THE PUPPETEERS OF PALEM (21 page)

Chapter Twenty Nine

2001

A
vadhani stopped him with his stick. ‘Wait, don’t go in there. She is gone.’

Aravind looked at the door with a distant, impassive anger welling up inside him. He didn’t know where it came from or why, he didn’t know who it was directed against, but it was there. It simmered away under him, magma-like, even as the outer crust of his face remained calm and unmoving.

The door was slightly open, and from the portion of the wall visible through the opening he saw that a shadow had started to move across the room. Hesitant at first, it now moved with increasing assurance. The soft thudding of bare feet against the floor accompanied the shadow’s movements.

He felt a sinewy hand grip his wrist. ‘Come,’ Avadhani whispered, and dragged him out of the house towards the toilets.

When they reached the gate to the fields, they stopped. It was a hot, clear, dry day. The sun was right overhead but Aravind did not notice the heat. He was looking out at the field, where the people had stood and stared at them. There was no one there now, of course, but he knew all he had to do was take a spade and walk up to the well and…

‘I guess we should have known all along,’ Thatha
said, chewing away.

‘What do you mean?’

‘He is the weakest of you all, boy. The weakest! I should have known that she would wrap her noose around him. I’ve been an imbecile not to see it.’ He belched and spat a mouthful of orange liquid on the ground. ‘He is the easiest to control.’

Aravind said, nodding uncertainly, ‘Maybe.’

‘Maybe? You just heard him kill her. He thought we were both sleeping and he took the chance.’

‘I wonder what made him kill her. What did
he
have against her?’

‘Did he have to, boy? You have to remember that it is
she
who is controlling him.’ Thatha
pointed in the direction of the well. ‘We
have
to do something about that thing in there.’

‘Of what use is it now, Thatha? Everybody’s going, one after the other. There are only the two of us left.’

‘Not two, boy,’ said Thatha. ‘Just one. Just you.’

Aravind shrugged. ‘Of what use is it? Seeta’s gone. What do I care about myself now?’

Thatha
looked at him pointedly. ‘Are you sure you did not kill her?’

‘Of course I am,’ Aravind barked.

‘Then he has killed her. Do you not feel anything for him? Do you not feel like you should avenge him?’

Aravind’s shoulders slumped. Very wearily, he lifted them up and let them drop again.

‘Oh, come on, boy! We’ve gone over this already. Are you going to take responsibility for what you’ve done or not?’

‘Responsibility,’ Aravind said vaguely. ‘Yes, responsibility.’

Thatha
stepped closer to him and held his wrist. ‘Look, tonight’s our chance. I’ve made some arrangements.’

‘Arrangements?’

‘Yes, arrangements to make sure people in the village will all be sleeping.’

Araving looked at him curiously. ‘But isn’t it the opposite that we want? Don’t we want people to stay awake?’

Thatha
shook his head. ‘No, no, not at all. Look, she has had them sleeping and dreaming for a long time now. She has pretty much covered all bases. But the only way she can protect herself is through her puppets. You understand?’

Aravind said, ‘So you’re going to knock them out somehow?’

‘Knock them out unconscious so that they cannot wake up and stop us from doing anything to her.’

‘But how?’

Thatha
shook some betel nuts out of his tin and popped them into his mouth. ‘I know some people,’ he said, tilting his head in the direction of the langur stump at the far corner of the field. ‘We used to give it to the monkeys when they became too old to be effective. We used to put some in a glass and force it down its throat.’ His eyes became glassy. ‘Or spray it on some peanuts and feed them to it.’

‘Chloroform?’ Aravind asked.

‘I don’t know what it is,’ Thatha
said. ‘I only know it as the sleep medicine. They used to give it to me whenever I asked for it, and I paid them with chillies or peanuts or cotton or whatever.’

‘And you’re getting some more of it for tonight?’

‘Oh yes, I am getting some of it all right. I am getting them to spray it in each and every house in the village and close the windows. It won’t be hard because everyone’s sleeping anyway.’

‘But… what if she has already seen you thinking about it and taken steps to stop it?’

Thatha
grinned. ‘You’ve got to take a chance like that, boy. I asked four of them to take four sides of the village and work their way to the centre. That way we should get most of them even if she does see it coming.’ He bent his back, cleared his throat and spat. ‘They should be almost done by now.’

‘Oh!’

He nodded. ‘Yes, I got them started this morning, just after everyone left from that girl’s house.’

‘So they’re all sleeping now?’

He nodded again and smiled. His teeth were orange from the gutkha paste. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Yes, they should be.’

‘So we can go and dig it up?’ Aravind looked eagerly in the direction of the well.

‘Well…’ Thatha
said. ‘What about him? He is not sleeping. And he hasn’t got the sleeping medicine.’ Thatha
inclined his head in the direction of the house. ‘And
he
… is now listening to what
she
says.’

Aravind followed the old man’s gaze. ‘Hmm,’ he said. After a thoughtful pause, he asked, ‘What now, then?’

‘I will tell you what,’ Thatha
said. ‘This is what we will do.’

There was fog in the air that night.

Fog was not uncommon in Palem winters. The area was low-lying and temperatures stayed low because of the vicinity to the Godavari. In November and December, especially, a thick, smoky blanket covered the village on most mornings and nights. But this was not November. This was March. Early summer usually meant humid, sweaty, clear nights infested with mosquitoes. But tonight, the air was heavy.

There was another, different kind of heaviness about the air. It was a light aroma that twitched the nostrils every now and then, dipping in, stimulating the senses and diving out before one could reach out and grab it.

It was this strange smell in the air that gave the two men a headache as they walked towards the new Shivalayam.

‘She was the one, Aravind,’ Chanti said. All they heard was the sound of their steps in the loose, dew-laden mud. Every now and then, a nervous cricket would chirp from the bales of hay that stood by Saraswatamma’s house. There was no light but for the lantern in Aravind’s hand. Huts on either side looked abandoned and haunted. Each one of them was pitch black, their windows closed and doors barred. They walked the path, guided more by memory than anything else. If they walked to their left for a hundred yards, they would reach Saraswatamma’s front gate. They could not see that far in the fog, but they knew it. It had been seventeen years since they’d moved around in the fog in Palem, but the memory returned without any conscious effort. Their minds knew where they had to go and their feet knew how to take them there—fog or not.

‘She was the one,’ Chanti said again. ‘I
knew
she was the one. And I killed her.’

Aravind did not reply. They walked on for some time in silence.

‘You and Chotu both noticed the way she looked at Ramana,’ said Chanti. ‘And there was no doubt really that she killed Seeta. Seeta was in love with you, and Sarayu would have
hated
Seeta for that.’

‘You know about Seeta and me?’

‘Yes… I didn’t mean to follow you that morning, but Chotu was telling me that you are Ramana’s killer, and when I saw you leave early that morning, curiosity got the better of me… I am sorry.’

‘It’s okay,’ Aravind said woodenly.

‘No, I really am. Because in a strange way, I am responsible for Seeta’s death. It was I who told Sarayu about you and Seeta. She… she didn’t know until then.’

Aravind dug his spade into the ground just a little bit harder as he walked on.

‘I am sorry, Aravind! I know how much you loved Seeta. I… I heard—’

‘It’s okay.’

The reached the spot that Thatha
had pointed out. In the background, the dome of the Shivalayam rose into the air and glowed white in the moonlight. Aravind stopped, threw his spade into the ground and said, ‘It’s here.’

‘If Chotu had been here,’ Chanti said mournfully, ‘he would have said he could not feel anything.’ He bent down and used his shovel to displace some of the surface mud. It gave way easily. ‘Why do you think she killed Chotu, Aravind?’

Aravind did not respond. He had drawn up to his full height and stood staring, transfixed, at the temple. There was a faint smile of incredulity on his face.

‘Aravind?’

‘Yes, what?’

‘Why do you think she killed Chotu? What did she have against him?’

Aravind took his spade and got to work too. ‘Chotu was the only one among us with
talents
, you know, even though he seemed to be a bit rusty. Maybe she felt it would be a good thing to wipe him out, just to take no chances.’

Chanti nodded. ‘Yes, that sounds right. And Ramana?’

Aravind said, ‘I don’t know. I guess she had to start with
someone
, right?’

‘Yes, I am convinced it was Sarayu who killed them all. Are you?’

‘Probably,’ Aravind said.

For a while, neither of them spoke. They worked on the top soil, each grunting with the effort as their tools loosened the earth. The smell that had brought on the headache was now faint, but the air was still heavy with fog. They were unable to see even a few yards to either side, but somehow, the dome of the Shivalayam appeared bright and sharp.

‘What do you mean,
probably
?’ Chanti asked slowly.

‘Hmm?’

‘I asked you if you were convinced that Sarayu was the killer and you said
probably
. What do you mean by that?’

‘Nothing,’ Aravind said. ‘I meant to say she is probably the killer.’

‘Does that mean you’re not yet convinced that she is the killer?’

After a pause, Aravind said, ‘No.’

Chanti took a step towards him and raised his shovel to his shoulder. ‘No? What do you mean, no?’

Aravind did not stop working. ‘Do you want to argue or do you want to work?’

‘I want to know what you mean.’ He bent forward in Aravind’s direction now, looking closely at his face. ‘You think
I
am the killer, don’t you? You and Thatha
both.’

Aravind stood up and returned Chanti’s gaze. ‘You’re the one who slit her throat, Chanti.’

‘But,’ Chanti cried, ‘I was
saving
us from her. She was going to kill us both otherwise. Would you have liked that better? Huh?’

‘Let’s not argue, Chanti,’ Aravind said. ‘Let’s dig this out. If we find her, we kill her, yes?’

‘Of course. But I want to know what you’re thinking about me. Did Thatha
send you out here with me so that you can kill me?’

‘That’s ridiculous, Chanti.’

‘Hah! Is it, though?’ Chanti took another menacing step towards Aravind, at which the latter backed up. ‘Let me see. I am starting to think I killed the wrong person.’ Chanti rubbed his chin in an exaggerated display of thought. ‘Yes, I think I may have killed the wrong person. I should have killed
you
.’

Aravind gripped his spade and dragged it back with him as he backtracked. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘Exactly what Chotu said right from the beginning! He is the one with the
talents
, as you said. What a pity none of us listened to him when he said
you
were the killer!’

‘That’s ridiculous.’

‘Oh,’ Chanti said. ‘Really, now? Is it ridiculous that you almost killed Chotu when we were kids? Is it ridiculous that you’re a freaking drug addict? Is it ridiculous that you had a spat with Ramana over his toy boat?’

‘No, they’re all true.’

‘Oh so these are all true.’ Chanti advanced a step. ‘But let me think about what happened here, too. Chotu said you were hiding something from all of us during the time Ramana’s body was discovered. So what do you do? You take Chotu away and you kill him.’

‘But
he
turned on
me
.’

‘Minor detail. He fought you, you defended yourself by smashing his skull with a rock. That counts as you killing him, you know.’

‘But… I didn’t.’

Chanti rubbed his chin again. ‘Hmm, yes, you didn’t. You hit him on the head with a rock and he died. All by himself.’

‘Chanti, wait—’

‘And Seeta, how could you kill Seeta? The poor girl wanted you, she loved you, and you had to kill her because that would frame Sarayu. You knew she visited Seeta, and you went there and finished her off just because—’

‘No! I did not kill her.’

‘Yes, of course you didn’t.’ Chanti advanced again. ‘And when you accused Sarayu of killing her, you knew that she would profess her love for you, and you knew that would drive me insanely jealous. You knew, didn’t you, that I liked her?’

Aravind nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘And you knew that I did not know the fact that she liked
you
?’

‘I don’t know, but I did not do it with any intention of driving you jealous. Stop coming any closer, Chanti. If you do, I will drive this spade through you.’

‘Of course you didn’t, Aravind,’ Chanti said. ‘You did all this because
she
is controlling you. You didn’t need reasons as long as you had all of us. And to think I killed Sarayu—’ he held up his free hand and shook his head sadly at it, ‘the love of my life, with my own hands.’ He looked up. ‘You made me. You made me.’

‘Whoa, Chanti, wait.’

‘You made me kill her!’ Chanti lifted his spade over his head with one hand and brought it down on Aravind’s head.

Aravind lifted his own spade with both his hands and countered the blow. But just as the tools met with a clang, something drove into his shoulder and twisted. Aravind looked down and saw Chanti’s other hand holding a knife, with the blade completely driven into his flesh. He yelled in pain.