<p>Among the peculiar characters Poonamalliee showcased in the 50s, Subbu deserves a thumbnail sketch. A grown up person when this narrative begins, Subbu’s fixation with brooms and cleanliness was a topic for chitchat by a few Poonamallians, who were gentlemen of leisure. Whenever they had free time, which was often, they loved to gossip and ridicule soft targets.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Even if the crested rooster, the morning alarm bird, failed to crow due to viral laryngitis, residents sleeping in the street where Subbu lived would get up, hearing the scrap-scrap-scrap sound of a broom sweeping the cement floor. Unlike many who had a contempt for the broom and kept it in the backyard, Subbu gave it an exclusive place in the main hall for easy reach. This earned the ire of his father, who felt seeing the broomstick immediately after opening the eyes in the morning was a bad omen, though his wife who suffered from phasmophobia felt a broomstick would frighten and keep the ghosts away. Subbu felt a broom had a singular role to play by sweeping the visible litter and depositing the garbage in a dustbin. “A broom can do this to the visual dross and muck on the floor, but what about cleansing the mind effectively?” he used to wonder.<br /><br />No one who came to his house at any time of the day would find screwed up balls of paper, chocolate wrappers, pencil shavings, orange or banana peels and such. Hawk like, he would look for them and flourish the boom and sweep the floor now and again, much to the annoyance of his father, who had to get up from his easy chair, a thumb acting as a bookmark in the tome he would be reading, to allow access to Subbu’s broom. Subbu’s father once remarked wryly, “I do not know when the doomsday will come, but in our place, every day is a brooms day!”<br /><br />An incident that happened while selecting a bride for Subbu is newsworthy. The horoscopes having matched, family status found at par, and the girl and Subbu okaying each other at a relative’s wedding, a betrothal was arranged in Subbu’s place. But the bride’s party did not show up. A go-between who arranged that alliance came sheep-faced with an explanation. It seemed the girl’s finicky aunt, an old timer, who passed through Subbu’s place, saw him sweeping the floor early in the morning. How odd! A prospective son-in-law, a strapping male, doing that without any shame! The aunt whose writ ran unfortunately in their family put her foot down and stalled further proceedings.<br /><br />Eventually, Subbu did marry Shanta. During the pre-wedding one-to-one chat, Subbu came clean on his obsession with cleanliness. “I would reserve the right to clean our nest, as often as I decide, with no interference from anyone else. That includes you,” he had told her with seriousness.<br /><br />Like any other lady told not to do a chore which is traditionally deemed as that of a woman, she experienced paroxysms of joy and showed it by making her father include an upscale vacuum cleaner as a wedding gift!<br /></p>
<p>Among the peculiar characters Poonamalliee showcased in the 50s, Subbu deserves a thumbnail sketch. A grown up person when this narrative begins, Subbu’s fixation with brooms and cleanliness was a topic for chitchat by a few Poonamallians, who were gentlemen of leisure. Whenever they had free time, which was often, they loved to gossip and ridicule soft targets.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Even if the crested rooster, the morning alarm bird, failed to crow due to viral laryngitis, residents sleeping in the street where Subbu lived would get up, hearing the scrap-scrap-scrap sound of a broom sweeping the cement floor. Unlike many who had a contempt for the broom and kept it in the backyard, Subbu gave it an exclusive place in the main hall for easy reach. This earned the ire of his father, who felt seeing the broomstick immediately after opening the eyes in the morning was a bad omen, though his wife who suffered from phasmophobia felt a broomstick would frighten and keep the ghosts away. Subbu felt a broom had a singular role to play by sweeping the visible litter and depositing the garbage in a dustbin. “A broom can do this to the visual dross and muck on the floor, but what about cleansing the mind effectively?” he used to wonder.<br /><br />No one who came to his house at any time of the day would find screwed up balls of paper, chocolate wrappers, pencil shavings, orange or banana peels and such. Hawk like, he would look for them and flourish the boom and sweep the floor now and again, much to the annoyance of his father, who had to get up from his easy chair, a thumb acting as a bookmark in the tome he would be reading, to allow access to Subbu’s broom. Subbu’s father once remarked wryly, “I do not know when the doomsday will come, but in our place, every day is a brooms day!”<br /><br />An incident that happened while selecting a bride for Subbu is newsworthy. The horoscopes having matched, family status found at par, and the girl and Subbu okaying each other at a relative’s wedding, a betrothal was arranged in Subbu’s place. But the bride’s party did not show up. A go-between who arranged that alliance came sheep-faced with an explanation. It seemed the girl’s finicky aunt, an old timer, who passed through Subbu’s place, saw him sweeping the floor early in the morning. How odd! A prospective son-in-law, a strapping male, doing that without any shame! The aunt whose writ ran unfortunately in their family put her foot down and stalled further proceedings.<br /><br />Eventually, Subbu did marry Shanta. During the pre-wedding one-to-one chat, Subbu came clean on his obsession with cleanliness. “I would reserve the right to clean our nest, as often as I decide, with no interference from anyone else. That includes you,” he had told her with seriousness.<br /><br />Like any other lady told not to do a chore which is traditionally deemed as that of a woman, she experienced paroxysms of joy and showed it by making her father include an upscale vacuum cleaner as a wedding gift!<br /></p>
