Grandma Tales 2

I grew up in an environment different from others in our family, the greater family. It was always troubled times with my parents, as my ma will tell you in her story. So disturbed was the atmosphere in my house that all the time I used to be awfully scared and frightened. No, my parents never ever abused me, verbally or physically. But they abused each other all the time.

My father worked for a measly salary with a publishing house, and I guess my father’s position and the money he brought home, made ma think ill of him. Children never understand parents even though they spent a major part of their lives with them, and the reverse is true too. My infantile intelligence was insufficient to grasp the woes of either of my parents. I could never understand why at all they got married, and after marriage, why it was not possible for them to understand each other.

The verbal duel between them was frequent and violent and most of the time I sat in my room, alone and afraid they would hit each other. It did not happen that way most of the time, though, on certain days, they would come very close to it. 

I went with my ma to my uncle’s house to decide our future course of life and happened to stay there for months before the divorce took place. Most of the time, I was left alone and there would be endless discussions on who was right and who was wrong; what was right and what wrong; what needed to be done, and so on and so forth. Most of the time the discussion centered on ma; what would happen to her after the separation. I hardly heard them discussing me till much later when ma decided to go her own way. It was then my uncle and aunt would ask her about me, and there was a great deal of confusion about my place and position in my ma’s mind. But finally she decided to keep me with her, and so it was that I was made to leave my father for my mother. I don’t know whether I hated my ma for this or my pa for making her do this. Kids always want a happy family, but I guess God had different plans for me.

It was the grandma who understood my predicament better than others during those dreadful days. She felt quite guilty about me and took extra care to ensure I was comfortable at all times. She made me sleep with her at night and told me special stories to lighten me.

Of all the stories that I was told, the one about her friend, a childhood friend, stands out and it is this story that I have chosen to tell you. I don’t have the facility of expression nor the wit of my grandma, but I reproduce the story to the best of my ability and will try to tell you just as she told it to me. The story is told in Grandma’s words and this is how it goes.

This is the story of Vijay and his three wishes. It all happened one day when he was cleaning the small lamp in the room where his mother and father used to pray. Vijay had cleaned the lamp earlier too but on this day, as soon as he had rubbed the lamp with a cloth there was smoke and then a genie appeared before him. Vijay had read all about Aladdin and the lamp and even knew about the genie, but that was only in the storybook. Hardly did he know that he would meet up with a genie one day.

As genies are, this one too was dressed up in strange clothes. The genie was large, had a bald head and wore a loose-fitting gown over silk pyjamas that blew up like balloons. This genie which appeared before Vijay spoke Tamil, his mother tongue. The genie told Vijay that many hundreds of years ago, he had been trapped by a magician in this lamp. Vijay wondered how the genie could be trapped in a lamp like this. He was also surprised that the lamp was that old, for he thought that his mother had bought the lamp not very long ago from a local store. Whatever it may be, the truth was that the genie had, in fact, come out of this very lamp.

Remembering the story about Aladdin, Vijay was hoping the genie would ask him what he wished. He was already thinking of asking for a whole lot of things. He was also very excited about the idea of having a genie as his slave; who would appear whenever he wanted and give him whatever he wanted. His friends would be jealous of him for having such a wonderful slave to protect and take care of him. With the genie on his side, Vijay would teach a lesson or two to the bullies who were troubling him. He would make his family rich and would live a life full of luxuries. He could even own his own airplane and ship if he wanted.

Meanwhile, the genie was telling Vijay how thankful he was to Vijay for having released him from the curse of being trapped in the lamp. He asked Vijay if there was any food at home because he was very hungry. Vijay gave him food to eat and waited for the genie to settle down so that he could ask his wishes. 

The genie must have been really hungry, for he ate up all the food at Vijay’s house. Vijay was afraid his mother would scold him for having wasted the entire available ration at home for a genie. But Vijay knew that once the genie had eaten, he would more than make good the loss. But to his dismay, the genie did not talk about granting any wishes at all. After food, the genie yawned and wanted to sleep. He told Vijay that the lamp was so small he could hardly squeeze himself in it and barely sleep all these hundreds of years.

Vijay was now confused. Was this a real genie, like the ones he read about in storybooks? Did this genie really have the powers to grant wishes? What if the genie just disappeared and vanished without granting him the wishes? All he could do now was waiting for the genie to wake up. If the genie still did not tell him about wishes, he would ask the genie.

The genie woke up and asked Vijay if there was more food in the house. Vijay was angry with the genie for being such a glutton. How much could one eat, he wondered? Since there was nothing left in the house to eat, Vijay asked the genie to get some food for himself with his magical powers. The genie seemed surprised, and asked Vijay what he meant by magical powers? Vijay was disappointed. After all the hard work he had done to feed this monster, there was a genie without any magical powers. His dream of getting his wishes fulfilled was shattered.

Vijay now decided to get tough with the genie. He told the genie that he was surprised that he did not understand about magic. He told the genie stories he had read about genies like him granting wishes to people who saved them from bottles, lamps and other such things. He told the genie that he was expecting to be granted wishes. He then asked the genie where he came from and what he now proposed to do.

The genie felt sorry for Vijay and apologized. He told Vijay that he could not remember who he was or where he came from. He had been trapped in the lamp for so many years now that he had lost his memory about himself. All he knew or remembered was that he was trapped by a wicked man who wanted to take revenge on him for something he had done to him. What he had done, he hardly remembered. He had no idea what he was going to do now and where to go.

Vijay was quite upset now. His parents would come home very soon and find all the provisions gone and he would get a good thrashing from them. What was he going to do with this stupid genie now? Can he ask the genie to go back into the lamp? Where else could he hide this huge monster? His parents would be wild seeing this strange creature in their house. When Vijay asked the genie to hide in the lamp again to escape his parents’ wrath, the genie laughed and told Vijay that it was impossible for him to do that. The magician, the wicked one, had done something to make him small enough to fit into the lamp. As he was big now, how could he get into this small lamp? The genie, however, understood Vijay’s problem with his parents and offered to go away and perhaps hide in the jungles somewhere. He did not want to cause more problems for Vijay. He even thanked Vijay for helping him and regretted he could not do anything to please the boy.

Vijay realized his selfishness and felt ashamed. Here was this stranger, trapped inside a lamp for no fault of his, and instead of feeling sorry for him; Vijay was more concerned about his wishes. It was his duty, Vijay thought, to help the stranger as much as he could. He could perhaps explain all this to his parents when they came back and then maybe they could suggest something to help the genie. He, however, could not help wondering how a person can survive without food and water for a hundred years inside a small lamp?

Vijay’s parents could not believe their eyes when they saw and heard about the genie. They had, as children, read stories and when they grew up they had told the same stories to their son. They, however, knew that genies lived only in stories and were not real creatures. But here was a real genie right before them, just as they as had read in the storybooks.

Vijay’s father tried to touch the genie to find out whether he had flesh and bones like human beings. To his surprise and amazement, he found that the genie was soft and had no flesh or bones. It was like touching candy floss. Vijay’s parents were as puzzled as Vijay. They spoke to each other about what they could do with this genie. Keeping him at home was difficult as they did not have the money to buy even food, for the genie that seemed to have a huge appetite. They wondered where all the food went since the genie did not seem to have a stomach like normal human beings. What would the neighbors think of the genie? The police would think he was some criminal or thief and perhaps like to put him in jail.

Vijay’s father was wondering how the genie could be treated to get back his memory. Maybe once he remembered who he was and where he came from, he could go back home. But he had been trapped for a hundred years in the lamp. What would have happened to his home and people? Would they be still alive? It was not possible.

Vijay’s father decided to consult his family doctor about the genie. He told the doctor about a strange creature in his house and requested him to come and see if anything could be done. The doctor came and checked the genie. He put his stethoscope to check if the genie had a heart. To his utter surprise, he could not hear any heartbeat. There was no pulse either. No blood. The doctor had been treating only human beings and he had never in his life come across a living creature without a heart, or pulse or flesh or blood. He told Vijay’s parents that there was nothing he could do for the genie and perhaps he should be handed over to some museum. 

While the doctor was talking to Vijay’s parents, the genie picked up the doctor’s bag and was looking curiously at the things inside it. The doctor’s bag had some medicines which he always carried for an emergency. The genie was playing with the green and red tablets and capsules inside small bottles. Then, without asking, the genie gulped down the tablets, bottle by bottle. There was some syrup which it drank in one single gulp. The doctor was terrified when he saw all this. The genie was even eating the cotton and gauze! What would happen now? Amongst the tablets were sleeping pills. The doctor knew that eating a whole bottle of sleeping pills can even make an ordinary person die. 

Everyone was now looking at the genie, afraid that something bad was going to happen to it. At first, nothing happened.

 The genie was laughing and asking the doctor if he had more of the sweet syrup. Then suddenly the genie started wobbling like someone drunk. Then suddenly it started singing a sad song. No one understood the song as the language was not known to anyone. The genie was going mad, they thought. It was now dancing in a very strange manner. The genie swayed from one end of the room to the other, lifting one leg up after the other, clapping loudly. It then started to float in the air. The fan was on and Vijay’s father quickly shut it off, fearing that the genie would be cut into pieces if it caught the fan. A lot of smoke was now coming from the genie. It was not exactly smoke; it was something like clouds, more like vapor. The genie was now floating all over the house. Then it slowly started to disappear. First, the clothes disappeared one by one. They genie floated naked for some time and then its legs began disappearing. The huge pot-shaped belly of the genie was full of vapor and began to disappear slowly. It was like the air slowly going out of a huge balloon. The hands disappeared and now only the face was left. They could see the genie laughing, eyes popping out and teeth shining. Gradually even the face disappeared and only the eyes and the teeth were left. For a long time, they watched the eyes dancing around and the teeth floating merrily in every direction. It was a weird sight and they were watching without a word being said. Finally, the eyes too disappeared and the teeth fell to the ground one by one.

Only the teeth remained. The rest of the genie was gone!

Vijay was now crying. Whatever it was, he had discovered the genie. The genie was his friend and he now realized that he had come to love his friend. Wishes or no wishes. And now his friend was gone. And Vijay felt sad and sorry. Only the teeth were left and he picked them up from the floor one by one. He counted them and was surprised to find that the genie had a hundred teeth! Vijay had seen earlier that the genie did not brush regularly and because of that, his teeth were dirty and yellow. The teeth in his hands were yellow, but they seemed to shine in the light. And they did not seem to be dirty at all.

Vijay’s parents and the doctor were all looking at the teeth in wonder. Vijay’s mother was saying that they did not look like ordinary teeth. They seemed to be gold! The genie had a hundred golden teeth! And he had disappeared after eating the tablets and drinking the syrup, leaving his teeth behind. Each tooth seemed to weigh heavy, and Vijay’s mother was telling her father that they must be worth a lot. A fortune indeed!

Vijay seemed thrilled. His friend, after all, had left a fortune for him.

Even now, I recall the spell under which I was, listening to this story from Grandma. It occurred to me then; I remember vividly, that if a genie with real magical powers came to my house, he would make my family ok with his magic. I asked my grandma whether she can get me a real genie to make our family happy.

“Look, son, there is nothing called magic. We all still believe in magic because we get sick of our problems and wish something magical happens to make us happy. Just like Vijay did. Vijay wanted, like in the stories he had read, the genie to grant him three wishes. But he soon found out there were no wishes. Vijay then felt ashamed that he was thinking only of himself and his problems, and not about the problems of the genie. See? When we are in trouble, we become selfish and think only or ourselves. But the fact is, the moment we stop thinking of ourselves as Vijay realized, we then enjoy life. Do you see how sad Vijay was when the genie disappeared? So you also forget that your family has problems which only a genie with magical powers can set right. You are going to be fine, you will grow up to become a great man and everything will be alright for your parents too. Now go to sleep.”

Despite what grandma said, I cried that night, thinking about God and genie. I wanted to see my parents happy and I was still convinced that a genie with magic powers can bring me happiness. I would ask him for only one wish, not three.