Between the Assassinations (32 page)

When Murali went up to him, the moneylender was sticking his hand deep into the grain; when he brought it out, the chocolate-colored skin was coated with a fine yellow dust, like a bird’s pollen-covered beak.

Without wiping his arm, he took the letter from Murali. Behind him, in an alcove in the wall of his house, sat a giant red statue of the potbellied Ganesha. A fat wife, with fat children around her, was sitting on a charpoy. And from behind them wafted the odor of a feeding, defecating beast: a water buffalo, without doubt.

“Did you know that the government has paid the widow another eight thousand rupees?” Murali told him. “If you have debts outstanding, you should collect them now. She is in a position to pay.”

“Who are you?” the moneylender asked, with small suspicious eyes.

Hesitating for a moment, Murali said, “I am the fifty-five-year-old Communist.”

He wanted them to know. The old woman and Sulochana. They were both in his power now. They had been in his power from the day they had walked into his office.

When he returned to his house, there was a letter from Comrade Thimma under the door. Probably hand-delivered, since there was no one else to deliver anything now.

He tossed it away. He realized, as he did it, that he was casting away for good his membership in the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Maoist). Comrade Thimma, his mouth thirsting for tea, would deliver lectures alone, in that dim hall, denouncing him. Murali would join Bernstein and Trotsky and the long line of apostates.

At midnight he was still awake. He lay staring at the ceiling fan, whose fast-rotating blades were chopping the light from the halogen streetlamps outside the bedroom into sharp white glints: they showered down on Murali like the first particles of wisdom he had received in his life.

He stared at the brilliant blur of the fan’s blades for a long time; then, with a jerk, he got up from the bed.

October 31, 1984

News reaches Kittur via the BBC that Mrs. Indira Gandhi, prime minister of India, has been assassinated by her own bodyguards. The town shuts down in mourning for two days. Mrs. Gandhi’s cremation, broadcast live, proves a major boost to the number of TVs sold in Kittur.

November: General elections. Anand Kumar, the Congress (I) candidate and a junior minister in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet, retains his seat. His majority of 45,457 votes over Ashwin Aithal, his BJP opponent, is the largest in Kittur’s history.

1985

Reflecting the growing interest in the stock market, the
Dawn Herald
begins publishing a daily report on the activities of the Bombay Stock Exchange on page 3.

Dr. Shambhu Shetty opens Happy Smile Clinic, Kittur’s first orthodontic clinic.

1986

A giant rally held by the Hoyka community in Nehru Maidan pledges to build the first temple “for, by, and of Backward Castes” in Kittur.

The first video-lending library opens in Umbrella Street.

Construction of the north bell tower, delayed for over a century, is resumed at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Valencia.

1987

The Cricket World Cup is held in India and Pakistan. Interest in cricket proves a major boost to the demand for color TVs.

Riots break out between Hindus and Muslims in the Bunder. Two people are killed. Dawn-to-dusk curfew in the port.

Kittur is reclassified by the state government of Karnataka from “town” to “city,” and the town municipality becomes a “City Corporation.” The first act of the new corporation is to authorize the cutting down of the great forest of Bajpe.

The arrival of migrant Tamil workers, drawn by the construction boom in Bajpe and Rose Lane, is believed to be the cause of a severe outbreak of cholera.

1988

Mabroor Ismail Engineer, generally believed to be the richest man in town, opens the first Maruti Suzuki car showroom in Kittur.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) holds a march from Angel Talkies to the Bunder. Marchers call for India to be declared a Hindu nation, and for a return to traditional social values.

Elections held for the City Corporation. The BJP and the Congress divide the seats almost exactly.

Construction of the north bell tower, delayed for a year by the death of the rector, is recommenced at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Valencia.

1989

General elections. Ashwin Aithal, the BJP candidate, upsets cabinet minister and Congress candidate Anand Kumar to become the first non-Congress candidate ever to win the seat of Kittur.

The Sardar Patel Iron Man of India Sports Stadium opens in Bajpe. The construction of houses in the neighborhood proceeds rapidly, and by the year’s end the old forest is almost entirely gone.

1990

A bomb explodes during a chemistry class at St. Alfonso’s Boys’ High School and Junior College, leading to its temporary closure. The
Dawn Herald
runs a front-page editorial asking: “Does India Need Martial Law?”

The first computer lab in Kittur is opened at St. Alfonso’s Boys’ High School and Junior College. Other schools follow within the year.

The Gulf War breaks out, leading to the loss of expatriate remittances from Kuwait. A severe economic crisis follows. However, the broadcast of the war on CNN, available only to those TVs with a dish antenna, proves a great boost to sales of satellite TV dish antennas in Kittur.

With its funding frozen, construction work on the north bell tower of the cathedral once again comes to a halt.

May 21, 1991

News reaches Kittur via CNN of the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. The town is shut down in mourning for two days.