The Thirty Acres That Wouldn't Let Him Sleep | Ponmanipudi

The Thirty Acres That Wouldn't Let Him Sleep

“Doctore, I am finished. It is over....”

Dr. Chari looked up from The Kybalion, he was reading quietly.

Sita and Arjuna were asleep beneath the examination table. Mylo had squeezed himself under Chari's desk, keeping one eye cocked open, just in case some stranger walked in....

Venkataswamy stood at the door, gripping the wooden frame.

“The world is spinning, Doctore. I cannot eat. I cannot sleep. And when I close my eyes, I see Areca palms plants....ayoo!.”

Chari put his book on the side table....

“Sit down first. We can discuss the palms trees after we stop the world from spinning.”

Dr. Chari checked Venkataswamy's blood pressure, pulse and other vital signs. His pulse was rapid, and his blood pressure was 180/90.

“Any chest pain? Breathlessness? Severe headache? Blurred vision? Weakness?”

“No, Doctore. Just giddiness, spinning....i feel like a top, a boguri....”

“How long?”

“Three weeks.”

“And food?”

Venkataswamy looked away.

“Once a day, sometimes. For the last two months, I guess....”

Chari stared at him.

“Remarkable. You have managed to frighten me without even giving me a proper medical history.”

“I am telling you, Doctore. I am done.....”

“I heard you the first time, man. Now tell me what happened three months ago.”

Venkataswamy hesitated.

“My farm....”

Thirty acres of areca palms trees, saar.... Eight years of work.... eight years of solid growth, improving yields, and the satisfaction of watching something I had built with my own hands prosper.

Then the rains failed....The borewells began to dry. Tankers arrived, first occasionally, then almost every day.

The palms trees started wilting in patches.

Venkataswamy began inspecting them every morning, then every afternoon, sometimes even at night.

“If a leaf drooped, I worried. If the wind blew, I worried. If it rained somewhere else, I checked my phone.”

“Does the tanker man call you "sir" or "Anna" these days?” Chari asked.

Venkataswamy looked up surprised....

“Anna. Why?”

“Because once a man starts calling you elder brother, Anna, while emptying your bank account, you know the relationship has become very serious.”

Despite himself, Venkataswamy smiled.

Then the smile disappeared.

“I have spent everything on water. I have workers to pay, loans to manage, and trees that may not survive. How can I eat when I watch eight years of my work dying?”

Chari let the silence settle down....

“What time do you leave the farm?”

“Before sunrise.”

“And return?”

“Sometimes after dark.”

“What do you do when you come home?”

“Check the weather forecast.”

“And when you wake in the night?”

“Check it again.”

“Excellent. Between you and the meteorological department, the country is protected from drought completely....si....”

Venkataswamy gave a tired laugh.

Then he rubbed his face.

“Doctore, I am frightened.”

This time Chari did not joke....

“What frightens you most?”

“Not just losing the money. If the farm fails, I don't know who I am anymore....”

Chari looked at the farmer's soil-darkened hands....Thirty acres...eight years. A man who had poured so much of himself into his trees that he had begun to believe he would die with them.

“Tell me something, Venkataswamy. Who has been looking after you while you look after thirty acres?”

The farmer said nothing.

“My wife tells me to stop worrying,” he finally muttered.

“And does it work?”

“No.”

“Then she has discovered the limitations of treatment without a medical degree, yeah....”

This time the smile stayed a little longer.

Chari rose.

“Listen carefully. Your blood pressure is high, and your giddiness needs proper medical assessment today. We will not dismiss it as stress. But you must also begin eating properly, resting, and sharing the farm's daily responsibilities. You cannot run on fear and coffee....”

“What if the palms plants die while I am resting?”

“Then they will die while you are resting instead of while you are awake and miserable.”

“Doctore.!......you don't understand....”

“What would you like me to say? That staying awake will bring the rain?”

Venkataswamy looked down.

Chari softened his voice, and spoke slowly.....

“You know the soil. You know the trees. You built that farm from nothing. If you lose a part of it, it will hurt. But don't lose yourself before you know what the farm has actually lost.”

For a long moment, Venkataswamy did not move......staring into space....

Then Mylo emerged from beneath the desk and sat on his foot and gave his paw....

The farmer looked down.

“Even your dog has come to console me....but....”

Chari glanced at Mylo.

“Don't be fooled. He has been waiting for you to drop a biscuit since you entered.”

Mylo looked deeply offended.....

Venkataswamy returned a few days later, looking less frightened.

“I am eating better now, Doctore. My wife is supervising.”

“Good. Is she charging you?”

“She says the bill will come at the end of the month.”

“A dangerous development, indeed.....”

The farmer laughed...

Venkataswamy had arranged for his supervisor to handle the daily inspections. He still visited the farm every morning, but he came home before dark. He checked the weather forecast twice a day instead of every two hours.

“Some palms trees are still wilting,” he said. “We may lose a few rows.”

Chari nodded.

“I still feel guilty when I leave the farm.”

“That may take time. You spent months teaching yourself that every moment away from the trees was a moment lost. You will have to learn otherwise.”

Venkataswamy sat quietly.

“Doctore, if I lose the farm, what will I do?”

“Have you forgotten how to farm?”

“But the trees...”

“The trees are part of your farm. They are not the entirety of your knowledge. You know the soil, irrigation, seasons, people and hard work. A failed crop can take away a great deal. It cannot reach backwards and erase the man who built it.”

Venkataswamy looked unconvinced, but he rose to leave.

At the door, he turned.

“Doctore, I slept for almost six hours last night.”

“Wonderful.....Sami...thats the way to go...”

“I dreamt of Areca palms trees....”

Chari closed his eyes.

“Venkataswamy, please man. Give the palm trees a night off.”

Venkataswamy laughed and walked away.

Chari retrieved The Kybalion from his drawer. He read the same sentence twice, then closed the book....

Outside, the afternoon sun lay heavily over Ponmanipudi. Somewhere beyond the village, thirty acres of Areca palms stood waiting for rain.

And in the little clinic, a farmer had begun to remember that he, too, needed looking after...

Welcome to Ponmanipudi... where nothing is as it seems.

Ponmanipudi is an original village created by Sriranga V.N. Here, ordinary lives become extraordinary stories, revealing the humour, tenderness, contradictions and quiet mysteries of being human.