The Elixir

He hadn’t travelled to this part of the country. He didn’t even care such places existed

- Sreekumar Ezhuththaani

He had to book a taxi, board two buses and catch a train, all in a day. He found the taxi driver disagreeable, and the co-passengers in the bus loud and dirty. The train was fine. An old man going returning from one pilgrimage and going on another was a great solace. He used to know all about how to be on a train.

Maheshwar heaved a sigh. What if he was not lucky enough to have had such a companion? How could he foresee where to get water and where to get water to drink and where to buy food?

Maheshwar would not have gone on such a long and hazardous journey had it not been for his wife. His love for her was not much but her headache had become too severe for her to give him any peace of mind. They had consulted several specialists and surprisingly it was one of them who told Maheshwar to try a tribal cure. The tribals living in the Western Ghats had strange elixirs for a few chronic illnesses and this kind of headache was one of them.

And here he was. He got off the bus at a desolate place that he thought was at the foot of the hill at the top of which the Adivasi Mooppan, the tribal chief lived. He was believed to be more than a century and a half old. When many people half his age could no longer see or hear, this medicine man had no such issues. If all had he heard were true, his wife's headache, which was his headache too, could be cured forever.