0250 gmt: I had been to bed rather early last night - at just past 12 midnight ist and the result is that I got up at just after 0700 ist exactly seven hours later after a completely uninterrupted sleep! And that is the normal thing with me – I require almost eight cool hours of sleep even at this age.
Last couple of days I was busy but the ultimate outcome was nil, on the negative side rather. I had been to trivandrum again, this time hoping that I will be able to get a house on hire. Some one there had promised to help me and said it was almost ready but for the fact that the rent is 4000INR. Rent ko maro goli ; I said I will come and have a look and we will make the final decision then.
I got a sleeper berth booked in the amrita express and drove all the way to the railway station at past midnight on 20110313 a sunday and reached tvm and at about 0900 hrs we were in the house owners place. Every thing was set and it was then that the woman came to know that I was staying alone. She also, on the older side, was staying alone in the ground floor and so obviously it was an awkward situation and I decided it quits and came away. The woman had been told that I have a family and I did not want to get into some ones house on false pretext and was having a difficult time putting up with the lie and I was glad I was out of the predicament. So that was the end of the house rental for which I have made a trip to trivandrum and lost cash of at least one thousand rupees as well as wasted a day of my old age. I dot not blame any body; People were trying to help in their own way and I wont blame them for anything. I was aware of the possibility of it being a futile attempt but decided to run the risk.
house hunting
And I indeed had alternate plans as well . It was on saturdays and sundays that the advt.s for houses for rental come on the news papers and I used to look up one of the malayalam papers on line and telephone from here (KZH) to the advertisers. But by the time I telephone invariably all houses would have been gone even if I do the telephoning in the after noon of the same day that the advt was put on the paper. I had my own doubts about it and so I had decided to try out my luck from trivandrum.
The first house I had found available I decided to visit and the owner said he will be there till 1200hrs and when I telephoned him to locate the place later on the reply came that the telephone was out of range – this was after I had reached closer to the place where the fellow was located. Then when again I tried the person came on line and said that the house has already been rented out - the time then was just 1200 hrs. I got the point – the indian pimp has been there.
I went back to the same telephone booth and a pimp had been posted there since – I made a movie of the guy and after that telephoned another house owner and this fellow said that the house was available and even arranged his father in law to show me the house and I drove over to the place about thirteen kms from the city on my bike and decided on taking the house at 4500 inr per month. Then I arranged to meet the owner to discuss the deal and make it final and he said he can come to vellayambalam at 1800 hrs.
so I postponed my trip back home and waited and when I telephoned him to tell him I am coming to meet him as planned his phone was also out of reach initially. Later on at 1800 hrs the fellow came on line, clarified whether i was the same person who had seen the house who was speaking and then told me that the house has already been taken – tocken aayi poyi
the return journey
The end result was that I had to come back by a late train. I got into an unreserved compartment and most likely the members of the indian pimp service had positioned their goons accordingly. Then at the last moment I shifted on to a sleeper compartment – it is not very difficult to get accommodation upto ernakulam for there are numerous berths which are vacant upto ernakulam – those reserved from ernakulam onwards. This was an unexpected move that caught the indian pimps on the wrong foot. Incidentally the train which was on the platform for almost two hours before the scheduled departure time of 2040 left forty minutes late – security reasons ? Very much possible.
I reached ekm at past at 0300 hrs almost 90 minuites after the scheduled time of arrival of the train and drove back home in my littly lily.
At trivndrum all through the Sunday the prostitute birds of the indian pimp service were in full cry and the pimps were trailing me and making no secret of their presence.
The destitute old men of the “officer” police were there mostly where I park my bike - it looks the wretches are really worried about being man handled and there is invariably a gorilla type character along who acts as the body guard.
By the time I telephoned the first house holder and reached the place in the periphery of thiruvananthapuram city the pBird had reached there and I had a hunch it was not going to be available. Same was the case with the second house as well. So my suspicions about the houses being not available when I telephone the owners from my home telephone over here ( KZH ) were proved right. The indian pimp service was desperately preventing me from getting another house on hire – this house over here suits them better and they have already dug in and would not want to move immediately.
At trivandrum I am finding difficult to get served in hotels. I have almost stopped going to the coffee house for the staff there had been openly rude. Even at another hotel which I used to frequent from my student days onwards where I had my lunch on 13th the “intelligent” young man at the counter rather than selling me the coupon was keen on discussing how things will turn around once in the “station”, obviously the police station.
the "E-Man"
The locals in tvm and ekm are eagerly awaiting to see me “picked up” by the “essai” - the essai, one of the lower most ranking employees of the police set up here is the hero of all the antisocial elements of the locality - antisocial elements irrespective of their financial status and the social strata that they belong to. the epitome of heroism – they watch with glee when the local malyalam film hero just shows his broad back to this police man and obediently puts up with the beating. he can ( for that matter in this country any policeman can) arrest and torture you - that is the crux of the point as far as the "gentry" is concerned.
I am a jailbird and for "seasoned criminals" like me these things do not matter. it looks that for others it does matter. i have heard a professor saying that her husband a surgeon who was finishing his deputation in a private hospital was telling her that he does not want to come back to the college for he is not very keen on sleeping in the police lock up in his undees.
my humble suggestion to the great man is that he should bring a pair of hand cuffs as well while coming to "pock" me - they might come in handy and then there is no need for a vehicle - the "e-man" can walk me through the market and give his fans the time of their life. by the way "essai" is not exactly a joke the nut cases like me are making it out to be. the going rate was one lakh - and that was in the seventies !
pic borrowed from wiki and modified
Incidentally the stooges being employed to sit next to me in the train (and desperately trying to drown the noise of the engine) shouting about the hero the “essai” are from a particular community. I think it could be the contribution of the fake enquiry specialist of medical college trivandrum who is now in the medical education business in a private medical college in near by quilon being run by this particular community.
The long and short of it is that the indian pimp service is seriously on the job spoiling all my efforts to get a house on hire in trivandrum or even in this place and move out of this thenagkoota where I am staying now. I have brought a new measuring tape of 20mtrs and I tried out the size of the house I am planning to construct over here in this house and found that area-vice it is as big as this house - but for the small kitchen !
project cloister
On the house construction front it was a big success that I could purchase a spot of land in spite of the tremendous odds. However it has got stuck at the “pocku varavu” stage – the revenue dept has to issue the necessary papers for me to go ahead with any work of any sort on the land. Even after one month of the registration of the land nothing is happening. That could be another attempt to throw a spanner in the works.
Once that thing is cleared, then and only then, I can start buildingn the house. The dearth of funds is a real problem and I had chosen the cheapest builders available in trivandrum. Their estimated cost per square foot has been going up almost one rupee per day since I first contacted them. I will have to tread carefully so that I do not end up with a “panitheeratha veetu”. And there again I am afraid the indian pimp is on the job and have already dug in.
Am I surprised? Not at all; the indian pimp, is a typical trained crook, a SPY, and will not dare any where near me but will act through proxy - make full use of the labile characters of the set ups I have to deal with and invariably will succeed in throwing a spanner in the works. Who can resist that “kushu itta nayinte” smile and the “identity card” of the officer police!
The house building is a critical thing in my life. I cannot go ahead with the work if the builders start taking orders from the indian pimp service and I want to settle that issue once and for all before the real work starts. Rather than things going topsy-turvy once the contract is given and the work starts I want people to have a clear understanding of who is who and what is what and hence this recent letter.
