Mathew's Paradise

Mathew’s paradise

Abhijit Roy

One can see the two bulging rocks from here. In the east they come out of the sea as if two huge grandpa tortoises are resting forever with their smooth oval shaped brown black backs enjoying the sun. On one of them, the Vivekananda temple – quiet and serene and on the other – the tall sky kissing statue of the great Tamil poet stands still. The green sea all around flows past these two rocks to jump on the shore from the east relentlessly. There is no cession. The water of two seas and one ocean meet here. The mild breeze carries in their lap the wave after waves to spread it over the land with white spray of water beads of sparkling stars. They drench the sand, bring with them colorful stones, dead shells and fishes, broken claws of crabs, some weeds and what not hopes of precious future. One such priceless gift of the sea could send Mathew’s world into paradise. A paradise indeed – a small house in the picturesque fishing village at the juncture of the sea and land. He will place a painting of mother Merry holding the new born Jesus in her lap on the entrance door. Every one who visits him would see it first. Why not? It will be the grace of the Lord to be gifted by such a priceless article as a precious stone or a pearl may be? More Mathew thinks about it more he gets convinced. He goes to the Church every Sunday morning to attend the mass. He kneels down, chants each word of the prayer, listens to the priest piously and donates as much as he can. Would not the Lord listen to his small prayer?

Mathew has a secret wish. Sophia who lives beyond the sunset point in the west has hypnotized him. The beauty of Sophia is overwhelming to Mathew. She is only twenty, curved out of a black Mahogany with beautiful eyes which attract him the most. She lives with her parents. Mathew knows that there are many interested in her. But Sophia has talked to him fondly, smiles every now and then, looks at him quizzically to pin him down thunder struck.

Standing in the knee-deep water near the shore overlooking the Vivekananda rock Mathew is now engaged in scanning keenly the gravels and sand which he digs out from under the water with a small spade. Each wave is bringing new treasures and Mathew all drenched expertly places whatever he can grab with his spade on a strainer made of bamboo. He has a special technique to shake and rock the strainer full with the sandy gravels to strain off the undesired and then picks up what he thinks are the precious bounty the sea has offered him. He will then put the objects in his mouth with some magical movements of his fingers like a magician. The objects disappear in the hollow of his mouth. Yes, inside his mouth rests so many things! He wonders how could he keep them there for hours without spilling even when talks? He smiles silently to himself and remembers his father who taught him this very special trick. His father as if he was a magician himself demonstrated many times to make Mathew learn standing here in the waves to deposit coins and other precious articles in the mouth. Mathew was a kid then, who holding his father’s hand would not let him go to the sea without taking Mathew along. He remembers his father’s caution to be careful to deal with the bulge in his mouth and not allowing them to slip into his throat.

Indeed Mathew collects among other things the shining coins of rupees five, two, and one or still lower denominations flowing over to his feet by riding the chariots of waves from the east Vivekananda rocks to the west – the tip of the last land where he stands. Devotees throw them from the motored launch plying for a visit to the rocks. This the devotees do to earn some punnayam but it serves pretty well for Mathew.

At the end of the day he collects a handsome amount of money each day with some valuable stones, small pearls – bits and pieces. Mathew hands over much of the money to his mother to support the family. His father is no more so he has additional responsibility to look after his mother. Mathew is now a grown up responsible man. He saves some for the future, for his Sophia. He can listen to the drip drop heart beats of himself every time he thinks of her.

Some curious tourists some times come slowly down to the spot where Mathew is busy straining. They often ask many questions and some go even further to request him to divulge the trick of holding the coins inside the mouth as if they will stay back at this far away place if they could master the trick! Mathew laughs as he knows just by watching it will result nothing – it needs painstaking practice for years together to achieve the perfection. However, at times he satisfies the curiosity particularly to the touring kids and ladies to make them happy.

Happy he is! Sophia at last has agreed to marry him. He has been trying to persuade her for last couple of months to marry him and that he could not wait any longer .He has announced all about the affair to his mother who is visibly happy to accept Sophia as her daughter in law. Sophia has already won his mother’s affection during her short visits to Mathew’s house. Mathew also has announced this good fortune to some of his friends. They demanded immediate celebrations.

Mathew has collected some genuine pearls before. He had them examined by the expert jewelers. He has heard of pink pearls from his father and others. He knows how precious they are and rare. He prays to his lord for the gift of one such pearl from the sea. He has a secret wish to present a pink pearl to Sophia. They will go together on one full moon night to the furthest rock of the sunset point. He will then ask her to close her eyes. Sure Sophia will refuse to do so. She knows what Mathew will do to her when she closes her eyes. Mathew smiles inwardly – this time is different he thinks. He could imagine the immense surprise and delight of disbelief in the huge eyes and face of Sophia. He prays hard each day and believes that his prayer will be granted soon.

During the day Mathew relentlessly searches the sea bed with his strainer and spade. While in the dark deep night he ventures out to the ocean with his friends in small wooden boats (dinghy) in clusters dragging the large heavy nets to trap the shoal of fish. The lights on the boats appear to be tiny dots in a straight line from the shore out in the dark roaring water. Mathew has no fear for the sea. The time elapses fast in the thoughts of Sophia.

As the day of marriage nears Mathew spends more time in the knee deep water, frantically searches the strainer in his hands. His mouth gets filled with coins and pieces of other precious stones. Some of his friends tell him not to spend so much of time in water and get exhausted. Mathew could not listen to them. He has a secret wish to fulfill! The on lookers some times bend upon him to see his treasures which he hides expertly. He has seen some greedy eyes on him. They might try to snatch if they get a chance. Mathew wakes up from his dreams and gets cautious to see a small round shaped marble like pink glistening ball. Mathew immediately puts it inside his mouth and all on a sudden he jumps out of water and runs. He runs towards the sunset point crossing the beach and the roads. But suspecting something extraordinary, the onlookers fast follow him too. The crowd gathers in multiple. Their roar baffles the sound of ceaseless waves. Faster, Mathew runs faster. He looks back to see a springing bunch of people on him. He chuckles. His legs give in finally! Mathew gasped and falls kicking his fist up to the heaven. The cool sea water laps his feet as he lies still in the beach.

Mathew did not know how long he lay in the beach. He opened his eyes to see his mother’s smiling face. His head placed on her laps. He felt the warmth of a gentle palm stroking him. Surely it was Sophia’s. He glazed at her. His eyes suggested defeat: he could not get her the most beautiful gift he longed for! But her eyes reflected love and happiness: to her, he was the most beautiful gift she ever thought of!