Children's Story - 4

Sweet Vendor

The Middle School was near the Shiva temple in Kochampatti village.  Even children from neighbouring villages came to this school. Headmaster Mr.Ramaswamy was a very strict man.  With a cane in his hand he would try to control all students.  But all the village children would defy his authority and run out of the school during intervals to buy sweets from Kandan.

Kandan was not only a sweet vendor for them.  He was their hero.  He would wait at the main gate of the school in the morning.  He would sell sweets during lunch interval. Many children would buy sweets in the evening to take home for their little brothers and sisters.  Kandan knew how to attract children.  He would sing songs.  He would recite dialogues from movies.  He would dance and jump, whistle and crack jokes.   He found pleasure not only in selling sweets but also in telling stories to children.

 Rich children would buy a lot of sweets from him.  The poor were his occasional customers.  But everyone would go to see him in the morning,  noon and evening because they loved listening to him.  Kandan knew most of the children by name.

Children knew that he came from the nearby village.  They had many stories about him.  Some said that he was earlier acting in films.  Some believed that he was a very rich man who just came there in the form of a poor sweet vendor.  Some children swore that he belonged to some Maharaja family.  Looking at his dress, some even said that he would have been a magician earlier.

All children agreed that Kandan was the kindest man in the world.  Whenever he saw a poor child looking at the sweets with watering mouth, he would call the child to him and give a sweet.  Everyone knew that he was regularly giving sweets to Mani the orphan.  He was the only man who would go to the Headmaster Ramaswamy and plead for the children.  In fact, he had saved many children from the cruel punishment of Mr. Ramaswamy.

One day Raghu and Kumar wanted to find out details about Kandan’s family.  Everyone in the school would say that Kandan’s children would be the luckiest children.  They all thought that he was the happiest man on earth.  Raghu asked,

            “Do you sing and dance for your children also, at home?”

            “Yes,” said Kandan.

            “Do they like your stories?” asked Kumar.

            “Yes, very much,” was the reply of Kandan.

Another day, as he was walking back after his sale, it  was  Lekshmi who asked whether she could go to his house.

            “Not today,” he said.

            “I want to meet your children,” said Lekshmi.

            “Don’t worry. I shall bring them to your school one day,” said Kandan.

Thus Kandan became a part of the children’s life. The children mimicked him.  They even approached him for clearing their doubts.

It was on a Friday. To everyone’s surprise, they found Kandan missing near the gate.  His absence became the talk of the day. Raghu said,

            “Why not a few of us go to his house during lunch interval?”

            “For that, we should know his house,” said Lekshmi.

            “His house is in the next village,” said Kumar.  “It’s not difficult to find out”

Kumar, Raghu and Lekshmi did not take lunch that noon.  It was to save time.  They ran to Kandan’s village, and very easily located his house.

Kandan was not a Maharajah, not a millionaire, not a  master-magician, not a film-actor.  His home was perhaps the smallest in that village, with damaged mud walls and very low thatched roof.  The children peeped in through the door.

They found Kandan kneeling down placing his head on a chair.  They could hear him sobbing.  They could not believe that their dear sweet vendor who sang, danced, and told stories, could be sobbing like a little child.  Hearing the footsteps of Raghu, Kuma and Lekshmi, he got up.

He  took a towel from the door, wiped his tears, and let the children into his hut.

            “Why did you not come to school today?” “Why are you crying?” – They started questioning.

Kandan tried to hide the facts, but later showed the photo of a little girl framed and kept inside a shelf.  She smiled at them from the photo.  That was Nandini – Kandan’s only daughter who passed away from him that day five years back.

            “So, all the stories you told about your children are not true?” asked Kumar.  There was silence.

            “Where is Nandini’s mom?” asked Lekshmi.

             “She died on the day Nandini was born,” said Kandan.

The three children did not wait there.  Lekshmi was wiping her tears.  As they were running back to school, Kumar said,

            “That’s why he is so loving to children.”