by Rajitha Gopal
This was way back in 1976 when I was ten, the days when all middle- class families had no geysers for a hot water bath, but a big copper vessel called “Anda” in Tamil. People would use firewood placed beneath the vessel to heat the water. Houses usually also had a big loft inside the bathrooms to stock the firewood. I remember my mother would neatly pile up the firewood in the loft. I would often wonder from where she got it, for I had seen a vegetable market and a provision store, but had not yet seen a firewood shop!
One day when my mother declared that I was ten years old and therefore, and it was right time to start taking some responsibilities. Those days, parents thought that children should take on responsibilities as early as possible and be independent, for, life was full of hard work (pampering and fussing over children’s comforts were taboo). Soon, she took me to a big open space where huge logs of wood were systematically stocked. Thin aluminium sheets acted as roofs to protect the logs of wood from unpredictable rain. The area was neatly fenced and it had a small gate. I discovered that this was the ‘firewood shop’! I was excited to realise where I was, but little did I know what was in store for me!
My mother inspected the wood very meticulously, asking for rates per Kg and intermediately looking at me, signalled me to follow her and learn. She finally selected the wood and bargained the price too! She asked the shopkeeper to weigh the wood. She instructed me to wait in the shop and have an eye on the logs of wood, for the wood seller would further chop the huge wood into thin strips which resembled the ones on the bathroom loft. Being a busy lady with household chores to attend to and a music school to run, she left me to accompany the shopkeeper to our house later after the assigned work was over. She told me that it would take another half an hour (I didn’t have any idea how long that would be)
The wood seller, I still remember, had curly black hair, with the forehead and temples decorated with beads of sweat. He was wearing a white vest and khaki shorts. His arms seemed very strong with swollen muscles which would have put any of the Bollywood Khans, or Johns to shame.
I was fascinated by the way he chopped the wood. First the big log of wood was cut into half making it into two pieces, and then four, eight, twelve so on and so forth. I was not aware then that I was learning mathematics! I remember looking at him and then at the surroundings, watching the sparrows hop, hearing them chirp and dig the soil for fresh earthworms to feed their chicks. That was fascinating too and I was not aware then that I was learning about the lives of birds! I remember shooing away a cat that had an eye on the sparrows for his meal and feeling the pride to have saved the lives of the sparrows and the chicks too! I was not aware then that I was learning to protect! Lost in my own world and waiting for the shopkeeper to finish his work, I was not aware then that I was learning the art of patience.
”Come on now, young lady!” the wood cutter called out loudly, breaking my reverie. “Show me your house!” I went near him and saw the neatly arranged long strips of fire wood tied tightly with a jute rope. He lifted the bundle of woods with ease and put them on top of his head, cushioning it with a sack. He carried one more bundle on his shoulder and walked after me in perfect balance and rhythm. I led him to my house which was only a few yards away. He dropped the bundle of wood in the front yard of my house. My mother paid him the money and waited for him to disappear. Then she asked me if I saw him weigh the wood after he cut them too. It was then I learnt that I need to be doubly sure of what I buy. I simply nodded and kept in mind that next time I would make sure of that. Then on I would shop for firewood once in two or three months.
Looking back now at the age of 47, I realise that it was in the firewood shop that I learnt so many nuances of life, leaving me wondering what the kids of today learn from shopping in malls or online!
Rajitha Gopal has been a Pre-Primary teacher for 13 years in various parts of India and a Pre-Primary co-ordinator for a year in an International School. She is now a qualified Counsellor and a Psychotherapist. She likes to observe people’s body language and expression and enjoys Carnatic music, Bharatnatyam, movies and books.
