Rajamani

Rajamani Chittappa: He is father’s 4^th brother and the most problematic. Rajamani cannot open his mouth without a “lie”: he would lie on just about everything like a curse (or was it thrill)? If he calls to inform that he is visiting you in the next 30 minutes, you can safely lock the house on the fib! He wouldn’t come till the next week or even next month or year. Anything he says you can safely write on water with a 100% certainty.  

Rajamani now in his early 60s has a bald plate (he calls its acres of fallow land) has an egg face. Though short at 5’4”, his face was rather huge; bright dark eyes, long nose, and a loud booming mouth. What really sagged Rajamani down is his stubborn refusal to learn from mistakes?

            He started his career in the freight business and lorries are in his bloodline to an obsession. He would work for 6 months and with whatever little savings “buy” a decrepit lorry and spend on it to a running condition. You can be sure that within the next 6 months either the lorry would meet an accident or the driver abscond with money or the cleaner caught by the cops for a huge damage. He must have purchased a lorry every year for the last 25 years and has never shown a profit to even sustain.  

Rajamani would frequently run out of money and had no qualms borrowing money from relations or friends or colleagues or just about anyone on the road. He was a glib talker and his powers of persuasion would get him off the noose. He never bothered to return money and it took a loaner 3 or 4 incidents to become chagrined and cut further losses.  

Rajamani lived on the edge; always optimistic despite the near penurious condition of the family. His wife did not interfere in his errant ways once she realized that none can impact him even a degree. Rajamani has seen many hungry days; depending on temple’s prasads to feed the family; or visit his in-laws during meal times. But such desperate situations don’t last and within 6 months he would be running a new lorry and once again be chirpy and a new optimism. But I do recollect one horrible summer when he was on the edge and had even procured poison for the entire family.   

I always felt that of Paati’s 6 sons, he was the smartest. He had that adventurous streak that is alien to Brahmin community. He had a gift for languages – Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu – and blessed with a skill to impress. When he smeared his forehead with vibhuti in thick 3 horizontal lines and a vermillion at the centre, he looked radiant. In his funny moments, he is a good mimic, brilliant in singing Bhajan songs, or frantic in pujas for divine aid in moments of adversity. Despite his fluctuating fortunes, relations welcomed him with open arms. He knew how to connect to people at a base level though we all saw him as a family “Narada”.

            I would often joke about his “lying” mouth and he would recoil in hurt pride. But he was not the kind to carry bad blood to the next day. If Rajamani were to ever pen his life, it will make for great reading. No life has seen such despair or humiliation; children pulled out of school and relatives shutting doors on sight fearful of another loan request.  

Now his son is married and makes an agreeable living in a call Centre in Mumbai. Both the sons revere him despite his constant gambles. He is mellowed a lot after the sons have started going to work and his lorry dreams are finally buried. Instead he thinks that there is a market for catering “dabba meals”! The dark days are at last over and that has given him a new swagger and a more pompous mouth.

Post Script (2017): He died in August, 2010. He was the guarantor to my State Bank of Mysore loan when I ventured into wine business in 2004. Each time I remember Rajamani Chittapa, the mind goes to this image in 1989 – he dropped me off at Central Station as I took a train to Hyderabad after performing my father’s obsequies. As the Chennai-Hyderabad glided off the platform, tears trickle down in both our faces as we waved hands. That was one moment of bondage and a true human connection.  He had a tender heart, he cared for others; nothing else matters. 

Verdict: Rajas

Lesson to be learnt: Be friendly from far but don’t ever get intimate.