Aruvaal Tales

Incidents in boys hostels always make for a good read.

This was narrated to me by my chithappa (father's brother), when he was in a boys hostel himself during his college days.

There entered the portals of the college as a freshman, a young man.
Now what was different about this young man that warranted sitting up and taking notice you may ask.

Well, this young man was not only apparently a knowledgeable nerd, he was also (unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) what one would call very easy on the eyes. Added to that he had a good sense of humor.

The former reason making him the favorite of some of the professors in the college and the latter reasons making him the favorite of the members of the opposite sex in the college.

This quickly (albeit understandably) brought about jealousy from various quarters.

Soon, his ordeal began.

Now those of you have lived in a boys hostel know that the ragging can sometimes be cruel.
And it was not an understatement to say that what this boy was subjected to was borderline sadistic.

Perhaps due to his ignorance or perhaps due to his newbie-ness, he did what any self-respecting individual would do: He told his dad.

The next morning, most of the hostelites were lounging in the common room.

In marched this boy's father, with an aruvaal in his hand, and screamed:

"Yevan da avan yen paiyana imsa pannardu!!?"


The ragging stopped.


For the non-Tams:
*Yevan da avan....:"Who dares to trouble my son!!?"
*Aruvaal: a type of sword used by Tamilians to sever the tops of tender coconuts during extreme thirst and the heads of humans during extreme anger.