Pass the parcel: Day 2 - First day in the job

The rooster began crowing by 5.30 am. There were sounds of activity around and we woke up by 6.30am. We walked about 200 metres to a use and pay toilet. Then we rented a cycle and pedalled our way to a stream to take our shower. The picture of the village wouldn't have been complete for me without the stream and the temple on the way.

This was the temple on the way to the stream and was said to house a very powerful amman. As I passed it I wondered if there was a sthala purana for Sethumamdai. It would be interesting to hear it. Sthala puranas, apart from being interesting and imaginative stories have a lot of reality and many of the local customs of a village would also find explanation (logical and superstitious) in the story. I made a mental note to ask some suitable guy about it if I get the chance. But that never happened.

After the shower, we changed, had a light breakfast and reported in the farm to work by 9am. Our employer, Mr. Lakshminarayan Gounder, was examining some electrification in the middle of the farm and when we neared him, said to us 'I'll be back!' and hopped into his jeep and went for his rounds. A short way on, he opened the other door of his jeep and yelled 'Come on'. As we looked around in confusion, two deadly daubermen raced forward and even as I held my breath involuntarily, one of them jumped into the jeep and off the trio went, boss and pets, to inspect their farm.

After waiting for some 15 minutes, our boss came back and said 'So... apprentices!' and smiled. We smiled back. I recounted the experience of yesterday when we came to ask for the job. There were four unchained daubermen sniffing at us and cock-fighting was going on in one corner. There were two thickset men waiting near the boss. Whenever he addressed them, they bent in obedience. The scene was straight out of a movie. This man was one of the hot shots of the village, Maniyan had later told us. 'He owns more than 100 acres of coconut farm, no one knows how much exactly. I personally think it is around 400 acres', he said. After this we didn't know who to be more wary of - the boss or the daubermen! Taking no chances, we obliged both. We stood still as the daubermen sniffed our balls and boss said 'You can start by cleaning the goat shed, then wash the horse and give it a haircut. Let us see.' And off we went to do the job. The shed was full of droppings but we hardly cared. The experiment was underway. 'How awesome!' was all we could think.

I didn't take the camera with me for the first two days of work. Two days after we cleaned it, this is how the shed looked.

The horse that we washed. And look at that haircut! Close and trim! All that first day sincerity on the job looked good on the horse.

Then there was some wild boar for lunch. Our boss had hunted it with his .22 calibre hunting rifle just two days ago. He then cooked it himself. This was apparently to be a visit of many firsts. The sight of the guy in his jeep with rifle and the three daubermen would be one I'd want to witness. We went back to work and then our day got over by 1pm. We then reached home, slept for a couple of hours, showered in a well opposite to the mill and by this time it was evening. We went to the group of children playing kabaddi close by and joined them. Time went on merrily as Manoj caught the guys many times and I got caught by the guys many times.

Here is Manoj interacting with the guys.