Once, not very long ago (5) - Tales of Peddodu and Chinnodu

Once, not very long ago, somewhere in Andhra Pradesh, two friends, Peddodu (Big Man) and Chinnodu (Small Man) were sitting in their house, totally irritated because the electrical supply was disconnected to their neighbourhood. Their entire mofussil region was disconnected and without electricity for the past six hours in the night. This was Rayalaseema, the most sultry place in India, and as one would know, if you have been there, you cannot make it if you do not have even a fan at night.

Peddodu and Chinnodu could not sleep. They kept moving about, going out and walking up and down the street, and getting back in, hunting for that elusive waft of pleasant air. The villagers were also similarly moving around. The local shops had run out of candles, matchboxes, wick lamps and kerosene. People were trying to sit together at various locations and wave newspapers to get some cooler air. The kerosene lamps were all reserved for the children of the village to study.

Peddodu had saved this big candle for such an emergency. He decided to light it up in the inner room so that he would not have to share it with others. Dressed only in a lungi, he sat at the small rickety table, with the lighted candle, staring at it in frustration. Now that he had the lighted up candle, he wondered about what he could do with that meagre light. The candle did not provide pleasant air, instead it seemed to suffocate him, gradually, minute by minute, in that small inner room that had absolutely no ventilation.

Chinnodu came up and watched him getting angrier and angrier. He wondered about the need for wasting the only candle that they had. It could be used to help cook or make tea or other important tasks. Peddodu's mind had stopped functioning effectively with the smoke of the candle. Irritatedly, he said, "Re Chinnodu, what is the use of your standing there, just watching this candle. Why don't you do something useful?"

Chinnodu replied, "What do you want me to do? There is no light. None of the bulbs or tubelights will work." Peddodu got angrier, and frustrated, and replied, "Why don't you switch on the ceiling fan then?"

Chinnodu replied, "Arre, Anna (Brother), I am not an idiot. If I switch on the ceiling fan, will it not extinguish the only candle that we have? We cannot keep on wasting matches in such times."