Ponnor alle enikende!
(Only the people leaving need to wake up, right?!)
There was a “Lakshmi” nicknamed as “Echumu,” back in the school days of my father and Chitappa (father’s younger brother), at this small town of “Cherpu,” in Thrissur district, state of Kerala.
Echumu was referred by my grandmom, for working at a friend’s house, to help with the household chores. The referral was done with much ado back then, as though it was for an official posting. This was an official posting too, albeit it was for a home with office goers and school goers.
The very first day of work Echumu’s workday was quite an eye-opening one for her so-called “employer,” when she uttered a statement in a lazy affirmative!
When one of the seniors at home shouted out in the morning: Echumu, wake up! The kids have to go to school and the others have to go out to their offices, Echumu replied in a sleepy state of oblivion, yet without an iota of doubt: “Ponnor alle enikende!” (Meaning, only the people leaving out for the day must wake up earlier right?! Why must I ?) And that hit them really hard, right on the first day of her work: it was quite a litmus test of sorts!
Let’s pause for a moment and take a bit of a deeper dive into Echumu’s concept! From a literal sense, yes, it’s only the people who have to step out of the house that need to wake up early! When a sense of service is applied, it’s the people who are of service that need to be more prompt and punctual than the actual person who’s stepping out itself. For it’s their preparation that instills the sense of confidence, commitment and preparedness in the person who’s stepping out, with a preset notion of their plans for the day.
If the person who is of service is delayed, then the household is technically delayed… almost like a butterfly-effect. The person who is of service in this case can be anyone who decides to take up the responsibility of providing for, of caring for. When deciding to offer help, one needs to stay ahead of the others, so as to stay organised and orderly.
It calls for a lot of personal ethics of truly wanting to help another, irrespective of any schedule alterations we may have to go through. It could be a tough task of having to wake up early, travel or whatever it is, to make things possible for another: but it’s truly the willingness of wanting to be of help to another: not just mentally, but physically being there and doing the actual work for them. This is the time when the phone enquiries become a nuisance: on wanting to constantly check by way of messages; in the name of care and follow-up.
I am witness to a non-Echumu incident when I was in Chennai in Jan this year. My Chitappa had woken up ahead of time to ensure I had breakfast ready on the table before I could leave for the day: he woke up 2 hrs ahead, to finish his chores first, and then care for me. He had managed it all on his own, that too, in less than a year of the passing of my Chiti (Chitappa’s wife).
Even more out of the way, was another stellar example of my father’s childhood friend and his wife, who preponed their ticket to Chennai, just to be able to receive me at their home, even if it was a short amount of time. Despite their flight arriving late in the night at around 9pm, they had homemade dinner ready for me, even when I stepped into their home at 10.45pm. The smell of piping hot dosas was tempting for sure! They could’ve very well ordered and kept quiet about it, no qualms about it whatsoever! They could’ve easily told me that they were not in station and I would’ve for sure, understood! But it is the willingness of wanting to be there for me, when I needed it the most, which is a great display of respect and love, above all, of being humane.
It’s truly about being there for a person, in whatever way you can, not just conceptually, mentally over the phone. For these are our chances to be of help to another… we can start from our own home first, before one ventures out! Charity begins at home, FIRST. When you have ailing parents and aging members, it is the physical presence that takes precedence over any other. And when there physically, lead the way and put on the servicing hat, rather than just thinking in the head about concepts of helping people, some day in the future.
Ponnor maathram alla enikkende, Namallum!!
(It’s not just the people who are leaving who need to wake up, but also us!)
