Palamaner is a small sleepy town endowed with six to seven marriage convention halls. All these are in newpet only. Once there was a small marriage hall in pathapeta(oldtown). It was closed in the wake of small disputes followed by court cases. Now a days everyone has to depend on kothapetha (New town) marriage halls for all marriages and other functions. For this they have to cross the N.H.4 national highway.
To meet Yerukala (Tribal) Kapali, one has to enter pathapeta for sure.ST colony is named as Yekalavya Colony. It is in Pathapetha and all the marriage halls are in Kothapeta. Kapali dwells at ST Colony. Just to meet kapali, the big heads in palamaner town come to ST Colony, crossing the highway road and small streets .In the olden days these people never entered the houses of people like kapali. Now a days the same people taste food prepared by kapali the master chef. There is a big story behind this.
Once kapali was an obscure and not known to anyone. But now a days kapali is very popular and known to children also. Kapali is famous for his culinary skills. If anyone just utters Kabab kapali’s name, even children can tell his address. Kapali is an expert in preparing kebabs, a popular Non-Vegetarian dish with chicken or meat. For marriage dinners, feasts and ceremonies, people seek kapali for his culinary services. People in palamaner and surrounding villages first contact kapali for his services, when they host Vegetarian and Non- Vegetarian dinners at their residences. First they ensure that he takes up their cooking orders. If he is busy with his preoccupied cooking schedules then only they seek the services of other cooks. Some rich and affluent families in the town call kapali to their residences very frequently for cooking . They seek him to cook dishes like Kebabs and Biriyani , Palav, Tandoori items , fried rice,chicken pokada and Biriyani made of country fowls.
Kapali did not come to limelight in a day or two. Without struggle and turmoil,he did not become so much popular. Even kapali himself did not dream that one day he would be an expert in cooking. It all happened unexpectedly. Kapali used to work in a tent house of Armugham. Kapali’s forefathers reared ducks for their livelihood. It was their family business. Kapali’s father had a piggery business. He reared and sold Pigs for his livelihood. Usually kapali had no other option. He had to choose either of the two businesses for his own livelihood. But Kapali had a tussle at home on a trivial matter and fled away to Chennai, deftly pocketing some money available then in the house . The inmates of the house had no knowledge of his escape. He roamed in different places like a vagabond and got vexed with his life style. By the time he reached home, his grandfather and father had passed away. His mother was also no more. The pigs and the ducks!..All vanished. Nothing was left in the house to fall back upon and start a new life. Not expecting Kapali’s return, his three elder brothers shared among themselves, their ancestral property along with the pigs and ducks. They shared the huts also and lived in separate dwellings with their families.
Nobody expected kapali to return home. They didn’t like his unexpected arrival. They all expected that kapali won’t return at all. Kapali insisted on his share of their ancestral property. So, he sought the help of big heads in their caste for a panchayathi (Meeting for solving the dispute).The caste panchayathi went on for two nights and three days. It is not a petty matter with the big heads of Yerukala community. Country arrack and meat should be offered to them by both the parties who seek reddressal . This ritual continues as long as the panchayathi (caste meeting) goes on. As the discussions go on, the expenses also grow on. Debts are incurred heavily; as such no caste panchayathi is concluded easily. No one goes beyond the word of the caste panchayathi which has been an age old custom. Nobody crosses the boundary line of the caste. If anybody crosses the boundary he will be an outcaste.
Kapali’s three brothers furnished a big list of debts. Of late their mother passed away owing to illness. They spent money for her medical expenses. Hence heavy debts were incurred. The judgement on this family dispute for ancestral property went in favour of kapali’s three elder brothers. They justified their stance for incurring so many debts. The final verdict was that kapali would get a sum of three thousand rupees in cash from his three brothers towards his share of their ancestral property left behind by their deceased father. The big heads pronounced that the amount should be paid to kapali in three equal installments. By the time Kapali received his share of three thousand rupees,he had to pay two thousands towards the expenses incurred for the six marathon sittings of the caste panchayathi heads. In the final tally kapali was left with a paltry sum of thousand rupees as his share of ancestral property at long last!
That was all kapali was left with and it was his investment too! Kapali approached Armugham for work and joined his tent house as his assistant. Very soon Kapali became adept in this line of business. He became an expert in erecting pandals for functions and celebrations. He was sharp and keen in issuing and receiving stocks of mike sets, tables, chairs , pandals and cooking utensils given on rental basis to the customers. He earned experience in this trade and became very intimate to Armugham . Kapali became very familiar with the customers and they soon started calling him “Second Armugham” in the tent house trade. During such course of time a theft occurred in the tent house shop. A cash of twenty thousand rupees vanished from the cash box in the shop. Kapali was branded and labelled as a thief in the same shop where he worked with utmost faith and loyalty worth his salt. He faced a torture of three days at the police station in the name of enquiry. His body was reduced to a bundle of bones and flesh mangled with pain and insult.
Kapali with all pain, agony and insult, blurted out in sobs to Armugam, “Anna you know pretty well that I have no house, no wife and no children. I am homeless. I have nowhere to go and no one to fall back upon. I am a destitute .Day in and day out I am at your beck and call; I am entirely at your mercy and in your service. Above all I preserved my entire earnings with you. Where can I go? How did you imagine that I would steal money from you anna?” Kapali was hurt.
” I starved for many days, but I didn’t stretch my hand before any one for help. I didn’t lead the life of a thief. You don’t know me completely anna(Brother).” Kapali burst into tears and cried like a child, as he said these words.
In a disdainful voice Armugam said,
“You showed the nature of your jaathi (caste). You can’t hide your nature. You betrayed me. Kapali,I lost faith on you for what you did to me today”. Armugam turned his face away from Kapali.
“How can I forget those words of Armugham till my death? Armugham’s words pierce me even to this day more than the wounds occurred due to the lashes of the police during the station enquiry, ”, Says kapali even now.
“Anna,We the Erukala caste people lay down our lives for the people those who trust us. If guru seeks guru dhakshana,we people cut and give our thumb (finger) to the guru.You accused me. You said that I was faithless. If at all I have any sense, I won’t see your face in my life” Kapali said to Armugam then at the police station.
On the fourth day or fifth day of the theft, facts came to light. The thief was none other than Armugham’s own brother. The police caught him along with the cash while he was gambling in the club.The police enquired him in their own style. They asked him how he got so much cash on him. He spilled out the bean.Truth came to light.Armugam came to know about it.
The same Armugham ran to the police station hurriedly and begged Kapali to forgive him. He held the hands of kapali and repented for his harsh treatment and cruel words. But Kapali was relentless and he did not melt. The wound to his self-respect did not heal. He did not pay any heed to the words of Armugham.
After his release from the police station,Kapali went straight away to the Schedule Tribe Colony . Till then Kapali was outside this colony, with an opinion never to return there. But now he changed his mind and came straight away to ST Colony. He tapped the door of Devarajulu ,a distant relative of him . He is a grandfather to kapali by relation. Kapali left his clothes and belongings in Armugham tent shop. After sometime Armugham sent all the clothes and belongings of kapali with a person from his shop, but kapali sent them back through the same person, for no reason.
Devarajulu is an aged old hag. He is an addict. He takes Ganja (weed) and he would be always in the pangs of intoxication. He would always be uttering Tattvas(Vedantha) or singing bhajjans .
A destitute by disposition, Kapali was homeless, so he sought shelter in this old man’s hut. He occupied a corner in the hut. He was unable to bear the situation when the old man fell sick. With his eyes shut, the old man lied on the cot like a corpse. Kapali could not see him like that.It was unbearable for kapali.
Until that moment kapali was accustomed to hotel food. As soon as he shifted into the old man’s hut he had to feed himself and the old man too. Without wasting time Kapali gathered dry sticks and lighted the choola(hearth). He put a pan on it and prepared Sangati (a gruel with millets and broken rice). He took a small mud plate and put Sangati in it,pounding it into soft morsel. He prepared chutney and poured onto the morsel. Then he pushed the mud plate filled with sangati morsel and chutney, towards the old man.
Like that kapali lighted the choola(hearth)for the first time in his life. It was also not for his ownsake, but for the sake of the old man. So his culinary expedition began like that in the old man’s hut. Soon kapali went to work with the local chefs. He learnt small tasks from the local cooks. He picked up skills by doing small pieces of work like chopping vegetables and mixing spices with the vegetables in the pans. Gradually within six months he mastered the culinary skills and emerged as a master chef. Till then there was not a single cook in the entire ST Colony.
For that matter there was not even a single cook in yerukala community. Who can imagine that a fellow like kapali can become such a popular chef?
Initially Kapali faced some inconvenience as a cook. He faced some tough time.But with the money he earned through his work, he repaired the dilapidated hut. He made it suitable for living. He bought clothes and utensils and ladles for his culinary vocation.
People around the corner were aghast and perturbed with Kapali. They wondered “what this Yerukal fellow? He cooks food now adays!”
In the beginning people doubted his dexterity as a cook. Many avoided him owing to delicacy and face loyalty. Some grossly blamed him. The same people recognised the magic of his hand in cooking. They tasted his dishes once and stopped blaming him and his caste thereafter. It took a few years for all this to happen. His caste evaporated into air in front of hunger and food. No tongue dared to utter about his caste after tasting Kapali’s tasty dishes.
After coming back to palamaner , Kapali roamed here and there; he stood with bowed head and folded hands at the feet of strangers seeking for work. But now the tables have turned in his favour. People thronged before Kapali for learning culinary skills. They were very eager to join as his assistants and sous chefs (Second Cook) in order to learn cooking.
“It is not the profession of your caste, how did you learn this art kapali?” when someone utters such acidic remarks, Kapali would laugh heartily.
“Why do you say that anna?if a person puts his heart and soul in the work he does, definitely the person can master the work. One has to focus on the work he does and the work will be easy to grasp. What is there in the caste anna? For any trade ‘Quality’ is important .Did you notice?Malapalayam (Harijan Wada) Jacob’s cots have more demand among the customers than the cots made by Krishnamachary,a carpenter by caste and profession. For that matter People of upper castes have started their tea stalls, tiffen centres, cloth shops and bhel puri shops, for their livelihood” Kapali would answer such remarks with all details elaborately.
Kapali earned a very good reputation as a master chef in and around palamaner. He didn’t have at least a habit of smoking beedi or chewing pan (betel leaf and areca nut). He was a teetotaller. Such a person became a drunkard all of a sudden. Owing to addiction he lost his reputation. He stopped going to work. When he had no work,he drank heavily and nobody was bothered about it much. When he started drinking at the work place also, his name spoiled.
His well wishers advised him to get married, he paid no heed. They advised to build a house but in vain. They asked him to refrain himself from drinking, but of no avail. Because of drinking he was involved in tussles and quarrels. He used to visit his brothers , stand in front of their houses and shout at them loudly ; He used vulgar language and went to manhandle them in a drunken frenzy. He would fall out in the streets, almost every day.
Going to police station and getting thrashed, had become Kapali’s routine. Once he was in the police station for a week; So he was away from drinking during that period.
By then he was left with no money because of the caste panchayathi. For some days Kapali was away from drinking because of his empty pockets.
“First you come out of the hut. The old hag (Kapali’s grandfather) will teach you to smoke ganja (weed) also. You take a separate house on rent somewhere and get married. You will have a family and everything will fall in its place.And your life will be set right.” Some friends tried to convince him
Kapali simply laughed and kept silent. Armugham sent a person to Kapali, four to five times , offering him a job. Kapali did neither move nor respond.
Now adays Kapali is facing a bad time. Situation has become worse.People avoided calling him for cooking like before. His erstwhile assistants and helpers have become master chefs recently.
“Kapali is a nice person but he is a drunkard. He is a man of work and worth. But he may either spoil the dishes or or quarrel with somebody because of his drunken stupour. Let us not take risk.No one can predict kapali’s moods, So it is better to avoid him. If a pinch of salt or spice is more or less in a dish,it can be altered and made good. It may be set right. But when the entire preparations are spoilt the celebrations and functions will be jeopardised. Such a doom nobody would like to invite by hiring kapali.” They avoided kapali. Their number increased gradually. By oversight when somebody offered Kapali some work, he would not attend that work. He would starve himself adamantly.
Utterly jobless and penniless, Kapali sold all his cooking implements one after other to tide over his daily expenses. Nobody comes to him for learning work and techniques in cooking like before. With gross stubbornness and recklessness Kapali would cling to his loneliness by nature. He spent his days almost starving everyday.
Suddenly one day Kapali stood barefooted, in front of Armugham’s tenthouse shop. The same Kapali who once vowed that even in the worst situation in his life he won’t see Armugham’s face . This day such an adamant fellow like Kapali stood face to face with Armugham.
Poor Kapali appeared with a weak frame , dull beady eyes in the depth of the skull , grown up beard and shabby hair without oil ; like a dissipated wild creature, Kapali stood under the scorching sun, in front of Armugham, with folded hands and anguished tone.
Worst of all, Armugham was unable to recognise Kapali in such a state. After a while Armugham recognised Kapali and called him in.
“Rei (Hey )…what is this Kapali ?Do you need any money ? Did you have anything to eat? What happend rei? Why are you so dissipated? You stayed back and did not come to work, even when I sent for you many times. What happened to you today? Why did you come to me today?” Armugham shot all these questions at Kapali.
Facing such an earnest and anxious volley of questions in a spurt, Kapali scratched his head, being perturbed.
“Anna actually I never thought of coming to you, face to face. I didn’t expect to see your face in my life, but I am helpless. The old man Devarajulu gave me shelter in his hut and fed me all these days. Now that old man is bedridden and about to die. It is my bounden duty and moral responsibility to feed him as long as it goes. To keep him alive I must work anna. I beg and beseech you to show me some work anna” Kapali saying so, crumbled to ground almost bursting into tears.
Armugham was moved and taken aback. While consoling and comforting Kapali, he gave a worldly suggestion.
“Why this or that work Kapali , don’t mention your caste anywhere . If anybody asks you about your caste, tell a different caste, that’s all. Things will fall in their place and everything will be normal. I will set you as a master cook in a hotel somewhere.The Only thing is you should focus on your work and attain stability in your profession. That’s enough and you will be busy once again with your ladles and dishes throughout the day.” Armugham continued his flow of advice.
Kapali did not agree at all with Armugham.
“Anna how can I lie about my caste with the same mouth that I take food?! Anna, at any cost I shall the truth; I will tell the caste to which I belong, if they wish to hire me; they will hire me for work. If not it is entirely their wish. I spoiled myself and my reputation in all ways. But my caste is not the cause for my ruin. My caste is not a spoiled caste anna” Kapali blurted out.
“ Naturally anyone would surely ask me about my caste while hiring me for their work. I would surely tell them the truth. I will tell them that I am a ‘yerukala’ by caste. What will happen by telling so. I will tell nothing more, but the truth alone. The hirer may or may not agree to give work.. I dont mind it. That’s it anna. If people like me give up arrack, there are many gems in our yerukala caste also. However nobody is spoiled because of caste anna. If anybody has spoiled himself,then his caste is not responsible for it. Our reputation and self respect is at stake only because of arrack and not because of caste anna.” Kapali completed his words.
By then Armugham got confidence on Kapali and trusted his words. “It’s all right Kapali, come, you first get in”Armugham invited Kapali into his shop after a long time.
Then Kapali looked straight into Armugham’s face and said a few words, “Troubles and turmoils are common for any human being anna.
Even then there would always be a way to overcome such tough times. Anna if I focus intently, I too would find a way. I came here begging you for work, only because of old man in the hut. I am facing so much trouble, only because I am indebted to the old man. Anna every jati (Caste) has its own nithi (ethics). For that matter in our yerukula tribe anyman till his death,will never forget the person who has fed him once.”
A Short Story from “ Ekalavya Colony ” Telugu anthology published in November 2024
Translated by
D.Kumaraswamy Reddy ,
