Easy Chair!

காணி நிலம் வேண்டும்.

காணி நிலம் வேண்டும் – பராசக்தி

கானி நிலம் வேண்டும் – அங்கு

தூணில் அழகியதாய் –  நன்மாடங்கள்

துய்ய நிறத்தினதாய் – அந்தக்

காணி நிலத்திடையே – ஓர் மாளிகை

கட்டித் தரவேணும் – அங்கு

கேணி யருகினிலே - தென்னைமரம் 

கீற்று மிளநீரும்……

 _Subramania Bharathi

Translation: -

I need a piece of land - Goddess Shakthi

I need a piece of land – There,

With beautiful pillars – Goodness of

colourful rooms – I need a

lovely house to be built in 

that piece of land – There again,

A well and beside that should be

a coconut tree with its leaf streaks…

Easy Chair!

Little Ammaiappan loves spending time with his grandfather during his holidays back then. Sitting besides his grandfathe's easy chair and listening to him was his only  chore. Just being. Like of us, he use to love spending time at his Granny’s. That big breezy house amidst bees in that vast land serving sight of butterflies and birds for breakfast, stars and breeze for dinner. Spending the most memorable time of his child hood at his village, Ammaiappan just had one dream in his life, that is to build a copy of this house somewhere in future and spend the rest of his life there.

        When Ammaiappan was in his 50’s he could only save money for a miniature model of his dream house. Finishing the duty of aiding his daughter’s graduation, looking forward to her wedding and his wife’s medical expenses, he could only imagine a decent livelihood in the crazy city he lived. You know in life, many times, the dreams and needs of our loved ones are met only by swallowing our dreams and needs.

In his 60’s, the only fortunate thing he had was his good health. His daughter was married to abroad. His wife was ailing, and his provisional store has lost all its crowd and charm. One evening pondering upon a self-made tea, his thoughts got him anxious. After running for so many years without rest, ticking so many milestones, earning so much money, he couldn’t fulfill his one simple dream. Then something got him excited. A whim of a moment. Just like this self-made tea, this self-made man is also eligible to be prepared at any instance, afresh, without someone’s help. This time he began to run a race for himself. He risked his new business, modifying his provisional stores. Failures, misfortunes and retarded energy made this a very tough journey. But, he was so focused on his only dream that nothing hindered his view. You know sometimes, when your only desire is to taste a fruit, you will never remember how hard it was to peel its skin.

       Now at 75, today, he has just sent off all his guests after his house warming ceremony. I mean the guests were hardly 5 friends. His wife stayed inside a photo frame and his daughter barely calls him, forget how excited she was about his fulfilling dream. After everyone left, he felt a joy that has never got him in these many years. The replica of his grandfather’s house in the outskirts of the city is his own now. With his joyous heart and flooding memories, he reclines in the easy chair recollecting his childhood memoirs and smiles to close his eyes not realizing his last sleep.

Now tell me, is he fortunate or unfortunate?