Evenings at Chandran's toddy shop are busy. The air smells of fried fish, toddy and sweat, the clientele being farmers and dailywagers back from work. Almost all the cublicles are filled, all seats occupied. Chathan was in one of them. It's a daily routine for him, a few bites of fried konju, pickles and some naadan kallu (toddy) to drown it with to end the day. A K Antony, the current defence minister of the country and a former chief minister of Kerala, had once tried to reform him, and millions of others like him, by banning their staple diet, arrack. But some habits never die. Like a Malayalee's love for hartals, Achuthanandan's hate for Pinarayi, Pinarayi's hate for Achuthanandan, Karunakaran's affection for spoilt son Murali, Murali's lust for power and Chathan's fondness for drinks. You take back arrack, and he will settle for toddy. He would have preferred switching to whiskey and rum though, but Antony, a saint that he is, had raised excise duty so much, even millionaires had to settle for Old Monk for quite some time.

Chathan loves toddy, because it makes him forget things he dreads. The loan from the cooperative bank; the yield from his paddy field, which has been increasing, but never enough to meet Chathan's needs; and his wife Bhanu's constant nagging. 'You buy her prawn, she wants karimeen; you buy both, and then she wants kappa (tapioca); you buy all of them, she wants nothing; you buy nothing, she wants everything. She doesn't even need a reason to pick up a fight,' thought Chathan.

As he walked home, he thought of his grandchildren, who would be waiting eagerly for the unniappams Chathan brings home. Chathan never disappoints them. He adores them. What his son couldn't do, they will do for him. He always wanted his son to clear Class X. That would have fetched him a government job. After all a government job is a government job. Nothing to rival that.

His grandchildren are studious, they can read and write English. Their teacher said they should English newspapers. And Chathan made sure they read Hindu. 'Let them finish studies and get a job, and then we can rest. We could even sell the farm and move to the town,' thought Chathan, 'But I won't be alive to see that day, will I?'

Chathan entered the courtyard shouting, "Ooooooi." That's to announce his arrival. Kuttan and Kuttimalu jumped at him. No sooner had they got their share of unniappams, they vanished as fast as they had appeared.

"Bhanu, see what I have brought," said Chathan, "fresh karimeen."

"I am fed up of this man. What will I do with it" Nobody eats them here," came the reply.

But Chathan was unfazed. He was used to it. He had even started liking it. He sat on the bench in the courtyard, looking at the sky that was darkening every passing moment. The wind blew from east to west, bringing cool air from the sea. The coconut trees swayed, the leaves rustled. Chathan opened another bottle of toddy.

Inside, all eyes were glued to the television. A popular serial was on. But Chathan watches only news. The news at 7 on Doordarshan. The television was their window to the world outside. They had seen the Taj Mahal and Madurai Meenakshi, Bombay and Dubai, George Bush and Saddam Hussein, Sonia Gandhi and L K Advani. Kuttan and Kuttimalu had seen the Mahatma and Churchill, Chacha and Kalam, Kalpana and Sunita, Tendulkar and Zidane, Shah Rukh and Potter.

The clock struck seven. The news began.

'V S Achutanandan says he demolished Munnar. '

'Pinarayi says he wants half the credit. The rest can go to Left partners, but not V S.'

'CPI wants no credit, they just want the government to spare its illegal building in Munnar.'

'V S says chikungunya is killing dozens.'

'Health minister says chikungunya is not killing anyone.'

'Ramadoss' ministry says it's chicken pox and not chikungunya'

'AIADMK MLAs have cast their votes in presidential elections'

'NDA says they voted for us'

'Amar Singh says they didn't vote, they went to Parliament House for sight seeing.'

'Pratibha Patil says she doesn't care. She knows the election is as good as won.'

'Amitabh Bachchan says he will donate his farmland'

'Maharashtra government says now that he is donating the land, there is nothing illegal in the deal.'

'The UP government says if he wants to donate land, he will have to give some other land, because the farmland was never his.'

'Mayawati says whether or not he donates land, he will face a probe.'

"Why can't Amitabh Bachchan buy farmland," asked Kuttimalu.

"Because farmland is for farmers and he is not one," explained Chathan, "But I don't know why he wants to be a farmer."

"I always thought acting pays well. His son is a star, so is his daughter-in-law," Bhanu chipped in, "He is getting old. That's the only reason I can think of for this madness."

Kuttan knew more, "Amitabh charges crores for a movie. With his money, he can buy our entire village. He has bungalows in Mumbai, property in UP and where not. He has Mercedes, Bentley, and several other cars."

"He has Anil Ambani, Amar Singh, and Subroto Roy for friends." Kuttimalu added, "He is the biggest superstar of India. Even bigger than Rajinikant, bigger than Mammootty and Mohan Lal, bigger than even your Prem Nazir."

"And he romances Tabu and Jiah Khan in films," there was a twinkle in Kuttan's eyes as he said this.

"Hmm. All I earned in my life is a few thousand rupees," said Chathan.

The conversation over, Bhanu returned to attend to the karimeen her husband had brought. It had to be cleaned and fried, the children liked it that way.

Kuttan and Kuttimalu returned to studies. Kuttan had to copy a chapter in his Malayalam textbook 10 times. It was punishment for not remembering who wrote Indulekha.

And Chathan returned to his half-filled bottle of toddy. He was still puzzled. 'Why does Amitabh want to become a farmer? If only he was ready to trade places with me.' He smiled and downed another glass of toddy.