Annanudayan Adikku Anjaan

Annanudayan adikku anjaan
(The one who has an elder brother would not be threatened by physical intimidations)

Dear All,
Greetings from an old friend. Many might have even forgotten me, due to my long absence. Still, here I am to entertain you with my anecdotes, snippets and short stories once again.
Perhaps, many of you might have read my Rickety Rick!
on my relationship with my elder sister. As the title suggests this anecdote could throw some light on my relationship with my immediate elder brother.
Read and enjoy if you can.
Thanks in advance,
Cheers,
RRG

“Annanudayan adikku anjaan” (“அண்ணனுடையான் அடிக்கு அஞ்சான்”)
Our was a large family (7 brothers and two sisters). I consider myself lucky to be born in an era when ‘large family was the norm’. Larger the better was the motto then.
There were quite a few who, misunderstanding the term “Pathinaarum petru peru vazhvu vazhga”, attempting for 16 offsprings and coming very close to or even achieving it. I pity and bow to those mothers for their untold sufferings.
Also, hats off to the relentless ‘creative’ spirit of those fathers.
In such large families all dramas and melodramas would take place within the siblings vs parents vs in-laws (BIL, SIL, MIL, FIL) themselves ( with so many permutations and combinations available) that there was no lack on entertainment in daily life, despite TVs and the serials not being there.
Now coming back to our story.
We brothers Mani, Raju & Suri were the last three.
Mani, elder to me by 2 years, had a sound physique, with a self-confidence to match. He never hesitated to tell what he felt was right, irrespective of place, time or audience, whatever be the consequence.
"Catch the bull by its horn" was his motto. For him, 'Earlier the better' !
That he had a good physique to withstand the consequences was a bonus.
Even during childhood, fear was a term unknown to him. He dared to enter any territory where others dread to tread and many a times came out unscathed. Even if he got physically hurt in the process, he accepted it with a soldier's pride. Never allowed such incidents to dampen his spirit. (He later on rose to become Air Commodore in IAF.)
As an young boy, he was not easy to be tackled. His middle name was "Pidivatham" (stubbornness). Elders had no other go but to resort to force for keeping him under check. Those of the elders who couldn't use force, learnt it to their dismay the hard way and many were compelled to surrender before his indomitable spirit. "Vilayum Payir Mulayile" - "That a plant would grow out of it, could be seen in the seed it self".
Mani and myself shared a special relationship right from childhood. In a way, in those days, it was more of 'Tom & Jerry' kind. Over a period, we had grown very close, in-separable friends, so to say.
Suri, younger to me by 3 years, was the other extreme. I consider him an avtar of Dharmaraja. Very straight forward. No hanky, panky.
Once he gets convinced that something was right, he would do anything to stand by it - even at a very young age. Had enormous will power. No amount of external force could threaten his beliefs. I remember once my dad shouting at him, "enda! unnai adichchu, adichchu en kaiellam veengi valikkarathu; Nee innum kallu poley nikkarey?"
(Beating you so long my hand is swollen & aching but you are still standing like a stone without any emotions). Such was his indomitable spirit.
I was the sandwiched one - with neither the physique nor the will power to withstand such beatings. I firmly believed that 'discretion was better part of valour'. I was ever ready for any errands - even the ones which my brothers could feel below their dignity to touch. With two Jambavans M & S, ever ready to absorb any amount of beatings, and keeping dad fully occupied, there was not much time nor energy for him to go after me. In addition, of all the siblings, I some how enjoyed the full support of our elder sister - who was allowed a say in running the household. (Even now I am called her eldest son.). The combined effect was that I received minimum beatings.
However, the fact that I hardly received any beating was noticed by everyone in the family, that earned me the sobriquet " Nuzha nari" - the meaning of which I have not understood till date. I knew it had something to do with some 'cunning fox' - going by the term 'nari' - but why 'Nuzha nari' - I never knew nor bothered to ask either.
Our mom never even used a harsh word at us - fearing that any curse could come true, leave alone raising her hand. But our Dad had such a short fuse that he more than adequately compensated for our mom's calmness.

Now all of you would have got an idea of the setting.
As I already said Mani & myself shared (and do share) a very special relationship. I always considered him my hero, my superman who would rush to my rescue at the drop of a hat. But, never openly admitted it, in order not to give any undue advantage to him in our mutual interactions - read (child hood) fights. Whenever it came to an issue with an outsider he was always there by my side.

One incident that took place when I was 9 years old is still fresh in my memory. We had gone for attending a marriage function with our parents. While elders were busy in the function per-se, some of the boys, couple of years elder to me, decided to have fun with me, being a puny kid. They pulled me to a corner and started ragging me. One boy even tried to pull my trousers down, to check whether I was ‘boy’ enough. I was on the verge of tears. I tried to be nice and asked them to refrain from such indecent behaviour. The biggest of the bullies demanded as to what I would do if they persisted. I said that I would be compelled to call for my elder brother. They all laughed and used some unparliamentary words. The big bully even slapped me and said that now that they had done with me they would like to have an entertainment session with my brother as well. It was too much for me. During all this, I did notice an elderly person watching the goings on and laughing. I approached him to complain. He laughed it off saying that it was but natural amongst boys.
I had no other go but to look for my ‘superman’ and report. Sure enough he was there in a jiffy. He demanded of the boys as to who ragged and slapped me. Two of them stood up and demanded what he would ‘pluck’.
I wish they had not uttered anything that rude to him. Next moment both were down on the floor holding their cheek. When they tried to get up our superman got both of their necks locked by his elbows and started squeezing. He looked more like Krishna, with his arms over the shoulders of Rukmini and Sathyabhama. Only difference being here both R & S were slightly taller than him and that there was no smile in their faces. The other boys of the ragging team ran away.
Looking at these developments the elder who was watching all along and enjoying the boys’ prank came rushing and freed the boys. He questioned my brother as to why he beat them up. My brother replied that it was because they first slapped his younger brother and then demanded of him asto what he would do for it. So he had to do what he did, as they asked for it.
EM (elderly man)“So, you would slap me if I ask you what you would do to me?”
SM (super man) “Look! There are two options. You are a six footer and I am practically 4’6”. So, if you desire me to slap, you should bend down. Alternatively, you slap my younger brother for nothing and I shall return the complements, your bending or not bending”.
For a moment I got scared whether EM would test SM by slapping me. But, seeing what happened to the bullies, EM preferred opting out of the offer. He left cursing the parents and teachers of such boys, for not instilling a sense of respect for elders in them.
I looked at my brother with open admiration - ‘I know you’.
He just smiled and left, mingling into the crowd. The superman came, protected the weak and on to next assignment.
This is what I call “Annanudayan adikku anjaan” (“அண்ணனுடையான் அடிக்கு அஞ்சான்”)
(The one who has an elder brother would not be threatened by physical intimidations).
வாழ்க வளமுடன்.

Anbudan,
RRG

(PS): I have heard some elders not appreciating the behaviour of my brother.
“You should have gone to your parents, they would say”.
Not that I appreciate or encourage boys misbehaving with elders. But, certain actions call for certain reactions. In the first place EM never bothered to interfere when I was ragged and harassed. In fact, he seemed to enjoy the scene. Whereas when the bullies were on the mat, he came running to rescue them. Perhaps, he was a close relative of those bullies. I don’t know.
But, by his very action, I feel he had lost his right to call himself an elder. He behaved as one of those bullies and got treated accordingly. Our readers opinion could differ. But, even after nearly 6 decades, my opinion hasn’t changed.