A GIFT

Some readers have asked to know the reason for the long pause in posting new stories on this blog. I had been rather busy engaging in minor repairs, cleaning, and beautifying my home. It all started when I stopped my car just doors away from my home on seeing a man mixing cement mortar outside a house. I inquired if he would change my aging, rusted wrought iron frame, and broken glass windows. He went in and came out with a neighbor of mine, Mr. Yu. I told him to ask the contractor if he would change my windows. From their conversation, I understood that the contractor was not familiar with the task. I left. 

Later that day, Mr. Yu stood at my gate and called out to me. He told me he would do the job - instead. It was only then that I began to inquire about the nature of his work. We used to raise our hands and greet each other before but never knew further about the other. He told me he could do all construction-related and renovation works with plaster ceiling as his specialty. I told him to change my broken window pane and rusted frame. He ran through with me how he was going to go about it and went ahead almost immediately. He engaged his friend to provide the aluminum casement windows that would replace the wrought iron frames. The job was done in a jiffy. Seeing the neatness in his work and that of his friend I engaged him to change another two windows and a door frame whose timber frames had rotted over time. He had to knock the old timber window frames down this time instead of sawing through the iron frames as he did earlier. The job was done to perfection. He then suggested that I paint the house telling me it was high time and that the walls and ceilings needed a fresh coat of paint having darkened due to the accumulation of smoke from the years of lighting the homa indoors. When I told him that I usually did the painting, he gave me ideas on painting it. Finally, he told me that he could build me a kitchen counter too and showed me the one he had built in his rented home some doors away. I fell for his home and kitchen and gave him the green light to go ahead. He salvaged the security bars from the windows that we had removed and used them to reinforce the counter. The counter was tiled and completed. As he was not into carpentry he opted to give me a fresh coat of paint for the kitchen instead of building and fitting doors to the kitchen counter.

Seeing the quality of workmanship and cost and the cleanliness he maintained throughout the work I recommended him to tile the patio or porch of my daughter's home asking him for a quotation. He nodded. He surprised me as he received the last payment and as he picked up his things by telling me that the reason he took up the job and gave me a very reasonable price was because of my "Tokong" or God. I was stunned and left speechless hearing this from a Chinese man who came by my house volunteering to do what I wanted, all to his, mine, and Agathiyar's satisfaction. He had taken the lead and planned and executed all the work to "His" liking. I had the small inkling in me telling me if he could be someone Agathiyar had sent to do the job the day he stood at my gate for his words echoed that of Varadaraj of the Bronze Creative of Swamimalai being the sole respondent who called me over the phone and told me that he would take up the job in reply to the thirteen e-mails I had sent out to manufacturer's of bronze statues in and around Swamimalai and Kumbakonam in lieu of Agathiyar's directive to have his statue commissioned and made in bronze and brought over to my home in 2010.

When Mr. Yu spoke the words that he had come for my "Tokong" or god or Agathiyar my notion was confirmed. This was further strengthened when he did not come back with the quotation that I had asked for to carry out the tiling job at my daughter's home even as he drove by my house each day raising his hands in greeting. This job of tiling an area of 368 square feet would have fetched him 4K plus in workmanship or labor charges alone according to current rates. I was bewildered that he did not respond nor take it up. It was as if the whole episode of him coming to AVM was to solely and specifically beautify Agathiyar's dwelling. Surprisingly it was as if the whole episode was erased from his memory after the job was done. It seemed to me that Agathiyar had come personally in the form of Mr. Yu and spruce up the place, his abode to his satisfaction, and left. Besides that, he had gifted my wife with a new counter and work table for her to prepare, cook, and serve food to his devotees too as directed and assigned by Agathiyar.

Finally and so it seems that we are not moving out as he has invested in his present home. What can I say of Agathiyar's lila or divine game?