This old man Yahya was the life of our household when he was in his thirties
and I was just a child. He would chop firewood, climb tall coconut trees to
clean these of beetle and rat infestations, brave the high seas in the monsoon
time to get to uninhabited islands to collect firewood and coconut for our
household, he would cut and clean the hundreds of fish that would fill our
backyard sometimes that our mas-dhoni hauls in, into the wee hours of the night,
and then sometimes even join the fishermen of our dhoni that dawning morn as a
supplementary deck hand. He would carry heavy bundles of firewood on his head
to the house and carry away the trash to the beach-side for disposal. This trash
was primarily vegetable matter in those days with little non-biodegradable
content. He would help the neighbor with mixing the mortar for building or
repairing his wall or house, and through all this also help out to keep our
home livable daily by meticulously cleaning the coconut-oil wick lamps that
would provide the dim illumination to our house and keep the dining room laid
out for our meals on time. His long strides from the wood-kitchen to the dining
room in the backyard was often the moment during which he would munch his large
mouthfuls of rice and fish that would be his meal for that time with little
time spent actually sitting for a meal. Such was his energy and dedication. And
yet during the sparse free moments he got, he would spend with me, fashioning
little items of play from coconut fronds or pieces of drift wood that I would
marvel on for hours with imagination let loose to as far as I could wonder.
Now he is truly old, touching
ninety and spending most of his time lying on his side on the bodu-ashi that is
his bed of his little ramshackle abode he calls home. With little to say except
responding to his call for meal times, he lays there alone in his reverie. His
only provisions are packed in the old suitcase he has tucked at the corner of
this ashi along with another cardboard box that has the stuff for his immediate
needs. He is now blind in his other eye too, and like a child, has to be helped
with food and drink. He traverses the little space from his ashi to his
bathroom with only the room’s side wall to help him navigate this space,
sometimes his incontinence dripping to the floor the urine which we have to
wash away with a bucket of water each time.
While our family still takes care
of his meals and major cleaning which my sister orchestrates so well each day,
this little neighbor boy is his friend now for we have all grown up and moved
on our way in our lives dispersed through Maldives and the world. I met this
little boy when I visited my island a few months ago and I was fascinated by
the attention he gave to Yahya. The affection in the photo was not doctored but
was the natural move the boy made when I pointed the camera at them. The sight
of his little hand on Yahya’s shoulder was to me very telling of nature’s
imperative of the connection between the young and old, yet unexpected now in a
society that seemed laced with an increasing intensity of selfishness,
competitiveness, and greed that come from the enticement of the growing
materialism in our country. The root of this connection was momentarily sparked
in my mind by this loving moment. Yes, and this is not just a solitary moment
of affection it appears; the boy visits Yahya several times during his weekend
away from school and gives him foot and back rubs with the touch of a vestige
that I believe he got from the genetics of compassion of a distance past. We
all must have these genes but their potential need to be sought out from the
mire of our selfish selves. We will then realize that this is the real treasure
we are blind to as we are blinded by the glitter of the world.
Caring for the
old will spark that search. It does not have to be an aging household help such
as Yahya, but given our nation’s longevity, our own grand or great-grandparents
may now be in this grand old age when we can re-energize our engagement with compassion
in real time and space.
1 comment:
This a really moving story about Yahya and his little friend ...Whenever I see Yahya on my infrequent visits to Eydhafushi, it reminds me of what you have written and how much he has sacrificed for our family. Regarding the situation of our country, I am happy to note that even though the island is also politically polarised as is most of the nation, there is no violence as we see in many parts and most childhood friend are still friends and get along with each other irrespective of their political affiliations. Azmath
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