My friend, a year older in age and of weaker physique, came one day to our house carrying a bag, which, considering the impact its bulk was causing on my friend body posture, made me think about the ware inside.
He entered our house, deposited the bag on the floor and quickly emptied the glass of water I offered. He settled down on a chair, below the fan and slowly composed himself. I was still curious about the bag and the stuff inside.
He opened it, took out six big coconuts and suggested to make use of the coconuts the way we liked. I was a bit confused at his gesture. He knew we have ten coconut trees in our garden whereas he has only two and yet he decided to bring coconuts to us from his garden.
He read my mind and explained. That morning a coconut plucker had passed by his house hawking. He called him in and both of them negotiated the wage. The plucker, being a more astute negotiator, won the deal on his terms. He would charge sixty rupees for cleaning a tree and plucking the mature fruits.
My friend had a harvest of sixty fruits. He and his reluctant servant boy carried the harvest a good twenty yards, to the safety of the veranda. Then he thought over the best use the fruits could be put to. Neither he nor his wife was good at deshelling the fruits; nor were they trained to brake a coconut and grate it without losing temper. My friend had done his Engineering from IIT, Kharagput. This coconut business was not in the syllabus. His wife, daughter of a celebrated litterateur ,had developed a taste for good literary works.
He thought of good friends who he would visit soon and gift the fruits. He carried fifty coconuts, again with the assistance of his reluctant servant, to his car and set out on the mission. The car was short of fuel. He drove it to the petrol pump; put petrol worth Rs 500/-. He wasn't bothered about how much of petrol went to the fuel tank of the car. Like me, he also has lost interest in knowing the price of petrol.
Our house was his third port of call in the day. My wife and I listened to his tale of woe. " But what do we do with the coconuts? I asked him.” We have so many trees in the garden. We are now scared of plucking the fruits for the very same reasons you find the fruits less wanted."
He had thought we would offer him a solution to his problem. I came to his help. " Look, you have to forget the trees just as we have. Only when our grandsons visit us do we find the trees relevant as both of them love the green coconut water. And you know how tasty the water of the fruits in our garden is. Sometimes the fruits fall on their own from the trees on ground and our support-staff make use of them."
He was a bit surprised. He knew how much my wife liked the sweet coconut water. " We have to change with time. Today the pleasure of having the sweet refreshing coconut water has to give way to having peace of mind. When a tree has a bountifu load of attractive fruits, I go to the terrace and take a photograph. I show these photographs to my wife and we derive pleasure out of it." I told.
His eyes moistened. My wife offered him tea and we talked on for a while before he left. He had still twenty coconuts to gift.
.
He entered our house, deposited the bag on the floor and quickly emptied the glass of water I offered. He settled down on a chair, below the fan and slowly composed himself. I was still curious about the bag and the stuff inside.
He opened it, took out six big coconuts and suggested to make use of the coconuts the way we liked. I was a bit confused at his gesture. He knew we have ten coconut trees in our garden whereas he has only two and yet he decided to bring coconuts to us from his garden.
He read my mind and explained. That morning a coconut plucker had passed by his house hawking. He called him in and both of them negotiated the wage. The plucker, being a more astute negotiator, won the deal on his terms. He would charge sixty rupees for cleaning a tree and plucking the mature fruits.
My friend had a harvest of sixty fruits. He and his reluctant servant boy carried the harvest a good twenty yards, to the safety of the veranda. Then he thought over the best use the fruits could be put to. Neither he nor his wife was good at deshelling the fruits; nor were they trained to brake a coconut and grate it without losing temper. My friend had done his Engineering from IIT, Kharagput. This coconut business was not in the syllabus. His wife, daughter of a celebrated litterateur ,had developed a taste for good literary works.
He thought of good friends who he would visit soon and gift the fruits. He carried fifty coconuts, again with the assistance of his reluctant servant, to his car and set out on the mission. The car was short of fuel. He drove it to the petrol pump; put petrol worth Rs 500/-. He wasn't bothered about how much of petrol went to the fuel tank of the car. Like me, he also has lost interest in knowing the price of petrol.
Our house was his third port of call in the day. My wife and I listened to his tale of woe. " But what do we do with the coconuts? I asked him.” We have so many trees in the garden. We are now scared of plucking the fruits for the very same reasons you find the fruits less wanted."
He had thought we would offer him a solution to his problem. I came to his help. " Look, you have to forget the trees just as we have. Only when our grandsons visit us do we find the trees relevant as both of them love the green coconut water. And you know how tasty the water of the fruits in our garden is. Sometimes the fruits fall on their own from the trees on ground and our support-staff make use of them."
He was a bit surprised. He knew how much my wife liked the sweet coconut water. " We have to change with time. Today the pleasure of having the sweet refreshing coconut water has to give way to having peace of mind. When a tree has a bountifu load of attractive fruits, I go to the terrace and take a photograph. I show these photographs to my wife and we derive pleasure out of it." I told.
His eyes moistened. My wife offered him tea and we talked on for a while before he left. He had still twenty coconuts to gift.
.
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