The Man Who Was Loved by Debt — A Ponmanipudi Story of Faith and Freedom
- Sriranga VN
- 11 minutes ago
- 3 min read
🌿THE MAN WHO WAS LOVED BY DEBT
(An Emotional Ponmanipudi Story )
Kodandasami worked harder than most men in Ponmanipudi.
Small land....Stubborn soil...destructive worms..
Unpredictable rain....sometimes too much, sometimes no rains at all.
Kodandasami woke before the sun and slept after the sun had left long ago....
Yet every season, something or other went wrong.
Too much rain. No rain. Market crash.Pest attack. Fertiliser price up...Govt policies...Loan interest higher.
Slowly, without ceremony, loans took over his life like a insidious cancer cell spreading and destroying...
The loans sat with him while eating. Lay beside him while sleeping...Walked with him to the fields.
“Enna Kodanda,” Appuswamy once joked, “you look like man in love.”
Kodandasami smiled sadly.
“ aamma ...I have lover,” he said.
“Her name is loan.She loves me deeply. Hugs me tightly. Crushes me slowly like a woman taking revenge.”
People laughed. For laughter is cheap in villages.
At home, Malaika did not laugh.
“You are foolish,” she shouted.
“Why did you take so much loan? Taale ellee, mothahala..Why don’t you think?”
Kodandasami didn’t argue.
He had learned something about arguments. They don’t reduce interest. Instead they cause more burdens...
Everyone had advice.
“You should have sold land earlier.”
“You trusted wrong people.”
“You should have gone to city.”
“You didn’t plan.”
Each sentence hit him like a sharp stone.
At night, Kodandasami lay awake counting numbers. Not sheep. Not stars.
Just...Interest....Principal................Penalty for non payment..
One evening, after a particularly bad day, Kodandasami did something unexpected.
He didn’t go to the tea stall. He did not go home...
He walked. Past the last house.
Past the temple.
Toward Brindlemalai — the majestic hills which rise quietly just outside Ponmanipudi..
There, where the wind speaks roars, he sat down.
He folded his hands.
“Amma…ammmaa....Sharadamma,” he whispered, tears tickling down his face....
Not complaining. Not negotiating.
Just… tired....just tired...a prayer for help and solace...
He closed his eyes.
And for the first time in months, he imagined something else.
Not numbers. Not loans.
He imagined his debts all gone.
Not paid. Not negotiated.
Just…gone... not there.
He saw the fields breathing again.
His chest lighter.
His sleep deeper.
A wind whispered through the trees, speaking secrets....
He opened his eyes. Nothing had changed...
He smiled. ...That was enough.
From that day, Kodandasami changed only one thing.
He stopped fighting fear. ..He still worked hard.
Still went to the fields....Still spoke politely to long line of creditors...
But inside, something had surrendered.
Not to banks.
Not to men.
To Amma....Amma Sharade...The Divine Energy...
Weeks passed. Then months.
No miracles. No windfalls.
People laughed again.
“Prayer doesn’t pay loans, Kodanda.”
Kodandasami nodded.
“True,” he said.
“But worry doesn’t either aalva....”
One afternoon, an officer from Rajanthooram came to the village...
New government scheme.
Debt restructuring.
Partial waiver.
Long-term repayment.
Not full relief.
But breathing space.
Enough.... the officer left with signatures and forms..
Appuswamy remarked later after few days, “See, Kodanda?
Government saved you.”
Kodandasami smiled.
“Government is also in debt,” he said.
“America also in debt.
India also in debt.”
He paused.
“Even Lord Balaji has debt,” he added casually.
Everyone stared.
“What nonsense is this?” someone laughed..
Kodandasami shrugged.
“Temple borrows.
Devotees donate.
Debt continues.
Faith continues.”
Silence.
Ammaaa.....Sharade....blessings...
That night, Malaika noticed something profound...
Kodandasami slept.
Deeply.
“No tension?” she asked.
He smiled.
“Debt is still there,” he said.
“But it is not sitting on my chest anymore.”
Later, when Dr. Chari met him, he asked quietly,
“Kodanda… what changed?”
Kodandasami thought for a moment.
“I stopped asking life to remove my problems,” he said.
“I asked Amma Sharade to remove me from the problem.”
Chari nodded...true wisdom..
Years later, Kodandasami was still paying loans....consistently, honestly but with ease..
But he laughed more.
Worked better. Lived fully.
People stopped calling him foolish.
Not because his debt vanished.
But because his fear did. And he found a way....and Shardamma blessed...
And Ponmanipudi learned something uncomfortable:
Sometimes, Surrender does not erase the burden.
It simply teaches you
how to carry it without breaking🌿
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