Kunju Muhammadinte Maranam

When my taxi approached the Mannamthuruth St.Joseph's L.P school, I got nervous after seeing a big crowd near the school. When the car slowed down, I lowered one of the glasses of the car to ask someone the reson for the crowd. "Did something happen to my mother?" was the first question that arose in my mind. I saw Polachan and Rathishan taking a quick puff hiding behind Sreedharan's fence (thanks to the banning of smoking in all public places). They told me that 'Kunju Muhammad' died and it is time for his funeral. My breath regained normalcy, as 'it was not my mother', who is not that well these days ad our house is just 20 ft away. Still I felt sad of Kunju Muhammad's demise. I felt as if, one page of my life is fading away, closing a chapter. Why is 'Kunju Muhammad so close to me?. 

His was the one and only shop near my house which sold Wills cigarette, which was my brand then. He had only few selected VIP customers, who bought this cigarette, as it was the most expensive cigarette available in our village at that time. After playing shuttle badminton at the school ground, me, Padua, Paul, Saju and a few others used to frequent his shop to gulp down bottles of locally made plain soda, followed by a Wills cigarette. Very often we did not have the money to give, so a credit account was maintained for each of us at this shop. Once in a while we used to have minor arguments with Kunju Muhammad regarding the small, insignificant (now) descrepancies in the accounts. 

Once his shop is closed, that sheltered our evening gathering, which comprised of smoking pure grass and then singing songs. The empty kerosine drums placed outside the public ration shop used to get transformed into drums. These sessions were very enjoyable. After these sessions, those who wanted to play cards sneaked into Kochouseph's one room mansion, behind this shop. While others indulged in rummy, my main past time was to hallucinate, lying down on the old cot of Kochouseph chettan, which had only coir top.

Once the bridge connecting mannamthuruth to Kochi mainland happened, the traffic through the old ferry road took a nose dive, which in turn affected business of Kunju Muhammad. This forced him to close the shop a few years ago. 

Last time when I met him a couple of months ago, his one leg was swollen due to poor blood circulation, an after effect of diabetics, and day before yesterday was his end of life. I feel as if, someone close has passed away.  May his soul rest in peace.