SINGAMPATTI DAYS

摘要

The south-west monsoon set in early that summer of `70. There was no sign of it though at Tinnevelli Junction, where the late May sun relentlessly roasted the already baked earth and left us sweating, as porters loaded baggage into the boot and overhead rack of the company Ambassador. Shehzarin was already a few months pregnant with our first born but it was Pancho, our Boxer dog, who showed signs of morning sickness. The fault lay entirely with Xavier, the Singampatti group driver, who exhibited a style of driving I found uniquely disquieting; flooring the accelerator for a few seconds, then completely taking his foot off the pedal, he repeated this process with alarming consistency. As a result we see-sawed past Chernmadevi, rocked back and forthpast Karumbai and found ourselves quite seasick by the time we got to Natesan Agency at Kallaidaikurichi.