THE PUPPETEERS OF PALEM (15 page)

Chapter Twenty One

2001

‘Y
ou will not leave me? You will take me with you?’

They lay on the cot. Somewhere between their entwined bodies, their hands linked. The wick of the lamp was drawn half-way.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘As soon as we finish this.’

‘You know, I’ve thought of killing myself so many times. So
many
times.’

He stroked her hair gently and looked at her.

‘Why did you leave me? Why didn’t you tell me before you left?’

‘I couldn’t.’

‘I don’t know what kept me alive all these years. I don’t know what made me think—no, not think—hope. It was just hope.’

‘We will leave tomorrow. Together. I promise.’

‘All of them—so many of them—came here after you left. Some of them paid. Most of them didn’t.’

‘Shh.’

‘I would have died. I wanted to. Every single day since you left, I wanted to. Twice, I almost did.’

‘Shh, I am telling you—I won’t leave you again. We will leave tomorrow.’

‘This is what you said last time, no, Aravind? I remember the day you left. You promised to come back.’

‘And I did.’

‘Yes… yes, you did…’

For a time, their deep, languid breaths were the only sounds in the room. Daybreak was an hour away. The sky was turning the first shade of grey.

‘Why don’t we leave today, Aravind? Why don’t we leave now?’

He paused. ‘We need to figure out a few things that are happening here.’

‘You mean… about who killed Ramana?’

‘Yes, and about the village itself.’

‘Oh. Okay. But will it be done by tomorrow?’

‘It will. Even if it doesn’t, we will go.’

‘You promise?’

‘Yes.’

‘You know, Aravind, I am so happy now. I have waited so long for you to come back. Somehow, deep in my mind, I knew you would come back. Someday.’

‘Shh. Go to sleep.’

She nuzzled her head against his chest. ‘I am so happy now. I don’t need anything else in the world.’

‘Shh.’

‘You… you will not leave me again over here?’

‘No,’ he said sternly. ‘I came here for you. I will take you.’

‘I don’t know what will happen to me if you—’

‘I won’t.’

‘I am so happy you’re back… so happy… take me away… please take me away…’

He reached under the cot and brought out a snail-shell with a peacock feather mounted on top. He gave it to her.

‘Take me away… please don’t leave me here again…’ She took the shell from his hand and smiled at it. Her voice faded away in a murmur.

In the dim light of the lantern, he saw two yellow lizards on the wall, limbs and tails entwined.

‘What are they doing?’ he asked, lifting their linked hands and pointing.

She giggled. ‘Oh, Aravind.’

He did not smile. He wrenched his head away and stared at the greying sky instead.

When Chanti opened the door and stepped in, he saw the candle burning and both cane chairs occupied.

‘Did you go for a walk?’ Chotu asked.

‘And where is Aravind?’ Sarayu said.

Chanti closed the door behind him, left his slippers near the door and sat on the floor by the wall. ‘I saw Aravind leave the house in the middle of the night and followed him.’

‘Well?’

‘He says they are going to leave tomorrow.’

‘Tomorrow?’ Chotu said. ‘He thinks we are going to be done with this by tomorrow?’

‘He said he will leave tomorrow no matter what.’

‘Hmm, that’s interesting.’ He looked at Sarayu. ‘Do you know why he is in such a hurry to leave?’

Sarayu asked Chanti, ‘Who’s they?’

‘Hmm?’

‘You said you heard Aravind say ‘they’ are going to leave tomorrow. Who’s they?’

‘Oh, he was with Seeta.’

‘Oh, yes?’ Sarayu asked.

Chanti nodded. ‘He said he was going to take her back. They… they sounded like they’ve had some history back when we used to live here.’

Chotu asked again, ‘But why is he in such a hurry to leave?’

‘He doesn’t care about the village. He told us that already.’

‘Or is he afraid of something? Has he done something that he knows will be found out if he stays back here?’

‘Stop beating around the bush, Chotu,’ Sarayu snapped. ‘If you want to say something, say it clearly so people can understand.’

‘I am saying,’ Chotu explained, ‘that he lied about going to the Shivalayam yesterday afternoon. I know he was not there because
I
was there.’

‘Indeed?’ she said, raising an eyebrow.

‘Yes,’ he said testily. ‘You don’t have to be sarcastic about it.’

‘And did anyone see you there? Do we have anything but your word for it?’

‘I… what are you trying to say?’

‘Well, he says he was at the Shivalayam and not at the school. You’re saying
you
were at the Shivalayam and not at the school. Neither of you have witnesses. So what makes your version correct?’

‘Are you saying I killed Ramana?’

‘I am not saying anything, you idiot,’ Sarayu said. ‘But the way I see it, it is possible that
you
were at the school and
he
was at the Shivalayam. Since both of you have no witnesses, his version is as close to the truth as yours.’ Then she looked at Chanti and asked, ‘Don’t you agree, Chanti?’

‘Hmm? Yes. I hadn’t thought of that.’

‘In that case,’ Chotu said to Sarayu, his voice rising a little, ‘
you
are not off the hook either.’

‘Me? I was the first to arrive, you oaf.’

‘You were the first
among the four of us
. But none of us actually know when Ramana arrived. If he came by the first bus, then you would have arrived after him. You could easily have been at the school at the same time Ramana was.’

Sarayu pursed and twisted her lips. ‘You’re right. I could have been.’ She then smiled crookedly at Chanti. ‘So could
you
.’

‘Me?’

‘Yes. You arrived at Thatha’s
place after I did. What could have stopped you from going to the school, finishing Ramana off and then coming here?’

‘But… but I came by the afternoon bus. Would Ramana have been standing there at the school all morning?’

‘We don’t know, do we? For all of the morning and all of the afternoon, the village was absolutely dead. There was no one about. So it is
conceivable
that you had the opportunity to kill him, too.’

‘But why would I kill Ramana?’

Sarayu sat back and folded her hands. ‘Why would
I
kill Ramana?’

‘And why would
I
kill Ramana?’ Chotu said. ‘On the other hand, we know that Aravind and Ramana…’ he let that hang in the air, incomplete. ‘Also, I’ve been reading a lot of guilt in him ever since he got here.’

Sarayu said, ‘But you’ve had your own gripes against Aravind, haven’t you?’

‘That’s not true,’ Chotu said, lowering his head.

‘Really? Ever since Aravind stamped you down in that well, you’ve hated him.’

‘I could have drowned,’ Chotu replied in anger.

‘Yes, yes, you could have. So you do hate him still. And you tell us that you’ve read guilt in Aravind, with those abilities that did not pick up anything in the field whatsoever, those abilities that are probably non-existent.’

‘You’re wrong.’

‘You could be telling the truth,’ Sarayu said. ‘But unless you have anything as hard evidence, how will we know that it wasn’t you who killed Ramana and you’re just using this opportunity to frame Aravind?’

‘Besides…’ Chanti said. ‘Just because you read guilt in him doesn’t mean he has done it. He could be feeling guilty about something else.’

Sarayu said approvingly, ‘Very good, Chanti.’ To Chotu she said, ‘But why do we think it has to be one of us who killed Ramana? It could have been anyone from the village. If she really wanted to kill Ramana, would she have chosen one of us to do it? It would have been a lot easier for her to pick one of the other villagers for the job. Yes?’

Chanti nodded uncertainly, looking at Chotu as if for approval.

Chotu shook his head. ‘Something is not quite right. I did not feel her… at all.’

‘Great, just because you couldn’t
feel
her, she isn’t there?’

Chanti said, ‘But the crowd! They all came when we went to dig. They were all there. Doesn’t that prove that she was there?’

Sarayu nodded at Chanti. ‘Very good again, Chanti.’

‘I don’t know…’ Chotu said. ‘Something doesn’t just
feel
right.’ He looked out of the window. In the smoky darkness, a figure appeared at the gate and made its way to the side door. A latch clicked to give way, a door sneaked open and close, a latch clicked again.

‘On the other hand,’ Sarayu said slowly, wonderingly, a thoughtful smile playing on her lips. ‘On the other hand, Aravind and Seeta… Aravind? And Seeta? Really?’

They walked through the tamarind bushes, listening to the sounds of crickets all around them.

‘Nothing has changed,’ said Chotu, kicking away the thorny branches that bent in his path. ‘Remember the night? It was equally noisy back then too.’

‘Hmm,’ Aravind said.

‘I want to ask you something.’ Chotu looked down at the ground intently. ‘Remember the day you drowned me? In Saraswatamma’s well?’

Aravind said, ‘Yes, what about it?’

‘If Ramana had not saved me, would I have died?’

Aravind shrugged. ‘You already knew how to swim. Besides, no one ever died of being stamped in a well. You go down, you always come up.’

‘Not always,’ Chotu said. ‘My father didn’t.’

‘Nobody stamped on your father. He jumped in.’

‘He was terrified of water, and yet he jumped in. I’ve always wondered about that. That, and why he poisoned my mother.’

Aravind nodded at the way in front of them. ‘Do you think we’re going to find her over there?’

Chotu shook his head. ‘I don’t know. I don’t feel anything.’

‘Not even a crazy mob?’

‘Especially not a crazy mob.’

‘That’s a relief.’

They walked around the bend in silence. No crows could be heard today. From somewhere afar, they heard a koel call, then another, and another. The Arthur Cotton dam stood in the distance, its gates closed. Even from such a distance, the green lines of age were visible on its walls.

‘This is a village of death,’ Chotu declared.

‘Boy, you’re in a good mood this morning.’

‘Think about it. Every landmark in our village is named after someone who has died there. Ellamma Cheruvu, Mandiramma Banda, and now they will name the school after Ramana.’ Chotu lumbered on, beating the branches with his stick, stamping on them with his feet and breathing hard. ‘Even when we were young, remember how many people died at the same time? My parents, Sarayu’s father, Ramana’s brother,
your
father…’

‘What are you getting at?’ Aravind barked.

‘I am saying there is a history of death associated with this village. I never thought of it that way when I lived here, but now, thinking back… even the story of Pichi Lachi is a story of death. She killed her husband and killed herself.’

‘Well…’ Aravind said. ‘All the more reason for us to get out of here.’

They entered the compound of the Shivalayam and stood by the disused well. Chotu went to the edge, peered over and said, ‘You know, I was here yesterday.’

Aravind did not reply.

‘In the afternoon,’ Chotu said, and turned around to face Aravind directly. ‘When you said you were here.’

‘What were you doing here?’ Aravind asked.

‘That’s irrelevant. The point is that I was here and you were not.’

Aravind did not speak for a moment. He looked at the well, then up into the sky. The sky was grey now, and the stars of the night sky were gradually winkling out one by one. It was going to be yet another clear day once the sun came out.

He focused his eyes back on Chotu. ‘Do you have any witnesses that saw you here?’

‘I do.’

‘You’re lying.’

‘Are you admitting you’re lying too?’

‘What has this got to do with anything?’

Chotu took a step closer to him and looked down at Aravind. ‘It has got everything to do with whether you were at the school during the time you said you were here.’