Veranda Tales-The Merchant’s Belly button

బొడ్డుకు మసి రాసుకుని కూర్చున్నాడు (Bodduku Masi Rasukuni Kurchunadu)

We all know at least one person who loves to pick a fight. I am not talking about somebody in a bad mood once in a while becoming argumentative or quarrelsome. I am talking about someone we try to avoid asking a question or even say hello. What do we do if we can’t avoid interacting with such an individual? If the person owns and runs the only store you can find in the 100 mile radius, we are just out of luck. This story is about one such belligerent and quarrelsome merchant Venkayya.

Venkayya owned the one and only general store in a village. Villagers shopped for rice, dal, and other groceries at his store. Venkayya had an unpleasant disposition and enjoyed engaging in arguments with his customers and fellow villagers. Venkayya thrived on deriving energy from arguments. He would wait for customers to walk in so he can engage in verbal jousting with them. Most of his customers knew this and avoided getting into arguments with him by not responding and engaging when he tried to start an argument. Other than an occasional stranger passing through the village, it was becoming difficult for Venkayya to find people to pick fights with.

After a particularly dry streak without any fun, Venkayya devised a very clever plan. He applied soot from his kitchen coal stove generously to his belly button. Coal or wood burning stoves were used for cooking in Venkayya’s time. The usual attire for a merchant was a తెల్ల పంచ (Tella Pancha is white Dhovathi Telugu) without a shirt during the time of this story, so everybody could see the patch of soot on Venkayya’s belly very clearly. The first unsuspecting victims were his wife and family. The day started great for Venkayya. He went to the store with great anticipation of numerous fruitful arguments.

As his customers walked in, they would either ask him the reason behind the soot on his belly or couldn’t help but stare at his belly. When people asked him about the soot, Venkayya would tell them it was none of their business why he had soot on his belly. If they stared at his belly and the soot, he asked them why they were staring at his belly and that they were being very rude. This was how Venkayya didn’t let either one of the opportunities go by picking fights all day long and went home happy and content after he closed the store.

Whenever I was quarrelsome, Nanna (father in Telugu) would say: బొడ్డుకి మసి రాసుకుని కుర్చున్నావేంటే తల్లీ? ఏమిటి సంగతి? (Bodduku Masi Rasukuni Kurchunavente Talli? Tell me what happened?”). I would invariably laugh and forget whatever was bothering me or if I were really upset, this would get me to talk about whatever was bothering me.

తల్లీ (means mother in Telugu) is an affectionate way to address daughters and younger women in the family. Adults in my family usually end a question or sentence with తల్లీ at the end when they are talking to younger women in the family.

Even to this day, when I encounter someone like Venkayya, this story brings a smile to my face and makes it so much easier to deal with unpleasant people and incidents in my life.