Chapter 3
The nanny goat’s head and torso would have been severed
separately by now if the hand, which swung with equal speed while raising and
descending, had wielded a sharp sword instead of a bamboo split. But the nanny
goat wasn’t his target. It was Rasokkiyam, the owner of the nanny goat.
Wrapping his partly faded dhoti around the goat’s neck tightly like a rope,
Sengalrao was approaching Rasokkiyam with his fiery eyes like the village
god—Aiyyanar—who picked His prey Himself, dragging it along. The nanny goat, with
its eyes almost coming out of sockets, grew obstinate as it struggled to match
the speed of Sengalrao, who was virtually running like a pangolin drawn from
its mound, with his loincloth, gasping, sweltering in the scorching sun as his
brown hair was flowing untidily. The kids, visibly frightened, were bleating
and trailing their mother.
As he was nearing the village from the narrow path, he had
almost been blinded by rage. A mild intoxication did assist him in an unimpeded
throw of abusive words. Words fell out. “You fucker! Once we are done with us,
would it make any difference, be it nanny goat or its kids? You sister fuckers!
How dare you step into my field? Now you dare come to herd your goats; I will
settle with you all today.” Gritting his teeth in anger, he turned and swung
the bamboo split fast. The nanny goat, prompted by an instantaneous
intimidation, pulled the rope behind with force that almost caused him to trip
over on his stomach.
The bleat of the nanny goat and its kids grew louder as they
approached the house. Panajalai, who was busy filling the paddy grains into a
cauldron, hadn’t paid attention to it. But the dog, ‘Naughty,’ resting under
the shade, got alert hearing the goats’ bleating, jumped up swiftly, sneaked
through the narrow gap of the doorway, and started barking frantically. It
wasn’t only Panjalai who stood hell-shocked at the big, mixed noise of both
hapless bleats of goats and reassuring barking of the dog, but Rasokkiyam with
the dusty chaff all over his body and a basketful of paddy grains that he had
brought from the threshing area also stood stunned at what he had heard.
She opened the door at the entrance, visibly upset at the
developments, and went out. The kids ran out to her in unison, stood at her
feet brushing her legs, and bleated painfully. Seeing their pain, Panjalai was
literally broken. She couldn’t have filled in no more than two bags of paddy
grains in the cauldron for soaking it after she had left the nanny goat
tethered, along with its kids. Even if the nanny goat could break the rope, it
wouldn’t have gone beyond her groundnut field. How could it have gone beyond
the pearl millet field? Although she was convinced that a deliberate attempt
was being made to pull them into a fight, she remained silent as she grew
apprehensive that any words she would speak might send out an invitation to
some other complicated problem again.
Rasokkiyam understood the situation yet chose not to show his
unease. The ‘naughty’ continued its barking while slowly stepping back like a
drummer who walks behind while beating his drum in a funeral. Rasokkiyam yelled
out at it, “Hey…naughty… Come here.”
His words didn’t bother the naughty. His barking resumed
incessantly. Sengalrao also didn’t slacken his steps. Just some steps away from
the doorway, Sengalrao tripped over again as the nanny goat suddenly pulled the
rope and ran towards Panjalai. While he could stem it with a forceful jerk and
pull it back, an insurmountable anger sufficient to tear the goat into pieces
overwhelmed him. He whipped with the bamboo split again. “You rogue! You have
become so fattened by eating the green grams from my field. Haven’t you? If I
don’t do something that keeps your impudence tamed today so that you would
never even dare to look at the direction of my field, I will remain not born to
Karutha Padaiyachi”
Someone was running east, watching these developments.
Panjalai turned to Rasokkiyam, glancing at him pleadingly. He remained composed
and said to her, “Keep cool. Let him take it to anywhere he wants and do
whatever he likes.” He again admonished the dog, “Hey…naughty…come here.”
The anger broke its threshold. Sengalrao roared as he bobbed
his head violently, yet holding tightly the goat, which was trying to get out
of his grip, “Aren’t you playing it around just by unleashing your nanny goat
and its kids as you are very certain that I wouldn’t do anything about it? I
will prove you wrong this time for sure.”
“Don’t pick unnecessary fights. If we are not on good terms,
it is the end of it. You mustn’t come up with cooked-up stories about goats and
cows straying into your area. I have just left the goat tethered in my field.
Even if it breaks the rope, it would roam only in our land,” Panjalai said as
she was going near as though releasing the goat from his hold.
Sensing her intention, Sengalrao pulled the rope behind fast
and spat out the words furiously. “You mean that I have deliberately untied
this goat. Don’t you? Go, see my field; it’s been nearly razed to the ground
like a tonsure at Arangan’s temple. Stop your blabber of having it tethered in
your land.” He dragged out the goat and walked away fast without turning his
head.
Rasokkiyam, trying his best to control his nervousness, told
Panjalai as if warning her,” It is alright. I agree the green grams might have
been grazed in that groundnut field. It is not a knife that is pointed at our
neck. Isn’t it? It is just a goat. Let him take it with him. Forget it, and
fill this paddy grains now.”
“You, a worthless pubic strand! Stop your empty words to trivialise
this matter. Your goat has just grazed an entire stretch of green grams with
its flowers and buds along the ridge. Here, you are telling stories about knife
in the neck and other fucking stuff. Yes… it is my fault that I haven’t done it
yet. But this time, I won’t leave it just like that. Even if you bring in your
entire army of men, I will face them all.” He spoke acerbically as he was
dragging the goat along. But the nanny goat stood its ground, bleated loudly,
with its legs spread wide as though displaying a grit that it wouldn’t move an
inch even if it was chopped off. The ‘naughty’ too barked fiercely, unable to
bear the scene.
“You sister-fucking dog! You too joined with them to attack.
Come…come…You just got fattened with my groundnut, and you have no qualms about
being ungrateful. Didn’t you?” He swung the bamboo split at it. The dog
crouched down, faking fear, and then pounced again and barked fiercely.
It was a very trying time for Rasokkiyam. He remained
composed. ‘He is in his usual drunken state. When he is spitting out foul
words, I shouldn’t aggravate the situation more that might end up in what had
happened earlier…Thank god…If Kanagaraju stands on that side and my son
Sadhasivam on this side, the situation will become more complicated. Let this
fellow take the goat along with him. I can retrieve it with the help of
Arivazhagan in the evening, Rasokkiyam thought.
“What is all this? Why are you showing off here?” Asalambikai
came running from the street corner, yelling at Sengalrao. She might have been
busy with husking the paddy grains. The husk particles had covered all over her
body. “What nonsense is this?” she was trying to reason with him, still
gasping, and was hesitant to go near him due to fear. Standing at the veranda,
she stretched out her hand to release the goat from his hand.
Senalrao’s anger turned towards her. He raised his hand with
the bamboo split and shouted, “Did anyone call you here to settle this matter
that forced you to run fast like this? Go, see for yourself the green gram
plants.”
Moving a step behind to escape his swing, she spoke to him as
though warning him, “Look here. I advise you to leave that goat and come home.
When he is not at home, don’t pick any fights with anyone and leave us in the
lurch. Let it graze wherever it likes. Let it destroy whatever it wants. Just
leave it.”
The moment she threw out the reference to his son, Sikamani,
Sengalrao had a sudden bout of heaviness in him. Grasping that momentary
relief, she pulled out the dhoti and released the goat. The nanny goat, with
its eyes still emitting fear, went near the guava tree and stood under its
shade along with its kids. The ‘naughty’ too curled up its tail and came back
to the doorway.
“If you keep compromising everything like this, you and your
son will never be able to lead a good life here. Mind it,” Sengalrao mumbled.
Still having no courage to go near him, Asalambu spoke imperturbably, standing
at a distance, “It is O.K. Let the life we lead be inadequate,” and moved out
of the place.
“The display of this nuisance all through my life—one day the
goats grazing, another day the cows, and then trees and such stuff—is simply
unbearable. I will find peace only if I could sell this land to someone and sit
with a simple towel on my head without any burdens.” Panjalai rued the day,
closed the gate, and went in.
As she was about to take a turn into the street, Asalambu
turned to her hearing these words and said angrily as she was moving away,
“Once I did my part to get that man out of here, you should also leave it aside
and do your work. No one needs to go ruined with a simple towel nor wealth on
their head for our sake.” It wasn’t clear as to what had gotten into her; she
mumbled as she went away walking, “If the time of one’s ruin is destined to come,
it won’t seek anyone’s permission, neither yours nor mine.”
***Ended***
