T H E F A L L
M A D R A S
T A M I L N A D U
"Sir, your order?" "Ah, yes, one masala dosa and a nice (plain dosa)," the customer said, giving his orders to the waiter. The waiter noted it down and started walking towards the kitchen, hearing the conversation shift from table to table. He inserted his middle and index fingers inside the lonely two transparent tea cups, which had dried off tea with a touch of saliva along the lip of the cup. The waiter placed down the cups inside the sink, slightly moved towards his right side, grasped a cup, passed boiling water through it, swoosh, he grabbed the sugar box from the end of the counter, added exactly 3 tablespoons of sugar to the cup, plucked the tea strainer with the cup out of the boiler, strained the tea decoction, filled it half the glass taking in consideration of the sugar, poured another half of the glass with hot cattle milk, transferred it to another cup and back to it for five times, placed it on the counter, cleaned the counter, held the tea on the top part of the cup, and kept the steaming tea on one of the tables inside the kitchen. Thud, "Akava, tea."
A curly, long-jade green-haired guy with some black beard and black moustache whose right hand was placed on his right leg, which was up on the chair, was reading a newspaper. He slightly folded the right top corner of the newspaper and glanced at the tea. "Thanks, Nil," as he slowly stretched out his hand to get the tea. He took the tea into his hand and started sipping, while reading the news on Dina Seithigal. Ring, ring, ring, rin- he picked up the call without looking at the phone screen. "Helon." "Is Amura there with you?" A tensed, mature voice spoke.
"ahh… Mu-Murali na," he adjusted his phone properly, as it was held between his ear and shoulder, and sat properly with both his legs down. "Amuraaa… he's not here, na."
"FUCK! Where the hell is he?" Murali shouted with his old vocal chords, which resulted in some coughs. "Akava, can you do me a favour?" Akavan, who was stunned by the quick change in conversation and was keeping his phone five centimetres away from his ear, came back to his senses and replied with a reluctant yes. "Good! Find Amura and bring him to Lily, now! You understand?" "y-yes na" he answered. "Alright, I am hanging up the call." Murali ended the call and tossed his phone on the table. Sigh, "that kid…" Murali worried as he drank some water from the water dispenser.
Akavan slowly kept the newspaper and the tea, which he took four sips of, on the table. He stood up from his chair, stared at the table, contemplating what he was going to do, and swift he sprinted towards Nil, calling out his name. Nil, who was serving the customer his masala dosa and nice was met with a pain-filled Akavan, as he had stubbed his left baby toe pretty badly in one of the table's legs.
"What happened?" Nil asked with a face that exerted no care for Akava, who was holding his left toe in his right hand and trying to calm down. "What happened?' he asked again.
"Can't you fucking see? I hurt my toe," Akavan shouted. Nil stayed silent. "Why did you run to me in the first place?" "Ah, about that… do you know where Amura is?" "Why?" Nil countered. "Murali na asked me to bring him to Lily," Akavan answered. [He stared at his dosas longingly as Akavan and Nil were talking]. "He's down there in Nangai's Cafe." "Nangai ah, why is he there?" Akavan questioned in confusion. "I don't know," Nil replied while serving the customer his dosas. "Why are you like this?" he whispered to himself.
I am going there, you coming?" he asked. "Nope," he answered as he poured water into the glass for the customer.
"Tharkuri," Akavan said to Nil, and walked towards his bike. He sat on his bike, adjusted the kick starter, got up, and kicked it.
------
Krrrkue,krrrkue,krrrrkue, the sound of the Mynahs filled the morning air of Kashmir. It was 50 minutes before the sunrise, Shay was in his room packing all the things, while Vetri dozed off sitting in a chair. Gr-gr-gr-gr-grrrrrrripppppppp… rip, Shay taped the box. Vetri woke up jerked by the sound of the tape ripping. "Ah… all finished," he asked while rubbing his drowsy eyes. "Oh, sorry na I woke you up; yeah, almost finished," Shay answered while taping another box. The sun slowly started to unveil its new beauty and started to send the dark moon to a temporary sleep. "Na, can you carry those bags?" Shay asked. "Ah, ok da," Vetri said, carrying the bags and going down to his auto. Shay carried the boxes, which were pretty heavy, and some left-over bags down the stairs. When he reached the auto, Vetri took some of them into his hand and helped him load them into his auto. "Damn, you are pretty strong," Vetri said to him. "Thanks na, I used to help my father back in town." "That means you are a good child, eh?" Vetri laughed. "Not like that and all na," Shay smiled, his eyes gone down, and a wave of sadness struck him. "What happened, da?" Vetri asked him. "Nothing na, I- I will go up and check if I have taken all things," he said in a serein tone. He went up, re-examined his whole room, checked the table and cupboards, entered the bathroom, and finally locked the doors of his house. He came down and saw Vetri checking his WhatsApp. "Can we move, na?" he politely asked him. "Ah, yes… one second," he was messaging something to someone on WhatsApp. Shay was standing next to him. A blow of air brushed his face, and his eyes were caught by the sun and its radiant light, giving grace to everything it touched. (muffled noise) "Shay, Shay… Shay." "Ah," Shay startled and turned. "Can we go, and are you crying?" Vetri asked in concern. "ah..(smile)..no na, I looked at the sun for too long," he said as he wiped the small tears coming out of the canthus with his finger. Shay got inside the auto which, had plenty of room considering the bags and boxes. Vetri started the auto.
"Anna, I want to sell this old kerosene stove, do you know any scrap buyers na?" Shay asked while pointing out the stove. Vetri looked at it through his side mirror. "There's one in Fuchsia Street itself; we will go to her tomorrow," he replied. The atmosphere was silent, and the sounds of birds were no longer heard by Shay. He was filled with silence; the sound of the auto vanished as he was observing the path. The amber trees and the road filled with snow made him feel a new sense of feeling, a feeling he had never had before. "Shay!" Vetri called him. "Yes na," he heard him and the sound of his surroundings came back. "Is everything all right?" Vetri asked him. "Yes na, why? What happened?" "Nothing da, you carry on with your sightseeing work," " Okay na," Shay smiled and started to gaze outside while thinking about something inside. His face didn't reflect anything.
The auto stopped. They carried and kept the boxes and bags in front of the main door. Shay stretched his back while Vetri pressed the bell two times. They can hear the footsteps approaching. Click, the door opened. Liam, who was awakened from his sleep, stood there in confusion. "Wh-what are you guys doing here? What's the time?" "It's…" Vetri looked at his watch while supporting his forearm on the wall, "6:10." Vetri and Liam stared at each other. "Why are you here?" Liam asked while his eyes ran over all the boxes and bags that were kept in front of his door. "These are all my things," Shay said. "Okay da, why is it in front of my house?" Liam asked while standing with his hands in his pocket. "He's shifting Liam," Vetri smiled. Grunt, "you only gave him the offer," Vetri said as he lifted the bag." "But he said he would shift in the morning; I didn't expect this early," Liam said while pointing his right hand at Shay. "It's all because of me. He asked me for my help, but you know I will be super busy today, so I asked him if we could shift early in the morning, and he was fine with it, that's all," Vetri said while smiling and yawning together. "Why will you be super busy today?" Liam questioned. Vetri was astonished. "Seriously, you don't know what day today is?" he asked. Liam down lip depressed and he shook his head. Vetri stood there in contentment. "Go, check the dates," he said while smiling.
Something struck Liam's mind; he quickly went inside and rushed to the kitchen. He came to a stop and looked at the calendar that hung on the wall, which was hidden in the sunlight. He went closer, kept his hand on the calendar, and his pupil dilated with glee. "September 14, 2018" was marked with a circle, and there was a note written beside it, "Fuchsia Thiruvizha." Liam beamed as he watched the date with his gentle brown eyes. He is filled with joy.
The Gerente walked towards him. His leg ceased beside him with his neck slightly bent down. "You remember the rules la? No killing," he said while slowly turning his head towards Amura. "Hm… hmhmhm… hmhmhm (wheeze)," he snickered.