---

TRANSFER

Sreekumar K

Two days had passed after Ravichandran shifted to his new place. Still he could not come to terms with the change. Everything had been downloaded and properly arranged by the workers brought by Sujith, his assistant who also had got transferred here from the previous office at Munnar.

The fridge and the washing machine could not be in separate rooms for lack of space. Otherwise, he had to move the dining table out of the kitchen into the main hall. He had decided to eat in the kitchen as it would save a lot of time.

The quarters at Munnar was even more crammed than this. But there, it had been too cold and the less the air moved in and out, the better. The things he had brought even now had the chill of Munnar about them, especially the wooden furniture. Even from his skin, the goosebumps had not vanished yet and at times he felt the chill again without it actually being there. Memories die hard.

Life at Munnar was intolerable. He was indeed miserable since his company had a different kind of work there. It took over the work of making the ownership documentations and clearing the red tape around them. Since the work was registered as an NGO mission, there was a kind of insulation and an ensuing lack of transparency. Thus, behind the curtains, it was basically land grabbing and real estate. He had to work with lawyers, engineers and surveyors there. He could never come to terms with what was going on there and felt much alienated. His colleagues made millions every year.

He often wondered what could be making them tick. Is it possible that their conscience had died long back in that severe cold there?

Both the land and the people there used to make him him ill at ease. Some of those who had work for him did not bother to do anything. He had tried to entice them into work but it was of no use.

His state of mind had affected his health. Either headache of high fever or some other stuff. Coming here, he felt so happy that those troubles had not accompanied him here.

There were people who were working for long at Munnar. They were all scared of getting a transfer. They were all in the money making business there.

He had worked in several places under the company, doing a wide variety of jobs. It hadn’t been easy or gratifying. But the days at Munnar were a class apart. Several times he had thought of resigning. Once Kristhudas said to him, “Sir, probably this is your karma. You may get a transfer when you least expect it.”

The company didn’t have the provision to make transfer requests on one’s own. They moved the employees here and there as they pleased, sometimes for a month or two, sometimes till one retired. Since it was not usual for people to get transfers, no one was really bothered about it. People worked their all their life and if they retired, they were not to be seen again. They simple disappeared as if they had never existed.

The journey from Munnar to Ratnagudi took several days and that too, by bus. It was so troublesome that he only thought of getting off the bus all through the journey and forgot even to look out. The only relief was a co-passenger who shared his seat. At times when he looked out he saw trees so old that he was sure they would have seen thousands of generations passing by. Trees almost never die. If they did, would they get a higher birth as an animal?

The man looked neat and was dressed very elegantly. He thought he might be an engineer or a bank employee. He was going far beyond Rantnagudi to some place Ravichandran didn’t know. They had had an interesting conversation and Ravichandran was shocked to hear what the man actually did for a living. He was a snake catcher, a man who was living for snakes and willing to die for them. Ravichandran had to suppress a strong desire to see if the man had a forked tongue too. In face when the man laughed out loud, Ravichandran took a good look at his tongue. No, quite normal.

“People build houses where snakes used live and breed and then try to oust them. If they don’t go away, they kill them. All people are basically mad conquerors.”

Hearing that, first Ravichandran laughed out and then a vague memory came to his mind. He tried to ferret it out and took a long time before he became successful.

At Munnar, the company had grabbed the homestead of a person and he resisted. Then he was offered money and land but he didn’t budge. And one night, some people entered his home and beat him to death. Just like one would do to a snake. Just like what this stranger was saying. The world was all cliché ridden. Nothing new. History and life itself repeated endlessly.

“There are three snakes in my bag. If the bus stops in some wooded area, I will leave them there and let them fend for themselves.”

Hearing that, Ravichandran had the shock of my life. He had a bag on his lap and he was clutching hard onto it from the moment he entered the bus.

In the afternoon, the bus stopped near an open land and he walked out with the bag to some bushes nearby. He saw him shake them out of his bag and chase them away into the bushes. He came back and sat with him. Ravichandran felt much relieved but still had a doubt whether he had other snakes in his suitcase or something.

“Got scared? Don’t be scared of snakes. They lead a dangerous life but they know no fear. They fight even the ferrocious mongooses. And most importantly, they hate those who have fear in them and seek them out and bite them.”

How rude! He sounded like he was telling Ravichandran that he was sure to die of a snakebite since he was dead scared of snakes.

He moved himself around in his seat, made himself comfortable and said, “No matter which forest you go into or how far you travel, the only snake that will ever bite you is the one that you carry in your mind.”

Ravichandran stared at him and tried to allow the snakes in his mind slither out through the nine holes in his body. It failed. He shook himself up to fling them away. Nothing happened.

“Fear, the snake which you carry in your mind. Anxiety. That is what everyone dies of.”

“That is true,” Ravichandran added.

“I too have some fears in me, silly ones. I am scared of injections. And now I have to take insulin shots everyday. I close my eyes, grind my teeth and chant Lord Krishna’s names. Teeth grinding helps.”

Ravichandran laughed out loud.

“But I am not scared of snakes and was never bitten by one,” the man said

“Is this a good income?” Ravicandran could not suppress his curiosity.

“O, that is a difficult question to answer, though this is not the first time I was asked this. To be frank, I am able to manage my domestic expenses and give a bit to other people who need it. This dress, that I think you admire, is not mine. When I am invited to rich houses to catch snakes, I ask them if they have a pair of dress to spare. That is how I got this. There is more at home.”

He went on talking for the rest of the journey. It was a great relief. An alienated man. A dying species like most of the sankes he had caught. His goodness and simplicity have also made him an endangered species.

At Ratnagudi, a good office, an assistant and all the necessary equipment were ready. My assistant who got a punishment transfer was making up for all the laziness he had shown earlier. They would have scared the shit out of him. He behaved very differently after coming here.

It was a salubrious climate. Adequately warm days and comfortably cold nights. No mosquitoes. The quarters might be near some forest. The only sound was the bird calls which continued late into the night. The internet connectivity was rather weak but the TV worked fine. All sports channels were there.

The company made it clear that he could start any project that wouldn’t ruin the environment in any way. That was not the policy the company had adopted at Munnar. May be, he was wrong. The company had the same policy there too and the people altered it to suit there purpose. Strange!

One Rajappan Sir was assigned to show him around the place. He had come there much earlier and had started some very good projects. The company had placed him rather high. He lived with his wife and two children in his own house at Ratnagudi more towards the side of the hills on the other side of the cultivable plains. He was not planning to go back.

Not a bad decision. This was a nice place. The only problem was one had to live away from relatives and friends. Except for that, the place was totally welcoming and hospitable. He wondered if people needed anything more than what the village offered.

Rajappan sir came in the afternoon. Unlike what Ravichandran had expected, he was a young fellow who looked more like a bachelor than the father of two teenagers.

“When I came here the first time, I went on sleeping for a week without doing a thing. It was like being air-dropped. Only that I was really tired from the journey.”

“Exactly. This place is wonderful. But what a difficult path! I don’t think anyone comes here unless they are forced to. Or they have a change of mind or something. Or, if they lose their mind. I didn’t even look out during the bus ride here. The only relief was a co-passenger. He was very interesting. He was interesting because he kept me tense all through the jouney.”

“Ha ha ha! I think I know whom you are talking about. A snake catcher, right? When I came here for the first time he was there with me too all through the journey, with a bag full of snakes with him. But he was a nice man. He suggested a medicine to cure my dermatitis and it is all gone now. The funniest part is his face was full of dermatitis.”

“O God, it still is.”

We laughed together. Laughing together is like singing together. It makes one connect with others so easily.

Ravichandran dressed quickly and went out with Rajappan sir for a short site tour. As they walked, they saw an extensive horticulture field to one side of their path. People who were engaged in collecting flowers and watering the plants looked up and smiled at Rajappan sir. He seemed a favourite of them.

At the end of the tour, they reached Rajappan sir’s home. The home and the people were all very beautiful.

“There are quite a number of children here who do not go to schools. My wife and the kids taught them just to read and write.”

Rajappan sir also had a small farm of flowers behind his home. There was a strange fragrance everywhere as if it came from their smiles.

“Here the job descriptions are so different. You are free to do anything as long as you take full responsibility for your work. No one is going to feel bad even if you don’t do any work at all. But people who come here tend to work a lot. Mostly, what they always wanted to do all their life but never had the support to take them up.”

“It is going to take some time for me to settle down. This is all strange for me.”

“No, things will be faster than you imagine. They pick up the right people for this site. I am sure you will do well.”

I spotted some tall buildings behind the range of hills near his house. They looked ancient and extensive

“What are those buildings?”

“That is our head quarters, the main offices.”

O, God! How strange! I never thought the company was so old. They have the head office at this remote place. That is even stranger!

“Shall we go there for a visit one of these days?”

“O, no. We don’t have the permission to go there. I too wanted to go, but permission is denied.”

Ravichandran grew more anxious to see it. Who might be working there? How do one get to work there?

Then he thought it was a bad idea. He had reached that far and enough was enough. If he was destined to see it or if there was some way of getting to a position to see it with the quality of his work, he might get to see it. That was good enough. And fair too.

Coming back from Rajappan sir’s house, Ravichandran stopped several times on the way to look back at those buildings. He also made a note in his mind that one of the projects could be a small school for the kids. If the company provided a doctor, it might be possible to start a village clinic too.

The horticulture farms also had endless possibilities. Wider variety of flowers was sure to improve the villager’s income. It will also make the place look more attractive and useful. Leave a mark wherever you go.

On his way, he could see the farmers looking up and waving at him.

He had already become one among them.