CHAPTER - 15 EXPERIMENTS
Some time earlier, one day, I was waiting to catch the bus on my way to work, at the
bus stop opposite to Mandaiveli post office.
A cobbler used to be there, who occasionally mended my chappals if they needed mending.
That day I had entrusted such a piece of work to him and he was busy, stitching.
I noticed his stomach.
It was completely shrunk.
"Why, friend," I asked, "have you not had any breakfast?".
"No!" he said, and then added, "I didn't have any food,Sir, last night either".
I was stunned by his words.
"why?", "I had no earnings, Sir.
That is why" This piteaous admission pierced my heart.
He charged half an anna for that service.
I made it an anna that day and proceeded to my office.
"I didn't have any food, Sir, last night".
Those words were still ringing in my ears.
I have known from experience how cruel the pangs of hunger could be.
There are a lot of poor people who starve for lack of means.
When will such a state of affairs change?
This thought became an obsession.
I returned home in the evening.
I didn't even go to my master's house that day.
The theme of hunger haunted me.
I came to a decision while so many among the poor can afford only one meal a day, and some
time go without even that, why should I eat twice a day?
Would not one meal be enough?"
That was the way I argued.
That was the resolution I made.
I gave up supper that night.
The next night I told my sister that I didn't want my supper, that I was observing a vow
like this for some days.
When I woke up in the mornings, I had the sensation that I was light, as if I were flying
in the wind.
I would wait a short while, clean my teeth and take my breakfast.
Then only I would find strength slowly returning to my limbs.
I decided to set this right.
In the evening I started munching a quarter anna worth of groundnuts.
In about ten days I was restored to normalcy!
I got over the urge for supper when evenings came.
But the thought kept recurring, "What should I do to get the world rid of poverty for good?
What is there I could do?"
Thus I dispensed with my supper, from my twenty third year onwards.
That training has held firm to this day.
When friends insist, sometimes to please them, I accept some light refreshment.
That is all.
My supper continues to be what it had always been a
cup of milk.
About eight months after our marriage, my brother
developed hernia trouble.
He could not work at the loom any more.
I kept a large establishment.
It is true that the deficit was not unmanageable.
But the setback was there, all the same.
My brother's ailment and the growing number of my
dependants were both burdens.
The only possible course for me was to work harder than ever.
Three years passed.
Deep within me I was happy whenever I thought of the
special blessing that has been confered upon me.
I mean, of course, my wife.
She was a tower of strength to me, removing obstacles from my path, solving our
problems and softening the impact of life's struggles.
But I felt sad that I was not in a position to give her
all the comforts to which she was accustomed to in her
home.
Her father was addicted to gambling.
Betting on horses was his weakness.
Deaf to all advice, he lost everything and became quite poor.
His income dwindled, since he could not devote as much attention as before to his
profession.
It was at this stage that his daughter was married
to me.
Those who are born poor develop fortitude.
But, for Those who have seen better days, poverty is
really painful.
I had hoped that by marrying me she could get back some of the comforts she enjoyed
in her younger days; but unfortunately my financial condition was not good enough to
put an end to her trials.
She, on the other hand, was never a victim of self pity.
I never once found her bitter, or in a complaining mood.
She did not spare herself.
She gave her full coopeartion in improving our lot.
Ours was plain living.
To each of us, the other was really an asset.
In this frame of mind we carried on, doing our duty, in perfect contentment.
I was now twenty seven.
I hit upon a plan.
"We could settle down at Guduvancheri.
Village life is cheaper.
A railway season ticket costs only nine rupees a month.
If I brought two measures of milk with me, any hotel in Madras would take it and there
would be a profit of fifteen rupees a month.
That would take care of the railway fare too."
Such was the trend of my thoughts.
The Postal Audit Office in which I was employed had a canteen.
I met the Secretary of the canteen, told him of my scheme and asked him to take two measures
of milk from me each day.
He agreed to my offer with pleasure.
They found the quality of the milk to be good and the coffee prepared with it quite tasty.
They ordered four measures more.
The very next month I took my family to Guduvancheri.
I fixed up a house.
The rent was only a rupee and a half.
Although the roof was leaky we found it a bargain at that
time.
I now made a profit of fifty rupees a month on my
milk sales.
In my Office they were buying guard files for pasting
and preserving vouchers, from dealers in the City.
Now there was a proposal to manufacture them with waste
paper available in the Office itself.
An Office Superintendent, personally interested in me, told me this
was a profitable source and that I could bid for the contract.
There was however one condition.
I was to furnish a certificate to the effect that I was a qualified
binder.
I was prepared to meet this condition; I caught
hold of a book binder, and learnt his craft in just one week,
sitting at it day and night.
I demonstrated my newly acquired skill at a
printing press and obtained the required certificate.
Thus I secured the contract from my Office.
When I returned home to Guduvancheri every evening,
I took a stock of boards and waste paper sheets.
My wife arranged them carefully in the right order and
stitched them.
On getting back at night, I glued the sheets together, pasted marble paper on the boards
and the files were ready.
We manufactured about two thousand files a year like
this and earned three hundred to five hundred rupees in a
lump.
Within two years, we purchased a house at Guduvan-cheri for six hundred rupees.
The profit from the preparation of files was on the
increase.
The milk business too was quite brisk.
We had a sizable sum of money on hand.
This milk supply however involved risk.
Hot weather soured the milk in summer and we had to replace
a few potfuls.I had deputed a man specially for
that, but he was not able to manage.
I decided to close that business.
The net profit was twenty five rupees per day then.
I had a friend called Gaffur Sahib who was in the same line.
I made over my whole business to him.
With the cash I had, I proposed to start production and
sale of lungis (cloth).
In Angappa Naicken Street, Madras, there was a
prominent firm with the name 'Maulana Lungi Company'.
I went there and entered into an agreement with
them for the supply, under the stipulation that goods were
to be inspected only on Sundays, so that there will be no
difficulty in my attending the office on other days.
They proved amenable.
I placed my brother in charge of production and sales
of textiles and I myself attended to that business at other
than office hours.