The 'blind' duo robbed him blind

18 January 2019 08:32 am Views - 25947

Piyaratna Mudalali, who lives in a remote village in Pasdun Korale, is a retired postal worker. He is well known in the village as the father of the postal service. or "Thapal Piya". He had retired not due to old age but to the fatigue he felt after working in the postal service for a long period of time. He had started a small boutique by converting a part of his home and thus became a 'Mudalali'. He catered to the needs of everyone in the village. He made a quick buck by purchasing goods from the farmers at low prices and selling them at a profit. He became quite wealthy as a result.

There were two sons of an uneducated villager who used to hang around the boutique owned by Piyaratna Mudalali. The elder of the boys was known as Chappa and the younger one was called Katukaiyya. There was something unnatural about the two of them. Supposedly they could not see in the night. This was hereditary as was their penchant for pilfering whatever they could lay their hands on.

One day the duo met Piyaratna Mudalali and discussed about purchasing Areca nuts. The Mudalali thought he could make use of their infirmity to get some work done by them, thinking that he could sell the Areca nut stock at a very high price during the off season. Knowing full well that the two brothers cannot see in the night he got them to dig a big hole in a remote corner of his land. The villagers, who got the wind of this story, warned the Mudalali saying that his crop of Areca nuts would not be spared by the two brothers. The Mudalali, ignoring their pleas, asked how two men who cannot see in the night would be able to pluck Arecanuts in the night.

Sometime later the off-season for Areca nuts dawned and seeing the two brothers hovering around the boutique where Areca nuts were being purchased, the Mudalali's thoughts went to the Areca nuts buried on his land. He came near the place where the Areca nuts had been buried and seeing the gunnies said to contain the Areca nuts safe in their original packing, he was very happy. The five gunnies were taken out of the pit from where they were buried by the two brothers earlier. However, on opening the gunnies Piyaratna Mudalali was in for the biggest surprise of his life. He found to his dismay that the gunnies only contained a mixture of stones and paddy husks instead of the Areca nuts.

He seached in vain for the two culprits, Chappa and Katukaiyya, to no avail. It seemed like the two crafty brothers had duped the Mudalali and pocketed the money after selling his Areca nuts for a good profit, thereby leaving him with nothing. (Laxhmi Kudaligama)