The Puzzle of Blocks 5

A lighthearted moment in the evolution of Neyveli:

Neyveli in the 60s and 70s did not have quarters in parts of Block 4 and Blocks 5,6 & 7. The Thanthai Periyar Road from Arch Gate to General Hospital was the last road on the northern side of the township. Children used to be scared traveling by that road even during daytimes. It was somewhere in the early 80s I think that residential apartment type houses first came up in Blocks 5 & 6. Old timers will not forget the famous visit of Shri Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, then President of India and MGR, then Chief Minister of Tamilnadu for commissioning the Thermal Power Station-II. The helicopter of the President landed somewhere in Block-5 as there was open space there.

Today, Blocks 4,5,6 & 7 are popular residential areas.  The layout of Block-6 is different as the residential Units/Quarters were designed to a pattern. Because of this, even today, newcomers find it difficult to locate a particular house and go around in circles.

The Puzzle of Block-6

In 1990, Rajan had just joined NLC and was new to Neyveli.   He was allotted residential quarters in Block-6 and the number of his House was 141 A.  He had not yet brought his family over.  One evening, he was sitting in his house. He had returned from First Shift and was watching TV. His neighbours were out of town.  It was around 7.30 in the evening. He heard someone open the common gate and saw an elderly man, with a yellow bag in hand, come hesitantly to his door, which was open. He got up and went to the door. The elderly man asked him – “Sir, I am new here. I am searching for House No. 170-B. My son is staying there. His name is Babu. I have come from Pudukottai. Where is this Unit No.170 located? Rajan himself was new to this place and he had found it difficult to locate the houses of his friends on earlier occasions. He did not have any idea of where this house was and he told the elderly man “Sorry sir. I too am new here. The number of this Unit is 141. So the house you are searching for maybe two streets behind.” “Ok. I will find out” the man said and went away.

Rajan resumed watching TV. After some time, he got up to have some water and was about to sit down after having water when he heard the sound of the gate being opened. He peeped out and was surprised to see the old man with the yellow bag again. “You could’nt find the house?” Rajan asked and the man said “No. The people in the streets behind said the house could be this side so I came back here.” Rajan did not know what to say – “Maybe then you should search the other side” suggested Rajan. “Yes. You are right”, he said and went away again. Rajan started watching TV again but he started thinking about his family. He had to first buy some essential materials like a few furniture, curtains and household items before he could bring his wife and child along with some other materials kept at his home in Salem. He had to write a letter to his parents too informing them about this shifting to Neyveli.   Even as his mind wandered from his wife, child and parents, he switched the TV off to write the letter to his parents.  As he got ready a white paper and pen, he heard somebody walking on the road. It was 8.15. He looked out of the window and saw the elderly man with the yellow bag walking down the road. The man also caught sight of him looking out. While he felt sorry for the old man, he also felt a bit irritated. What could he do? He could not help and he wondered why the old man was keeping on disturbing him again and again. The old man, perhaps sensing the irritable mood of Rajan, looked embarrassed and walked past Rajan’s house slowly, clearly not wanting to disturb. With a sigh of relief, Rajan sat down and started writing the letter to his father. He told his father about his decision to bring his family to Neyveli by next week and sought to know an “auspicious day” for this. His father was particular about undertaking things on appropriate days and times. So he let his father decide the day.  Finishing writing the letter, he folded it carefully and put it in a cover, wrote the address and kept it ready for posting it the next day.

It was nearing 9.00 and he was feeling hungry. He had dosa batter ready and would soon preapre a few dosas for dinner. As he got up, once again he heard the sound of the gate. He looked outside. It was the elderly man with his yellow bag!!! This time, Rajan became irritated. Why had this old man picked him today? Why did he not ask anybody else? He thought.

But before he could open his mouth, the old man said, “Sir, no no, I don’t want to disturb you. I had gone the other side as you directed and people there once again directed me to this road. So, I walked down this road looking carefully and saw that my son’s house, Unit Number 170 which I was searching for, was that opposite house of yours” pointing out the very opposite house of Rajan’s house!!!  “And I wanted to just tell you this. Sorry for disturbing you.”

Rajan did not know what to say.  Terribly embarrassed, he could only manage a smile, even as the elderly man laughed loudly. “The numbers are all mixed up and as you yourself are new here, you too did not know that House Number 170 was exactly opposite to your house number 141”.

Rajan too joined in the laughter and said “Sorry sir, I did not even bother to see the House number of my opposite house, even though I have been here for more than a week. The numbers are all confusing.”

PS: The house numbers are not real. But the incident is real.

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