Devassy

To know Devassy, you should know where Devassy lives, who are the people around him, why he does what he does, the weather, the language, the religion… You need to know that he lives in a small village of Chittattukara, the village not far from the sea, where the soil is as white as the sand on the beach and that his village, like any other village in Kerala, is covered with thick tropical vegetation. You also need to know that the people in this village share very symbiotic links to each other, their lives are dependent on each other socially and financially. The lives of people are discussed at the local tea shop “chaya-kada” with as much fervor as is Obama’s visit, economic recession and the political tyranny in the state. For someone like Devassy and many others who have lived for generations together in this village, the name Chittattukara becomes not just an address, but it is an identity that all of them carry; the very identity of the person being incomplete without it. And it takes years to be a part of this big family and household of Chittattukara village, it requires living there, participating in the village festivals, getting drenched in the same monsoon which comes every year, getting scorched in the hot summer sun and taking turns to bathe in the ponds, when bathing was more of a social thing than just a private affair.

And no one is a stranger here, everyone knows someone who knows you, and so you are always welcome. The theory of Six Degrees of Separation feels all the more so true here.

Devassy is the local vegetable vendor, who also doubles as the local grocery guy and the one who could tell you if the last bus to Thrissur has left or still expected. He is a small man, not quite tall, fair, with eyes that speak volumes about what he can perceive, hairy, in fact a very hairy chest, which you can mostly see, as he would rarely wear a shirt. And the most unexpected of all his traits is his voice. You would expect a regular man’s voice, but any stranger would be surprised by his deep baritone voice.

What are some of the things you associate with a person who is a shop keeper. If not anything, at least that he/she is interested in you buying more of his/her stuff. Devassy, unlike other shop keepers is not pressing you to buy more. He would just give the exact amount you need, no pressing for fresh bananas, or hot crispy chips just arrived…No gimmicks, no pitches what so ever. You ask him to pick the fresh bananas, he will use his discretion to pick the best, not using his skills to push away the riper ones. So you get what you ask for, from all that he has to offer.

Devassy’ s shop is right across the bus stop, which means invariably all the travelers get down and aboard the buses from there. The more friendly ones, would come over pick day-to-day groceries, share the tales from their visit, ask of what’s happening and the life goes on. Rain no rain, his shop’s open, people no people, he is around.

Devassy’ s daughter got married last year. The social customs force him to send her daughter with generous gifts of gold and money. He just has enough for everyday, whatever he saves is too little for what the marriage requires. He borrows, he mortgages his house, he is happy his daughter is married off to a good family. But then his days of hard work and labor continue.

What do some of his fellow villagers to make him like this. They take undue advantage of his goodness and keep forgetting to pay their bills for months together. Devassy continues to be the gentleman he has always been, for him the people of his village are his family, and what meaning is an account with family members. With growing unpaid bills, his liabilities are getting surmounted, he is under tremendous stress.

He being Devassy, continues to believe what he has always believed…Father Alphonse.