Tell A Thousand Lies (12 page)

Please, God, if you do just one thing for me, shut this woman up.

“What about a life free from manipulation?” Srikar cut in. “What about a husband, children, a house of her own?” He turned to Ammamma. “Don’t you want all these for your granddaughter?”

“Ranga
Nayakamma
is as good as a Goddess,” Lakshmi
garu
said. “She is married. She has children.”

Headmaster
garu
snorted. “Ranga
Nayakamma
is a joke. Besides, her so-called visions started after she was married. Which young man will have the guts to come forward and marry Pullamma, the Goddess,
hanh
?” He looked earnestly at Ammamma. “Srikar is the only young man you will find willing, given what is going on now.”

“No dowry, the girl black like anything.” Lakshmi
garu
darted a quick glance at Murty
garu
.

Murty
garu
’s lips tightened. “Seetamma
garu
,” he said. “Pullamma can’t possibly spend the rest of her life giving
darsanams
.”

At this moment I could have forgiven Murty
garu
anything, even being married to Lakshmi
garu
. A deep tremble started up my legs, then spread to my upper body. Ammamma hurried to me and pulled me into her arms. I hid my face in her shoulder.

“Srikar works in Hyderabad,” Headmaster
garu
said. “He has a respectable job as a construction supervisor.” Headmaster
garu
looked at his watch. “It is just past 1:00 o’clock. If we leave immediately, we will be in Hyderabad by morning. We must get them married right away.”

Ammamma looked at me.

Not knowing how to react, I turned to Lakshmi
garu
and Murty
garu
, who wore identical expressions of disbelief.

“I don’t know what to think,” Ammamma said.

“This isn’t the time to think, this is the time to act.” Headmaster
garu
struggled up. “A car and driver are waiting outside. Let’s go.”

“Wait,” Srikar said, raising a palm.

My heart missed a beat. Had the colour of my skin affected his nobleness?

“We’re all making decisions on Pullamma’s behalf,” he said. “This is her life we’re talking about. I want to hear from her that she is ready to come away with me to Hyderabad, to marry me.”

I looked at Srikar, shyness forgotten in my shock. Whoever asked a girl what she wanted?

Ammamma appeared as shell-shocked as I felt.

Everyone waited expectantly.

I sneaked another glance at Srikar. My heart skipped another beat. He was slim and nice looking, almost as tall as me. A lock of hair fell endearingly on his brow. He was as different from his grandfather as an auto-rickshaw’s horn was from a cow’s. He gave me a small, encouraging smile.

Warmth flooded my chest. I could do worse.

I gave a small nod in the direction of my grandmother, a smile quivering on my lips. Unable to address my husband to-be directly, I said to Ammamma, “I will never be able to come back?” The finality of it hit me. I started to cry.

“No, Child,” Headmaster
garu
said gently. “Not for a while, anyway. Maybe, in a few years, who knows? But I can assure you, you won’t find a better boy. Twenty-one years old, and already very responsible. He will take good care of you.”

“Ammamma,” I said. “If I leave...?”

“Yes, Child?”

“What will happen to Malli’s alliance? And the devotees?”

Ammamma’s shoulders slumped.

“Let us worry about this, Child,” Murty
garu
said. “You worry about getting away.”

To Ammamma he said, “Seetamma
garu
, we must move fast.” He gave me a gentle push. “Get ready.” To Lata he said, “Gather up a few clothes for your sister, a toothbrush, some essentials. Quick, Child.”

In the bedroom, I grabbed my best half-sari with sweaty palms, then thrust it aside. As a married woman, I wouldn’t be needing them. Instead I pulled out the four saris I shared with Lata, packed one away and wore the other one. The other two I left for Lata.

Lata rushed about the room gathering things.

In a few minutes, I was ready.

Ammamma took my hand and hurried me out.

Lata thrust the bag in my hand and gave me a tearful hug. Today – in our shared terror – would be the closest I’d feel to my twin.

“There’s no time,” Headmaster
garu
said. “The devotees will start to queue up soon.”

“Can I come, too?” Lata asked Headmaster
garu
.

“No, Child, you need to stay back with your grandmother. But Hyderabad isn’t that far. You can visit when things settle down.”

Ammamma handed me some money. “It’s not much, I know.” She looked apologetic.

“What about the Goddess money?” Lakshmi
garu
said. “The jewellery, the saris...”

At Ammamma’s look, her voice trailed away.

“Take this,” Murty
garu
said, giving me a figurine of Lord
Vinayaka
– the destroyer of obstacles, creator of new beginnings. From their altar at home.

I looked at Murty
garu
’s bushy white eyebrows, his kindly eyes brimming with emotion. I bent to touch his feet. He was taken aback, but I could tell he was pleased. “Please take care of Ammamma,” I whispered to him.

Murty
garu
nodded.

Ammamma gave me a fierce hug and kissed me on the forehead. “Be happy,” she said, voice breaking. She unclenched my fist and put something in, covering my hand with hers.

I opened it to see her diamond earrings – the only jewellery she had left of her mother’s. I clung to Ammamma, unable to let go, trying to absorb her warmth, and her love.

“Come, Child,” Headmaster
garu
said. “Time to leave.”

I gave Lata another quick hug. Heart thumping, I ran to the car and slid into the back seat.
I curled up in a foetal ball on the floor of the car as it tore out of the village.

Chapter 14

I Am Married

H
eadmaster
garu
sat in the back with me while Srikar sat up front with the driver. After what seemed like hours, Headmaster
garu
leaned over and tapped me on the shoulder. My heart almost stopped. “You can get up, Child,” he said. “We are safe now.”

My muscles burned as I struggled to the seat. I saw we were on the two-lane State Highway.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “We have a few more hours to go.”

I nodded, not trusting my voice. Soon Kondal Rao would be mobilizing his men to track us down.

“Here,” Srikar said from the front seat, handing me a bottle of water. A lock of hair fell over his forehead. He smiled lopsidedly, causing my heart to trip.

I smiled back, feeling a little shy. I took the bottle and gulped down half its contents. Returning the bottle, I leaned back and closed my eyes. The events of the last few days seemed to have a touch of unreality. Now that I knew I had no powers, that first day seemed scary, when all those devotees – some of whom I’d known all my life – had stormed into my grandmother’s house.
When I thought of that throng of people desperate for a glimpse of me, I felt a shudder rip through.
After a while, my mind seemed to drift away.

The next thing I knew, we were stopped at a roadside tea-stall.
I could see Srikar through the window of the car, sitting on a sagging cot, drinking tea, two flower garlands by his side.

Garlands! He does intend to go through with the wedding.

I made my way to the bathroom, washed my face, reapplied the red
bottu
on my forehead and re-braided my hair. At the tea stall, I stood hesitantly, not sure what to do.

“Breakfast?” Srikar asked.

I nodded, and started to reach into my purse.

“It’s okay,” he said, smiling.

I flushed and dropped my hand.

After some tea and a plate of steaming, mouth-watering
upma
, we were off again. We reached Hyderabad around 9:00 in the morning. People rushing to offices, children in uniforms rushing to schools, scooters and motorcycles rushing somewhere. Rush, rush, rush. I felt a sudden rush of loneliness. How would I manage without Ammamma and Chinni?

The driver navigated the lanes and by-lanes until we stopped at a small temple.

I got down and tried to walk the cramp out of my leg.

“Are you okay?” Srikar asked.

I nodded.

We went past the temple, to an official looking building in the back.

“What is this?”

“Registrar’s office,” Headmaster
garu
said. “You’re getting married here.”

The high arch of doorway led into a long dank corridor with rooms on either side. The doors had various nameplates nailed to them. Headmaster
garu
led us into the third room on the left.
 

I looked about in dismay. The small room was high ceilinged, with years’ worth of cobwebs swaying from above. A scarred desk sat in the middle of the room, behind which was a man wearing thick framed spectacles.

Headmaster
garu
stood in front of the official, but the official continued to read his novel.

“Can you help us?” Headmaster
garu
asked.

“What do you want?” The man looked annoyed at the interruption.

“These youngsters are here to get married.”

The man sighed, pushed his spectacles to the top of his head and dragged out a dusty register. “Girl is eighteen?”

I froze. I was only sixteen.

Headmaster garu nodded, flushing.
 

“Boy is twenty-one?”

Srikar handed him his driving license.

The official pushed some paperwork at us. “Come back in a month’s time.” He went back to his book.

Headmaster garu cleared his throat. “Why don’t the two of you wait outside?”

Fifteen minutes later, Srikar and I went back in.

The man pushed a register at us. “Sign here.”

Srikar signed.

“Now you sign,” he said to me.

“Then what?” My dismay made me bold enough to question an elder.

“Then you’re married.”

 
Getting married without Ammamma, Chinni or my sisters by my side was bad enough. But to have this bored official perform our marriage... “Headmaster
garu
?”

“Yes, Child?”

“Can’t we get married in the temple outside?”

“Hanuman temple.” The official grinned.

Just my luck the nearest temple was that of the bachelor god’s. Defeated, I signed the register.

Srikar knotted the
pustela
taadu
– a turmeric coated thread, two gold coins at the base – at the nape of my neck.

Headmaster garu gave us the garlands.

Srikar bent his head.

I placed the garland around his neck.

He did the same.

We were married.

Headmaster
garu
dropped us off at the auto-rickshaw stand. “May God watch over you.” He got into the waiting car. I watched teary-eyed as this last link to the village was cut off.

After the car left, we got in an auto-rickshaw to take us to the flat of Headmaster
garu
’s friend, because we couldn’t go to the flat Srikar shared with his friends; it was too dangerous. I looked at the passing traffic, heart heavy. This wasn’t how I’d envisioned my wedding, the start to my new life. It hurt so much that I ordered myself to stop that sort of thinking.
I tried to imagine the life I was heading to, instead of the one I’d left behind.