The Other One

 

Original Source: https://www.jeyamohan.in/197118/

Date: 8-Mar-2024

 

In the 2 berths only first class cabin of the train, there was an old lady in front. Quite a fair complexioned one. Reddish brown hair. Countenance resembling a white lady. A rosary in hand. Had she applied eye liner? Maybe. No lipsticks on lips, as there was hardly any lip. Mouth akin to a bloody scar. Eyes like a green pale pebble. 

With sunken eyes, seeing me with suspicion, she continued her prayers. After placing my suitcase, I noticed. She wasn't praying. Though she had rosary in her hand, it was not being rotated. she was caressing the same bead. Eyes spied on me. When I saw, she turned away.

"Good evening", I greeted.

"Praise the lord", she mentioned viewing the glass window.

I concluded her to be proselytizer kind. I thought of ways for creating defenses. I have found that acting like a counter proselytizer usually has the instant effect.

I constructed the sentences. "Kali is a forever a ferocious deity, you see. She wears a skeleton garland. Murderous deity. Kali will always accompany you, if you worship her.. Her tongue is blood-ridden.. Flesh in her fingernails and hand.. Be aware that she drinks blood chewing off on neck bone.."

But the old lady didn't speak. She got a call. Picking up her phone, "My Lord.. Tell me son", she said.

There was some question on the other end.

"Yeah, I would be in Madras by dawn.. Yes in Tamabaram.. Yeah, Joseph told he would come. Son, his wife is not good. You see, she has got an affair going. Jesus, my Lord told me that she would leave him. Yeah, I inquired, What is this my Lord, why are you saying thus. Lord told loud and clear.. When He says what can I do? The One who rules the fourteen worlds. Is there a vision that he doesn't see? I agreed. That's why I am saying.."

Jesus? I looked at the lady bewildered. She was focused on the conversation without minding me.

Jesus was present in the conversation constantly. "..he says on the morning of the registration day that Grandma, this is our decision.. I told him, Son, I cannot take decision like that. I have to consult with the One, the Jesus. I called Jesus immediately. Told him the matters. He asked, Dear did you see the document.. How could I have seen it my Lord? Those guys wouldn't let it come to my view. At this, He chided me and asked Why the hell did you agree to it. What can I tell Him.. I called that guy and told him sternly. Look here, My Lord is my everything. Unless, he says a word, I am helpless. He is taking this stand, what to do. The guy cried hoarse.. he is right. The property is his and he had also given the cost of that property to my daughter. But my Lord, the Jesus must agree to it, no... Am I right?"

I hadn't known that Jesus was this careful. Carpenters, in general, aren't that good with numbers.

"My Lord", the lady assuaged herself and asked me, "Which place son?"

"Nagercoil, Parvathipuram"

"Which place we are at now?"

"Oh this one? This is Valliyur.."

"My Lord"

For the next call, she rang herself. It was a small girl at the other end. "Hello dear, are you studying well? Where's your father? You must study well, OK? I asked Lord Jesus. Will Daisy get admission? He told definitely, but she must still study better.. You are now a little playful... As you are a little school-going girl, Jesus likes you.. He told so. He is watching everything you are doing dear... You know, He listed each one of your doings.."

I understood the situation more or less before we reached Tirunelveli. The lady keeps consulting every single thing with Jesus and decides. She kept speaking in the phone without any interval.

"I do not know where I misplaced my blood pressure tablets.. I had searched a lot.. Jesus said that He didn't see it.. Not sure whether I took it or not. Whom should I ask now?"

Jesus seem to be knowing even about the BP tablets.

She ate idlis from an aluminum foil in Tirunelveli. She went to the restroom chanting "Jesus, My protector". Even as she was returning, she was speaking in the phone "I have told him sternly.. It was my daughter who received your money. She's in US.. You speak to her. I will take any decision only after consulting Jesus and as per His order. If He now says no, what can I say?"

I told her "Your's is the lower berth. You both can stay there.."

She stared at me and asked "Someone coming?"

"No. It's you both"

"Who"

"Here. The one standing beside you.. It's you both"

"Who?"

"Don't know who.. Seems recognizable. But he arrived with you.."

When the lady looked at me, her head was spinning.

I went to my upper berth, after wishing her "Good night". "Check with him whether the lights can be switched off. Time is 9'O clock already".

"Who?" there was a shiver in the lady's voice.

"With him.. The one standing there". On that, I told "Ok. Good night".

The old lady neither switched off the lights nor slept till dawn.

 

Notes:

* The original article had a regional slang of Tamil, which added a lot of depth & character to the whole story. These are all lost in the translation.