The villagers used to address Thathaiya Nayakkar as ‘Appurani
Nayakkar’ (Innocent Nayakkar). He was a farmer. He would never poke
his nose into others’ affairs. His penchant for agriculture was something that
would make anyone envious. There used to be an orderliness in everything he
handled. No one could have ever seen his face rage with anger. His face always
carried a smile and radiance all the time. No one would say he was a
sixty-year-old man. His hands were very muscular, like a trunk of an elephant;
his body was well-built; he had a grey-haired head; and he had a grey moustache
with the tint of saffron caused by frequent spitting out of betel leaf juice.
Irrespective of distance, he always preferred travel by foot. He would go to
neighbouring places only twice or thrice in a year. He would go to Kovilpatti,
the town located ten miles away from his village, and bring all the items
required for his family all the way, carrying them on his head. On that day
too, he had gone to Kovilpatti.
He kept all his belongings at a house on the outskirts of the
town and returned after watching a movie. It was a scorching summer. The
moon was throwing its milky white light all over. He spread his towel on the
outer veranda of the house and struggled to sleep as bedbugs and mosquitoes
didn’t allow him to have a good sleep.
‘How could these people sleep peacefully closing their houses
in this hot summer?’ Nayakkar wondered. It brought him a smile on his face.
When he was about to close his eyes after a long struggle to sleep peacefully,
he heard a helpless yell of a woman and rose up instantly. “Aiyo…amma…is there
no one else who could stop this injustice? Aiyo…aiyo….” The voice was so
intense, helpless. Thathaiya Nayakkar got up, straightened, and gave his ears
to that voice attentively. “You sinners! ... Aren’t you born with sisters? Is
it just what you are doing now? Aiyo…. Isn’t there anyone to stop this?”
Nayakkar jumped off the veranda and came onto the street. He
bent down and picked up two big stones of coconut size, stood firm, and called
out. “Who’s there?” His heavy and masculine voice hit somewhere and echoed.
“Stop there. If you move, one single throw. Your head would fall off like a
palm fruit.” The owner of the house came near to the window hearing his
thundering voice but did not open the door.
Yov..yov… Nayakkar… Have you gone mad or what? Come and
sleep. Hundreds of things would take place in the town. Why do you mind others’
business? Be at peace minding our problems and us. Why do you disturb your
sleep with your impertinent tongue? Be quiet, come and sleep.”
Nayakkar felt that something was wrong. At that time, a woman
came running towards him with her hair blowing untidily in the air. She came
and clasped his legs. Nayakkar took a step backward. But that woman tightened
her grip and held his legs tightly. Four men came running fast after her.
Seeing Nayakkar, they hesitated to move forward. Two among them were standing
at a distance. “Ayya, please keep yourself away. It is a fight between husband
and wife. Please don’t intervene in this matter, one of them told.
“No… It is injustice. You only have to save me”—the woman
shook her head violently and clasped his legs even more tightly. Nayakkar
comforted her, lifting her by her armpits as if he was lifting a child. “O…my
mother...don’t be afraid. As long as I am here, no harm will come to you.
Please tell me what has happened.” He asked her affectionately. The woman
narrated exactly what has happened. Her name was Bolammal. She was
married to a person in a village some four miles away from Kovilpatti. She
fought with her husband that day. Her husband, who never raised his hands to
beat her, had beaten her very badly that day. Boalammal became angry with
her husband and left the house for her mother’s place somewhere in the South.
Sooner she reached here, she realised that it was already dark. Having decided
to stay in her distant relative’s house there, she started walking down. But
she came to know that they had shifted their house elsewhere. It was when she
was inquiring about their house that she happened to meet those men.
Those men told her that they did know the location of the house she was looking
for and made her believe that they were also residing near that house. They
further told her that they were also on their way to their home. Bolammal
believed in what they had told her. Those men collected the information about
her fight with her husband and her name from her by being friendly with
her. They compelled her to eat the snacks they bought from an ‘afternoon’
shop. “That house is far. It will get late to reach there. We understand
that you must be very hungry. Don’t be shy. Have” it”—they coaxed her
affectionately. When she was eating the snacks, they hurled abuses on her
husband till their mouth got its fill. “Even if you die, don’t let that fellow
face you. Is he a human being? He has beaten you as if he has beaten a bull. It
is damn pity”—they”told.
Hearing this, the thought about her family came over
Bolammal’s mind. Her eyes welled up with tears. The coffee she was drinking
turned bitter, and she disliked it. She kept it aside and got up. I have to go
early. It gets late.” – Growing tense, she started walking faster. They brought
her to the outskirts of the village. While walking, they were teasing her. One
of them caressed her back and said, Merciless fellow… See how he has beaten her
that it got swollen like this.” Bolammal grew alert. She looked at him sternly.
The hands that caressed her back fell off at her irate eyes. The next moment,
her eyes became teary thinking about her helpless condition. “Brothers… How
could you behave indecently with a hapless woman like this? Isn’t it a sin? –
She begged for their pity. “Aiyo! Why did I leave my home like this? I
don’t know what else would happen now.” - Bolammal thought remorsefully.
As she came to a point of determination, she decided not to
move further and stood like a fixed nail on the ground. Refused to move an inch
further.
A stout thug among them with bushy sideburns and curly hair
came near to her. “If you touch me, I will shout and call out to
everyone. You will get the respect you deserve then.” - Bolammal hissed.
Some persons were passing them. Hearing their scuffle, they stopped and
inquired of the persons standing near to Bolammal.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing. Nothing else. Just a petty scuffle between husband
and wife. That is all.” “O…is that all?” - The passers-by left the
place. Those who witnessed their episode broadcast through the street
thought that it was a petty fight between husband and wife.
As the time passed, the presence of people grew thin there.
Now they got emboldened and caught hold of Bolammal’s hand and dragged
her. Hardly a word was left out that she did not shout; there was no
abuse left that she did not utter; there was no god left that she did not pray
to; but there was none available there to protect her, to wipe off her tears.
Upon hearing all these details, Thathaiya Nayakkar became
terribly angry. He stared at them with his angry eyes. But that curly-haired,
bulky man came in front of Nayakkar and politely represented his case.
“Ayya, I request you to listen to what I am saying. You are
like my father. She is the daughter of my own maternal uncle. She has been
married to me for five years. This fight has been there for five long years.
When I come home after toiling myself and breaking my bones, she won’t be
available at home. She would come only in the morning. I had to roam around the
entire village searching for her. For how long could a legally married husband
bear this?”
At this time, the owner of the house where Nayakkar was staying,
Sundaram Chettiyar, came out of the house. Other households too accompanied
him. One of the buddies of the curly-haired man standing at a distance
came near to them.
He told the curly-haired man, What a nuisance! Has it started
again? Had it been me, I would not be crying to set her right; rather, I would
have divorced her. You are the perfect example of a married bachelor brother,
and threw a smile at Thathaiya Nayakkar. Bolammal spat on his face.
“Thooooo” “Spit on me! Spit on this shameless fellow! You will spit. Won’t
you? It was my mistake that I brought you up thinking you were a girl without a
mother. If I had broken your hand and legs at an appropriate time, you would
not have brought me this much trouble. What could she do for my mistake? You,
the daughter of a whore!” - The curly-haired man jumped upon her ferociously.
“Eeeell…” Bolammal screeched. Suddenly she fell down
on the ground like a chopped palm tree. The stones that Thathaiya Nayakkar was
holding slipped from his hand and fell down on the ground. Being mentally
vexed, he sat on the veranda.
Like a kite picking up an innocent chicken, they left the place carrying
her.
The street bore a look that heavy rain had just stopped
lashing there. Everyone went inside their house and locked themselves.
But Thathaiya Nayakkar couldn’t sleep. After some time, the same helpless
screech of that woman was heard again. He stood up, now decisively. He walked
towards them to know what they were doing with that woman. With his rustic
assessment of the direction from where the screeching was coming, he understood
that they were not moving towards the village.
Nayakkar's palpitation and restlessness shot up. A feeble
voice was coming from the bottom of a single-eyed bridge located on
the road at some distance away. The sound stopped abruptly. Thathaiya Nayakkar
ran towards that direction and heard a hushing sound coming out of a hiding.
Following that, three men came running fast towards Nayakkar.
“Don’t come near… Run away…run away…” They were screaming and
kept running towards him. Thathaiya Nayakkar bent down and collected two
big stones. His shoulders grew tight; his chest was infused with fresh air and
got expanded. His height got straightened up. His appearance evolved into an
impressive bulk of eight feet.
Nayakkar brought his left leg a step forward and released the
stone with full force from his right hand. The stone travelled with lightning
speed in the air.
“Aiyo…amma. I am dead. One of them fell down. Within a
fraction of a second, the second stone from the left hand went to the right and
got released, tearing the wind with a sharp sound. Suddenly a big branch
of a tree broke and fell down. The stone missed its target.
One of them fell down; Nayakkar stood stunned for a second at seeing the other
two persons come running towards him. They were so near that there was no time
left for him to bend again to pick some more stones. He hoodwinked them by
stepping backward at the right side but ran forward faster. He saw the person
hit by the stone writhing in pain. Again he hoodwinked them by stepping
backward at the left side but ran forward faster. He then lifted the person
lying on the floor with his two hands looking up at the sky, mustered all his
strength in his hand, and threw him to the floor with a forceful swing.
Two more hushed whistle sounds were heard. ‘Ushhh…usshhhh.’ The curly-haired
man came out of the bridge like Yama Dharma Rajan (God of Death). He
was holding Bolammal’s hands very tightly.
Bolammal was standing without any dress on her body. Part of
the cloth thrust inside her mouth was sticking out of her mouth. Nayakkar
jumped upon the curly-haired man ferociously, gave him a very tight slap on his
cheek, and kicked him. The curly-haired man could not take on Nayakkar’s ferocity.
He fell on his back and closed his eyes only to open them a while later. The
cloth was removed from Bolammal’s mouth.
By that time, the henchmen of curly-haired men surrounded
Nayakkar. One of them was holding a long sword in his hands. It was shining in
the moonlight. Thathaiya Nayakkar understood that his end was nearing. He could
have escaped, but he did not opt for that.
“Please leave this place immediately”—he” gave instructions
to the woman. Bolammal stepped backward and started running. One of those men
ran behind her and caught hold of her hands, leaving her unable to move a step
more. Now there appeared two enemies.
Nayakkar raised his hand directly against the sword-wielding
man and gave out a call “Please come here…please come here” looking beyond the
sword-man as if he was seeking help from someone behind him.
The swordsman turned back. Nayakkar pushed him down to the
ground on his stomach, twisted his hand with one hand, and held his head with
another. He then kicked his waist and broke it. The sword dropped from his
hand. Before Nayakkar could pick it up, the curly-haired man could manage to
pick it up. Once the grip got loosened a little, the person lying on the
floor wiggled Nayakkar’s legs like a snake. Unable to balance his body, Thathaiya
Nayakkar fell down. He tried to get up with one hand on the floor and another
hand raised.
“Shhhthaakkkk”—The raised right hand of Thathaiya Nayakkar
was chopped off in one swing of the sword. Bolamma screamed, “Aiyo…Aiyo…” In
order to avoid his neck receiving the blow, he raised his left hand to stop
him. The curly-haired thug chopped off his left hand too. He then summoned up
all his strength and kicked the person holding his legs violently aside and
managed to get up. With the same furiousness and yells, he hit the curly-haired
man’s stomach with his head and pushed him down. The curly-haired man was
thrown into the air and fell off a couple of yards away.
Thathaiya Nayakkar was running here and there without any
target. The blood was gushing out of both his shoulders as if being pumped by a
water gun. Nayakar kept falling down, getting up, and trying to hit with
his head.
“You brutes! Low-born scoundrels! Impotent assholes! . There
is something called Dharma. There is someone called God.” - He was roaring,
moaning with pain.
“My God… My mother likes children! I am unable to help you
out, ma. It is a pity that I did not have enough strength to kill these dogs to
save you. O…God. Aren’t you there?” - Thathaiya Nayakkar cried out and hit
his face repeatedly on the rough surface of the ground.
Those men left the place as they realised that the situation
wouldn’t be in their favour if they stayed back any longer. One of them went
ahead, dragging Bolammal and grasping her hair. They heard the Bolammal’s
violent cry for a while. After some time, that too stopped. Silence…a deadly
silence thereafter. Thathaiya Nayakkar was dying at a faster rate.
He could see the things around him getting dimmer and then
clearer. When he regained consciousness, the first thing he remembered was
the heavy spear with a wooden rod that he had kept in the south corner of the
hall in his house. Then the smiling face of his only daughter, Vengadammal,
came over his mind; the innocent face of his grandson, Srinivasan, also came
through his mind.
Nayakkar tried his best to regain his strength and called out
loudly to his host, Sundaram Chettiyar. But there was none to answer his
voice. His voice hit the Kathiresan Kovil hills and came back with a
feeble echo, ‘Sundaram Chettiyar’… ‘Sundaram Chettiyar.’.
“Water…Water.” - These were the last words that came out of
his mouth. The horizon embraced its dawn the next day. The air was calm and
breezy. A crow, which came there from nowhere, perched on a tree and
gazed at Nayakkar’s dead body, tilting its head. It made a circle above
Nayakkar’s head and cawed thrice. Two shepherd women came along that way
carrying curd pitchers on their heads.
They stood shocked at seeing the hands severed from
Nayakkar’s body soaked in blood and started screaming. One old woman with the
curd pitcher on her head amidst the crowd standing near the dead body wiped her
eyes with the hem of her sari and muttered, “Ayyo…what a pity! Whose child is
this? Who’s done this sin?” and left the place.
***Ended***
