A Summer Afternoon Tale
Lit Up — June’s Prompt: Lucky sentence
“Paatti took the gram and ate them, squashing each one first.” pg. 99
Sangati (Events) by Bama
Three p.m. on a swelteringly hot day in Katri — the hottest part of summer. Paatti was sitting on the thinai, the concrete bench attached to the outer wall of the house, near the front door. It was shaded by the roof and in the right place to catch even the slightest hints of breeze. Every other minute, she picked up a single seed from the cup of melon seeds next to her, placed it between her remaining upper tooth and the nearest lower tooth and bit. The shell cracked, revealing a thin seed inside. She carefully extracted the seed, popped it in her mouth and leaned back to enjoy the morsel. A few seconds later, she’d repeat the process.
Mai was inside the house, lying on her stomach on the cool straw mat, watching Paatti, her grandmother, eat the seeds. It was a fascinating process, made even more so by the occasional trembling that afflicted Paatti. Every time she trembled, the seed would float out of her grasp and land in the dirt. Paatti then sniffed at it, as if it was the seed’s loss at not being eaten and pick up the next seed.
Fascinating as Paatti was, Mai was starting to get bored. She came out of the house, flopped on the thinai and said, “Paatti, I’m bored.”
Patti patted Mai’s head and said, “Why don’t you try some melon seeds?”
Mai made a face and said with all the wisdom of a seven year old, “They’re so tiny! My stomach’ll never get full from eating this. And they just taste okay.”
“So, my little queen, what seeds are nice?”
“I like pumpkin seeds, roasted with chilli and salt. They’re so crunchy! But Paatti, why are the seeds different in a pumpkin? I mean, on the inside, they look the same, except for the colour. Is it because pumpkins are orange?”
Paatti laughed loudly. Mai, affronted, sat up straight, glared, and said accusingly, “You don’t know why they’re bigger. That’s why you are laughing.”
Paatti replied teasingly, “Of course I know why they melon seeds are small. How come you don’t know?”
“Uf! No one tells me anything. They think I’m a small girl. Anyway, if you know, why aren’t you telling me?”
Paatti raised her hands up in a gesture of defeat and said, “Okay, okay. I’ll tell you the story.
“Once upon a time, there was an old woman who lived by herself in a small hut at the edge of the forest. She grew vegetables, fruits and herbs in her garden, which she took to the market to barter for rice, oil and spices. In the summer, she grew her favourite fruit — melons and every morning, before going to the market, she’d pick out one melon for herself. She’d lower the melon in a bucket into the tiny well near the house, so that it would become nice and cool by the time she got back in the evening.
“One day, as usual, the old woman left for the market. Unknown to her, that day, a group of gandharvas, bored in heaven, had decided to picnic in the forest. One of the gandharvas, the youngest one, wandered off and after a long walk, he found himself at the old woman’s house. He was very thirsty and decided to get some water out of the well. But when he pulled the bucket up, he saw only a melon. He lifted it out. It felt cool and nice in his overheated hands. Without thinking, he broke open the melon with a stone, gouged out the flesh and stuffed great handfuls into his mouth, seeds and all. He’d never eaten a melon before and although he did not really care for the taste of the seeds, the melon quenched his thirst. So, he continued eating.
“As he was eating, a few seeds got stuck in his throat. In those days, melons had big seeds, even bigger than pumpkins. He tried to cough it out, but the seeds and flesh had formed a solid mass. The gandharva started choking and he screamed telepathically for help. His elder brothers and sisters rushed to him and arrived at the nick of time. They extracted the mass and he fell to the ground, panting for breath. His eldest brother started scolding him for his silliness. Another of his brothers cut in and asked, “Should we teach you how to eat?”
“For a second, all noise stopped as the gandharvas mulled the question. Then, together they started laughing, everyone except the youngest gandharva. Hearing his whole family laugh at him, he got very angry. Then, he cursed the melon saying, “Never will you choke another! May you have the smallest seeds in your family!”
“The curse left the gandharva’s mouth, flew into the sky and settled like a blanket on the world. All the seeds in all the melons in the world started shrinking until they came to be the size they are today. And that’s why melon seeds are small.”
Mai, whose eyes had been getting rounder and rounder with excitement as the story progressed, asked, “But Paatti, what happened to the old woman?”
Paatti replied, “Nothing. She didn’t get her melon for the day.”
Mai deflated and said, “That’s not fair. Poor old woman.”
“I know, my sweet. But look at the bright side. Now, no one will choke on a melon again.”
“It’s still not fair,” said Mai stubbornly. Her sense of justice was very strong. She repeated, “It’s not fair. That old woman did nothing and the gandharvas stole her melon.” She thought for a second and then said determinedly, “I don’t like that story. Tell me another one, a nice one, please.”
Paatti smiled, pride beaming from her eyes, drew Mai closer and said, “Do you know why Katri is so hot?”
Mai shook her head and snuggled in to hear the story.
