The Friendly Drunkard

I reached my destination and waited for the owner who I was told would be arriving shortly. After about twenty minutes I saw the drunkard again. He was walking slowly and unsteadily on the graveled road with his naked feet. He came up to me and saluted me. He conversed briefly with a man who was sweeping the courtyard of the garden's office and inched closer to me. He saluted me again and mumbled some incoherently. He was pointing in a direction where I presumed his house was.

During my time as an officer in the irrigation department, I had to visit the 'field' or the rural areas frequently. The villagers whom I met were a varied lot. Some were very suspicious, others were affable and some were perennially drunk. One invariably encountered the drunkards while going to the interior villages.

The experience that I am about to narrate now happened on one of my visits to a tribal village. I was riding a second hand motorcycle and had halted suddenly. I was unsure whether I was in the right direction. It was a muddy narrow road, fringed with tall vegetation on either sides. I looked for someone to ask for directions but the road was deserted.

Suddenly I spotted a lone human figure. He was ambling in my direction in an unsteady manner. The man was dark complexioned, his clothes were in tatters and he was reeking of alcohol. I asked him for the direction to a citrus garden.

He smiled and answered incoherently. However, he pointed in the direction that I was heading. Well I started my bike and headed off in the direction, not thinking twice about the drunkard.

I reached my destination and waited for the owner who I was told would be arriving shortly. After about twenty minutes I saw the drunkard again. He was walking slowly and unsteadily on the graveled road with his naked feet.

He came up to me and saluted me. He conversed briefly with a man who was sweeping the courtyard of the garden's office and inched closer to me. He saluted me again and mumbled some incoherently. He was pointing in a direction where I presumed his house was. "'My house there sir… no problem. Here any problem…mention my name...my house there…", he repeated and pointed in a direction which was covered with dense vegetation. I nodded and managed a smile. I thought that the man would loiter away. A little boy and girl were playing in the courtyard. He called out to them and told them to come to him. He pulled out two sweets from his shirt pocket. Seeing this, the initially apprehensive children walked up to him. They took the candies that he was holding. The drunkard helpfully unwrapped the candy for the girl as she was struggling with the task. "These are my children," he said and smiled again. The children were fair skinned and I naturally presumed that the man was joking. The two children resumed their play and kicked up a dust cloud as they ran around gleefully chasing each other. The garden employee admonished them harshly for he had just broomed the courtyard. The children ran away to a different location to continue their play.

"My house is there Sir…right over there..If any problem you mention my name," the drunkard said again and started loitering in the citrus garden.

In the meantime, the garden owner had arrived. He greeted me and informed me about the problems of the sprinkler system that he had installed. He also told me that a few meters away from the garden the conveyor pipe was leaking water. In response, I suggested that we go and conduct an inspection. The man agreed and insisted that I take a kilo of oranges from his garden by way of a gift.

Although I refused he handed me a bag of ripe big oranges. He offered me tea too and we ended up chatting for sometime. After half an hour we started our two-wheelers and departed in the direction of the leakage. The drunkard had disappeared and I concluded that he was harmless.

Now the direction of the leaking pipe turned out to be the direction of the drunkard's house. I noticed that there were no houses around. A dense patch of forest led up to the banks of a river and leaning on the trunk of a big tree was the drunkard! His eyes were closed and he was snoring peacefully. A makeshift tent was set up beside the tree and a dog was sleeping beside him. The dog rose to his feet when he saw us approach and started barking in a restrained manner. It seemed like the dog was telling us that his master was asleep and we should not awaken him.

By Biprajit Datta Choudhury

Biprajit30@gmail.com

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