Old Man and the Road

The old man closes his house door and walks slowly towards his cycle. He wheels it out of the gate and closes the gate behind him. His wife would slaughter him if he forgot to close the front door and gate when he went out. But years of hard conditioning have ensured that he doesn’t forget these things. He gets onto his bicycle and slowly pedals down the pothole ridden road. He negotiates the rough road with a patience and grace that comes from long experience, a grace you rarely find these days among the young folk and gulf returnees in their flashy and fast vehicles.

Kuttappan is heading out for the weekly provisions to Kumbanad about 4-5 kilometres away from home. He is now 84 years old, an age which most of us will never see and some of us will see from wheelchairs and sick beds. His physical condition is excellent and he moves only at the speed that is required given his age and the time ahead of him. His lean body shows a wrought iron like strength built from years of hard physical work and clean living.

But I worry for him. The road he is taking will soon meet the state highway. This road used to be frequented by bullets, jeeps and the odd red state transport buses before. These vehicles would tear down the empty road with the local drivers showing amazing control and recklessness. These vehicles have now given way to the fast and powerful sedans, SUVs and bikes of today. The people driving these vehicles are mostly unfamiliar with the roads given that they have spent most of their lives on the fast lanes of the Gulf countries. The new found prestige and pleasure of a powerful vehicle urges them to go faster and faster so that they can be noticed and they can impress the people who matter to them. The roads are not designed for this kind of speed or mental outlook.

Will Kuttappan on his cycle make it back home safely from this trip to his 80 year old wife? She shares his life with him and is as strong as he is but would she be able to survive the vacuum of his absence if he didn’t make it back?