Kochappan's Theresa

Kochappan was on leave for last two days ; he was red in his eyes; no , not because of Anna Nicole. He got over it with determination and courage; but because of some infection.

I found him famished for news because of his inablity te read newspaper. I offered to read out the major news items to him; he was happy.

'' NEWS is information from ' North,East, West and South' '' he said. That was news to me.

I read out about Chidambaram's Budget to him. '' Projects and measures envisaged are so many and commendable, but how will be the deliverence of them to common man is to be seen'' was his comment.

His thirst for knowledge and news of various subjects made me read through political, economic and social news. Then came the question I was expecting.

''Any thing about Anna Nicole's burial?'' he asked.The melancholy in his voice was apparent.

'' The mystery about her death has been solved. She slipped on a banana skin and fell on the floor of hotel room. Police found a badly smashed banana skin from her room. Since the NewYork Police Department is good in Arithmetics, they added two and two together and got four and the cause of her death.'' I paused and waited till he swallowed the lump in his throat with a sip of lime juice, and after having witnessed the afore mentioned activity in silence I continued.

'' For the sake of clarity of the reason of her death ,a suitable inscription was made on her tomb'' I informed.

'' How does it read?'' he was eager.

'' Here lies the body of Anna

Done to death by a banana

It was'nt the fruit that laid her low

But the skin of the thing that made her go''

For a person whose first love has been language , Kochappan lit up ; If one has not seen the 'Makara Jyothi' , the mysterious lamp which lightens up at Sabarimala, Kochappan's' lighting up' is a sanctimonious substitute.The darkness gave way to light of British English on the tomb stone.

To be very frank, Kochappan restored himself to his old self , after a long time.

'' In Britain, in the year 2001, more than 300 banana related accidents took place. India, the largest producer of Banana in the world (16.5 million tones in 2002), followed by Brazil( 6.5 million), has not reported as many accidents''.

Be it Banana or Atom bomb Kochappan knows it all.

I stood up to leave. He also had to go to the doctor.I promised to meet him and read the paper for him tomorrow

'' Aniyan, There was a spinster Post Mistress, Theresa, in my village. Do you know what was the insription on her tomb?''.

Without waiting for any reaction from me he quoted.

'Theresa the Post mistress

Returned - un opened'

I was unusually happy when I returned ; not because of the state in which Theresa returned but because of the state to which Kochapps has returned.

menon (aniyan)