The Man with a Support System

 I

Men live with endless talents, most of which are not explored or exposed.  Some curious men make attempts to bring it out but many obedient others won’t ever realise their normalities and abnormalities and lead a humble life.

My story is about a man, AmRaa who owned a special talent named, Support System (SS).  The Support System is a “service” which is available only to young ladies who don’t have a boyfriend, lover or even a husband!  . AmRaa found out that this hypothetical equipment or SS was beneficial in so many ways to those women who were not “normal”. (‘hypo’=some, thetical= spelling mistake).

AmRaa seriously assumed that because of this special talent, he owned the right to judge and to decide upon the lives of young unmarried women and took the sole proprietorship of saving them. He also wanted to prove that SS was the most appropriate tool that any single woman could be able to make use of. AmRaa tried to lend it to a few; tried to bring it to reality, to experience its function, but couldn’t be successful in any of his attempts.

The SS is a hypothetical state of mind. It is not like the Operating System that you have heard of. The SS is inbuilt in every man. If it is in the hibernated state, then it is harmless. When it becomes lively, men will show some pathological symptoms which in turn will become a threat to women around.

The Support System of AmRaa first started becoming active with the entry of Janu. AmRaa may be a stranger to you now but I am sure that a little background information about him will make him your real hero!! AmRaa was doing research on women in the department of “W” in the University of Pu at a time when the people just started to use mobile networks and students enjoyed unlimited call service from 10 p.m. till 5 a.m.

AmRaa appeared as a shy, non-confident and introverted individual. But his whole body was stuffed with a burning urge to reform the unjust society and he presumed himself as a Young Turk urging to voice out. His whole life was dedicated to the empowerment of women.

 Another rumour which was spreading about him was that he had surrendered his life on the feet of his Madame, Sasaustrus¹ who assured him that he would be appointed as her colleague in the same department if he had proved his loyalty. He had to walk over  fire, brick and mud for years together, I mean, during his tenure as a research scholar. Madame Sasaustrus was the head of the department of W where AmRaa had been doing his research from his youthful days.

Everything went on well except AmRaa’s research. He proved himself as a perfect clerk, attender, assistant and an organiser and was literally walking on fire for five to six years and unfortunately got burns in his heart but not a faculty position.

 II

In the next part of the story, I am introducing another character, RAee. AmRaa was RAee’s “phone a friend”. During the time when AmRaa met RAee, she was so troubled by writers like Orhan Pamuk and Sashi Tharoor and frightened even of losing her name to “RED²”. Her roommate Expo had been endlessly talking about the novel“RED”, Pamuk and Tharoor which were her primary sources. She had gone much ahead in her thesis preparation. RAee was still in search of any one source to start with. Comrade CK Janu appeared to her during one of her noon time wild dreams. Before letting those authors overtook her life further, RAee was thunderstruck with an idea of turning her dream into reality.

RAae was known to her friends as the epitome of cordiality and affection. That day suddenly after consuming one Broofen³ which helped her to come back to normal state fast, RAee decided that her M. Phil. thesis should revolve around the protest of Kerala Adivasis for their land, which was popularly known as ‘Muthanga Strike’. C K Janu was the leader of that strike who penned her experiences during the strike in her famous biography “Mother Forest”. RAee knew that the only person who she could approach to discover the source of her dream was proprietor AmRaa. Without much contemplation she dialled AmRaa for help.

The Man with a Support System or AmRaa was not a well-known figure to girls until Janu came to the scene. Janu had nothing to do with the process of transfiguration of AmRaa from a normal human into a self-styled SS guru. But I should say that she had the sole responsibility to breathe life into a sober AmRaa who was in a rather hibernated state concentrating his mind and body only for the works of Madame Sasaustrus and a few other women.

RAee and AmRaa had their formal meetings and usual conversations. But after deciding on Janu, their conversations became unusual, I mean focused. AmRaa wandered lonely as a cloud⁴ and got all the materials required for RAee. RAee started her thesis work in full spirit.

It was during one of those days that AmRaa got up from bed with the realization that he owned the magical ‘Support System’. Till then he was just fancying to create a utopia for women. Medha padkar and Arundhathi Roy were his demigods. He dreamed of them day and night, discussed their involvements endlessly and imagined himself as their successor.  He also dreamt of leading a protest similar to the one like Narmada Bachao Andholan.

If Janu had not written ‘Mother Forest’, this “love’s labour's lost⁵” story would not have happened, I should say.

RAee made it a habit to serve AmRaa with the salty banana chips with so much affection after her trip from her native place to the campus. With the heart throbbing flavour of those Palakadan chips’, a feeling of ‘oneness’ started to develop inside the hidden trajectories of AmRaa. His amygdala started to react. Days went by. RAee finished her thesis and submitted it. Winter left for summer and many more things happened in the lives of many on the campus.

 III

The third part of the story introduces Eliza or Eli who was a regular visitor in RAee’s room. Both were classmates and soul mates too.  One day Eli smelled that something was rotten in the room number two of Daveri hostel. A silent contract was getting signed between AmRaa and RAee. Eli warned RAee to change the route less-trodden.

After completing their various courses of study people bid farewell to the campus. RAee too packed her bags and left for her bus. While waiting in front of the University for a Bus to town, she purposely neglected AmRaa’s presence in the crowd. Memories started to pinch AmRaa after he received a “goodbye” message from RAee. The cruellest April month played its part once again in the life of one more man. AmRaa helplessly heard the screaming sound from the shattering of the castles which he had built beautifully in the air inside his heart. During that sleepless night he wrote the latest version of Dejection: An Ode⁵ in response to RAee’s ingratitude and her abandoning him without accepting his SS.

Eli was a witness to these events. She felt disappointed seeing the sorrow of AmRaa. She blamed RAee. It was not for making AmRaa to forget Medha patkar and Arundhathi but for becoming the reason to activate his SS.

The next few months were quite dry inside the campus. Days, weeks and months passed by. After completing her course Eliza decided to stay in the university campus for a few more months. The only familiar person available was AmRaa. Eli was feeling sorry for AmRaa for losing his heart to RAee. The sympathy wave brought the two more closer. AmRaa’s companionship was enriching, knowledgeable and also friendly to Eli. AmRaa and Eli spent time in the department, in the campus library, outside the hostel building and discussed about PUSA and a variety of socio-political developments in the country, during their evening meetings.

IV

Eli was travelling in and out of the campus for her job, daily. Her career started in a publishing company within a month and AmRaa was one of the reasons for that job. Eli opted that job for money and felt much more comfortable to stay inside the campus hostel rather than staying outside.

AmRaa discussed even about his family with Eli. Matters like huge amounts of money involved in the dowry given for his sister’s marriage, property his parents were about to sell or purchase etc etc…became his topics. Eli never realized that her conversation and her compliance were being misjudged. On a particular day after waking up, AmRaa understood that he was once again powerful with the mighty Support System and decided that Eli had to be favoured with his gift of gab⁶.

            AmRaa started to express his interest through messages much to the discomfort of Eli who strongly suggested him not to waste his time. Though Eli was modest enough to be polite in her reaction, years long research about women did not help AmRaa to drop his male ego. He called Eliza a “Doolittle” and thus belittled her like colonel Pickering⁷. “I thought you need a support system, that’s why I took this path”, he messaged her. Eliza understood that his idea of drawing her close to his company and offering her the warmth of a friendship was not to make her the real duchess of a woman but just to satisfy his superiority complex. He demeaned Eli by saying that it was his generosity to offer a “cockney speaking Covent Garden flower girl” (lonely unmarried girl) with this fortune called Support System.

Eliza was unaware of this gift of SS, a man could possess, till she got the first-hand experience of it. She was one of the unfortunate women who did not have the sensibility to realize the super-specialty of this mechanism called SS and hence rejected the offer. Even now she doesn’t know how many girls are aware about the fact that this is the theory with which a girl’s life is build-up of; the theory of Support System.

V

Eliza left the campus and started to stay in a separate place for the convenience of her job. Two years later, when she called AmRaa for a formal talk; he shared the fact that though he lost his hope of getting a job in the department of W, he still had hopes for Eli. Eli was also trying to find a “roommate” by registering on a “dot com” website. AmRaa understood that it was the right opportunity.

Yes, he did offer the SS for the second time. To his surprise Eliza cleared his doubts when she said that her decision to accept his offer was not because she was hit by a cupid’s arrow but realised the benefit for living with a familiar devil rather than with an unfamiliar angel. Whatever be the explanation Eli had given, her positive response excited AmRaa, who fixed a date for the date at a Café Coffee day in the city, next Sunday. 

AmRaa was very restless. In order to show his loyalty, he immediately called his mother with the pretension of seeking her blessings. He might have informed her of his discovery.  The mother of this mighty gentleman soon called up Eli’s mother to check whether her son’s selection was correct or wrong. All the details required were collected from the girl’s side to check of her validity.

Eli got a call from the SS guru within a day. He informed her that the plan of having a meeting with her had been dropped. The reasons were narrated without any background score. AmRaa made it clear that he could not build any dream castle for Eli as his mother found this alliance useless. She had discussed Eli’s age, wage, change, rage and realised that she was a misfit for her much sought after scholar son. In that enquiry the much calculative mother understood that Eli was not only a few years older to her son, but she was also not capable of adding assets to their assets.

A much relaxed AmRaa consoled Eli by explaining that there was nothing to worry about. He claimed that it was a harmless decision as they had not sung any duet songs before. He also reminded Eli that he would happily follow his parents’ wishes for a better future.  Eli looked back in anger and in sorrow. She thought that instead of offering what he had claimed as his SS to others, AmRaa had to strengthen or rebuild the SS for his own survival.

Like God who pulled out one poor man’s rib for creating a woman, a whole lot of men falsify that a rib or something else like it has to be pulled out from them for making or “remaking” a woman’s life. Actually what  God did was finding a support system for that man who was crying badly for being alone in paradise and it was out of sympathy He created someone intelligent enough to take care of him and his entire locality. That is the end of the story of the man with an SS who did not know the real function of SS and also of the ladies who happened to cross his path without falling prey to the harms of it.

Vinci Subramanian (2021) 

 

Endnotes

[1] Madame Sasaustrus: Madame Sosostris, is a character of T S Eliot’s The Waste Land Part 11 ... is known to be the wisest woman in Europe, with a wicked pack of cards.

[2] Red: My Name is Red (Turkish: Benim Adım Kırmızı) is a 1998 Turkish novel by writer Orhan Pamuk translated into English by Erdağ Göknar in 2001.

[3]  Broofen^: : Brufen 400 Tablet is a common painkiller used to treat aches and pains. It blocks chemical messengers in the brain that tell us we have pain.

[4] Love’s Labour's Lost: Love's Labour's Lost is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s

[5] Dejection: An Ode: "Dejection: An Ode" is a poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1802.

[6] Gift of gab: If someone has the gift of the gab, they are able to speak easily and confidently, and to persuade people.

[7] Colonel Pickering: Colonel Pickering plays an important role in George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion".