Chellan, the Coir Worker.

Chellan, the Coir worker!

Chellan lives in our street, with no residence and no family. You would be interested in knowing how he will look like. He is short in stature, of course a dwarf, short, bulky but with strong hands; twisted legs, roughly aged about 35.The payola of his friend's house, is his permanent residence. He has his bath at the street tap, drinks his water at the street pipe and at times at his friend's house. What is he doing and what is his daily routine? He wakes up early at 0430 A.M He goes to a nearby tea stall and Order for a tea and sips it casually almost for quarter of an hour. Then exactly at 0500 A.M, Chellan starts his work at the coir making spot. His duty is to sit on a stone, nearby an iron wheel that helps in coir making and rotates the iron wheel as long as his employer wants it. Around 0800 A.M, it is time for break fast and Chellan finishes his iddly-sambar offered by his employer. Then he relaxes for a while with one or two beedis. Again goes for his work and goes on rotating the wheel never caring for its unpleasant sound, braving the scorching summer up to 0100 P.M Then he is disbursed from his work.That's all for the day. Chellan then goes to a nearby hotel; he has his lunch, either sambar rice or curd rice or a biriyani at an affordable price and pays for it out of his own pocket. Then heaves a big'eppam' indicating that he is stomachful. Then Chellan's destination is his payola. He lays there stretching out his legs and hands and falls asleep deeply, never caring for the grumblings of his friend's wife or he may not even hear them, because he is wont to hear the noisy sound of the iron wheel alone. Then around 0600 P.M he is forced to wake up with a number of abusive words heaped on him. Then in the twilight he wades through the street to a nearby slum to have one or two glasses of illicit liquor. Now he is not steady. One can now see him either quarreling with a person in a babble of tongue or crying in a coarse and loud voice beaten by somebody. At times he even lies on the roadside never caring for decency or knowing nothing about it. Somebody says that Chellan is a good for nothing fellow. But I sympathize with him. After all he ekes out his livelihood by doing a work and earning his income. One may not like his style of living. But he does not beg from others, despite of being handicapped, oh, I am sorry, being physically challenged. He works as he is capable of and earns his livelihood. He has got every right to live in this world. Why not?