Panner marched down to Palani’s house near the end of the street.
Shenbagam was in the thinnai (portico seating is the closest translation we could come up with in English) shabby and wailing since she realised that her son went missing the night before.
Flashback start
Palani had not returned back from school. Initially she didn’t give it much thought as he frequently went playing cricket after school with the town’s (village’s) favourite boy - our hero - Krishnamurthy. Everybody in the town (village) trusted Krishnamurthy. She grew more and more concerned as darkness fell. It took her till morning to realise that her son was gone.
The usual melee ensued.
They searched the whole town (village) - 42 houses didn’t take much time as the network effect took over - at a pace even today’s Facebook’s famed network can’t match.
All the women of the town (village of 42 households) gathered at Palani’s house to add fuel to Shenbagam’s fire.
Some were sent to search the fields - a few hundred acres surrounding the twin towns (villages) of Melakadaiyur and Keelakadaiyur.
The prefix Mela and Keela were supposed to mean up and down in Tamil - which was a point of contention as Keelakadaiyur folk maintained that they were really the ‘upper’ town (village). Its a different story that the prefixes actually meant west (mela) and east (keela) - but nobody was to be bothered by facts - the towns (villages) people were always at loggerheads one who was the real ‘upper’ ones.
Coming back to the main picture - some villagers later mentioned in the passing that the search party was found hard at work at the Pannai’s pumpset and later below the palm trees. They couldn’t find Palani.
The parents complained to the Police station - which took some time as it was in Keelakadaiyur.
Somebody informed the headmaster of Palani’s school at Kesavanpudhur. This was the only school available for the kids living in the surrounding 6-9 kms (the mythical distance that all our fathers walked to go to school). It was here that Krishna heard about Palani’s plight.
Krishna was the blue-eyed boy of the school. He always fared well in studies and was a good athlete too. He was a popular student - In these parts of India - popularity meant cricket. The girls didn’t play much cricket, but grapevine was that he was popular in those circles too.
Krishna was quick to gather his gang (of two) and get on their bicycles to go in search of the missing boy. He had earlier complained to the headmaster how much he missed the headmaster’s maths class that day - but had to miss it to go in search of Palalni - for the sake of a dear friend - he reasoned. They reluctantly took some money for expenses from the kind-hearted gentleman.
It was Palani. They were quick to nab him - after a quick fistfight - that was brought to order by the conscientious Rajini fans (who else would come to watch a 10am show on a weekday) that surrounded them.
Flashback ends
Palani felt a rain of beatings on his unprepared back - it was hard to believe that his mother was so strong, He barely finished thinking that as he blacked-out. The men interfered and carried Palani into the house.
Krishna stood in the street surrounded by the awed townsfolk (village folk) that were cursing Palani for his parents’ misery. His thoughts ran back to the fist fight at the Vetri theatre. As he reached out to give it, Palani had muttered it - between the blows.
“You are not letting me live in peace - at least let me go in peace da…” followed by a list of words that we couldn’t find in the dictionary.
Krishna stood there overcome with guilt that he had driven Palani to run away from home. It was true that the trio used to tease Palani heavily - but it was just for fun - for the gang. Palani was an otherwise studious boy who Krishna was envious of - and Krishna used every opportunity to dish it out to Palani. Krishna always got away with a-smile-on-his-face and nobody would believe Palani when he complained.
But running away from home? This was such a danger-filled world and a teenager leaping out into the world - sent a chill down Krishna’s spine. He was covered in shame. He tried to slip away when Shenbagam-akka came running out towards the crowd.
She went straight to Krishna, took his hands in hers and started weeping.
“Thank you so much da, Krishna; I would have lost Palani without you; thank you so much….”
“Well done, Krishna.” - somebody patted him on his back. A chorus joined in unison.
“Yeah, Krishna is a model boy….”, offered an elderly.
“Always first in studies and sports - he is a real asset” was another.
“He has saved Palani’s life - that boy!”
It wasn’t long before the whole crowd was over-whelming him.
After 15 minutes of accolades, Krishna got on to his bicycle and started pedalling smoothly - with a-smile-on-his-face.
