Waking up to the sounds of absolutely tasty coffee with a hint of raw tobacco ! Seemed like someone wanted to tell the whole world that there's nothing like a cuppa coffee while he is blessed not to hear back from them !

Mooga, he would remind you of a lot of characters off books and movies, but no matter who it is, Mooga takes over not giving the other fictitious character in your head a chance.

He mustve been about 5 ft, but took a slight turn on his way up and ended up actually 4ft (approx), dark skin, wrinkles gathering only at the corners of his eyes otherwise strecthing on his bony face, white cotton kurta and the peeping mandya shorts, white cotton cloth or a towel tied as turban around his head...most of the times as i remember him - he would be squatting on the floor and lamenting about his estranged wife again, and rattling away about his glorious days when he was a flourishing goldsmith and fathered two kids. [Though as kids we mostly made fun of him, i miss him now...] His eyes were almost round and 'coz of his height they almost always looked up and this worked great for him - those teary eyes would melt anybody's heart (stony -) to a minimum of a rupee or two.

Well, yes for those of who know Kannada, though he was called Mooga (meaning 'Dumb' in the local tongue) he was actually deaf and not dumb at all, no way - he would speak a lot and refused to understand 'Stop'. I am glad he couldn't hear what we called him, and i glad i know that its the man who named him Mooga who was actually dumb. Anybody who knew Mooga would know that instantly !

He only spoke Kannada, but i guess i have heard him speak telugu as well and almost all of his sentences ended with a literal comical 'he he he', more hearty and loud when he wouldn't understand what you are trying to tell him. When you look like a joker trying to enact out something, he just laughs on your face 'HE HE HE'. My mom found a way out of this, she would usually ask him to buy some stuff from a nearby shop and she always kept some sample for Mooga so all she would have to do is show it to him. It was funny how she kept aside a single tomato, a chunk of coriander or really dig to find a bit of something she wanted from the shop.

Mooga lived in a small dingy, room and the crouch that exactly fit him into it and his house was under the stairs. He had it all arranged, a peek right through his house and you would see how spic he kept the place (not other go i guess!, anything out of place and it would be a block). And sometimes he would emerge out of it - all 'White', he slept under a rack where he stacked his food and within that room you can only bang into something, entering it is almost like banging into the room itself !

And then one day...

and another and another.....Days passed and there was absolutely no sign of Mooga, we have no clue what happened to Mooga. He just suddenly disappeared - i hope his real family found him.


Even though i never drink coffee, i know what tasty coffee sounds like !!






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