4.Suicide of a village chameleon

(Continued from previous post..)
Kuttiohamed is Mridul's close neighbour. He is the member of a large farmer family. But his father and two uncles are narialwallahs in mumbai city. Kuttymohamed's dream is to make it big in Mumbai like his uncles. His grand dad is called Kappal because he could carry a "ship-load" on his shoulder when there were no bullock carts could navigate in the rough terrain of the village woven with narrow deep alleys and thin slippery mud banks of paddy field for transportation. Kappal still navigated the village paths with his majestic muscular frame and piercing sharp eyes whereas his sons conquering the gallis around Gate way of India. They supplied tender coconuts to Taj hotel to be sucked by Bollywood stars and western guests. They brought exotic clothes, fragrant soaps and colurful sweets which made Kuttimohamed yearn for his Bombay conquest.

Mridul and other two musketeers are 2 years junior to him. Kuttimohamed is the coach of Mridul in his manhood trainings. He learned to smoke beedi, explore paddy fields and Koll lake with lotus and buffaloes under the guidance of KuttiM. Also, they discussed about who made love with whom and about ejaculation and masturbation. Kuttimohamed was the close associate of the three musketeers, and they had a lot of adventures together. One day Kuttimohamed announced that he is leaving to Mumbai to join his dad and uncles. He did not complete his schooling. The 3 M really missed Kuttimohamed. Once they played a drama written by Mridul  using bed sheet as curtain and the tall Kuttimohamed was the hero. They even tried a show of Kuttimohamed voluntarily allowing himself to be buried alive for a few hours in a pit in earth and come out unscratched to impress the girls. But Kuttimohamed's uncle found out before they could execute it and he thwarted it. Kuttimohamed is leaving. the 3M planned a warm send off with gifts. They decided to buy ice cream and give him in the railway station. They brainstormed of something funny to make Kuttimohamed smile and forget the pang of separation for a while. One morning Kunjumon shot a Chameleon with his bamboo gun. Mridul put a straw around the neck of the chameleon as if it hanged itself. When Kuttimohamed saw it he had to struggle a lot to come normal from his uncontrollable burst of laughter. KuttiM virtually bite dust out of laughter. 3M want Kuttimohamed remember their adventures every time. They planned that they will give him a dead dried chameleon with a straw nook around its neck. Mridul nicely designed a caption" Oru Onthinte thoongi maranam" (Suicide of a Chameleon). They imagined Kuttimoahmed's laughter as he open the packet. In the railway station they gave the ice cream that KuttiM ate heartily . They had given the packet asking him to open it only after his train covered a few stations.

Poor Kuttimohamed had a lot of struggle in Mumbai. eventually he got malaria and came back. Later Kuttiohamed's mother was telling that because the 3M had given such an ugly disastrous gift Kuttimohamed suffered in his life struggle. Kuttimohamed opened the packet when he was hungry thinking his friends had given something to eat and he was so shocked seeing the hanged chameleon that made him sick and spoilt his whole trip. It spoiled his first Mumbai conquest. But KuttiM is not the sort to give up. After certain years he made it and arrived in life, went to middle east drove cars in United Arab emirates, bought lands, settled in his home village running successful small enterprises. The dead chameleon could delay it just a few years only. The 3 M were very sorry about what they did to their dear friend and secretly wished Kuttimohamed pardon theur ignorance. They do not dare to open the topic to Kuttimohamed to say how sorry they are.