Eraviperoor to Eraviperoor

Eraviperoor to Eraviperoor

Those were the words written on his tin trunk which he hauled to the carriage as it left home. In the distant his parents waved him good bye, never once dreaming of the applause their son would bring home one day.

Forget the fact no one outside his geographical reach knew the village he had come from, but his tin trunk proudly displayed his past. It was probably those words which always pulled at his heart strings so often that he could never ever be separated from his hometown.

Today he is yearning to come home to be buried in the fields of yore, where once his father and forefathers had tilled so stoutly and steadfastly. The defender of the poor, the messiah of his countrymen is on his return journey fulfilling the prophesy so boldly painted on his little tin trunk

It was a sunny afternoon when the breeze rustled the coconut leaves perched high above the ground. The bright light of the day gave hope to little Mathunny who was setting out on the voyage of his dreams, a land across the oceans, where he was to find his home.

As the ship sailed deeper into the ocean eagerly trying to touch the distant horizons, young Mathunny’s dreams started to stand out amidst the sadness of parting ways. He felt numbness inside him; the emptiness of leaving his loved ones, the smell of the green and the ocean, the wild hooting call of the fish seller, the aroma of raw coffee filtering through the air around him. 

Yes, he was setting sail for his date with dame luck. Slowly the past got merged into the future and dreams began to sour. Once he landed in the city of his dreams he set about in right earnest to get what was offered to him, the job of a typist. The rest is history.

His deeds along with other fellow Indians of influence leaves many teary eyed and his fellow countrymen can feel a bloating of their chests with the pride that he instilled through his courageous and selfless acts during the invasion.

He briskly walks into the pages of history and will stay put through the various awards and recognitions that were won during his years of toil. He brought his obscure village onto the world map and village folks proudly announce the synonymity that the name carried with the village to gain instant recognition.

Now I hear the roar in the distance of the chariots coming to take M. Mathews to his eternal home to where he belongs and where he is to be united with all his righteous and well meaning friends.

On the return journey to Eraviperoor I can imagine him humming these few lines:

“Going home, I'm going home
There is nothing to hold me here
I've caught a glimpse of that Heavenly land
Praise God, I'm going home

Now the twilight is fading, the day soon shall end
Lord, I get homesick, the farther I roam
But the Father has led me each step of the way
And now I'm going home”.

Can someone find and pull down the rusty old tin trunk and erase the words written so prominently -for Toyota Sunny has returned home.

Robin Varghese

24^th May 2017

NB: My tribute to the Late M. Mathews- this is a fictional piece of writing and the happenings in the article may have nothing to do with the actual events as they unfold, unfolded or shall unfold.