The Green Room & Devi Collection

by Nag Mani

  The evil towered above all of them. It loathed the staleness of the sky… the warmth of the morning air…

  The Jinn stopped his chanting and bowed.

  But his master was infuriated… for it saw something the Jinn had not been able to perceive.

  Light began to seep in from somewhere behind her. Something began to reveal itself. Something that had been hiding all along, silently watching the events unfold.

  The Jinn paid for his arrogance, paid for summoning the Root to the surface for mere vengeance. He should have looked deeper; he should have known before summoning his master. The Root had kept itself detached from the surface and the petty desires of its dwellers, for centuries, yet here it was…

  Three branches shot forward and lifted the tall white man. He roared in pain as he was torn into pieces. The pieces turned into shadows that floated around for a while before being pulled into the crack in the trunk.

  Zeenat and Zeba disappeared into thin air and Aditi never saw them again.

  The trunk arched, the branches pulled themselves back, ready to face the adversary.

  Aditi turned around to see the Devi. But there was something else outside the clearing, hidden behind trunks. Something tall. She first saw the enormous feet. Her eyes moved up along the legs, the swarthy waist, bare breasts, and then the two large eyes blazing like fire. A naked woman stood as tall as the trees, her dark, matted hair falling all the way to her feet. Aditi did not need to be told who she was, for she wasn’t a mere spirit, she was a goddess! Aditi folded her trembling hands and bowed.

  The Jinn should have known that the Queen was bonded to Ma Puran Devi!

  It was over in a flash. The goddess screamed and bolted forward like a storm. All Aditi remembered of those moments was the whistling and jostling of a great wind.

  When she looked around again, she was alone in the forest. The clearing was now a large crater, fresh and moist. The ancient tree lay toppled to a side, its roots exposed. They were bleeding.

  *

  A thick smoke hung low over the village. The forest was burning. The news of Aditi being dragged into the forest had spread like wildfire. Some villagers decided to flee – they perceived the end of the world to be near. Others had had enough of the forest. It wasn’t clear who led them, but a mob carrying blazing torches and axes and sickles and spades marched to the trees. Women participated valiantly. They shouted slogans and chanted mantras, keeping their voices high to induce courage. They had decided to burn down that ancient tree.

  So they marched through the forest, hacking and chopping anything that came in their way, only to see the tree uprooted and on its side. The city woman was dragging herself away from the clearing. The initial surprise was overcome with curiosity. They didn’t believe her initially when she told them about the goddess. But who else could have uprooted that mighty tree? Nevertheless, they hacked at the trunk and broke the branches, letting out years of anger, fear and hatred. Jars and jars of kerosene was poured. Aditi watched from a distance as monstrous flames rose higher and higher, over the foliage, and into the lightening sky. The young and the impulsive set afire any tree they could lay their hands on. It was then that the elders intervened and sent them home, lest the entire village was burned to ground. Under the supervision of wizened men, trees were selected and felled to contain the fire. By late morning, all the women were also sent back to their homes while the men continued to struggle with the fire.

  Manoj walked alongside the women supporting Aditi, and there were quite a lot of them. She had never seen Payal so happy and excited. Apparently, her mother hadn’t accompanied her into the forest and Payal was dying to tell her whatever she had witnessed. A crowd had already gathered in front of their house, waiting to hear the first-hand narration from Aditi. But she needed rest.

  When she woke up a few hours later, she no longer felt weak. The pain in her spine had subsided. Inspector Mishra came to see her, but didn’t linger long. The fire was still posing a threat. People from neighbouring lands were pouring in to see the forest burn. Manish and Gauri paid her a short visit. And then came Zoya with her mother, though the latter stayed at the doorway.

  It was almost lunch time before the visitors finally began to take leave.

  And it was then they realised that Bhagvati was nowhere to be seen.

  The word spread. Initially they thought that she must be somewhere in someone’s house. Payal was questioned, who had gone from excited to hysteric. She told them that her mother had strictly told her not to go to the forest, but she had made a run for it, not wanting to be left behind in helping her Didi. She had thought her mother would follow. Aditi hugged Payal, assuring her that her mother would return, that she must be somewhere in the chaos the village was in.

  And as she did, she thought of the cloaked figure with the young goat – one of the many scenes and emotions she had witnessed in the forest – the cloaked figure who had the voice of a woman.

  It was late afternoon by the time the fire was under control. Many anguished villagers stood with buckets outside their huts, should a stray spark set their home ablaze. Men returned from the forest in small groups to eat hasty meals, while some stayed back to keep watch. A sweaty Razzak came with his brother Salman. Razzak extolled her over and over again, while his brother stayed behind with a solemn face, maintaining the demeanour as that of Laila. Razzak told her that earlier that morning, Arvind had convinced someone to perform a black magic to find out the culprit. They had to sacrifice a hen to summon an ancestral spirit. But a strange energy could be felt pulsating in the air and the connection was broken before any progress could be made.

  Arvind came to visit not long after and began to tell tales of his adventures. How he had followed Madam’s trail backward and found the blood-stained cloth and the hair. How he had bullied his neighbour into performing the ritual. How he had gone door to door arranging for the ingredients.

  Payal was making tea in the kitchen when Salman saw it – it seemed as if someone had run into the cornfield. He brushed aside some plants and made his way inwards. And not long after, he found her lying in wet mud. Her body had turned black. It had already begun to stink. Her tongue fell out of her mouth and hung flaccidly down her cheek. Her eyes were open. And beside her was a jute bag, wide open, revealing the contents inside.

  Aditi followed Manoj when she saw him enter the field behind Salman. She found him hunched forward, his hands on his knees, as if he was having difficulty in breathing. She saw the body and gasped. Her hands began to tremble uncontrollably. And before she knew, tears were rolling down her cheeks.

  “It was not money she came for,” Manoj whispered, “she wanted me to marry her daughter after I divorced you. She thought…”

  Aditi fell to her knees. A crowd was gathering behind her, trampling the plants on their way. Her eyes darted to the contents of the jute bag. She saw dried hypanthium of three rose flowers, a few brown petals still clinging. She saw a jar of home-made rose drink, incense-sticks and a handkerchief.

  It had happened right under her nose.

  “Why?” Aditi bawled. She knew the answer very well… To take her place.

  Zeenat was marked with the home-made rose drink. Now that Aditi thought about it, Bhagvati had prepared drinks for everyone when she returned from her sister’s place. It could not have been difficult mixing the petals of the rose she had plucked from under the tree in Zeenat’s drink. She could not have dared to mark the three girls all at once. It would not have taken long to find out what they had consumed. But one girl falling sick out of the three… no one would have suspected.

  Then came the incense-sticks, with the essence of rose. Bhagvati made a show of worshiping with her home-made incense-sticks and diya every day. Only that they were the sandal ones. When Zeba and Zoya came to her house after their sister’s death, she pretended to bless them, circling incense-sticks around them, one by one. No one noticed the fragrance of rose mingling with that of sandal. She said she was prot
ecting them. It was such an innocent act… it was supposed to be such an innocent act. How could she!

  “Where is she?” Payal was screaming behind Aditi. She saw the body and shrieked. Out of all the people present there, she was the only one to go forward in spite of the horrendous smell, and kneel beside the body. “Help!” She gently lifted her mother’s head, as if she were still alive, only sleeping, and put it on her lap. She looked up at the men, pleading, crying as innocently as only a child could. But no one seemed to be willing to help her.

  “Let me come! Let me come!” Razzak was making his way through the crowd, his younger brother, Ali, at his heels.

  “Isn’t that… isn’t that the handkerchief she gave our daughter to wipe her face last night,” Salman was pointing at the bag, ignoring the girl crying in the middle of what was now a circle of men. “It’s her! She is the god-dammed witch! She came to our house yesterday and cursed our daughter right in front of us!”

  Angry murmurs broke in the crowd. Aditi was suddenly alert. She shook her head at Payal, her eyes wide. But Payal could not understand. She was still expecting the men to help.

  “That witch!” Salman entered the circle, “took our daughters! She cursed them. She cursed this village. We were so happy! Did you not see them, the lovely flowers they were? Did your faces not brighten when you heard them laugh? Did you not consider them as your own daughters…”

  “Salman… stop,” Razzak tried to intervene, his voice frail as ever. “She is just a child…”

  “And then came this woman,” Salman continued, his words becoming bolder, “and her daughter. They tore our family apart. Why my girls? Why they? They died the most horrible death! Had I known such was their fate, I would have myself drowned them in the river. But they died in pain and suffering. You all saw it, didn’t you? She brought havoc into our village. Our beloved Mukhiya Ji, his son… What a great man he was, Mahesh Ji. But they are all dead. She killed them all. And this cursed girl continues to live. She continues to live while mine had to die…”

  Even if Payal understood what was going on, she made no attempt to escape. Aditi rose silently, grabbed her wrist and began to pull her away. The crowd parted, making way for them. She thought she had almost made it, until a hand reached out from somewhere and slapped Payal hard on her face.

  That one slap was enough.

  Before Aditi knew, the young woman was snatched away from her. Payal was being pushed and jostled. Her clothes were torn off. Her screams were drowned in the raging shouts of men. She was lost in a chaos of hands and legs and dirt. Then appeared axes and spades and sickle. What was earlier covered in mud, now dripped with blood.

  The murderers parted when it was done, mingling with the onlookers.

  Aditi collapsed before a bleeding Payal. Her body was in spasms. Her abdomen was a tangle of flesh and blood and cloth. Her right arm was missing. Her legs smashed. She was breathing, blood pouring out of her nostrils and mouth. Her eyes were wide open, her jaws clenching and unclenching. A large chunk of flesh was missing from her cheek. Blood was spurting out from her fractured skull with each heartbeat, and with the failing heart, its pressure was decreasing. The spark in the eyes began to diminish.

  She closed her eyes… eventually.

  *

  Arvind decided to stay back that night. Aditi didn’t know if he did it voluntarily, or Manoj asked him to. Two women were also called to take care of her. She was inconsolable. Bhagvati had caused her far more pain than Ajay could ever have. She trusted her. She loved her like her mother. Was there no one in her life who could love her unconditionally? Was there no one she could call family, who truly cared for her? She cried and cried. She cried for everything that had happened to her.

  And she blamed it all on Manoj.

  Villagers came to console her as she sat in the backyard. Women gathered around her, patting her, caressing her hair. The police were doing their work. They collected the two bodies. Inspector Mishra came to their house, but didn’t approach her. He roamed in between the gathering, all watching her cry. He asked questions and left. Manoj dared not come near her. He sulked in the rooms, his head lowered.

  By evening, Salman had been arrested with three other men.

  The women made Aditi lie down on her bed. They cooked kheer and chapattis and left. Aditi couldn’t take Bhagvati off her mind. She kept thinking of her, and what she had done. She couldn’t bring herself to hate her. In fact, she would have happily forgiven her had she just slit her throat while she was sleeping. It was the girls she had ordered to kill that made Aditi sick. But would this all have happened if Ajay had not been driven crazy by his vendetta? If Manoj had controlled his brother right from the beginning? If Manoj… everything pointed back at him!

  Never underestimate what a mother can do for her child… Bhagvati had told her once. She wondered if Bhagvati was justifying her future actions then.

  The fire was still burning in the evening, but no longer posed any threat. Manoj was talking to a small crowd in the veranda who had gathered to see the orange halo over the forest. They discussed the murder. Salman would be free, they predicted, police cannot just single him out or any other. It was the work of an angry mob. Then they went ahead to justify the killing. He would be free, they repeated.

  The men left, one by one. A watch was being kept on the fire. Arvind collected a worn-out bed-sheet and a pillow and settled on the veranda. Manoj was lying on the cot in the hall. He had made a great show of caring for his wife in public, but now that they were alone, he left her to sulking and sobbing. He did try to enter the bedroom on two occasions to see what she was doing, on the pretext of finding something, but Aditi threw at him one of her sandals each time. He didn’t bother after two attempts.

  It was after sunset that they heard screams from the forest. Arvind hurried inside and closed the door. “Stay here, Sir,” he whispered, breathing heavily.

  “What happened?” Manoj whispered back.

  “Be quiet.” He put a finger to his lips, then on second thought, ushered the manager inside the bedroom and latched the door. Aditi was peeping through the window.

  “Don’t, Madam,” Arvind hurriedly shut both the windows. “Be quiet Madam, don’t move.” He then switched off the light.

  They waited in silence… they waited, listening to each other’s breaths ….

  …until they heard the sound of anklets outside the house.

  Footsteps. Someone was climbing up the steps to the veranda. The bolt fell down on its own. The door opened. Footsteps in the hall now. Raspy breaths. Someone stopped outside the door. Manoj was right in front. He backed away, smearing the ash of an incense-stick on his forehead, muttering prayers.

  Aditi was in the opposite corner when the latch on the door rose and unlatched itself. The door opened, and the Devi floated in. “Gudiya…!”

  Aditi dropped to her knees and bowed. The men took the cue and did the same. “Do you not want to worship me, gudiya?” She stopped in front of Aditi. “Take it, take my feet.” She raised a leg and thrust her feet into Aditi’s chest. “Lick it, gudiya. Kiss my feet.” She was pushing her feet deeper and deeper into her breasts. Aditi found it difficult to breath. “Worship me! Sing my praises! Then give me what you promised!” She bent over, reaching down. Something gleamed in the darkness in between the hair. “Give me a man!”

  Aditi tried to crawl away. Her fingers clawed at the bed-sheet. “Take me!” she managed to choke.

  “A man was what I asked for. Take a name, my bitch! My fucking bitch!” Her nails were violently rubbing against Aditi’s skin, inflicting bruises on her neck and breasts. “Or make a man sacrifice himself for you.”

  “I cannot take a name.”

  “You can, my bitch! Take his name. Do you not hate him? Do you not want him to suffer? Look, what he did to you! What are you good for now? Take his name!”

  Manoj, who had been cowering in terror till now, leapt up to his feet. His face had reddened as he stared at Aditi with b
ig, bulging eyes. All she had to do was take his name and he was more than certain that she would do it. The colour of his pants darkened as urine seeped down to the floor. Arvind too had his eyes fixed on Aditi, waiting for her to utter the name.

  Aditi bit her lips and kept them shut.

  “Won’t you take his name?” Her foot was now on Aditi’s neck. “Don’t you want to free yourself? Don’t you want to be with him? I can take you to there. The two of you can be together, at last, for the rest of your lives. Answer me, Sonjuhi?”

  Arvind was the first one to realize that Aditi would not take the name. Manoj was still frozen at his spot, eyeing her with fear for the first time.

  “Sir, we have to leave!” Arvind shouted. “Go out! Run!” Manoj would still not move. “Run, Madam, run! Get out of this house!”

  Aditi summoned all her strength and pushed the foot away. Surprisingly, the Devi let it go. Aditi scrambled on her fours, making for the door. Arvind helped her up and the three of them ran out.

  “I will haunt you, my bitch,” the Devi yelled after them, “till you give what was promised!”

  Once out, Aditi made for the field. Her instincts told her to hide. Manoj didn’t make it any farther than the veranda before collapsing.

  “That auto Madam,” Arvind pointed at an auto-rickshaw parked on the brick road as he struggled to pull the manager to his feet.

  “Where is the driver?”

  “I am driver. I borrowed it…”

  Arvind helped Manoj in the backseat and jumped behind the handle. People were watching from inside their dark houses. They had all put off their lamps. As the auto-rickshaw moved on, Aditi saw a woman standing on the roof of their house, watching them.