Chops Chutney

 

We had chops chutney for supper last night, and 'Chops Chutney' is also the title of the final story in Pravasan Pillay's collection, Chatsworth.

Why not buy a copy at Made in Durban?

Extract from the short story 'Mr Essop' in Pravasan Pillay's collection Chatsworth

The cottage remained empty for two months before Mr Essop moved in. Mr Essop was a friend of my father’s cousin Prega.

Uncle Prega, who was seventeen years older than my father, had known the seventy-two-year-old pensioner for all his life. Both were originally from Renishaw, a small town on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal.

Mr Essop had worked as a sugarcane-field labourer in Pongola for much of his early life before opening a fruit and vegetable store, which he ran with his wife. After his wife died of cancer in 1986, he sold his house and business and moved to Durban to live with his son.

Uncle Prega said Mr Essop had grown to hate living under the same roof as his son and daughter-in-law. He said that they trea­ted the pensioner as if he were a child, forcing him to go to bed at eight each night and taking control of all his money. He wanted to get away from them and had asked Uncle Prega for help.

This was when Uncle Prega approached my father. He came on a Saturday afternoon.

“He got nowhere to go,” Uncle Prega said. He had brought a bottle of brandy along and my father and him had worked their way through two-thirds of it. “We can’t let a good man like him die in such a house. That’s not the kind of house you must go in.”

“For true,” my father replied. He had already agreed an hour before to rent the cottage to Mr Essop, and the two of them now seemed to be chewing through the decision. My father unscre­wed the bottle of brandy and poured a double for himself and Uncle Prega, and then he motioned at me to top up their glasses with Coke.

“You know when I was growing up in Renishaw, that ballie was like a big una to me –” Uncle Prega said, before stopping and addressing me, and, at the same time, tipping up the Coke bottle neck with his forefinger. “That’s enough, boy.”

I poured the same amount into my father’s glass before sit­ting down behind them.

Uncle Prega continued: “After Apa died, Mr Essop should help us like we his own. Every month end, when he should come from Pongola he should always bring back something to give to Auma. Never mind, it was a parcel sugar, or packet biscuit, or tea leaf or few metres material, small things, you know, but he shouldn’t forget about us.”

“A gentleman,” my father replied, taking a sip of his brandy.

“That’s it, a gentleman,” Uncle Prega said. “And, plus, must know, when big aka needed train fare to come to Durban for teachers’ college he was the one to give the money. Just like that, no questions. This man was only our neighbour, but he should treat us like we his family. If I had a place in my house, I should take him in tomorrow.”

“He got a place here, don’t worry about that,” my father rep­lied, knocking his glass against Uncle Prega’s ...

*************************

Pravasan Pillay's Chatsworth is available from Made in Durban.

A mouthful of secrets

 

Who was Sinclair Beiles? available from David Krut Bookstores

Who was Sinclair Beiles?, a compilation of writings about the South African beat poet edited by Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska, is available from David Krut Bookstores.

It contains essays, interviews and memoirs by writers such as Gary Cummiskey, Eva Kowalska, Alan Finlay, Heathcote Williams, Carl Weissner, Fred Malan and dawie malan.

Odd Interview with Richard Fox

Gary Cummiskey's interview with South African poet Richard Fox in the latest issue of The Odd Magazine can be accessed directly here.

Oddity 23 is out!

 The latest issue of The Odd Magazine is out!

Please enjoy the issue at: https://theoddmagazine.wixsite.com/oddity-23

In it you can read:

Odd Poetry: Angelline Schellenberg, Gordon Meade, Ivan de Monbrison, Mathew Friday and rob plath

Odd Shorts: Catfish McDaris, Glen Armstrong, Keith Hoerner, Liam Pezzano, Mark Russo and Peter Cherches. All stories are illustrated by Lizzy Campbell

Odd Art: Enrico Artis, Paul Warren, Lizzy Campbell

Odd Interview: Richard Fox interviewed by Gary Cummiskey

Enjoy!

Outside the cave at Clarke's Books

 

Gary Cummiskey's selected poems, Outside the cave, is available also at Clarke's Books in Long Street, Cape Town.

You can order online or pop in and buy a copy in person!

The fool on the hill

 

Never nevermind release

 

Kiss me tonight, Lady Rachel