PLUMBER PAVADAI

KILLIJOSIAM EH......?

No one knew  how he came by  that strange  moniker  Pavadai but that is  how  everybody  knew him. In tamil,  the word means a long skirt that girls wear. Near our  apartments was a colony inhabited by domestic  workers, electricians and other petty  vendors. 

     Pavadai  was no different.  Most of the  time,  he would be seated on a bench facing the road, smoking  a beedi  and watching  idly the passers-by. “ I have done my first year in plumbing in the Polytechnic”, he boasted. So we started  using him for our  plumbing jobs. But  we soon found that it was an  idle  boast. 

        Pavadai’s  fortunes started  looking  up when  a water crisis  hit  the city. Water  in our bore well sank so low that it could  not be  pumped to the overhead tank at one  go. The pump would get heated; so it had to be switched on  and off  intermittently, a task that  was tedious  and  time consuming . The apartment  association decided to appoint  a plumber to  do  the job. Pavadai  agreed to do the job after  demanding a hefty  salary.

   Sometime later, the rains poured and our  bore well became full. The pump was also working okay. It was then decided to dispense with Pavadai’s services. But who was to bell the  cat? Pavadai,like many of his  ilk was bad tempered. However, much to our  surprise  Pavadai went off meekly  when told that  his  services would no longer be required.

   We were  not yet  done  with Pavadai. On Day One of the new routine, the water pump packed up, refusing to budge  like an obstinate mule. After  trying everything possible,  an SOS was sent to  Pavadai who responded only after  repeated  calls. When  he ultimately  turned  up, Pavadai  couldn’t resist rubbing it in, “ What, Sir? You couldn’t even  manage  one day without  me. These pumps are rusty,like  horses, they need some coaxing and cajoling  to work”. No one knew  Pavadai’s  trade secret  but he soon had the water pump whirring to life. 

So Pavadai made a comeback with  renewed honours  But we were  not yet  done  with  Pavadai. The odd home chore be it cleaning or changing a tap required Pavadai’s services. Radha, my neighbour sent for  Pavadai one day. “ Pavadai, you know that we have an apartment at Besant Nagar? “ of  course,Amma”,he scratched his head.” The apartment has been  vacated by the previous  tenant. It requires a total clean up. “Certainly, Amma.I will  need to purchase cleaning materials  like Lizol, Pril” and he enumerated a whole list of cleaning  products  that he would want

“ Also Amma”,scratching his head.  “An advance of Rs.1000 to buy some cleaning material.  “ You are charging a bomb”, said Radha. “OK Pavadai but do a good job”.  “Consider it done. Amma, you know me for some many years. Have you ever had cause to complain?”

  Radha  however had plenty of reason to complain when she went to have a look-see of the  apartment before the  new tenant  moved in The entire apartment  was dusty, looking  as if it had not been  swept for ages and the bathrooms  were  filthy. “Oh, my God!” thought Radha, putting  her hand to her head. “What has Pavadai  (not) done? How will  I get  the  house  cleaned up before those people  move in. Just let me get my hands  on  that rascal”.

          But  Radha never managed to  lay her hands on slippery  Pavadai who showed a clean pair of heels  after pulling off the “ job”. No doubt he had his reasons to do so because folks needed  sometime to forgive  and forget! As for  him, he had forgotten the whole business with the first glass of the fiery liquid as it went down  his throat in the neighbourhood Tasmac  shop. But these upper  folks were so silly, making such a fuss over  small  change.

          Things  continued  in the manner  till the  next water crisis. Once  again,  the rains failed us. Wily Pavadai  saw fresh business  opportunities  in the widespread  water woes. He handed in his papers. He then  hired a small kiosk and put up a signboard  that read, “ PAVADAI  PLUMBINGS- BOREWELL FORECASTS MADE HERE. His business  reached new window highs.Despair drove people to approach  him for advice on whether to  sink a bore well or not. 

     Pavadai had a general  rule of thumb to carry out his business. He procured  a talking parrot. Whenever  somebody approached him with a problem, he would refer it to the parrot. “Killisami”, (-parrot god) Pavadai would  address  the  parrot  in tones of great respect. “ Sir wants to  know your  divine  views on whether to sink and bore or not”. After a  pause,  the  parrot would intoned in a deep voice, “Aama”,(meaning yes ).If the parrot  kept  quiet, it was  taken  as a negative. Pavadai  would  then  elaborately  convey  the parrot’s decision to  his  clients. Whatever the dispensation, the people  took it  as an  Oracle. 

   Pavadai’s  fame as a water diviner spread  far  and wide. People  travelled from  far to consult him. His  success rate was astounding. Who cared whether  the man or the parrot  showed the way. All that mattered  was Pavadai prospered. “Thambi”, said Pavadai to the young scallywag, his assistant  rubbing his hands gleefully. “ Killisami  has brought  us money and fame. l must pay  my debt to him. What better way than to build a small shrine near our shop and install him there on a golden perch. Also  our people love gods. They can offer prayers to Killisami and gifts when they come to consult me. A Double  Whammy -:) a God for them and gifts for me”.

    So that  was  how the Thaneer Theriyum ( the Tamil  moniker for one  who knows where water is ) Killisami Aalayam in Visalakshi  Gardens, Mylapore came about. And water diviner cum  godman Pavadai made good hay while Dame Fortune showered  smiles on him. But as the wise old Tamil saying goes, neither  good nor bad times last long, they are cylical by nature. Consequently Pavadai  fell upon hard  times. Fewer people  came to  him for  business. The shop and shrine- both  were a deserted look. My maid reported that he had  rubbed the local councillor the wrong way, having gone  wrong  on a critical  bore well  prophecy. “That  councillor Periasamy is after his blood because the lakhs  that  he sank into  digging a bore well just sank without  a  trace of water. Ever since, no one comes to Pavadai  any more, Amma”, she said. “ As you  sow, so you reap”, she concluded with an air of wise finality.

       Then one day, Pavadai brought down  the  shutters fully and finally. He just couldn’t  carry on any more. I also forgot about the whole business, involved in my own affairs. Months slipped by and it was  election time again. It was again a time of promises of plenty and propaganda of the powerful. Elections were the  hunting ground of the opportunistic and the idealistic, the gold-digger and the do-gooder alike. A van carrying  drums,trumpets, a mouth organ,musical instruments et al  we parked outside  our apartment  block. On the  sides was painted  in bold  letters, the caption, Isai Vazhi Therthal Prachara Kuzhu(Election propaganda through music). Pavadai was conducting the orchestra and singing a song which  went somewhat as below : 

Come one, Come all.

Vote for drinking water.

A plate of rice,

Electricity  and  surpluses, 

Perks and prosperity. Vote  for Change,

A bigger and better  Tamil Nadu !!!!

Pavadai  had found his calling!