Valli

This story is a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150^thbirth anniversary. A true story happened in 1964 when I was six years old. I used to see Valli every day in the morning entering our backyard to clean our toilet. I understood Mahatma’s Swachh Bharat, his passion for the backward class and villages from the life of Valli.

Palayamkottai is a small town situated in south Tamil Nadu. The big village was developed into a small town because of the educational institutes opened by the Christian Missionaries. St. Xavier’s school and college were run by Jesuit fathers belonging to the Roman Catholic sect of Christians, St. Johns school and college were run by the Protestants sect of Christians. The ladies’ school and college in the name of a Christian social worker Ms Sara Tucker were running. A government medical college and hospital was the added attraction. Slowly it was turning into an educational hub and got the nickname “Oxford of Tamil Nadu”.

The township was developing from the open toilet system to dry toilet system at the households, mainly for women folks and elders. These dry toilets are like Indian style modern toilets but without a flush and septic tank. It did not have a pit but was cemented and was normally cleaned by manual scavengers.

The local municipal organization appointed permanent laborers on monthly wages for collection of human waste from every house and dispose it off. Valli’s father was one such laborer and passed away when an epidemic in the form of smallpox affected the towns and villages in the sixties. Valli was the only daughter and took over the reins of her father. Valli’s husband Kumara Kurubaran was working with some of the high cast landlord for sorting out land disputes. They paid him daily a bottle of arrack and few anas for his beedis and food expenses. He had killed few men in the process and kept going to the prison of and on. The only blessing for Valli was her offspring, a lovely son. He was named as Kannan.

Valli started every day in early hours, along with a municipal van. The van was placed on a tricycle and a male laborer was normally in charge of cycling it to all the households. The area designated to the team covered around fifty to sixty houses to be cleaned up. Valli, on her part, carried a big bucket with a big wooden spoon. She went to every house, entered the toilet, picked up the human feces, stored it in the bucket and dumped it in the van. She did it every day without any fuss. The agony and frustration she suffered from the stench of human feces were tolerated by this noble lady for the sake of her son as it was her dream to educate him.

When Kannan was five years old, she took him to a primary school run by a Roman Catholic Church. Rev father Vincent D Cruz was the in-charge. He asked her about her husband, and she broke down. She told him about his job and said that he does not look after the family. Then she told her job of collecting the human feces for her survival and education of her beloved son. The moment she told her story and the job, the father was filled with compassion and immediately admitted her son. He even gave her the concession of paying the fees in simple installments.

Sunday was a holiday for Valli and she escorted her son to the school in the church campus where they conducted Sunday classes for the children. It was compulsory for Christian children but other students could also attend. They discussed the important teachings of Jesus and his expectations from human beings.Especially children at this age can learn about Jesus, his teachings and lead a good life. Valli used to sit quietly in one corner of the hall and used to listen to the teachings.

During one such session, she heard “Sermon on the Mountain”. Mahatma had mentioned about this sermon and the teachings of Jesus, which inspired him to change into a man with moral values and later become a Mahatma in his life. The first verse goes like this.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

On the way back home, Valli and Kannan were discussing the teaching.

Valli: Son, as we are poor and likely to be poor throughout our life, I am sure the kingdom of Heaven will be ours.

Kannan: Yes mother, it is a blessing in disguise and I love to be poor.

Valli: But you must study and find a good job. I do not want you to continue with the kind of job I do, son.

Kannan: No issue, Amma, but the job you do is noble, and I have no regrets for what you are doing. Because you are not stealing or telling lies; as per the preaching of Jesus, any job you do will be blessed by God.

Valli’s dream was that Kannan should study well and get a job and become a good citizen in the society. As per her wish, Kannan was good in studies, growing up nicely and was in his eighth standard. The spirit of human values in him and discipline were also growing, and he looked more mature for his age. It was silent suffering for Valli for the sake of her son. There were few incidents when she was harassed by the landlords. She used to clean the toilet of a big high cast landlord who was a womanizer. But Valli quietly entered through the door in their backyard which had a garden, bathtub and toilet.

One fine day when the landlord’s wife was away, the villain got drunk and tried to pull Valli by her hand to take her along with him inside the house. Valli was furious and took one big dig of his own feces from the bucket and threw it on his face and vanished from there. Mahatma advised women to use their nails as a weapon, but Valli used the best weapon in the world to handle the worst human monster. After that, he never had the courage to look at her.

When Valli’s son was about to complete his eighth standard, they had a farewell hosted for the senior Sunday class students. All the students prepared talks and spoke, and on his part, Kannan also spoke a few words of wisdom. While they were returning home, Kannan’s chapel broke. It had already undergone few repairs and Kannan was furious and insisting on a new chapel from Valli.

At that instant of time, Valli had no money to buy new footwear for him. She pleaded with him and took him to a cobbler. Both mother and son were wonderstruck on seeing the poor cobbler who did not have both legs. Incidentally for his part of telling proverbs and quotes of men of wisdom, Kannan quoted the following famous quote:

 “I complained to God that I had no shoes until I met a man who had no legs.”

VANDE MATARAM JAI HIND SWACHH BHARAT