Manjushree

What comes to your mind when you hear ‘Manjushree’? Most of you might say, it is the name of a girl.  True, but if I ask you anything more, some with little more imagination might say, ‘name of your best friend, favorite student, first love, so on and so forth! But I am sure, not many would say that it is the name of a tea brand! 

I come from a family of tea lovers.  Both my parents loved tea.  Not just his love for tea, but my father’s enthusiasm in offering tea to friends and relatives was well known.  Whenever a friend or relative passed by our house, he used to invite them for a cup of tea.  My mother was equally enthusiastic in making hot tea and serving the guests.  Not even once did I see my mother unhappy or angry on my father that he kept inviting everyone for tea and that she had to make tea at short notice! Growing up in this environment, me and my brother learnt to make tea at an early age.  My brother-in-law, Mr. Rajendra Bhat, will vouch for the quality of my tea, because whenever I am at Kochi, he comes home asking me to make tea for him and I always oblige wholeheartedly!

During my childhood, packaged branded tea was not very popular (at least in small cities like Cochin).  People used to buy loose tea from retail shops.  There was a Gujarati trader from whom we used to buy tea.  Though I remember him as a fair tall man with a thick moustache, I didn’t know his name.  Everyone called him ‘Setji’, which was a common name for traders belonging to Gujarati and Marwari communities.  His shop was adjacent to his house.  His shop was full of large rectangle boxes made of wooden boards, which were used for transporting tea.  The tea brand that he sold was ‘Manjushree’.  When a customer came, Setji would open the box, fill tea into a polythene cover using a scoop, weigh the same, seal the cover and handover to the customer.  His shop was always filled with the nice aroma of tea.  As time passed, branded tea invaded the market.  Slowly we moved to the supermarket culture, where the customer can pick from a large variety of brands.  Setji lost his business and closed his shop.  Those days, just like any other kid, I never bothered to ask why the tea was called Manjushree.  I had much better things to do in life!  Recently I learnt from Google that the name comes from the estate in which the tea is grown.  Today Manjushree plantations have estates in West Bengal and Assam.  The brand is available for sale in Amazon! 

If nothing else, I inherited the love for tea from my parents.  Till date, I religiously practice what my father used to say, ‘Anytime is teatime’!

 

 

Ripe Guavas !

There is a guava tree in the backyard of my house.  Most of its branches lean over the compound wall towards the road, making it convenient for the passers by to pluck the fruits.  Interestingly, most of the fruits appear on these branches! 

Yesterday morning I saw a middle-aged guy plucking guavas from the tree using a long stick.  Though I could see him, he was not able to see me as I was standing inside the compound.  He plucked one fruit, I kept quiet.  He plucked one more, I didn’t say anything.  But when he plucked the third one and was in no mood to leave, I went out and told him, ‘Please leave few for us’.  He continued searching for more fruits, as if he didn’t hear me.  I continued, ‘I planted the tree, watered and nurtured it and when it started giving fruits, you appear from nowhere to pluck the fruits, is it right?’.  He said, ‘all guavas are ripe, and you are not taking, so I am taking’.  I told him, ‘that is none of your concern’.  Reluctantly he started walking away.  I heard him murmur, ‘neither do they eat, nor allow others to eat’!!  Anyway, I returned home feeling victorious, as if I had won a debate through logical reasoning!

Half an hour later, a group of monkeys attacked the guava tree.  They ate almost all ripe, big guavas.  I could only stand there staring at them helplessly.  Who would argue with them, and what logic would they understand!  I remembered what I read during my schooldays, ‘Birds and animals do not own even a small piece of land; they own the entire Earth’!

(I am sure, those who have read the famous Malayalam story 'Bhoomiyude Avakashikal' by Vaikom Mohammed Basheer, can easily relate to this!)

The English Professor

Parameswara Iyer was a professor of English.  He was famous for his command over the language, especially his vocabulary.  He knew many such English words, which were not in common parlance.  He was known as ‘Walking Dictionary’ among his colleagues and students.  Iyer passed away in 1990 and went to heaven.  Impressed by his knowledge, the God agreed to grant him a wish.  Iyer said, ‘Oh, God, I would like to go back to earth and live for another month with my family’.  God said, ‘You can do that, but you must know that 30 years have passed on earth since you died.  Would you still like to go?’.  Iyer said ‘Yes’, and he was back with his family! He found two new members in the family, Raghu and Ramya, his great grandchildren.  Raghu was studying in ninth grade and Ramya in the third.

Next morning on the breakfast table.

Raghu: Dadaji, I want to take a selfie with you and post it on Instagram.  I am sure, it will become viral.

Iyer: Selfie? What is that?

Raghu:  Dadaji, it is a picture clicked with phone.

Iyer: How can one click pictures with a phone?!! By the way, what is Instagram?

Raghu: It is a place where you can store your pictures, which all your friends and relatives can see.

Iyer: Oh, we used to call it Album! And what did you say, ‘it will become viral’?

(Iyer could see that Raghu was getting annoyed)

Raghu: Dadaji, you just google it, and you will get all answers.

Saying this, Raghu left for his school.  Iyer was wondering, what ‘google it’ meant!

After breakfast, Iyer moved to the courtyard to read the day’s newspaper.  Ramya came rushing and jumped on to his lap.

Ramya: Dadaji, you did not come to my school yesterday for the annual event.

Iyer: Oh, sorry Beta, I could not come. Tell me, what did you perform in the event?

Ramya: I performed a dance with my friend.  It was live on Facebook; you could have watched.

Iyer: Facebook? What kind of a book is that?

Ramya: It is not a book.  It is a website, where you can post pictures, videos etc.

Iyer: Website?

Ramya: Dadaji, you don’t know what a website is?  It is a site on the internet with a specific web address.  Anyway, Dadaji, I will WhatsApp the YouTube link to you.  You can watch it at your convenience.

Iyer: Beta, I don’t understand what you are saying.

Ramya: Oh Dadaji, don’t you understand English?!

 

Thoroughly confused, Iyer took that day’s newspaper.  The first headline read ‘Twitter fails to comply with the privacy policy guidelines issued by the government’.  The second headline was ‘Government bans Chinese Apps including Tik Tok, Pub G and We Chat’.

Iyer was thoroughly confused.  He was feeling bad that he could not make sense of most of what was spoken by the current generation.  He lamented ‘what happened to the English that I knew’.  He quietly got up and went to his pooja room. With a smiling face the God asked ‘What happened Iyer? Why are you looking so despondent?’  Iyer said, ‘Oh, God, please take me back to the heaven, I don’t know English!’