Outlaw in India (4 page)

Finally, we stood in front of an electrician’s shop. Through the window I saw a
stern-looking man sitting at the counter reading a newspaper. “Just wait here,
okay?” I said to the boy. “I’ll be right back.” And I went into the shop. I
walked up to the counter with Hollie on my back and pulled the fuse out of my
pocket. Before I could say anything, the man spoke to me and made an angry
gesture towards the boy.

“I told him to stay outside already,” I said. “I just want a fuse.”

The man frowned furiously, left his counter and went out to the boy. I started
after him, to make sure he wouldn’t hurt the boy. To my surprise, he put a smile
on his face and invited him inside his shop very graciously. I was confused. As
they passed me, the man spoke to me sternly but I couldn’t hear him. “I can’t
hear,” I said, pointing to my ear.

He stared dumbly for a second, then grabbed a pen and paper from the counter
and scribbled something on it and raised it to my face. It read, “We are all
God’s children.” Then he frowned at me again. Oh boy.

I LEFT THE ELECTRICIAN’S
shop with three valuable things: a fuse
for the sub (actually two); the boy’s name written on a piece of paper (it was
Radji); and a valuable lesson—not to let the actions of others teach me how to
act, especially when their actions are unkind. It wasn’t a lesson wasted on
me.

I was so happy to learn Radji’s name. It amazed me what a difference it made
knowing a person’s name. No wonder we all had names. It wasn’t just so that we
could tell each other apart; a name gave someone an identity, a whole
personality. It was something we each owned, and no one could take it away from
us. If someone refused to recognize our name, they were in a way trying to deny
our right to exist. I found that fascinating.

We went down a few more streets and I enjoyed looking in the
shop windows because the shops were so different from shops in Canada, where
most things were now sold in huge department stores and malls. Here you would
find little shops that sold just one thing, such as hoses, or vacuum cleaners,
or notebooks, or spices. The spice shops were wonderful. You always knew when
you were approaching a spice shop because you would smell it first, although
sometimes you couldn’t because of the garbage and open sewers that created some
pretty awful smells. In India it was either feast or famine for your nose.

And then we came upon a chess shop and Radji stopped and stared in the window.
There were glass chess sets, metal ones, stone ones, wooden ones and plastic
ones. Radji stared in wonder. He was hooked already. He pulled the bill I had
given him out of his pocket and stared at it. I peeked at the price tags on the
chess sets. They were way too much money for him. He said something and put his
money back. I wished I knew what he had said.

A little while later we saw a small department store that sold a little bit of
everything, even groceries. Radji seemed very keen to go in.

“Is there something you want to buy?”

He nodded.

“Okay, let’s try.”

So, we climbed the steps and started in. But a big man with a big round face
took a close look at Radji, and Radji
dropped his head and
wouldn’t look up. The man shook his head sharply and pointed us out. I felt like
punching him in his big round face. But we went out. Then we found another store
and tried again but the same thing happened. Then we tried again and again, but
every time Radji had to look somebody in the face he would drop his eyes, turn
red and look as if he had just stolen someone’s wallet and been caught. I had
been taught always to look people in the eye, but this was something Radji
simply couldn’t do. Not only his face looked guilty; his whole body did. His
shoulders fell forward and his hands went flat against his sides and he looked
as if he wanted to curl up into a ball. Again, it made me think of a small dog
in a pack of bigger dogs. I had seen smaller dogs dominate bigger dogs, but they
had to be really confident to do it. Radji didn’t seem to have a scrap of
confidence. Combined with bare feet and rags for clothes it wasn’t hard to tell
that he was an Untouchable.

But then I learned something else about Radji, something really interesting: he
never seemed to get discouraged. He knew they weren’t going to let him in but he
never stopped trying. After a while I became more interested in watching Radji’s
calm reaction to getting refused than I was in watching the anger and
disapproval of the shop clerks. And then, I had an idea. I went into a shop and
bought a pair of plain white sneakers, a long-sleeved top, a pair of sunglasses
and a small hat in one shop. All together it cost me about $1.75 in Canadian
money. I suggested to Radji that he put the things
on and see
what would happen. So he did. At the next shop, they didn’t even look at him;
they just let him in. He looked kind of funny to me but he was happy to have the
disguise.

When he came out of the store he was carrying a tube of cream that looked like
toothpaste. I was curious. What did he want so badly that he would go to so much
trouble for it? “What’s that?” I asked. He handed me the tube and I looked at it
but still didn’t understand. Then he pointed to a poster on the window of the
department store. I stared at it but it took awhile for me to understand what it
was. Then my face fell. It was a skin-whitening cream. The poster guaranteed
that your skin would lighten in colour by three degrees in just a few weeks of
using this cream. The poster showed a ruler with three inches highlighted. It
also featured a happy Indian family laughing and playing together. Their skin
was white.

Radji didn’t waste time putting the cream on his skin. He did it right away. He
covered his arms, legs, face, belly, hands and feet. He asked me to help him
with his back. I thought it was crazy but I didn’t want to tell him that. I
carried his hat, shoes, shirt and sunglasses. He stopped to look at his
reflection in shop windows all the way back to the ferry. “I don’t think it
works that fast,” I said.

While we waited for the ferry I looked at the local newspapers. There were some
in Hindi and some in English—the two official languages of India. I bought an
English one and sat on the bank to read it. I was surprised to see the same
advertisement for Radji’s skin cream on the back of the
paper. I was even more surprised to find a picture of two navy ships at sea and
a caption that read, “Navy Still Searching for Sunken Sub.” I read the article
with fascination. They thought they had located the sunken submarine by sonar
but when they sent divers down it turned out to be an old sunken barge. Now they
believed the sub had only been crippled by their attack and probably went a
short distance before it sank for good. There had been no more sightings of it,
but the navy was staying vigilant. Wow! I also read that, although the Indian
navy did have a submarine, it was being refitted and would not be taking part in
this search. That was good to know. As we rode the ferry back to Kochi, I saw
two navy patrol boats heading out to sea. Boy, would we ever have to be careful
leaving here.

On the other side of the ferry there was a small pizzeria, so I bought a pizza
and we ate it on the way back to the warehouse. It was so good. Seaweed dropped
in and he and Hollie shared the crusts. I didn’t think Radji saw anything on the
way back but the skin of his arms and legs because he kept checking them
constantly. A few times he showed his arm to me with a questioning look on his
face. I just shrugged. I knew he was hoping that if he just whitened his skin
his whole life would change. I didn’t know how to tell him that it was quite a
bit more complicated than that. The advertisements made you think it wasn’t. Of
course Radji hadn’t read them because he couldn’t read. I asked him if he could
and he shook
his head. But he could understand the pictures. I
wondered what he was really looking for, white skin, or a happy family?

Back at the sub I replaced the fuse and we had power once again. Yay! It was
quite a testament to Ziegfried’s construction that we had been attacked by the
Indian navy and suffered only a blown fuse. I couldn’t wait to share that with
him, and with Sheba, who was like a mother to me (and a queen to Ziegfried), and
whose home was my home when we weren’t at sea. But of course I had to wait for
my hearing to improve enough to use the short-wave radio. I also wanted to call
my sister, Angel. They would be worried about me. Then it occurred to me—maybe I
could get Radji to talk for me, just to let everyone know I was okay.

First we played chess. I had never seen anybody study the board so intensely.
Radji stared at every character is if he were expecting them to start moving by
themselves. And whenever I made a move, he studied my face closely to figure out
why. I thought maybe I should tell him it was just a game. But it seemed to mean
a lot more to him than that. My grandfather had taught me how to play, and he
followed the principle of “showing no quarter,” which meant he never let me
win. He said I would learn faster that way, and whenever I did win, it would be
a true win. Now, I always beat my grandfather in chess (mostly because he
doesn’t like to take risks) and I show him no quarter. Ziegfried is an expert
player and I play with him whenever I feel like taking a beating. He is
absolutely merciless and I never last more than ten moves.
My
only strategy is to try to distract him, as in the time I asked him the
difference between a water buffalo and a bison.

“What?” he said.

“The difference between a water buffalo and a bison.”

“Just a minute.” He twisted his mouth to one side. “Horns.”

“What?”

“A water buffalo has longer horns. Checkmate!”

But Radji was only ten, and I was sixteen. Still, I felt I should tell him that
I would give him no quarter, and then explain what it meant. And so I did. Then
he said something to me, and I tried really hard to read his lips. I’m pretty
sure he said, “I won’t give you any either.”

He learned very quickly. He played as if it were life and death, and yet when
he lost, over and over and over again, he didn’t get discouraged. He only wanted
to play more.

Before bed I turned on the short-wave radio and attempted to call Ziegfried.
Radji sat beside me as I spoke into the transmitter. I asked him to listen for a
deep man’s voice. The man would say my name—Al. I started speaking, explaining
that I could talk but not hear, and that my friend, Radji, would listen for me.
Radji listened intensely, but for a long time there was nothing. I think he
would have stayed up all night trying but I was getting tired. Suddenly his face
lit up and I saw him speak into the transmitter. “Is it Ziegfried?” I asked.
Radji asked, then nodded. So, I started talking again and explained that I had
an infection in my ears but was taking drops for it and it would clear up very
soon. Everything else
was fine. I hoped everyone at home was
great, and would he please contact my sister for me and explain why I hadn’t
called? Radji listened to Ziegfried’s response, then spoke back to him again and
smiled. I could tell he was excited to speak into the short-wave, and I was
grateful for his help. Going without hearing was extremely inconvenient, and I
would be glad when it returned. By then, I would be ready to leave Kochi. That
would mean saying goodbye to Radji though, and I wasn’t looking forward to that.
But that was the way Hollie, Seaweed and I travelled—we met people, made
friends, and moved on. It was what we were used to. What I couldn’t know, of
course, was what it might mean to Radji.

THE EARDROPS WORKED
pretty well. After just a few days I could
hear loud sounds, but not quiet ones. Each day my hearing got better. I started
to hear Radji, without understanding him yet. He sounded like a baby goat, he
spoke so quietly. But I heard him shout once, when he took my knight in chess.
He didn’t know at the time that it was a trap to get his queen. I thought I
detected a little frustration in him when I took his queen, but maybe I was just
imagining it because that’s how I would have felt. It didn’t feel right to be so
ruthless with him. He must have thought I was mean. On the other hand, watching
how quickly he learned to play chess made me think that he could probably learn
to do anything because he was
so determined and patient. Each
day he put on his skin cream and rubbed it in carefully. Then he shoved his arms
under my nose with a questioning look on his face. I looked closely at his skin.
It seemed a little bit whiter to me, although it was also kind of blotchy. It
didn’t look as though it was going to last. I nodded and shrugged. “I guess it’s
working.” He grinned with pride.

We spent a few more days walking around Kochi and Ernakulum, and I stocked up
on fresh groceries. I bought potatoes, onions, carrots, squash, oranges, bananas
and pineapple. I also bought as much yogurt as I could fit into my little
fridge, and some that I froze. I had started making lassies with bananas and
with cinnamon. I also bought a bunch of fried fish and squeezed it into my
freezer.

Finally the time came for us to leave. I managed to open one of the windows of
the warehouse and coax Seaweed in, then shut it. I prepared everything so that
we could leave in the middle of the night. I planned to pedal out of the
channel, then surface and head out to sea on engine power with the lights on so
that we would resemble a small boat in the dark and on radar. If we were spotted
I would dive as deeply as possible and pedal as I had done before. Then I would
find a ship to hide beneath, but this time I would look at it first.

It was difficult to say goodbye to Radji. We had become good friends in a short
time, even though he was only ten and even though I had hardly heard him speak.
I thought he was a wonderful person, and I told him so. He surprised me
by how well he accepted that we were leaving, because I knew
he had also become very fond of Hollie. He never cried. Or if he did, I didn’t
see it. It was dark when we were ready to leave. Seaweed and Hollie were settled
in their spots around the observation window. I went back inside the warehouse
with Radji to say goodbye at his sleeping place in the wall; that way he
wouldn’t have to make his way back there alone in the dark. I gave him a hug and
told him, “Never let anyone stand in the way of your dreams. No one! That is
what I believe and that is how I live my life.” I couldn’t see his eyes clearly
but he nodded his head with conviction, and I knew that he understood me. As a
parting gift, I gave him my chess set. He hugged me again. Then I left.

I made my way carefully back through the warehouse to the boathouse, then
climbed into the sub, shut the hatch and submerged. I felt awful inside. I
missed Radji already. I didn’t know what kind of life he was going to have. He
deserved so much more than he had, but I couldn’t give it to him. I certainly
couldn’t take him with me; it was way too dangerous, especially around here,
especially right now. And so I left, as I knew I had to. But I felt sad.

I pedalled out of the boathouse, rose to periscope depth, turned to port and
pedalled out of the channel. When we turned the corner I came in close to shore,
near where the ferries docked, surfaced in the dark, started the engine and
headed out to sea. For anyone watching on radar we would probably look like a
boat heading out early to fish. I put our
lights on too. You
would have to come pretty close to know we were a submarine. And if you did, we
would disappear.

Seaweed was sitting perfectly still and was probably asleep. Hollie was chewing
his rope, which normally I could hear but couldn’t right now. The ringing in my
ears was almost gone though. It just felt like they needed a good cleaning.
Suddenly, Hollie jumped up and ran back into the stern. It didn’t surprise me;
it was a game of hide-and-seek he had played with Radji. Radji would sneak off
and hide in the stern and Hollie would find him. Hollie loved it.

“I’m sorry, Hollie. Radji’s not here anymore.”

But Hollie persisted. I got up and went into the stern. “He’s not here. See?” I
opened the door to the engine compartment. Hollie took a look, then stared at
me, disappointed. “I’m sorry. He’s not here.” I threw his ball into the bow and
he went after it. I returned to the control panel and watched the radar
screen.

As before, there was lots of traffic. But this time I wasn’t looking for a
place to hide or wait, I wanted to get out of here. Maybe the safest thing was
to keep pretending to be a sailboat. But it was painfully slow. Besides, the sun
would be up soon and we’d have to submerge then anyway. I bet the navy was
keeping an eye on the water with helicopters. They would spot us easily if we
were anywhere near the surface. I decided to crank up our engine speed now to
twenty knots and sail as far as we could before we’d have to go under and slow
down.

With the hatch open, and even with the engine running, I
would normally have heard a helicopter in the air above us. But now I
couldn’t. If there was one, I would never know. And there was one! I only found
out because I had climbed the portal to pee over the side. I saw the lights in
the sky and I saw a floodlight almost tracing our wake. “No!” I yelled, and
climbed in, pulled the hatch down and sealed it, then ran for the controls and
hit the dive switch.

Had they seen us? I didn’t know. Maybe. They must have known we were there if
they were out at night with their search lights on. Man, they were taking this
search really seriously. Now I couldn’t risk sailing even on battery power. I’d
have to go down deep and pedal. Shoot!

So, I submerged to three hundred feet and climbed up on the bike. I kept sonar
on to know where we were going and make sure we didn’t run into the bottom. At
least I knew there wouldn’t be a submarine after us. And there hadn’t been any
ships close enough to pick up our sonar when we went down, so I felt confident
we were hidden enough to use it. I sighed. We were going so slowly now. But at
least we were going. As much as I liked Kochi, I didn’t want to be stuck there
forever. I felt badly for Radji though. I wondered if he had gone to sleep in
his little hiding spot in the wall. Then Hollie jumped up and went into the
stern again. He wanted to play that game.

“I can’t play now, Hollie, I have to pedal.”

But he wouldn’t give up. He came back and stood beside me and stared at
me.

“He’s not there,” I said. But Hollie kept staring. “Oh, for
Heaven’s sake!” I jumped off the bike and followed Hollie into the stern.
This time he stood at the compartment where we kept our root vegetables. It was
the one compartment we didn’t heat. I opened the door and turned on the light.
“See? There’s nothing here but bags of potatoes and carrots and onions.” But
Hollie went to the pile of potato bags and barked. “You’re being silly, Hollie,
barking at potatoes.” And then I saw a foot sticking out beneath one bag, and I
recognized the white sneaker. It was Radji.

At first I thought maybe I was dreaming. I couldn’t figure out how he could
possibly have snuck inside. Then I realized that he must have run past me in the
dark of the warehouse and I never heard him. No wonder he hadn’t been too upset
about us leaving him behind; he had no intention of being left behind.

“Radji!” He didn’t move. “Radji! I can see your foot.” The foot disappeared
beneath the potatoes. I was about to give him a blast. I was about to tell him
how he should never have come because it was too dangerous, and how I couldn’t
look after him and what was he hoping to find by coming with us anyway? And I
wondered how to take him back. But I sure didn’t want to go back there now. Then
I remembered telling him not to let anyone stand in the way of his dreams. As I
stood and stared at the pile of potatoes concealing him, I realized that he
hadn’t, and I had to smile. Radji had done to me exactly what I was trying to do
to the India navy. He had outsmarted me.