Since I did not get medical admission in government medical colleges in Kerala, I joined a three year BSc course with zoology as the main subject. The plan was to give it up after one year, as my dad also was dead set on in securing a medical seat for me at any cost. Those days in India there were a lot of private medical colleges, located mainly in South India where one need to pay a capitation fee. Since my dad had political and business connections he thought approaching authorities of medical colleges in Gulbarga, Warangal, Kakinada, Belgaum, Manipal and Davangere would work. At last paying capitation fee, my dad managed to secure a medical seat for me in Davangere Medical College. I was perturbed by the thought of missing the company of my best friend, Tommy on leaving Thrissur.
However I was over the moon on getting a medical seat, as those days it was considered to be a great achievement. My buddies who were regulars at Nehru Mandapam (our meeting point) garlanded me on breaking the good news. To celebrate the occasion I took all those fifteen friends to Casino Hotel Thrissur, and threw a grand dinner party. Most of Nehru Mandapam friends were happy go lucky people, who rejoiced commenting on ladies walking along the pavement of Swaraj Round of Thrissur. I was told a year ago by one of my Mandapam friends, Joshy that most of them had passed away, including my intimate friend Tommy.
Tommy was my contemporary, whose house was just opposite mine in Eastern Bazaar, and I used to go with him to children’s Nehru park and later to Mandapam ritually everyday since my 9th year. In my view no one had such impropriety in spreading tall tales about girls and Romeos around our neighbourhood except Tommy. All the time his theme of talk would be sex-coated incidents. One thing I hated in his character was his lack of keeping time. Our route for evening walk would be via college road close to the hospital, where we cross nurses going to duty. Those days nurses uniform was sex appealing consisted of a tightly clad dress, apron, a chain attached to a pocket watch, high heel shoes and a cap.
Once there was a collapse of 20 feet heigh bamboo gallery during a football match at Chakola Trophy football tournament at Thrissur. There were a lot of casualties including death and many injured were admitted in the District General Hospital. During the evening walk on that dreary day, as usual we crossed nurses. Annoyingly, Tommy made a tasteless comment which I quote “ How nice it would be to get nursed by these pretty nightingales, had I been involved in the stadium accident and got admitted in the hospital”. Twenty odd years passed by, when I was informed by my dad that my friend Tommy was admitted in Jubilee mission hospital as he had sustained some injuries. He did not elaborate on what had happened to Tommy.
I rang my brother for more information. He explained that Tommy missed a
plank on the scaffolding of his house under construction and fell
through the scaffolding hitting his head on a concrete slab. Since then
he had not talked or recognised even his wife. He added that doctors at
JMH thought that he had intra cranial haemorrhage, and that his
condition did not warrant an operation on head. A few days later, I rang
again and I was told that doctors decided to switch off the ventilator
as there was no progress. I expected the outcome would be bleak. Tommy used to share every pulse of his life with me, and his loss was an
irrevocable one.
When I looked back the album of memoirs of Mandapam gang, it helped to
associate the chums with their nick names. Sadly those days, people with
disabilities of any description were looked down upon, and a prefix of
the disability in Malayalam or English was added in front of their
names. Therefore the nickname, ‘Channa Joy’ to describe his dipping
gait, ‘Pottan Jose’ to his impaired hearing,‘Tube light Narayanan to his utter slowness to grasp conversation and
so on. Sometimes it was a compliment for one’s look, like ‘SI Nellissery’ to denote his personality like a sub inspector of police
and ‘professor Gopi’ to denote his vast knowledge. Tommy too had a
certain nickname due to his impaired vision which might have caused the
accident leading to his death.
But Tommy was not ridiculed by the Mandapam gang on that account, but was for his repeated
takes in all high school examinations. I had heard Mandapam gang members
commenting on Tommy’s going for an interview with bundles of failed
certificates carried by porters. Since he had difficulty in clearing
SSLC (Secondary School Leaving Certificate), he used to go for tuition
with Echaran master, who was notorious for beating his pupils
mercilessly. I vividly remember, Tommy’s account of manhandling sustained
at the hands of Echaran master, in his advanced teenage years. He
used to remark that Echaran master had to put up with nine daughters
without having even a single son, because of the curse of his pupils.
When
I visited Thrissur the next time I visited the widow and young child of
Tommy. I briefly told her how close we were.The sudden death of one’s
best friend can leave you feeling like your world turned upside down,
but the time heals the wound of that loss. Yes we have to move on!
Dr.C.J.George
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