Chip-Chip gathering

SHARDA PATASAR

sharda.patasar@gmail.com

The nation has sworn in its first female President. I write this a few days after the fact. I had missed the ceremony, trading in four walls and television for sun and chip-chip hunting with some young companions. I am the colour of dark chocolate and will perhaps remain this way for a few weeks.

Most of the chip-chip that we dug up that day were tiny. I explained to the kids, for whose sake this beach journey had taken place, that the chip-chip needed to be left there to grow up. They are considerate kids and this explanation struck a chord with their sense of justice. We combed the beach for at least an hour. One of the little buckets we had brought to build sand castles was a quarter full with water and a little sand. The children were storing the chip-chip in there. They had no intention of keeping them and were concerned with ensuring that they didn’t die. They were really just there for the thrill of discovering the chip-chip.

The younger of the two advised me that I should dig as soon the water started receding and the sand began to get exposed again. That way I could see the chip-chip burrowing back into the sand and catch it before it disappeared. She followed it with, "Did you know that you taught us that?"

"Yes I remember," I said.

I am surprised that she had remembered after almost two years, for her brother had been the one following me that day on the beach, old enough at the time to begin understanding the instructions. She, playful and an advocate of "thinking outside the box" (she actually uses that expression) obviously had been listening and had now returned to teach me my own lesson and remind me too that I had taught it to them; just in case I had forgotten.

As we searched, unearthing stones and sea cockroaches along with the occasional chip-chip my mind ran across Shiva Naipaul’s The Chip-Chip Gatherers. I have not read the book as yet, but I wondered, whether it described the seeming fruitlessness of the long search and little results. After the hours of digging and the large number of chip-chip that has to be collected to get only a small amount of meat, is it worth it? Does it represent the fact that the yield, though small, is nevertheless one that we look forward to because it is a delicacy we can enjoy after all the work to prepare it had ended? Was chip-chip gathering in any way a metaphor for the human condition, for life?

My mind turned to the nation’s movement towards independence, a destination still in the making, perhaps to be that way for centuries to come. It seems to me similar to this chip-chip gathering. But this is not necessarily a dark thought for the journey is in the process which is itself an exciting one.

So, as that process of unearthing ourselves continues, we welcome in our nation’s first female President. Her appointment is not only empowering to women, but it is also an occasion for hope. It represents yet another chance for a role model for, as many would agree, it’s been ages and the nation continues to await the arrival of a leader with great anticipation.

She has called on us all to do our part for she does not intend to walk alone. But as much as one may call on a citizen to do his part, how do we convince him that doing his part makes anything better when the tongues that have called him into action thus far, have been forked? Holders of public office seem painfully unaware of their actions on the behaviour of citizens. Even when leaders assume that no one is listening or looking, there are those who are going to come back to teach you your own lesson and say by actions and perhaps words "Did you know that you taught us that?"

Our President’s task is no easy one. Breaking trust is easy. Building it is another matter and in a nation that has had its trust account slowly depleted over the years, filling it once again is going to be a challenge. And so here we are once again, after an inspirational speech, looking on to see whether this time we have a candidate with whom we will be proud to walk regardless of the distance involved.