Tej Mahal

In 1970, Sri Rangam, a small town in the city of Trichy, still was one of the underdeveloped areas with less literacy rate, power supply and had a landlord system. Most of the fertile land belonged to the majestic middle-aged man Tejasvini Rajan. He was the father of the town, everyone loved him and he cared for everyone. Tej was the panchayat leader, guru, social activist, and even counseled the government once in the while. He was also one of the highly educated people in the town, 8^th standard.

Tej was a very aspirational person, he had many dreams for the town, though the place was already famous for its temples and the kollidam river, Tej wanted to elevate it to the level of Vatican City. He gathered a council of fellow town folks and showed them the black and white portraits of Vatican City. No one could understand. So, Tej settled for the second-best thing, the Taj Mahal. When he shared the pictures of Taj Mahal with his fellow folks, everyone started clapping.

This motivated him to make a Tej Mahal, just like the Taj Mahal. Instead of Yamuna, Kollidam River was flowing in front of it.

Before he knew it, the word got spread all over Tamil Nadu and people started visiting it. It was small, compact, and beautiful. And gradually foreigners started visiting the Tej Mahal.

After the temples and The Tej Mahal, there was one more concept that was famous in this town. That was the idea of ghost and possession. Soon after, Tej Mahal was established; an incident occurred, which destroyed Tej's Dream and ambitions.

On sunny noon, a British lady in her late 50s came into Sri Rangam. With her heavy luggage, she approached a local guy and enquired about Tej mahal. The local guy without any response starts beating his drums. A bullock cart with a complete crew approached her. Tej came out of it and welcomed her with a garland.

Lady – Your hospitality is very good?

Her accent and English were tough for Tej.

Tej – No hospital, only Tej Mahal, you want to see?

Lady – ok…I would love to..

Tej is still confused..

Tej – Yes see or noo see..?

Lady gets embarrassed and replies – Yes see..

Tej and the localities get happy and start dancing on their way towards Tej mahal.

 But, the heat was too much. The lady could not bear the terrible sun.

Lady – Tej, can I have some water?

Tej – Water madam is from Kolliodam river …we drink ..bath and washuu..

Saying this he points out the river where a group of buffaloes was soaking in it and kids were playing right next to it.

Tej – you want water?

Lady gets disgusts and says no.

After a long ride, they approach Tej mahal. The Lady gets excited and starts to click pictures. Tej gets happy and gives different funny poses to her. While going inside, Tej tries to impress her with his stories.

Lady – English madam…you like it

Lady – It’s wonderful. But, it’s too hot.

Tej takes it as a compliment and replies – Thank you madam.

Tej – Taj mahal rumor – the soul of mumtaz is rounding and rounding …

But, Tej mahal no rumor…No pei (Booth)…No rounding … You are safe ..

The lady suddenly faints there and collapses.  

Quickly, the localities and Tej took her to the nearby town doctor and gets her treated. The doctor explained Tej regarding her dehydration problem. Tej regretted not understanding this and apologies to the lady. The Lady acknowledged it and left the town. But, this news became the first rumor for Tej Mahal. The localities thought the place was possessed.

No one came to maintain the place and no one allowed visitors to see the place. Tej was depressed and got crushed. He sat on his recliner chair and started thinking about how to change the mindset of his local people. He lets out a sigh and drifts off to sleep.

A hand from behind woke him up. It was the hand of a postmaster. He gave a letter to him. It was from Tej's nephew Babu. He was born and raised in Chennai city. In his entire family, Tej was the only one who has finished 10^th standard. The letter was to congratulate his uncle on Tej Mahal and for the first time in his life, he is planning to visit the village.

Tej quickly gets an idea and wrote back a letter to Babu. People in the village believed and got influenced by English and something foreign. So why not use the same concept to change their belief.

Tej rejoiced in his idea and gave his new letter to the postman.

 

After few days, under a big tree, the entire panchayat was placed on the issue to reopen Tej mahal or not. There were a lot of whispers among people. Though they respected Tej, the fear factor withheld everyone from helping him.

In his local language Tej started speaking with them – (Tamil)

Tej – Dear people, why are you afraid of Tej Mahal? 

Random guy – We have proof..

Random Guy 2 – We all saw what happened to the white lady..

Women from the crowd- Evil is staying there and it got angry because an English lady came in…

Tej – Ok, what if I can prove it to you?

Suddenly, his nephew Babu walks from behind and joins the crowd. In the sunny noon, he was wearing a tux and an English hat. People were amazed looking at him. They thought he was dashing and they almost believed he was a foreigner. Babu cleared his voice and started speaking with his broken English –

Babu –

Babu, My name English babu..

I live Chennai ..

But, I see Singapore, dubai and English land..

Today, I stay in Tej mahal…

And prove….Safe

Got it?

The crowd was dumbstruck by her performance. No one knew what to say. They all opened their mouth wide in surprise and gazed at him for few seconds. Suddenly Tej came in between them and made them understand that Babu is going to stay in Tej Mahala and prove it to them that it's safe in their local language. After understanding this, the crowd started clapping and whistling for Tej and Babu.

On the same night, Tej and the town folks placed sheets and got settled in front of the mahal. Babu went inside with the style and kept the main door open. He sang English rhymes and danced to impress them. People from out got mesmerized by his performances and kept dancing from out. After a couple of hours, everyone got tired and dozed off.

Soon the dawn broke and the light entered the mahal. Babu wore his coat and hat and came out in style. The town folks woke up and saw him coming out of the mahal. Babu clears his throat and says – See…

Listening to this the town folks got happy and ran inside the premises. They lifted Babu and cheered for him. An old lady from the crowd places a garland on his neck and says – Tankuuuu….

From that day Babu became English Babu in the village and everyone started looking up to him. Tej was happy and back to his old track in making Tej mahal an iconic destination for the world.