Rajan's life was a celebration of booze

Rajan died yesterday. At 47, he was not healthy but never showed any visible symptom of illness or uneasiness when he came to see me during my holiday in Kerala last month. We spoke for a long time, in fact he was asking for a copy of the coverstory that I did for my paper eight months ago. There was a reason for it. The story was a satirical attack on politicians. I met a couple of genuine boozers from different parts of Kerala and asked them what they would expect from the politicians. Most of them replied quite boldly and of course they were right. Rajan spoke against his favourite party, Congress. He went on and on...from his childhood to being a Youth Congress member. He said despite his hardwork, he couldn't make anything out of politics. "I am still a poor man. I don't have money to take care of my mentally retarded son. After all I have to find a good guy for my daughter. I don't know when I will have money for all these things," he said. He was sad. Me too...because he almost finished my Black Dog.
Rajan became popular soon after TNIE published the story with his picture. Some senior Congress leaders in my hometown Attingal even shouted at him, asking why he had talked against the party.


Rajan was a very friendly character, and that's why people liked him. He was (un)lucky, especially when it comes to boozing. Even strangers would buy booze for him. He would go to the bar without money and come back fully drunk. Liquor and Rajan, they were made for each other. In a way, his life was a celebration of liquor. True, his favourite brand was "Celebration."

Comments

Unknown said…
I still remember his smiling innocent face with chandanam at varkala,Dakshina kasi--a vishnu temple for my son's Annaprasam function..a simple man who came with a lot of respect/affection with fruits & in the return we all had a b'fast at hotel..next time I saw his face at my sons Ist birthday at Attingal,he drank so much on that day at that juncture he had no idea what to do when we gave two parcels to him he mixed both with one another.(saju with french beard is also in the same stage).
The last I met him at varkala beach where he was working in a 3 star hotel…a happy man…with a good salary..i don’t know what happened he left that job…its sad to think he is no more
2:50 am
mtsaju said…
true, unexpected...anyway, thanks Krishna.
3:29 am
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