The Summer of '82 - Chapter 11

I hardly slept that night. Kannan’s anger and his violent outburst kept flashing in front of my eyes. In the morning as I had breakfast, i heard ammamma and mother discussing about Kannan’s behaviour yesterday night.

‘It must be hereditary’ my mom said.
‘His father was like this too. He used to get violent without any reason’ ammamma said.
‘Poor Sarla, she has seen so much. I was wishing atleast Kannan should not get the curse his father was born with’
‘This is destiny. What has to happen will happen. What else can we do except what God makes us do?’ ammamma said.
‘Isn’t there any medicine that can cure him?’ my mother enquired.
‘The mysteries of the mind are more mysterious than the mysteries of life. There might be some medicine, but here in this little village, there is very little hope’ ammamma said.

After the breakfast, I ran off to Kannan’s home, but only a huge lock donned the gates and I came back home dejected of not knowing what to do for the rest of the day. I went to the canal nearby and made a little boat of a palm leaf and followed it until it disappeared under the road. Then i ran down to the railway track and waved at the travellers peeping out of the iron framed windows of the busses and later headed back home where i went to sleep after lunch.

Life was so boring. I tried joining Shaiju and Sita in their games but i hardly enjoyed any bit of it. Their games of house and bus-bus were something i hardly enjoyed. I would then pick up a book and read it till i fell asleep.

A week passed. Things had got really boring. The only nice thing through the day was to go and read stories for Kuttan. Kuttan unlike his huge size would behave like a little child. He would squeal with joy if something funny happened in the story and would sob in sadness when a princess was hurt. He would be angry at the villains and he would jump in joy when the prince would defeat the evil King. He was a child trapped in a disfigured huge body. One day, the story was a bit long and I completely lost the sense of time. It was only when Janaki Amma bought out the divine lamp and started reciting little hymns that i realised it was quite late. So i picked up my books and left.

The sky was cloudy and hid the moon thus casting an uneasy darkness on the way home. The sounds of crickets added to the eeriness. I tugged on to my books and walked slowly. I could hear the siren of the police jeep passing by. The sound of the siren faded out and disappeared into the darkness. I felt a hushed sound of crackling dry leaves behind me. I stopped and turned around. There was only the sound of crickets. I must be imagining things, i thought. As I stepped forward there was the sound again and i turned around. A dark figure pounced at me taking me completely unaware. I screamed out in fear when a rough hand covered my mouth silencing the screams of fear.

‘Shhh... shhhh... Its me, Das’ the sound of Das tried to calm me down as i tried to break free from the clutches of the dark figure that held me so tight. The cloud made its way for the moon and I could see Das’s bearded face clearly in the moonlight.
His face was bruised and his shirt torn. He slowly eased his clutch on me. I calmed down and then looked at him. He was unlike what he was. There were bloodstains on his shirt and his lungi. He sat down resting on to the tree close by. He was sweating profusely. His leg was wounded. Blood oozing out beneath a torn cloth that hid the wound behind it.
Where is Kannan? He asked.
I think he is at Sreekumaran uncle’s place. It is over a week that I have not met him. I replied.
I need some help, Shibu. There was pain in his voice as he held his wounded leg.
Shouldn't you be going to the doctor?
Cannot go to the doctor. Tell me can you help me Shibu? He asked again.
I nodded without knowing how i could help him.
‘Can you get me a knife? A sharp one?’
I nodded. 'And if you can get some food, that would be nice too.' He said. Das was in pain and hungry.
‘But ammamma doesnt allow me outside the house in the night’ I had sneaked outside the house in the night, but then there was Kannan along with me too. I was a bit scared to venture in the night, alone.
‘You dont have to go far’ Das said ‘At 8.30 In the night, there is load shedding and there wont be electricity. I will come near the cattle shed of your house at that time. If you dont see me, just drop it at the entrance of the cattle shed and leave. Don’t wait for me’
That was not very difficult, i thought to myself. ‘OK, I will do that’ I assured him.
‘Thanks Kannaa..’ he said.
‘I am Shaiju I corrected him as I left.
‘Sorry Shaiju...’ he said ‘And dont let anyone know that I met you, OK?’
‘OK’ I replied and headed back to my house. What happened to Das? Why was he wounded? Why the blood? Is he a dangerous man? Did he run away from the police? Should i tell it to ammamma or mother? A million questions popped in my mind as i walked back home. I met ammamma at the gate. She was about to leave home to fetch for me at Kuttan’s house.

‘Why are you late?’ she asked.
‘I was reading a story to Kuttan... Sorry’I replied.
‘Look at you, just get a bath before you have dinner’ she said as she locked the gate.
My mother lit a kerosene lamp and put it in the bathroom. She then filled the bucket with water from the well and threw me a towel as she headed to the kitchen to fry some pappadoms. I looked at the floor of the bathroom that was lit by the kerosene lamp. A little frog sat next to the aluminium bucket. I kneeled down to have a closer look at it. It had a nice Golden head and body with black legs. I slowly put forward my finger to touch it but it jumped. It jumped so high that it crossed over my shoulder to the back and i stumbled into the bucket, draining the water out of it. The water caressed my bruised knee and that is when i realised I had hurt my knee. A stinging pain ripped through my leg and i let out a cry. Mother and ammamma started banging the door. I limped to the door and opened the latch. The frog had hopped away into a dark corner and amma and ammama looked at me with concern.
‘What happened’
‘There was a frog’ I replied
‘So?’
‘It jumped on me’
Ammamma was looking at the wound. ‘How come you bruised your knee so badly in the bathroom?’
‘I dont know...’ I tried to be innocent.
‘Get some dettol’ she said to my mother. She then drew out water from the well again and filled up the bucket for me. Mother then wiped my wound with cotton dipped in dettol.
‘you have a bath and then we will put medicine on this wound. Now dont fall again seeing frogs and cockroaches’ she said as both of them left me alone with the frog hidden in the darkness.

After the bath, i dressed up and went to the kitchen where amma and ammamma where busy stirring the earthern pots full of curry. A knife gleamed in a corner. Seeing me in the kitchen, she pushed me to my uncle, Ravi maman.

‘Just put some ointment on this’ she told Ravi maman. Ravi maman was the youngest brother of my mother. He was studying in a polytecnic around 138 kilometers from home. He used to stay in a hostel. I had also heard that he was very active in student politics. He used to come home and never speak to any of us. I thought he hated children. Ravi maman took an ointment and applied it to the wound, then put up a cotton and tied a cloth around it.
‘Ravi mama...’
‘yes Shaiju?’
‘Why did the police take Das ettan away?’
‘Why do you want to know?’
‘I thought he is a nice man’
‘He is a nice man’
Then why did the police arrest him?
'Probably, the police is not that nice.'
Huh? I did not understand why a police would arrest a nice person. Also, I was wondering how Dasettan got bruised. Did he run away from jail? I wondered.
‘There you are’ he said ‘It should be fine by tomorrow morning’ He said as he got up. We both sat down on the floor waiting for ammamma to serve us food. She took one of the plantain leaves stacked up n the corner and laid it in front of us. She served me rice and fish curry. The fish curry was the one preparation i loved. But strangely, I was immersed in the thought of Dasettan. I hardly realised that i was eating dry rice without mixing it with the curry, when amma snapped at me. ‘What is on with you. Just mix the rice with the curry and eat’ she ordered. I obliged. There was a knock on the door. Ammamma went and opened it and called Ravi maman. He too left the food untouched, and amma followed, along with Shibu and Sita. There was some commotion outside, but i thought this was the best moment to sneak out food and the knife to Dasettan. I hurriedly wrapped up the food that was served to me and picked up the knife in the corner and ran outside the backdoor to the cattle shed. The moonlight lighted up the path and I hurried barefoot. There was no one at the cattleshed. I left the food and the knife outside and hurried back. All of them were still at the main door. I sneaked in slowly to see that there was the same policeman who had caught me and Kannan fight at the canal. I sneaked back, scared of the fact that he had once caught me in a fight. He had not noticed me and I was thankful for that.

‘Please tell me if you get any news of him’ he said. ‘I hope you understand the gravity of the situation.’ I could not understand what he was talking about. He then got up and left and we all headed back to the dining area. Amma was shocked to see my leaf not there. She looked at me with curiosity.
‘I finished eating’ i replied, trying to be as natural as possible, lest my lie be caught.
‘Then where is your leaf?’ she asked. I dumped it out, in the pit behind where you dump it always. Ammamma smiled.
‘Well, he is getting some good manners’ she said as she poured more fish curry in Ravi mamans leaf. My stomach growled with hunger, but i was scared of being caught.

‘Why was the police here?’ I asked amma.
‘Nothing, Das has escaped from prison. They were here to warn us about it.’
A chill passed through my spine. What if they found out that I stole the knofe and food for him. If they found out, will they put me in jail too. My heart was beating faster.
‘What did Dasettan do that the police is after him’ I asked, trying to sound normal, trying to hide the fear that had creeped into my heart.
‘For that you have to understand politics.’ Ravi maman said as he wiped the leaf clean, and got up to wash his hand. He picked up the leaf and headed to throw it in the pit outside.

I went to the doorstep and sat there. I was scared. What if the police found that I was helping Das. The thought kept passing my mind over and over again, and unknowingly tears started to roll down my cheeks. Ravi mamamn came from behind and stepped over the doorstep. He then looked at me. He saw the tears in my eyes. And the light went off.

‘Ah!! Its 8.30’ he said as the lights went off. He then came towards me in the darkness and held me with his arms around my shoulders.
‘Why are you crying?’ he asked me.
‘Will the police arrest me?’ I asked him. I was very scared.
‘And why would they do that?’ he laughed.
‘Because I am his friend?’
‘Dont worry, you are not his political friend, so you will not be arrested’ he said, patting my back. ‘now wipe your tears.’ He said as he wiped my cheeks with his free end of his lungi.
But my thoughts raced as he wiped my tears off. Das would be near the cattle shed for the knife he had asked for. Amma bought two apples for both of us.

‘Can you give me a knife?’ Ravi maman asked as she kept the kerosene lamp next to us.
‘Can’t find it in the dark. Just munch on it’ she said as she went back in. I was scared even more now. I munched into the apple. I was very hungry and my stomach kept growling. A torch flashed from the road. Ravi maman got up and gave me the apple.
‘Its my friend, Venu’ he said as he folded his lungi above his knees. ‘I will be back in a bit’ he said and hurried off.
I pounced at the other apple and went into the bedroom upstairs. I went into the room and opened the window, next to the cot, that opened to the view of the cattle shed. The slight wind bought in the slight rustling of the leaves. I tried to peer through the moonlight searching for Dasettan wondering if he was hiding behind the trees or the bush. I couldn ot see anything clearly. I looked for a long time and without knowing, I had dozed off into the night.