Written by Mariya K Joseph, Creative Empowerment Batch 3
“Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans”
Yes, Life is what makes you happy when you make other plans which are not even planned. I have grown seeing the life of an Ex- Seminarian, saw the growth of a teenager, struggles, ups and downs, breakdowns and finally I saw him building a happy family.
I always wonder why he chose a career which was not even selective at that time? It was quite different from all his siblings. Who made him choose that, who guided him to take such a risk in his life? Why did he come out of the seminary? Did he love someone? Was he in a relationship?
All the answers were there in his smile. He is something
extraordinary, I mean more than what is ordinary for us.
My childhood was colorful because of him. We had a cousin
gang of 6 members called “Thommanum
Makkalum”. For us he was the Santa who comes once in every three months
from the city of dreams “Bengaluru”, why Santa? because he comes with a big
suitcase made up of some kind of metal, which has lots of rust just like our
trust on him. It was full of his clothes, but he always kept a small packet of
“Soan Papdi”, which was the sweetest sweet I have ever had. I have heard
several times he was being scolded by Appachan
(Grandfather) and Ammachi for being
so careless about his life, for coming out of seminary. As I told he was
unique, he never answered anyone’s question, instead he proved himself right,
he proved his decisions were right.
One day, everything changed. Our house was repainted, furniture was polished, his small room replaced with a cupboard, a good fluffy mattress, a cool fancy fan, and we lost the possession of his room. My Amma told me that our family is growing and someone new is coming into our life. Soon after few weeks we got new clothes, so many people came to our house, our courtyard became ready to host a wedding reception, then I realized he is getting married, the first and last marriage of that generation which I am going to witness, I was excited, excited to wear the new dress which he got for me. I saw a young short lady coming out of an old white ambassador car which was beautifully decorated with red and white flowers. She was wearing a white shining saree and had a flower bouquet in her hand. The Ex- seminarian, whom I saw in Alb (white long sacred dress priests wear), changed his outfit to a kurta with long sleeves, well groomed. The Ex- seminarian got married. That young lady whom we saw in the white shining saree changed it to a green saree which my Amma was carrying with her in a small basket came to our home. She was accompanied by some strangers, some photographers, later that evening everyone left, but she stayed back in his room. Then our grandmother told us that she is our “Kochamma” from now onwards. “Kochamma” was the new addition to our small family. He started his career, he developed his dreams, the dream which all his family members criticized.
Now after 16 years, I am talking to that old seminarian, a partially successful businessman, who chose to be a family man, a husband, a father, a good “Appappi'' (Uncle), nothing has changed, maybe the old rusted suitcase replaced with a new bag, but the sweetest sweet never changed. The frequency of Santa’s visit reduced and became once in a year, that was a bit painful. We knew “Thommanum Makkalum” will be a happily ever after, feel good gang which is running successfully even now, because of the Ex-Seminarian’s blessings. As I said, he is Extraordinary, I mean something more than ordinary for us.
