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Chacko nodded.
“We hereby certify that the vinegar in this bottle is warranted
to be of the nature and quality which it purports to be. Ingredients:
Water and Acetic Acid. This will be red color, I suppose.”
Comrade Pillai used “I suppose” to disguise questions as
statements. He hated asking questions unless they were personal
ones. Questions signified a vulgar display of ignorance.
By the time they finished discussing the label for the vinegar,
Chacko and Comrade Pillai had each acquired personal mosquito
funnels.
They agreed on a delivery date.
“So yesterday‟s march was a success?” Chacko said, finally
broaching the real reason for his visit.
“Unless and until demands are met, comrade, we cannot say
if it is Success or Non-success.”
A pamphleteering inflection crept into Comrade Pillai‟s
voice. “Until then, struggle must continue.”
“But Response was good,” Chacko prompted, trying to speak
in the same idiom.
“That is of course there,” Comrade Pillai said. “Comrades
have presented Memorandum to Party High Command. Now let us
see. We have only to wait and watch.”
“We passed them on the road yesterday,” Chacko said. “The
procession.”
“On the way to Cochin, I suppose,” Comrade Pillai said.
“But according to Party sources Trivandrum Response was much
more better.” –
“There were thousands of comrades in Cochin too,” Chacko
said. “In fact my niece saw our young Velutha among them.”
“Oho. I see,” Comrade Pillai was caught off guard. Velutha
was a topic he had planned to broach with Chacko. Some day.
Eventually. But not this straightforwardly. His mind hummed like
the table fan. He wondered whether to make use of the opening
that was being offered to him, or to leave it for another day. He
decided to use it now.