Tikkipala (37 page)

Among all the clamour at the hill palace, there were two people who were not shouting with anger or excitement, but were weeping. These were the virgins who had been captured from the tribe and sold to the thags. But at the sight of Maw getting out of the car, their tears stopped and their expressions became joyful.

It had been nearly two years since anyone of the tribe had seen Maw and he looked very different now, but all the same the girls instantly recognised their king.
Steadying their breasts in their hands, they rushed to him and, throwing themselves on the ground they cried, ‘Oh, Lord, save us.'

Devi watched, impressed, and though she could not understand the meaning of the whistling, cooing sounds the girls were making, she recognised respect.

‘They treat him as though he is their king, Madam,' said Khan, who had been watching too.

Devi said, ‘Perhaps he is,' and realised once again how little she knew about this boy although he had lived with her for so long and although they had shared that episode of intimacy.

When the two tribal girls saw that the hands of their king were exposed, they covered their mouths with their own hands and felt horrified because the king's hands looked as rough and used as any common person's now.

‘Oh, Lord,' they said again to Maw. ‘What have they done to you?'

‘Given me a way to save you,' said Maw.

‘How strange to think that this man and I made love a month ago,' thought Devi. ‘And yet now when he is among his people he is like a stranger who I do not know at all and cannot even understand the meaning of the sounds he makes.' She did not even know if the flutings and the mewing sounds made by the tribal girls were speech. And if it was she had no idea what they were communicating.

When the fire took hold of Nirmal's Bidwar statue, the crowd began to cheer because they had struck a blow for Kali, who surely would reward them highly out of gratitude.

The flames chuckled and gurgled inside the statue's ankles first and then rose like a rosy robe to clothe her. It must have been the heat that was roaring in her belly that set her armature heaving and the red hot wires inside her fingers that made them curl. That is what people later said. But at the time, when the goddess started walking, tramping one great red hot foot before the other, clenching up her fists, the crowd stopped shouting and cringed back, afraid. And when the goddess came stalking on towards them, when the flames began to pierce her eyeballs, the crowd dropped the handfuls of filth they had been going to throw at her and ran screaming with terror as though the true goddess was after them.

By the time she started falling, crashing to the ground in a smoulder of hot clay, burning rubbish and breaking crystals, the mocking mob had vanished.

The thags felt terrified because Devi had discovered how they had been using her palace. But when she discovered that the tree cutters had captured two tribal women and brought them here against their will, she became so furious that she did not notice the prostitutes and drunken lumberjacks.

‘We must take them back to their homes at once,' she said.

Khan, who was already anticipating removing his starched uniform and sitting over a glass of tea, wearing his lungi, tried to tiptoe away.

‘Khan, Khan, where are you going?' Devi called.

With sinking heart he returned and sank wearily back into the driving seat. Devi got into the front beside him as though she did not trust him to stay there otherwise. Maw and the two girls got in the back.

The road had been much improved. You could reach the high jungle in a single day of driving now. They reached the timber camp in the evening. Now, where once great trees had stood, were rows of little breeze block huts. Seated on the verandas of some of these sat the remains of the tribal people. They seemed ill and hardly looked up as the car drew up. The men wore striped shirts and shorts, the women were dressed in loose frocks of the same striped material.

‘Why are they dressed like this?' demanded Devi, leaping out. ‘They look as if they are wearing prison uniform.'

Maw was looking away as though he could not bear the sight.

‘These are primitive fellows, Madam,' the manager told her. ‘And they are unused to the wearing of garments so we are having to teach them.'

‘At first,' another man said, ‘They refused to cover their body parts at all and we have had some problems with persuasion.'

‘Persuasion?'

‘We use the withdrawal of food and other comforts to force them,' said the manager.

‘You withheld food?' asked Devi. She was trying hard to keep calm.

The manager shrugged. ‘We must, otherwise the fellows will not comply. Some refused utterly, but even though these are a barbaric people, they are not entirely without feelings and most of these that you see in this compound have capitulated and begun to clothe their nakedness so as to earn medicine and food for their children.'

‘This is disgraceful,' shouted Devi. ‘How dare you bribe them to wear clothes against their will?'

‘But, Madam,' the manager looked sincerely shocked, ‘Suppose you yourself, a high born lady, should come here and be confronted with naked male gentalia…' He could not go on, the idea was too awful.

People came out from the verandas and gathered round the rescued girls. After a few moments of soft lilting sounds, the people turned to look at Maw and let out cries of delight.

‘Usually they are in a depressed condition,' laughed the manager. ‘But today the sight of your Maw is making them merry.'

More people appeared from inside the houses. Others started emerging from the jungle as though they had been called. They gathered round Maw, some prostrating themselves at his feet, other stroking his body with gentle fingers.

‘Oh, dear Lord, you are returned.'

‘Do not despair,' Maw whispered. ‘Please tell my people to be ready, for the day is not far off when your sufferings will be over.'

‘They look ill. What is the matter with them?' asked Devi.

‘The doctor will be able to tell you this. We will call him,' said the manager.

The doctor, a small plump Bengali, appeared and introduced himself at Dr Das. He gazed at Maw with delight. ‘Ah, this must be the wild boy that you rescued, Madam. I am most interested to get a sight of him and looking at this fellow now, I can see it is true, after all, that these barbaric people can be civilised for this fellow could pass for a normal human being if one did not know better.'

‘This is Maw,' said Devi grimly.

‘I will show you our hospital, Madam,' said the doctor. He led her to a long low concrete building and flung open the door. ‘The very latest in modern technology is
here, Madam. These tribal people are very lucky that your honourable father has financed this fine operation for now these tribal people have every equipment needed.'

Devi gazed down the long ward. On the beds lay supine tribal people, all wearing the same striped cloth, this time stitched into knee length gowns. Some of the men, women and children looked dead already, others leant over the sides of their beds vomiting, and yet others writhed and groaned as though in pain.

‘What is the matter with them?' gasped Devi in horror. ‘Is this the consequence of some epidemic?'

The doctor laughed. ‘No, no, Madam. These people are merely suffering from infections which for you and I would be slight. However because they have been isolated from the human race, they have no immunity to the commonplace diseases of our society. We do not know at present exactly what each patient suffers from and usually they are dead too fast for us to ever know. It is most interesting and I am at the very moment writing a thesis on the subject for I have never before encountered…'

‘And those six very old ones,' interrupted Devi. ‘What has happened to them? They look as though they have been involved in some dreadful accident.'

‘They were found wandering far away in the higher mountains and are scratched and scarred from bushes and from rock falls. They are the most difficult of our patients and we have had to bring them here by force. Also we force the food into them for otherwise they will not eat.'

‘Oh, God,' said Devi. ‘All this forcing. Do you have to do it?'

‘The sooner these people learn the ways of civilised people the sooner they will start recovering and the sooner they can join the human race,' said the doctor firmly.

‘Can you talk to them?' asked Devi. ‘Can you find out what their needs are?' So far the only sounds she had heard in the ward were whistlings and twitterings.

‘With some difficulty,' the doctor said. ‘But sign language and the withholding of medicine sooner or later teaches them to understand.'

Devi sat down on the edge of the bed of an old woman. She stared at Devi with unseeing eyes for a while, as though there was nothing of interest in the world any more. The suddenly her eyes fixed on Devi's stomach. Her expression became alert and wild. She pointed a skeletal finger and began to scream. A young tribal girl who was working as a nurse came hurrying over.

‘What is she saying?' cried Devi. ‘What is happening?'

‘The girl seemed to ask some question in the whistling language of the tribe, and the old people seemed to all be speaking together, the sounds shrill and wild.

At last the girl told Devi, ‘These old people are saying that you have a king inside you.'

‘What can that mean?' Devi asked.

The girl laughed. ‘They are all old and superstitious. You should not listen to them. They are so old that their brains have gone silly.'

Next day as Devi was leaving, the doctor told her, ‘Bring that young fellow of yours back whenever you wish, Madam Devi, for he is clearly being a good example to my patients by letting them see the benefits of civilisation.'

Devi scowled at him as she got into the car, but he seemed not to notice and only said to Maw, ‘You have done us a good service today, young fellow. For now that these barbarians had seen your healthy body and good clothes, undoubtedly they will strive to emulate you and thus become amenable to our teachings and desire to join the human race as you have done.'

They were ready to leave. Devi was seated and Khan was in the driver's seat but Maw still stood with his people pressed around him. They gazed into his face as though they were hungry and the sight of him was feeding them.

‘Are you coming, Maw?' asked Devi gently.

He hesitated, looking from her to his people. Then back to her again as though he could not decide. He got in at last and sat beside her. For a long time he said nothing, but stared ahead of him as the car wound down the mountain side again.

After a while, sensing sadness, Devi reached to offer him a touch of comfort. He quickly pulled his hand away and Devi felt ashamed. She had forgotten that he did not allow his hands to be touched.

When they got back to Bidwar, the papers were full of the story of Nirmal's statue, some describing the episode as a dreadful disaster in which a work of art had been destroyed by a mob and others describing it as a miracle in which an image made of mud and straw walked and clenched its fists for a little while.

‘Nirmal has not been himself since it happened,' Queenie told Devi at the club.

Secretly Devi thought that Nirmal had not been himself since he was born, but she said nothing.

‘Where will the poor boy go and what will he do?' said Queenie. ‘His place in the bustee is completely destroyed and at the moment he is lying on the pavement like a pauper. His father completely refuses to take Nirmal back. I even invited the boy to come and stay with me, but, perhaps, out of pride he has refused. Please, Devi dear, you are his friend. Go there and see if there is something you can do.'

Devi found Nirmal sitting, head in hands, surrounded by a large crowd and the blackened mish-mash of his shattered statue. At first she thought he was sinking with despair. But when he looked up and saw her, his eyes were shining with joy. ‘It walked, Devi. Maw said it would, and it did.'

‘What are you going to do now?' she asked, squatting beside him.

‘Do I have to do anything?' he laughed

‘You could mend it, couldn't you? You could gather up these bits and put it together again.' She pointed to an arm, complete with bangles. ‘Look, this is perfect.'

He prodded his toe into a large clay finger. ‘Do you really think so?'

‘And here,' cried Devi, triumphantly holding up a pair of lips. ‘Her kiss is still here, intact. And what is this?' He took the tattered lump from her hand, examined it closely for a while, then said, ‘Oh, I know. Part of her foot, Devi, can you believe this? She walked. She actually walked on this foot.'

‘No, I can't believe it,' said Devi.

‘Well, you should. Everyone saw it. Didn't you?' He addressed the people gathered watching. The big crowd that had gathered round them began to nod agreement.

‘Oh yes, Madam. The goddess talked also.'

‘She was predicting disaster,' said another.

‘Also she was winking her eyes around.'

‘She started crying. Everyone saw it.'

‘They say she was weeping because of the evil in the world.'

‘Why don't you come and stay at the palace for a while?' said Devi. ‘The monsoon is coming soon and you've nowhere to live.'

The Raja was outraged when he heard. ‘The chap is a no-gooder and I have already had to sack him for drunkenness. I don't see why I should have him living in my home. Why can't his grandmother take him?'

‘He's OK now, Dad,' laughed Devi. ‘These days his thoughts are only on statues.'

‘Even that was a failure,' said the Raja. ‘Broken up and burnt to bits. Everyone knows about it.'

The statue parts arrived on the back of an enormous lorry, the first thing visible the glittering grin which Nirmal had managed to stick on again, saying that a lipless statue lacked dignity. He was glad he had somewhat pinned his vision together, for the people of Bidwar thronged the streets and craned to look as the statue-bearing lorry passed.