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 smile and radiance all time. No one would say he was sixty year old man. His hands were very muscular like a trunk of elephant; his body well-built; grey haired head; grey moustache with the tint of saffron caused by frequent spitting out of betal 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 it 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 scorching summer. The moon was throwing its milky white light all over. He spread his towel on the outer veranda of the house, struggled to sleep as bed bugs and mosquitoes didn’t allow to him 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 any one 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 untidy in 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, you 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, lifted 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 would 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 enquiring
about their house, 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 to 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
afar. It will get late reach there. We understand that you must be very much
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 told-“Merciless fellow…see how he has beaten her that it got swollen like this.” Bolammal grew alert. She looked at him sternly. The hands caressed her back fell off at her irate eyes. 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 a sin? – She begged their pity. “ Aiyo! Why did I leave my home like this? I don’t know what all 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 enquired 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 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. Others households too
accompanied him. One of the buddies of the curly haired man standing at
the distance came near to them.
He told curly haired man-“What a nuisance! Has it started
again? Had it been myself, 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 are a girl without mother.
If I had broken your hand and legs at an appropriate time, you would not have
brought me this much of troubles. 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 a heavy rain has 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 with 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, 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, 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
fraction of a second, second stone from the left hand went to the right, 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 a second at seeing other two
persons came 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
backwards 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 backwards at
the left side but ran forward faster. He then lifted the person lying on the
floor with his two hands looking up 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 it a while later. The cloth
was removed from Bolammal’s mouth.
By the 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 moon light. 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 backwards 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 sword man turned back. Nayakkar pushed him down to
the ground on his stomach, twisted his hand with his 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 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
stoamch with his head and pushed him down. The curly haired man was thrown
into the air and fell off at a couple of yards away.
Thathaiya Nayakkar was running here and there without any
target. The blood was gushing out of his both the 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 like child! I am unable to help you out
ma. It is 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 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 grasping her hair. There heard the Bolammal’s
violent cry for a while. After sometime, 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 which he
remembered was the heavy spear with 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 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 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 head.
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***
