Fallen leaves

Adam Ayub

The financial situation at home was getting worse. The hours I spent in college, I was floating in the clouds. But when I came back home, I crashed to earth with a thud. The harsh realities of life stared me in the eye. Father was struggling to make both ends meet. We were selling our properties one by one to survive. My younger brother Akbar was studying engineering in Karnataka. My four younger sisters were also studying. Father had to finance the studies of his six children and feed eight mouths. Life was in a sharp contrast of black and white at that time. College life was full of fun and romance. But life at home was laden with financial difficulties. Strangely this contrast had always been a permanent feature of my life. There was never a dearth of female adoration; but I had never had enough money in my life.

During this period Nadira, the eldest among my sisters, was married to my cousin, M.A.Sait, an officer of the Reserve Bank of India. He was about twelve years older than her. His parents were dead. As he was my father’s sister’s son, father was his guardian. He was very keen on marrying my sister. So overlooking the age difference father consented for the marriage. As our finances were on the decline, the marriage was conducted as a low key affair at my uncle’s house in Bangalore. My brother- in-law neither demanded nor accepted any dowry. It was great relief to my parents in those hard times.

The College union was ruled by KSU, the student wing of the Congress party. SFI was a strong presence. At that time my leanings were towards the left. But my friends wanted me to enter the fray as an independent. So I filed my nomination papers as an independent candidate for the post of the College Union general secretary. There were always political clashes between the two parties during election time. There was hectic campaigning. If the workers of the rival parties came face to face, a clash was inevitable.

It was in this charged atmosphere that I ventured into a meeting of KSU and shook hands with the KSU candidate. He did not expect this gesture. But he took my extended hand and shook it. This was taking place in the quadrangle of the campus, being witnessed by thousands of students from the balconies and corridors around. There was thunderous applause; as such camaraderie between rivals was unheard of. When the results came, I lost the election. But I got more than five hundred votes, which was a record for an independent candidate. Many many years later the new generation of students told me that my election notices and posters with my photograph were still plastered on the walls of the ladies hostel and ladies common room. The vagaries of time could not tear my posters away from the walls of Maharaja’s College. It is a pity that when a re-union of old students, “Maharajakeeyam” was held in the College in 2008, I could not attend it.

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Adam Ayub - Adam Ayub is a well-known cine artiste with multi-dimensional talents in his field. He is also a good writer. He graduated from Ernakulam Maharajas College in 1972 and joined the film Institute in Madras. After passing his diploma, he worked in the film Industry for about 10 years, before switching over to television when doordarshan started operation. He has no other profession, but does several jobs in the media. He writes articles in English and Malayalam, and teaches cinema at various Media Institutes. He is also an actor and screenplay writer. He directs documentaries, serials and spots.He translates Films and serials from different languages into Malayalam, and vice versa.

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