“What are you scared of Nina?” Ammachi asked me.
I thought about all the things I am scared of.
“Goddess Kali. I am terrified of her”. I replied
“Why”. She asked
” She has too many hands. She kills people. she decorates her body with the skulls of people she killed and her tongue is dripping with blood. She is too scary”
“Where did you see Kali, Nina?” She asked me
“I saw her picture in the calender Amma got free from the shop”.
“Do you know who is Kalidasa?”
“No” I answered.
Come let us go sit in the veranda and I will tell you the story.
“Ammachi, do we really have to sit in the veranda? There are plenty of mosquitoes there!” I tried to convince her to sit in the kitchen.
“I thought, you were Methran Thambi’s grand daughter”. She replied
“I am, who said I am not?”
“Well, Methran Thambi’s grand daughter wouldn’t be afraid of the dark”
“What about the congress party men who came this morning?” I asked her
“I am sure they are not Methran Thambi’s grand children” She replied.
“Go Ammachi, you always make fun of me.”
Ammachi took the hurricane lamp from the kitchen and walked to the veranda and I grudgingly followed her, looking around to make sure there are no snakes and congress party supporters waiting to pounce on us are around.
She hung the lamp on the hook and sat on the parapet wall. She stretched her legs and there was no place for me to sit. I didn’t want to sit on the floor alone.
“Can I sit on your lap?”
“Oh Nina, why are you such a scary cat? Come and sit”.
I sat on her lap and rested my head on her chest. Sitting like that I could scan the whole area and can spot , if anyone is walking towards us. I looked for the sickle. It is still in the same place where Ammachi keeps it.
“Kalidasa was a stupid man”, Ammachi started the story.
“He was so stupid, once he sat on a tree and cut the branch that he was sitting. padukko, he and the branch fell to the ground. The royal court wise men were passing through that area when they saw Kalidasa falling down along with the branch. They were looking for the stupidest guy on earth as a groom for the princess”
“Why do they want to marry the princess to a stupid guy?” I asked Ammachi
” Because the princess thought, she is the most intelligent woman on planet earth and was mocking all the wise men”
“How did they get the princess to marry Kalidasa?”
“They told her, he is the wisest man on earth, but is now taking a silent vow and can only speak with gestures. Whenever the princess asked Kalidasa questions, he would use gestures and the wisemen would translate. The princess believed them and thought kalidasa was indeed the most intelligent man on earth and married him”
“Then what happend?” I asked her
“The intelligent princess found out on the first night itself, she married the world’s greatest idiot and threw Kalidasa out of the palace”.
“Then what happend?”
“Kalidasa was upset, he started to walk and sometime later he saw a small temple. It was a temple for Goddess Kali. She had gone for her bath and Kalidasa went inside and locked the door”
“When the Goddess Kali returned, the temple door was locked and she knocked on the door and asked
“Who is inside?”
“Kalidasa from inside asked’who is outside’?”
“I am Kali” the goddess replied
“I am kalidasa( kali’s worshipper)” he replied.
“Kalidasa told the goddess, the only way he would come out, is if the Goddess makes him intelligent and the Goddess granted his wish and he became intelligent”
” Ammachi, if I pray to Goddess Kali, would she make me intelligent?” I asked her.
“She won’t”
“Why not?”
“Because, she can’t make intelligent people more intelligent”
It was reassuring knowing my grandmother thinks I am not stupid.
Goddess Kali
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/features/thugs/kali.jpg