The Village and Eight Lives of Badalpur : Episode 4

The Night of the Incident – Part 2

Find Episode 3 here : Episode 3

The night Giridhar was murdered, Champa’s house was not the only house awake. Loud noises came from Prajwal’s hut. Two prominent male voices rose over the slight snoring of a fifteen year old girl.

Sukhinder and Prajwal were seated on a khatiya spread outnlavishly on the road outside the hut. Devika was asleep inside. Prajwal had threatened to leave her out in the forest if she did not sleep and that had yielded immediate results. The 15 year old had run into the hut. She was growing up and ghosts were no longer a threat to her. Sukhinder was and she complied without resistance. The dhibri flickered in the winds casting flickering shadows on the road outside. Two shadows on the road chatting the day happily. She threw one final glance to her father in dismayed pleading to carry the dhibri inside. She wasn’t scared of ghosts but she could not stand the dark in the hut. There had been scary events going on in the village for the past few days which a fifteen year old could not explain or comprehend. Her father disapproved and nothing would convince him otherwise.

It was Sukhinder’s last night in the village before he left for the city the following day. His best friend Prajwal had agreed to help him pack the tiny tin case with the four shirts and lungis before daybreak. The night would be spent in recounting old memories and endless rounds of chilam. The third chilam was lit when Giridhar left Champa’s house hurriedly.

Sukhinder was an ugly man. He was muscularly built except for the limp left leg he carried with him everywhere he went. The leg impeded his speed but the heavy torso gave him the intensity of a bull. The sun had dampened his color which some believed was very fair when he was born. His parents left for the city when he was twenty. That was close to a decade ago. He hadn’t seen them since. He spent most of his time with Prajwal and Devika. The rest of the village thought of Prajwal and Sukhinder as best friends. Prajwal hated him deep down. He hated his limp leg which was a sign of weakness he inherited from his father. He hated his dark brown eyes. How come someone with such imperfections be blessed with eyes so intense. They did not fit. God had been surprisingly generous upon him with those eyes… and the muscular torso. The limp spoils everything. The rest is all good. He thought sometimes before he shrugged the thoughts and replaced them with clandestine hatred for the dark brown eyes.

Prajwal was a weak human being. The two arms hung loosely from sagging shoulders which themselves were part of a body in its decline. The unending routine of sitting on his khatiya had made his legs weak and the stomach was bulging like it does for malnourished children. Since childhood, he was stigmatized with a stammer of a devious nature. He struggled to speak clearly in the night. His words failed him in the starry nights and he usually remained quiet after sundown. Unless Sukhinder came around. Sometimes this scared Devika. But she knew her father loved her. Just like he loved everyone in the village. The stammer was just God’s way to ensure he does not waste words. She thought. She had the brain of a five year old but the body of a twenty five year old woman. Sukhinder noticed it all. And she saw him. Just like she had seen Giridhar groping her mom when she was four. She never understood it then but was aware of the perils of the human mind now. She put these thoughts to rest as she started snoring lightly inside the hut.

“To.. k-k-kal sab kh-khatam….? Kya?” (So all over tomorrow?) stammered Prajwal through the statement as he passed the joint to Sukhinder who took it eagerly and started puffing hard. He ended with a loud cough.

“Haan.. ab bas babuji ko dhoondhna hai… gaon ke chutiyaapa ab khatam”. (Yes. Now all I need to do is to find Dad. Enough with all this shit in this village)

“Itna jaldi ka ka j-ja-jarurat tha? R-ruk ke jaate?” (What’s the hurry but?)

“Arre ei gaon ka kissa khatam Prajwal… Ek ek kar ke sab nikal gaye na… Devesh bhi nikal jayega.. wo to amma ke bharose ruka hai.. Budhiya ka ji to mare khasam mein phansa hai abhi tak.. uske praan nikle aur launda nikal jayega shahar.. bata dete hain.. tum bhi chal lo bhaiyaa… ei gaaon mein to jaan hi rahe ho kya kya ho raha hai??” (This village is over Prajwal. Did not everyone leave one after the other? Devesh will also leave one day.. His mother repents over the lost husband. Once she dies, watch how Devesh takes his stuff and bids goodbye.. I tell you.. You come along too bhaiya  You are well aware al that goes on here) He was referring to Giridhar towards the close of the statement. He scratched his head and put down the joint on the floor and stubbed it with his legs with a unstopping stamp of the right foot. He saw Prajwal staring at the limp leg and retorted in defiant frustration. “Bhosadike nahi chalta hai baayan… bachpan se… ab kya jaan bharoge aankh se??” (What’s with the stare asshole?? You know this leg limps since childhood... Will you now bring it to life with your eyes?)Both of them started laughing.

“Baat to th-theek hai.. p-par gaon se rishta juda hai Sukhi.. ab to marenge tab hi chhootega.. Aur Girdhar bhaiya bhi yahin to hai..” (You might be right but there is an emotional attachment with this village.. It will probably end with my last breath… And Giridhar bhaiya is also here .. no??)

“Wo saala bhosadika ganjedi kisi ka saga nahi hai Prajwal… tu chutiya hai…” (That rag runt of an addict is no man’s kin Prajwal.. you are too naïve.. )

“Bh-aiyaa bh-abhi ke jaane se gaanje mein lag gaye Sukhi.. Dil se to N-n-nek hi hai… Devika se bhi bahut dil la-la-lag-agaate hain.. aur Titu to jaan hai re..” (That addiction is due to his wife’s death.. he loves Devika and Titu is pretty much his life)

“Tu andha hai harrami.. chal Devika ko le ke sheher humre saath… Woh to us din tune rok liya warna bazaar mein kaat dete tumhre bhaiyaa ko… hasiya to utha hi liya tha” (You are blind Prajwal.. come with Devika to the city.. You shouldn’t have held me that evening.. I would have quartered your brother that day.. I had the handsickle right next to me..)

A momentary silence consumed the khatiya as both Prajwal and Sukhinder took a moment to contemplate the events of that evening. An insurmountable pain agonized Prajwal as he recalled the tension- physical and emotional that evening near Lakhan’s shop; the undisputed address of all things, good, bad and evil… With a nervous shake of the head, Prajwal got up to go check Devika inside while Sukhinder stayed there out in the open. Some minutes later he could hear loud noises of music and laughter approaching in his direction. Accompanied by a kid’s failed attempt at reciting ‘Ek tamatar laal laal’ the male voice was indiscernibly that of Devesh. The only male child in the village was Titu and Sukhi hated both the child and his father. There was history of improbably animosity between the two since the events of 10 January 1988. Four years hence, Giridhar – disliked by most and demeaned by a few had found but one man with hatred amounting to physical harm. Unlike others though that man had a limp leg making escape post murder slightly messy. But not tonight for he left in two days.

Sukhinder got up with a purpose tonight. Prajwal came out of the hut without the dhibri with a datoon in his mouth. “Kahaa-an chale ?” (Where to?)he spoke as the limp walked zig-zag connecting dots on the road.

“Kuch baaki reh gaya hai” (Some unfinished business) Waved Sukhinder by the back of his hand and continued limping towards Giridhar’s hut. What Prajwal did not see was the look of disgust and self loathe that almost made Sukhi sprint.

“Bahut jaldi mein hai saala… bhosadika chutiya hi rahega.. “ (In quite a hurry.. the moron..!!) smirked Prajwal as he lay on the khatiya, completing his statement with no halts and exhaled with a deep sense of satisfaction over his plan.