by BS Murthy
Shaukar Suryam: Pardon her Veeraiah garu. After all, it hurts to lose one of their own. Now let's go about the panchanama.
[Exit: Shaukar Suryam with his henchmen and Veeraiah.]
[Enter: Yadagiri, Maliamma's brother. After condoling Lachamma, he whispers into M aliamma's ear. In turn M allamma whispers into Yellaiah's ear.]
[Exit: All three of them. Curtains down.]
Scene - 3
[Curtains up: Maisamma on a stool besides two wooden chairs and Renuka on a mat in the hall of a kacha building in the dalit mohalla.]
Renuka: Why all this fuss naanamma?
M aisamma: Because our Renu has matured.
Renuka: So what.
M aisamma: Well, it's the day that begins your nights.
Renuka: What do you mean by that?
[M aisamma whispers into Renuka's ears.]
Renuka: But isn't amma against baava.
Maisamma: Sadly she's rooting for Saailu. Say you don't want to wed any till you pass Matric, and we'll see later.
Renuka: But why is naayana afraid ofamma?
M aisamma: Well, how long can it be hidden from you. Your mother is hand in glove with that cruel Papi Reddy, and so my poor Yadagiri is scared of him.
Renuka: I hear naayana call amma a loose woman. Who'sa loose woman naanamma?
M aisamma: Someone close to more than one man, but as things stand, it's rare for a dalit woman not to be loose, especially in youth. These peddollu force upon us and there is no way we can resist them.
Renuka: But don’t they say we're untouchables?
M aisamma: That's the irony of sex Renu. How I wish you remain untouchable for them.
Renuka: What about you?
M aisamma: One day Shankar Rao Patel caught my hand in the fields, and I slapped him with all my strength. Imagine what he did. He took my hand, rolled it over his face, and said that he loved it far better that way. After that, I couldn't resist him for long. Well, we had a steady affair till he died, sadly at fifty. But unlike the peddollu you've come to see, he was a kind man.
Renuka: What about aththa?
M aisamma: M y M allamma is made of a different mettle. When this dora tried to molest her, she said she would rather die than yield to him. But as he tried to grab her still, she ran like hell and jumped into their well. Luckily, she was saved in the nick of time.
Renuka: Oh, really!
M aisamma: That's not all. What a predicament it was for the peddollu that an untouchable jumped into their well. As nobody was prepared to drink from it, they had to purify it with gangajal, that too after pumping out ail the water from it. In the meantime, oh how long it took them, they had to fetch water from other villages. Well, what news it made then, and they got the message that Mallamma won't bend any way. Maybe, it could be the fear of her jumping into the well again that keeps the patels and the patwaris too at bay.
Renuka: Why not all of us do that naanamma?
M aisamma: It's because of our love to live that we put up with the indignities of life. Being branded loose women is just one such.
Renuka: What about the memsaabs?
M aisamma: Why aren't they women like us.
Renuka: But do they get close to our dalit men?
M aisamma: In hush-hush ways that is. But if the cat is out of the bag, often it gets killed. Of course, the dark one, but the fate of the fair thing depends on other things. But, mostly the affair is pushed under the carpet.
[Enter: Yadagiri with Yellaiah and M allamma.]
Yadagiri: Amma, M aisaiah is dead.
M aisamma: Oh how come?
Yellaiah: I doubt that Shaukar got him killed.
M aisamma: But why should he get his own naukar killed?
Yellaiah: Shaukar says M aisaiah has stolen his money but I suspect there's something fishy about it. [Then he turns to M allamma.] Malii, didn't Maisaiah tell us that he was going to memsaab as she had some work for him before Shaukar returned from Warangal. Can't we now put two and two together?
M allamma: Why all that now before Renuka. [To Renuka.] So, you've left Sarakka behind.
Renuka: Po aththa.
Mallamma: You better preserve your shyness for your baava. Well, where is vadina?
M aisamma: Don't you know she's always with that Papi Reddy Patel?
Yellaiah: It's high time we had put some sense into her head.
Yadagiri: Whenever I'm hard on her, she goads him to get tough with me. Why blame him when she herself is so mean.
M ailamma: Why not I give her a bit of my mind.
Yadagiri: Don't ever do that akka; you know what a foul mouth she has.
M ailamma: So be it. It won’t do any good to Renuka if she won't mend her ways now.
Yadagiri: Let's get Renu married to Narsimma, and that solves all the problems.
M ailamma: How I wish we could do that. But I want Narsimma to be a B.A. at any cost and you know marriage means its curtains down. Moreover, aren't they too young to wed?
Yadagiri: Oh, how my poor girl is caught between two stools. If we don't move fast Anasuya would make her wed that good for nothing Saaiiu, her pimp of a brother.
M aisamma: Be a man at last, and let not things come to that pass.
[Enter: Anasuya.]
Anasuya: Whom is the old hag instigating?
Yadagiri: Learn to respect my mother at least.
Anasuya: Respect her, my foot.
Yadagiri: Any way, what does a loose woman know about respect?
Anasuya: Oh, don't tell me your mother kept her thighs ever closed.
M ailamma: It's sickening really; at least consider her age vadina.
Anasuya: True, an old whore is chaste no less. Oh the poor thing.
Mallamma: Forget about her past; now thinkabout Renuka's future.
Anasuya: Don’t I know what this panchayat is all about.
Yadagiri: Why what's the secret about it? Who would want Renu wed a pimp.
Anasuya: Oh, penimiti, better mind your tongue.
Yadagiri: Don't forget Renu has a mind of her own. Don't you know she's fond of Narsimma. Anasuya: Once she weds Saaiiu, she would be no less fond of him.
M ailamma: Vadina, why hurry things, let her first complete her M atric.
Anasuya: Why, to let your B.A son elope with her then?
Yellaiah: Well, ail along you've been teasing them as a couple in the making, didn't you? Anasuya: Maybe, but I've changed my mind.
M ailamma: But then, they're in love with each other.
Anasuya: Don't worry; it won't take long for them to fall out of it.
M ailamma: But vadina, why are you bent upon breaking the alliance?
Anasuya: Yeendee lolli. Am I obliged to tell to you?
Yellaiah: I'll see how you can back out now. Don't I drag you to the panchayat?
Anasuya: Listen Yellaiah, Renu can wed your son over my dead body, but before that take care you don't die of some snake bite like that poor M aisaiah.
Yadagiri: What to do when the fence itself is bent on eating up the crop. [Turns to Yellaiah.] Why should you suffer more of her foul mouth?
[Yadagiri leads away Yellaiah, and Mallamma follows them.]
Anasuya: Good riddance bad rubbish.
[Anasuya goes inside.]
Renuka: Who's a whore naanamma?
M aisamma: An abusive word for a loose woman that loosens her lovers' purse strings.
And the irony of abuse is that in abusing man, it's the woman that is abused. Won't the list of abusive words reveal that?
Renuka: And what about a pimp?
M aisamma: Why do you want to know all about sex the day you've matured? [She laughs heartily.] Well, God forbid you won't have to deal with any.
[Curtains down.]
Scene - 4
[Curtains up: The sun is still some way to set on Rampur's horizon, and seated on the square cement dais around a mango tree at the temple are M uthyal Rao, Papa Rao Patel, Rami Reddy Patwari, Papi Reddy Patel and Shaukar Suryam. A couple
of M uthyal Rao's henchmen stand guard as well. Papa Rao Patel opens the day's daily, and is about to read out the earmarked news to them.]
M uthyal Rao: Papa Rao Patel, for once why not give precedence to the local news. Let's hear the update on M aisaiah' widow from the horse's mouth.
Rami Reddy: Dora, why embarrass Shaukar Saab?
M uthyal Rao: Why Patwari, what's new in it? Won't he take women on lien in lieu of interest?
Rami Reddy: Why don't you realize dora that he has to pay for her upkeep in this case? Isn't it like parting with the principal? What an unwelcome development for any moneylender.
Papi Reddy: Why isn't she well-endowed to make value addition.
Rami Reddy: By the way, Shaukar Saab, have you any clue who stole the money?
M uthyal Rao: God knows that but don't we know the widow's stole is in Shaukar's hands? [Laughs.]
Shaukar Suryam: And the money under my wife's pillow. She was to send it to her brother but forgot to tell me about it. It's as well she didn't part with it for that gambler would've squandered at the races.
Papa Rao: Now that Shaukar Saab had galloped with the widow, what if his brother-in-law got stranded in his tracks.
Papi Reddy: If not for the brother's turn to the tale, surely it's tabloid stuff. And that would've made Shaukar Suryam a household name.
M uthyal Rao: That is if our Shaukar is prepared to spend some time behind the bars. Well, don't ever spread it, it won't help any. Now let's turn to the press Papa Rao Patel.
Papa Rao: There's disturbing news from West Bengal dora.
Shaukar Suryam: Isn't West Bengal too faraway to disturb us anyway.
Papa Rao: Don't they say what Bengal thinks today the rest of India thinks tomorrow, and that's my worry.
Rami Reddy: What's it any way?
Papa Rao: Well, it took place only the other day and God forbid 25 M ay 1967 won't be a redletter day.
M uthyal Rao: What for is all this buildup, Papa Rao Patel? Why don't you tell us in a nutshell?
Papa Rao: You know, well who would've ever known, Naxalbari is a small village in West Bengal. As it happens all the time, there was a dispute over an assigned land between a landlord and a peasant. And again, as is the case all over, the landlord got the peasant thrashed by his goons. That was on 2 nd March, but on 25 th May the story took a different turn with an unpalatable twist to it. Led by the ultra leftists, Charu M ajumdar and Kanu Sanyal, the peasants of Naxalbari revolted against the landlords and usurped their lands. What's worse, vowing to take this revolutionary opposition to every nook and corner, the M aoist duo gave a call to the downtrodden to join the movement in numbers.
M uthyal Rao: Even then, I'm not the one to lose sleep over a storm in the Naxalbari teacup. After all, haven't we seen the so-called Telangana Struggle fizzle out before? Why not move on to something more relevant.
Papa Rao: M aybe you're right after all? Well, our sarkar says it's going to distribute banjar among the peasants.
Rami Reddy: Won't it make some welcome news?
Shaukar Suryam: Our Patwari must be out of his wits to say that dora.
Rami Reddy: What would moneylenders know about land grabbing? How long would it take us to relieve them of their pattas?
M uthyal Rao: That's true. We can look for better times then. But how are we to believe the politicians?
Papa Rao: They also plan to propagate family planning among them.
Papi Reddy: Why isn't it a sensible measure? Won't that cap the scum?
Shaukar Suryam: Papi Reddy Patel seems to miss the point here. What if that picks up amongst them? Won't we be short of women pandering to us?
Papa Rao: That's true; Shaukar Saab has some foresight after all.
M uthyal Rao: Why, won't that shrink his customer base as well? What a double jeopardy it could be to our Shaukar. But then, there is no need to worry as things won't change in a hurry, if at all they change.
[Enter: Anasuya.]
Anasuya: Dandaal dora.
M uthyal Rao: Why, any problem?
Anasuya: I seek protection for my daughter dora.
Papi Reddy: Well, what's the matter?
Anasuya: Dora, my sister-in-law and her husband are forcing my daughter to wed their son.
Papa Rao: What's the objection? After all, isn't it the custom?
Anasuya: But the custom in my family is to get her married to her maama that is my brother Saailu.
M uthyal Rao to his henchman: Bring Yellaiah and Mallamma to the panchayat.
[Exit: Henchman.]
Rami Reddy: How old is your daughter?
Anasuya: Patwari-ji, she has just now matured.
Shaukar Suryam: Won't it be in the know of Papi Reddy Patel as well?
Papi Reddy: Why poke your nose into my affairs. Did I ever enquire about her EDD, you know who.
M uthyal Rao: Oh, stop it. [Turns to Anasuya.] What's your man's take on this?
Anasuya: He's coerced by them into agreeing dora.
[Enter: Henchman with Mallamma.]
Mallamma: Dandaal dora.
M uthyal Rao: What about Yelligadu?
Mallamma: He'sgoneto town dora.
M uthyal Rao: Yeme M allamma, Anasuya complains that you're fiddling in her family matters.
Mallamma: Dora, my son was betrothed to Renuka at her birth itself. Now it's my vadina who backtracks.
M uthyal Rao: Yemey Anasuya, is it true?
Papi Reddy: Whatever, we may restrain the Yellaiahs to keep away from the girl.
Mallamma: Dora, how can Papi Reddy Patel decide for the panchayat even before Anasuya replies?
Papi Reddy: Yeme M allamma, aren't you talking like a panch. Don't you know it's the parents who decide whom the children have to marry? Now the panchayat decides that none from Yellaiah'sfamily should take things into their hands.
M allamma: How come dora fails to stop Papi Reddy Patel from hijacking the panchayat.
Papi Reddy: Oh how dare you? Don't we see you're thrashed and then thrown out of Rampur?
Mallamma [in all fury]: Dora, they say panch is parameshwar but here I see the Satan in collusion.
Papi Reddy: You dirty bitch. [He spats on her.]
M allamma: Orey Papi Reddy. [She leaps up to Papi Reddy but drops down holding her chest in pain.]
Papi Reddy: Won't it serve you right, you upstart. It does no good for the dalits to be angry. Realize that.
M allamma: Orey luchchaa. [Getting up with some effort, she pounces upon Papi Reddy.]
[As Mallamma tries to throttle Papi Reddy, Anasuya tries to restrains her. In the end, M allamma collapses as Papi Reddy Patel pushes her away.]
Rami Reddy: Looks like she's dead, maybe, it's a massive stroke followed by a mild one.
Papa Rao: Thank God, she didn't have a sickle in her hand. Now I can imagine the peasant fury at Naxalbari.
M uthyal Rao: Papa Rao Patel, forget about Naxalbari, surely its one headache less in Rampur.
Shaukar Suryam: More so for Papi Reddy Patel. Oh, the way he's rooting for Anasuya! Dora, don't you see some daal me kaala in this?
Papi Reddy [Recovers his composure]: Why not you go and please yourself with that just widowed.
M uthyal Rao (Gets up): Let's go.
Rami Reddy: Where, to M aisaiah's widow.
[All laugh as they exit and M allamma lay on the floor.]
[Enter Yellaiah with a bag in hand, and seeing Mallamma, he rushes to her.]
Yellaiah: Oh Malii, why did you desert me? Now how am I to live without you? [Lying over her body Yellaiah wails inconsolably.]
[Enter: Narsimma, Sarakka, Yadagiri, M aisamma and other villagers as the curtains are slowly down.]
Scene - 5
[Curtains up: Standing near the well of the downtrodden, Narsimma peeps into it.]
[Enter: Renuka on tiptoe, and blindfolds him.]
Narsimma: Don't I smell my Renu from a mile. [He clasps her hand that blindfolds him.]
Renuka [Pushes a sweetmeat into
his mouth]: See how my success in M atric tastes.
Narsimma: [Taking her into his arms.] But I'm for sweeter things from a sweet sixteen.
Renuka [Coyly]: Po baava. [Coquettishly] As if I'm holding you at the threshold. You can smell me from a mile but won't move an inch into my life. What a buddhu you are baava.
Narsimma: Buddhu or badiya you would only know after we wed. But don't you feel the pull of my love from the pulse of my heart?
Renuka: [Puts her ear to his chest.] Well, now if you don't pull me into your life, my mother would push me out of it, and baava that would be the end of me. [She sits morosely on the wall and looks into the well.]
Narsimma: Don't you know Renu that lovers never die. Ask Romeo - Juliet, Salim - Anarkali, Heer- Ranjhaetc.
Renuka: Do you want us to go their way or what, to live 'happily ever after' only in the hereafter.
Narsimma: Don't lose heart Renu; we'll make it a unique baava- maradalu saga in Rampur itself.
Renuka: With Saailu as villain, don't you know my mother has her own script. Oh, the very thought of wedding him is so scary. [She looks into the well.] Well, if ever the push comes to the shove, like aththa, I too would jump into their well.
Narsimma [Holding her]: Why don't you have a thought for me Renu? Don't you know I live with the hope of living with you? If you die, it would be the end of me as well. [He peeps into the well.]
Renuka: Oh, baava, how you keep me in thetrisankhu swargam.
Narsimma: Bear with me, I'll find a way out.
Renuka: I don’t see any way out but to elope, and now is the time. If not. [She mocks to slip into the well]
Narsimma [Catching her by the waist.]: Do you think I didn't think about it?
Renuka: Baava, I suspect my mother has a secret agenda. We've no time to lose now.
Narsimma: Oh, if only Sarakka were married and I've my degree on hand. Then I would've left this god-damn place with you and my father. But if we run away now, my father and sister would be hauled over the coals by your mother. Leave aside Papi Reddy Patel, she would have the full panchayat to back her on that score.
Renuka: Don't I foresee that? But I don't want to lose you at any cost, and that's my dilemma. Oh, God, I'm going mad.
Narsimma: Even if our fears are liars, still our move puts a full stop to my studies. How my mother lived and died dreaming about my being a B.A.
