The Three Tiers

by Sivakami Velliangiri

Photo by William C Crawford

On the earth everything was static. The best part of it is I have repeatedly held on to the ‘ other world’ which was my mother’s real abode, and this earth is where she and I sojourned during daytime. At mid-day we walked the winding stairways, up and up, till we came to a gallery where the departed play acted or participated in mock weddings, ran round the gold rimmed red chairs meant for the bridegroom, or played Daisy Chain. Most of my mother’s dead relatives were here, two grand uncles N.M.K. and N.M.S. , my cousin uncle who had been fond of jack- fruit payasam, Chandru her younger brother whom she had lost at a very young age but was active waving his crutches, and Mother Rose who had been her Mother Superior; it was not comical to see Mother Rose kneeling and genuflecting, unnecessarily.

In the kingdom on the lower tier Kuttichathan conducted his ministry. He had lesser spirits who would go running to do his bidding, like throwing stones on magnificent buildings. A hurricane, an earthquake , a tsunami were all in league.

If you can understand tiers, then on the third tier there were Yakshis and Yakshas , ritualistic parade marchers. This ‘other world’ is where a newspaper was a necessity.