When time turned irritation to amusement

I recently met a friend and former colleague after many years. Now retired, we used to work in different departments at the agriculture college at Navsari, Gujarat, when it had just been established.

“How can I forget how you dislodged me from my cot?” he quipped when I asked whether he remembered me.

The incident was fresh in my memory as well. I was a newly appointed English lecturer. Navsari had a considerable Parsi population, with a Fire Temple and a Tower of Silence where the community performed the last rites.

I was living in a lodge near the college, and looking for a house. My friend, a research scholar at the college, was sharing a room in an elderly Parsi’s home with another person, who was soon shifting.

I had met the house owner and his soon-to-shift tenant. The owner was okay with having me as his new tenant. When I brought my belongings, he asked my friend to give me his cot, as I was a teacher and he was just a research scholar. I told the owner that I would sleep on the floor, but he insisted I take the cot. When my friend showed reluctance, the house owner lost his temper and told him, “Take it or leave it”. He had no option but to agree.

Years later, the incident that could have rankled him at that time, appeared humorous in retrospect. But then such is the power of time.

KSS Pillai, Navsari