POOVANNAN, PONNUTHAYI,PAASIYUR -835

    ANSWER IS WITH THE UNITED NATIONS 

This is a story about the fisherman Poovannan who was staying with his aged Grandmother Ponnuthayi at the small fishing hamlet of Paasiyur in rural Pandiyanadu.  This coastal village is just 80 KMS from my own place Agasthiarpatty .

Ponnuthayi had a serious wound on her leg which refused to heal inspite of all the efforts of Poovannan. The wound seemed to be gathering puss and spreading with each passing day . Total limb amputation if left untreated soon was an unpleasant possibility.

This was when he consented to listen to his best friend Kadir and approach Mayan , the self styled local village Quack .

The Quack Mayan was quick to offer a solution . Washing the wound with a bucket of Seawater for a fortnight three times a day would surely heal the wound completely. The Salt and other minerals present in the Seawater would have the power to bring about  a fast healing effect . 

Poovannan was delighted , at last a solution was on hand to heal the pain of his dear Grandmother Ponnuthayi .

There however was a small hitch . How could he take 3 buckets of Sea Water everyday ?  Someone , somewhere would surely complain ! He would need to approach the Village Officer and seek his permission for the same.

The village Officer was totally confused , he had not come across anyone making such a request before . To be on the safe side , he decided to bring it to the notice of the Local MLA .

Being a hardcore Politician , the MLA began to think of his vote bank , To what political ideology was Poovannan associated with and what were the affiliation of others in the village . Will they be with him or against him if he made a wrong decision ? 

He decided to play it safe and forwarded the request to the State Interior Minister ,  who too was at a loss as to how to respond to a such an unheard of request . He decided to make use of the prevailing good Center/ State Relationship . ONRIYA ARASU , MAANILA SUYA AATCHI ADHIGARA PAGIRVU FASCISA EDURPU and all such jargon had not yet taken root . He in turn forwarded the request to the Cabinet Minister for Waterworks , JAL VIBHAJAN MANTRI Shri Phokatmal Gadharilal  .

Gadharilal contrary to what the name suggests , was a very smart man , he reasoned that Seawater had International ramifications. The waves washing our shores at one end do the same in many adjoining countries at the other  . This could very well blow up into an International Fiasco if a wrong decision is made , much like what is currently happening in Persia . 

After many rounds of Consultations with his Cabinet Colleagues and friends he decided to bring the matter for the preview of the UNITED NATIONS GOVERNING COUNCIL .

VETO powered Nations were consulted . The Straits of HORMUZ and the disturbances it is causing world wide because of the blocked shipping lanes was kept in mind . Everything was considered in its minutest detail and a stand was taken . 

It was decided by the Security Council that POOVANNAN could make use of the SEAWATER close to his hamlet to cure his ailing Grandmother PONNUTHAYI . The only condition was that the efforts taken by the UN and the special effort put in by that  ONE  important  man from IRONINGTON  should be given wide publicity in all the Print and Visual Media . This could in a way help THAT MAN in getting the much sought after PRIZED ITEM which for some obvious reason had been missing on his Oval Desk for quite sometime now in spite of all his efforts thus far . 

ALAS , the ruling has come a bit late . It is close to 120 days since POOVANNAN decided to take the advice of the Quack Mayan . 

 Today is the 40 th day Ritual taking place after the passing away of dear Ponnuthayi . Poovannan is hardly able to stop the flow of Tears . 

THE ABOVE STORY IS SURE TO BRING A FEW TEARS AND A LOT OF SMILES AMONG THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE TAKEN THE TROUBLE  TO READ THIS PASSAGE  .

PLEASE DO SPARE A THOUGHT , EVENTS , THOUGH NOT OF SUCH COMICAL MAGNITUDE DO TAKE PLACE FROM TIME TO TIME AROUND US . PLEASE DO KEEP THAT IN MIND .