Mani - the man of the lodge

In my bachelor days, I was living in a lodge at Triplicane called the Ambica nivas. It was located near Amir mahal the palace of Arcot nawab. It was a four storeyed building having sixty rooms. It was well ventilated, with mosaic floors. In those days mosaic meant the latest. Triplicane, then was called the bachelors paradise as it was located near the beach and Mt.Road and had lots of messes. During bachelorhood the biggest problem is food. If you wanted to eat anything or drink, you have to go out. That meant, putting on your shirt, pant, etc. and is very boring at times.

Most of us people,who lived there, were accustomed to morning tea or coffee. Coffee was costly and mostly not available. But tea shops were aplenty. Hence, tea becane a must in the morning. After brushing one's teeth there had to be tea. For most of us, our brains will start to work only after drinking tea/coffee in the morning. The brain is trained in such a way that it should be coated with tea solution. If some toothpaste manufacturer can produce a tooth paste that could inject coffee or tea effects after the brushing formality, it will be the best selling toothpaste. We were lucky enough to have a tea shop next to our lodge. The shop had boys to deliver tea to the lodgers. One of them wass Mani -our hero. He was short in nature, resembling the character "CHINNA SHANKARAN" of poet Bharathi’s story. He used to bring us tea daily. He could however supply only 15 glasses at a time and that was the catch. To serve all the 100 lodgers with tea, it took about an hour in the morning. Waiting for an hour for your tea was quite a tough one. Here comes the part played by our hero. He had a preference list. If you were in his wish list you will get the tea in his first round itslef. To be in the lis,t you have to qualify. Just tipping him every month doesn’t get you into the list. You had to talk to him when he wanted to talk. As I was working in alternating shifts, I was fortunate enough to have lot of time to chat with Mani. Some times he wrote poems and wanted you to listen. At times, he would talk to you about his ambitions, his ideas and lots of other things. You had to listen to all to be in his VIP list. Once you got into the list, you were lucky enough be served tea first and that too sharp at 6 A.M. Although I was living in the third floor I got the tea at 6 A.M. He would secretly bring the tea, avoiding other lodgers in two floors below, and put it in my table, making the glass roll like a spinning cricket ball. It would make a "tug tug" noise and then come to rest. Such was his art of putting the glass and made it very nice to watch. Even in the evening, when you would return from work, Mani would watch you and your evening tea will be at your table before you undress. Such was the service you got as you were a VIP in Mani’s’world.

He was a tireless boy working everyday for twelve hours, climbing the stairs 100 times to and fro. Sometimes he would fall sick and have fever The treatment he took then was, take a crocin tablet along with hot coffee, an oil bath , eat biryani and then go to the theatre. No doctor will accept this treatment, preferred and practiced by Mani, but it worked for him. Sometimes he used to ask me Rs 20 for buying a lungi and I obliged him at times, but he won’t buy it .Instead, he would use it to buy half a plate of biryani and a watch a night show. That made him happy. When he took off from work, you could see him wearing a pant, a full sleeved shirt and a kerchief on his head. He would walk like a hero with his head up and singing his favorite songs. He never thought about his misery. I remember his smiling face even today, that is after 30 years. I have even forgetten the face of my childhood friends, but Mani’s face is still green in my memory. Today I have decided that I should visit the tea shop and enquire about our hero.