Thorn in my heel

Thorn in my Heel

Years later after I got married, had a kid, I prayed to lord Murugan to fast for days doing prayers, wearing holy beads on neck, being bare foot with a small black shawl on shoulders. Seeing me transformed everyone were agape. Some really cared to ask how I walk barefooted on the roads of Chennai when it is raining all the way.

All I had to tell was a small story.

A new place, new search for home, a heart filled with happiness of bagging a new job. I was at cloud nine after getting placed in a reputed Chennai based IT MNC as recruiter for a talent acquisition team.

A small bit of mine ached to leave my hometown Kancheepuram. It was exciting to move and experience this phase of life all alone without parents.

I couldn’t ask for more when I with my 5 friends found a lavish 3 BHK home in the heart of Mamallapuram for only INR 10,000 per month as rent. It was pure luck. Any day, for such a flat, the nominal rent was INR 40,000 per month. The house owners were old people who moved to US to stay with their NRI sons and family. Both uncle and aunty aged after working all their lives in 2 different banks to settle their kids. All they wanted to do was to spend the last few years with their grown-up kids and grandchildren.

There was only one condition that we should vacate the house within a short notice unlike a standard rental agreement in that area. According to the standard rental agreement, the tenants or owners were supposed to intimate 6 months prior for vacating the house. If not, both the parties mutually agreed to a minimum timeframe. Vacating at a short notice was only possible for spinsters. So, we bagged the house. 

We were on the first floor. There lived a middle-aged couple with a daughter and old lady on the ground floor. At first, we exchanged greetings or things in need. Later, it all changed bitterly. 

Except us, all five other families till 4th floor were occupied by people from Northern region. They kept complaining about us to the uncle on the ground floor about everything we did - They are partying, many boys are staying together for days, don’t know who is coming and going, they are coming late, going early, consuming all the water filled in common water tank and what not. Uncle kept nagging and scolding us.  

One day we refused to pay the maintenance amount. It was INR 1000 per month per flat. There was nothing to maintain so much. We argued if we must pay, let us collect from all the households and maintain. No agreed and we never paid. It added fuel to the burning pyre.

As if to douse the fire, it poured mercilessly day and night. Chennai bathed in flood for days. One night, the water started to rise fast. We observed it and went to check on the ground floor. Unexpectedly, uncle had to leave for an errand to their village. We shifted the elderly lady with her bed to the first floor. We ensured that all their key belongings were kept safe upstairs. It melted all the boundaries. Tears of despair bloomed the flowers of peace in our minds.

In couple of days, when things were getting normal, water on the roads started to recede. All the offices were either given off or were given work from home option. I made plans to go home. I walked in the knee length water. It was proving difficult for me to walk with my shoes on. I removed it and paced towards the bus station.

Alas, something pierced deep in my heel. The water surrounding me bled red, terrifying everyone who was around. Few of them carried me to a nearby hospital. I got first aid. It stopped to pain but itched time and again.

I kept rubbing my heels on the floor from time to time. One fine day, it pained as hell. I shivered in pain. That day, I was rushed to hospital in no time. To my horror, an inch long iron thorn was stuck in the heel. I shrieked as the doctor removed it and sewed it up. Till date I never dare to walk barefoot anywhere outside.

So, my friend, a thorn in hearts got removed unexpectedly. The one in the heel remained unknowingly. Somethings are never in our hands. Still, whenever it unfolds, giving our best is all it needs to keep moving forward.

- Recited by Ashok.

- Written by Saranya