by Gracy
It was when Martha was standing lost as the water kept boiling in the coffee pot, that she heard Luka’s scream from the bedroom.
‘Martha! The Chettys have finished them! They have escaped with his new car!’
A sorrowful smile opened up like petals on Martha’s lips.
Next door, Sheemon’s house lay in silence.
After many days, Luka went to his office. When he returned from work, he stood looking at Sheemon’s empty porch and closed house, and whistled. After he had his coffee, he joked and smiled at Martha and their daughter. Thinking that everything was back to normal, Martha thanked the Lord.
The third day, Luka leapt from his bed, shouting, ‘Hmmm! What a stink! Eh, Martha, they have started rotting there.’
Her eyes filling with darkness and ears drumming, Martha lay frozen in bed.
(Patham Pramanam)
15
Illusory Visions
When the smell of myrrh suffused the room, she woke up feeling suffocated. Heaving with smoke, the room looked like a piece of sky crowded with white clouds. Lying there with eyes cleared of sleep, she was filled with awe when she saw a coffin wafting in slowly and sticking to the swirls of smoke. Opening the door of the coffin, her Appan climbed out. After shutting the coffin carefully, he squatted on it and called out to his daughter. With her eyes already open, she sat up in bed.
Passing his hands through his grey beard, the old man complained, ‘Last year, it was around this time that I died. It was because your mother starved me that I reached this state. Though there is a saying that every man should be assured at least half a tummy of supper, I didn’t get even that. Around midnight, I was famished. When I got up to find out if there was something in the kitchen, and as I was feeling my way through the dark, what I opened by accident was the front door that pitched me straight into the front yard. Tripping on the threshold, I fell face first. Was laid low for three days. Next thing I knew, I was in my grave.’
Then she saw another coffin flying in accompanied by a humming sound. Dashing against one end of Appan’s coffin, it landed amidst the swirls of smoke. Her Appan pitched forward and nearly fell off his coffin, but somehow regained his balance. Shoving open the coffin door, Amma came out, panting. Pointing her forefinger at Appan, Amma exploded, ‘Don’t make me say things! You should have thought about all that when you were wandering the forests with the gun slung on your shoulder and returning at night to trouble me. I wore my butt off to look after the family and our ten children. By the time four of our daughters were married off, my backbone was broken. It was when I was eating fire, worrying to death about how to pack off this one with someone, that she herself arranged everything.’
Reluctant to look Amma in her face, Appan muttered, ‘It’s true that I didn’t look after the family. But wasn’t it by looking after my property that you took care of the family? It wasn’t with your Appan’s money, was it? And for that, how well you treated me! In the mornings, you would serve me with the previous night’s rice. I used to spend the afternoons wandering through forests and groves. In the evenings, my fourth mouthful of rice would be the last on my plate. If I caught a plover or crane, you would feed me with a beak or a wing. Tell me, didn’t you starve me to death?’
Shaking her forefinger furiously, Amma took a step forward, ‘If I get a second chance, I bet I’ll kill you!’
Unmindful of the repercussions, Appan jumped up in response and a violent curse burst out of his mouth. He rocked like a boat at sea from the force of his outburst. Still, standing with his hand on his waist and with a smile frothing like mature toddy, he continued, ‘It was because I didn’t want you to enjoy my absence, after dispatching me once and for all, that I stood in wait for you up here. Finally, it was with you that I departed!’
Amma pushed Appan viciously. Holding both hands tightly entwined atop her head, she cursed, ‘Devil! You won’t get peace even in the netherworld!’
Here, she intervened: ‘Hey, listen both of you! Listen to what I have to say! It was when I had had enough of these brawls of yours that I left with a guy. He looks after me and my children as well as he can. Though so much time has passed, I have not wished to see my mother and father even in my dreams. So, for our Lord’s sake at least, I would be grateful if you both would clear the ground. Or else, I will bring something made of iron!’
Amma swung back abruptly to glare at her. Then she brought up phlegm and spat violently. ‘Phthoo! Ungrateful wretch! Just wait, you will pay for this!’
Picking up the lid from the floor, Amma lunged back into the coffin. It sped two times faster than its pace of arrival. Taking her cue, Appan slid into his coffin slowly. After hesitating for a moment, Appan also left the way Amma went.
‘Havoo!’ She let out a sigh of relief and lay on her back. Then she turned on her side and went back to sleep.
On some slope of sleep, a black car swept through the fumes of myrrh. It came rushing into her front yard. Four or five people carried her husband out of the car and laid him on the porch. With a silent scream, she fell headlong on his body.
(Mayakazhchakal)
16
The Secrets of the Earth
Sara blew in like the wind into Inspector Alexander’s cabin. Falling into the first chair she came across, exhausted, Sara cried, ‘I killed her, sir!’
Inspector Alexander was immersed in trying to unravel the knots of a complicated case. Startled, he raised his head and exclaimed, ‘Oh! Sara!’
That cry did not reach her. With her hands on her head, she wailed again, ‘I killed her!’
Sitting straight and observing her closely, the inspector asked, ‘Whom?’
‘A teacher in my department.’
Sara had turned ashen, like someone afflicted with a grave illness. Alexander asked suspiciously, ‘How did you kill her?’
Staring through the fingers spread over her eyes, Sara muttered, ‘With these hands. Did you not notice them? They’re covered in blood!’
Glancing at her snow-white hands, the inspector was amused. Still, Sara’s dishevelled hair, and face crumpled with intense pain, made him feel bad. Leaning back in his chair, he asked, ‘What was that teacher’s name?’
‘Devaki Varasyar.’21
‘Varasyar sounds like a pitiable soul. Why did you kill her, Sara?’
Now, Sara’s eyes were flaming. ‘Pitiable soul? Such a crafty creature can’t be found anywhere on this earth.’
‘What happened for things to come to such a pass?’
‘That…’
Sara panted. Like a little boat caught in the middle of the sea during a storm, Sara’s mind wobbled. ‘I hated her from the moment I saw her.’
‘Should you hate someone on first sight?’
‘Why not? Wasn’t she an exact replica of my Aunt Rahel?’
‘What’s wrong with Aunt Rahel?’
‘Jesus! That’s because you don’t know how things stand, sir. My grandfather had two children, Rahel and John. John was my father. They had an age gap of twelve years between them. My grandmother had bled to death as soon as she gave birth to my father. Thereafter, it was this sister who single-handedly brought him up to be somebody. In that struggle, she forgot to marry. Anyway, she did ensure that her brother married at the right age. Doesn’t the family need heirs? But what was the use? Unfortunately, she couldn’t stand my mother. There was no limit to the torture my mother endured. My father was the one who felt smothered between the two women. He became a full-blown drunkard. My mother, miserable with her life wasting away, didn’t bother to look after us. My brother and I grew up like orphans.’
Sara’s eyes became empty. Her stare darted over Alexander’s head and fixed itself on the wall. Suddenly, he felt that he was being flung into a swirling vacuum. He shook off the suffocating feeling and egged Sara on, ‘Then?’
As if to herself, Sara continued, ‘When he flunked in the tenth grade, my brother stopped studying. Thereafter, he started living in the sky. He climbed the
stairway of cannabis. From there, he hollered down to me, “Come away chechi, it’s marvellous here!” But could I follow him? Am I not a girl? During my schooldays, I had someone who was prepared to share my sorrow. Ravi. After I finished my studies, I taught in a tutorial college for a while, until I got a proper job. After that, I left to live my life on my own terms. After our marriage, I did visit my house once, along with Ravi. Aunt Rahel did not even let us cross the threshold. That’s when I realized that I had never hated someone so much.’
At that point, Sara’s eyes smouldered like embers.
‘This Varasyar woman was just like Aunt Rahel. It was when I rejoined college after my maternity leave that I met her for the first time. The same foxy eyes. The arrogant belief that she can do no wrong. Beaky nose. Lips sealed with sarcasm. Scalp showing through sparse brown hair. Even the way she moved her shoulders to adjust her blouse was similar. I became certain that the dead Aunt Rahel would never let go of me as long as I lived.’
Sara’s face grew dull behind the cobwebs of memories. Her voice became feeble, as if coming from a great distance.
‘In my childhood, I used to dream a lot after reading stories of yakshis.22 In the dreams, the face of the yakshi, who travelled on a broom or a wooden pestle, was that of Aunt Rahel. Once I met this Varasyar, the same dream began to trouble me again. The yakshi’s face became indistinguishable from that of the Varasyar’s.’
Wiping her streaming face and neck with the end of her sari’s pallu, Sara went on, ‘Isn’t it generally said that vegetarians will be even-tempered? Rubbish. Plants are unfortunate enough to offer no protest even though they are alive. Even when they are plucked or slashed, they cannot cry. That resentment generates poison. Because of the poison inside, misogyny is stronger among vegetarians.’
Silence sealed Sara’s lips.
‘Amazing!’ Alexander muttered. He realized what a terrible life Sara had had. When he looked at her, sitting with her head bowed and her mind in tatters, his heart softened.
Abruptly, Sara thrust the silence away with the back of her hand.
‘I had been writing stories since I was a student. Every time I finished a story, it would bring relief to my festering mind, almost like a bothersome pustule bursting. When my stories began to appear in print in many magazines, Varasyar began to feel uneasy. It was as if she had shrunk in stature. She too started writing stories. However, this storytelling business is not as easy as stringing garlands.23 And you know what she did to overcome that? As soon as a story germinated in my mind, she would sniff it out with her sharp nose. Then, with eyes sharpened with cunning, she would wriggle to the bottom of my mind and ferret it out. Thus, all my stories became hers. It was around that time that Ravi took to the bottle rather regularly. Even Ravi’s disregard of me was tolerable. But how was I to live without my stories? She didn’t give me any option. After that, I came straight to you. You can arrest me!’
Inspector Alexander leaned back in the chair and shut his eyes for a few moments, then asked her, ‘Do you remember me?’
Though she was looking at him, Sara did not see anyone. She asked, ‘How’s that to be? This is the first time I’m entering a police station.’
Alexander smiled wanly. ‘Okay, Sara, you may go. We have a few procedures to complete. After that, we will come and arrest you.’
Sara stood up with a sigh. A doubt crossed her mind and she sat down once more.
‘But until then?’
‘Sara, go home and take some rest.’
Until she disappeared from his vision, he stood watching. Then, picking the phone, he called the college where she was teaching. ‘Inspector Alexander here … Do you have a Devaki Varasyar in the English department there?’
The reply was instantaneous: ‘No, sir!’
2.
When he saw Simon Peter walk into the room, Inspector Alexander stood and picked up his hat from the table.
Dipping his head slightly in deference and with a faint smile on his lips, Simon Peter said, ‘Alexander the Great, am I late?’
With pretended gravity, Alexander retorted, ‘Today also you crawled on the floor of that news desk, right? Hey, Mr Simon Peter, do you actually see some possibility of your column on psychological counselling taking off?’
Hanging on to his smile, Simon Peter shot back, ‘One can’t do without such tricks until one establishes a good practice, Your Highness. After a while, this Simon Peter is going to reign and you will be no match.’
Alexander burst out laughing.
‘Come, let’s go to my quarters. Let’s have a drink.’
‘How come? Aren’t Elizabeth Taylor and the little miss there?’
‘No, Liza and daughter have gone to her house.’
Alexander started the bike.
He opened the door to the living room, switched on the fan and said, ‘Let me get out of this khaki uniform.’
Alexander reappeared in a lungi, carrying two glasses and a bottle of whisky. Entrusting Simon Peter to fetch cold water from the fridge, Alexander went to the kitchen. He came back with cashew nuts and a spicy mixture to snack on. Uncorking the bottle, he said, ‘You know what, Simon? The person who paid me a visit at the station today was the same person who once professed to my face an allergy to khaki.’
Gulping the contents of the glass in one go, Simon Peter chewed a cashew nut and queried in a grave tone, ‘Who was that guy?’
‘Not a he, but a she.’
‘Where in the world did you meet her?’
‘That’s a long story. After I finished my MA, I was pulling along, giving private tuitions and suffering from a disease called poetry. This Sara came there as a teacher. Beautiful figure. Not a bad face either. When I got posted as a sub-inspector, I went straight to her and proposed. She declined with an apology, saying that she was allergic to khaki. She also advised me not to be like those who lose all humanity the moment they don the khaki uniform. She also told me about a young man called Ravi. Though I was deeply disappointed, I conveyed my best wishes for her future well in advance.’
‘Oh, so that’s the story! And why did Sara visit you?’
Alexander summarized the story. ‘I am thinking of entrusting you with this case. Shouldn’t we find out how Sara came to such a pass?’
Stroking his heavy moustache and beard to make them pliant, Simon Peter said, ‘My dear inspector! You know, this mind is indeed a habitual fugitive, difficult to pin down!’
‘Then why the hell are people like you walking around, sporting a psychologist’s beard?’
‘Isn’t this all a masquerade? But for this, what fun can we have in life?’
Musing for a few moments more, Simon Peter continued, ‘Listen, recently I have had to deal with two cases. In case number one, the hero was half-impotent. It was after he married and tried to sleep with his wife that he realized that.’
Alexander intervened, laughing, ‘You would have sent him away with the advice that men have to test such things before jumping into marriage.’
‘Bah! You and your police brain. Anyway, after many years of putting up with it, the woman lost her patience. She became involved with her neighbour. He lived with his wife and their brood. He had to fulfil his duty at home before embarking on his secret rendezvous. He would announce his arrival by throwing baby coconuts on the terrace. Because there was a coconut palm leaning against the terrace, no one suspected anything, thinking that it was just the coconuts falling prematurely. Things went on like this, until one day her husband came to know of the arrangement. From his hiding spot, he watched the whole encounter. When he saw his wife and neighbour, he too began to experience some heat. However, by the time she went into the bathroom and came back purified, having washed off all the smears, things had cooled down for our hero. Now he wants to find a remedy for this.’
Alexander laughed his guts out.
‘Cuckold! You must have solved the issue by giving him sleeping pills.’
Filling his glass, Simon Peter warn
ed him, ‘You must remember, sir, that I am discussing real problems. The issue is not about solutions. The second case is a bit more romantic. The heroine in that story is an extremely beautiful girl. God betrayed her by giving her an intellect that rivalled her beauty! Her parents hitched her to a guy in the middle of her studies. According to the girl, her father feigned a heart attack to get her to agree. Apparently, the father was a failed businessman. This suitor owned a lot of property, a car and a two-storey building, though his face was mouse-like. The mother quashed her resistance by maintaining that looks were indeed of the least significance in a man. Anyway, after the marriage, the girl’s tongue freed itself from its leash. She would waylay all and sundry, and talk about anything and everything. That too in pure Tamil. The girl, who had never stepped out of Kerala, claimed that it was at Stella Maris College in Madras that she completed her studies. She went on and on about the classes there, her hostel roommates, the geography of Madras, her boyfriend Parthipan who was as handsome as a film star! My Lord! That’s when I realized that these secrets of the mind were the secrets of the earth itself.’
Alexander was amazed. ‘Then how did you deal with it?’
Simon Peter winked, stroking his beard. ‘All that was required was a good jolt.’
Emptying the last drop from the bottle, Simon Peter said as he took leave, ‘I intend to solve your Sara problem with the help of her relatives.’
3.
Getting down at the bus stop at the base of a valley, Simon Peter asked the first person he met, ‘Where is this Puthanveedu? Heard of it? Where is it?’
His response was a question too: ‘Who are you? I don’t remember seeing you.’
This is the trouble with the rural lot, thought Simon Peter. Only after asking several necessary and unnecessary questions will they answer. Sometimes, you may not get an answer at all.
‘I’m from far away.’
‘Far away, meaning…?’
Simon Peter said the first name that came to his mind, laughing inwardly.
