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| Puthumai Pithan |
All the way through that night, I was unable to sleep. I couldn’t find out the reason why it had happened. No undue mental stress, and no more unsolicited happiness either, so as to suffer from this sleeplessness. ‘I am just like any other human being. Ain’t I? But my profession is not like that of others. I write stories. It simply means that I am a poor chap whose livelihood rests on telling lies and receiving wages from the publishers, who could bear with those lies. The lies I tell wield universal acceptance! It means getting them endorsed by the majority of the world with fancy names like God and righteousness etc. People call it either creative output or a wander in the world of fantasy. These kinds of liars are often called Second Brahma!1I am the one standing last in this parallel pedigree of God Brahma. Thinking about all these, makes me feel proud, indeed. Doesn’t it? Are the creations of Brahma also lies just like the pack of fabrications that we create? Am I also a lie? All of a sudden, If I indulge in such a philosophical inquiry at about twelve in the night, any one would surely be suspicious about my digestive ability. Wouldn’t he?’ Overwhelmed by that thought, I got up, sat there.
The house owner had designed the bed room in such a way that I could switch the light on without having to get up. I switched it on. The glare of the light hit my eyes. My wife was sleeping in the adjacent bed. It seemed that she was dreaming in her sleep. I saw a grin in the corner groove of her lips. It so appeared that she felt so happy about her culinary skills that could make a person sleepless and push him into a philosophical inquiry. She turned her body other side on the bed with a simper, still sleepy. She was at the third month of her pregnancy. Just because I was unable to sleep, there was no point in waking her up to accompany me in my sleeplessness. Wasn’t it?
I switched the light off at once. I loved to sit in the darkness alone as I found peace in it. I could mingle with darkness, merge with it as one, and could avoid seeing people around me. Couldn’t I? ‘Sitting in the citadel of darkness, one can enjoy the serenity of mental peace, as he likes, at the speed of a bullock cart. Can’t he? People term human mind as a speeding chariot which can travel to any place it wants in no time. However, the human mind still prefers to traverse the beaten track of thoughts that had crept into the deepest part of human psyche from the time immemorial. The track, lain with the fine powder of sand resulted from the persistent rolling of wheels and a not-so-much-used, untouched land strip between the tracks! Sometimes it so happens that the wheels would skid from the beaten track, hit the strip, and gives a sudden jerk to the person sitting inside the cart. Otherwise, it is a safe beaten track used by sober bulls anyway’. It seemed that I had applied more lime on the betal leaves in the dark as I had immersed in the comforts of thoughts. The tongue was burnt. I wouldn’t mind it. When you let your mind wander freely unfettered, you shouldn’t mind such petty discomforts. Should you? I stuffed the tobacco pieces I was holding in my palm into my mouth deftly.
‘What an odour is this! Chee…Like the smell of a corpse!’ I thought it was due to the poor quality of tobacco, spat out the spittle through the window, gargled the mouth thoroughly, came to bed and lay there. The stench was unbearable. The air reeked of a decayed, decomposed dead body. I couldn’t bear it anymore. ‘Is that stink coming through the window? No sign of wind streaking along the window panes!’I got down from the cot, walked down to the window. Within a couple of steps, the stench disappeared. It was quite unusual. Wasn’t it? I came back to my bed. Again the same stench! The same stink! ‘Is there anything lying dead beneath the cot?’I lighted a lamp. There was nothing other than dust underneath the bed that caused sneezing. I cleaned up my body, rose up. The sound of my sneezing woke my wife up.
“You haven’t still slept. Have you? What is the time now?” She asked, yawned.
It was exactly one minute past twelve midnight.
What a strange thing it was! Now the stench had become a fragrance. A scent of incense sticks! That too, the scent of very poor-quality incense! Such incense sticks used to be kept near a dead body. Aren’t they?’
“Are you able to sniff at an unusual scent?” I asked my wife.
“I could feel nothing” she replied.
She sniffed at for a while and told, “I guess it is a scent of incense sticks. Someone may have burnt it. I feel sleepy; Switch the light off and sleep”
I switched the light off. The fragrance was still lingering mildly in the air. I peeped through the window. The night was wearing the light of only stars.
I could see the doors of the entrance and windows were mildly wind-blown. It was just only for a second. A dead silence followed that. Was it an earth quake? A fruit eating bat fluttered its broad skinny wings, flew across in the light of stars, and disappeared somewhere beyond the grove on the opposite side.
The stench and scents disappeared all at once. I returned to the bed, lay there.
2
When I got up next day morning, it was already noon. Picked up the newspaper, thrown into the hall through the window, went to the front yard of the house, and sat on the cane chair. It creaked uncomfortably under my weight and then remained quiet.
My wife was standing behind me, admonishing me, “If you are awake all through the night and getting up this late and prefer to sitting like this in the morning, the coffee served to you will become waste. Won’t it? Even though I had an immense faith in the democracy and world peace that were caught in the vortex of unified progressive military action undertaken by the Allied Nations, I found it difficult to get along with what she had said.
“It’s all because of your culinary skills” I retorted, got up.
“Sitting idle, if you are determined to find faults in me, you won’t have anything else to talk other than that. Will you? It is no way inferior to the stories you write” she told me, entered the kitchen.
‘One shouldn’t get perturbed by such rants in a family life. So, should I’. I brushed my teeth, I nestled the hot coffee tumbler in my towel, I started surfing the news items in the newspaper.
That time, a beggar woman, who was still looking young, came near to the entrance of my house, singing a song, and called us out, “Amma…alms please”
I looked at her above the edge of the newspaper and held it up high like a fence to obstruct her view so that I could avoid talking to such nuisance elements.
“Aren’t you strong enough to work? Why don’t you work in a couple of houses to earn your living?” my wife came to the entrance, chiding her for begging.
“I am ready to do any work. But I should get some work to do. Shouldn’t I? Water is boiling in the pot. I couldn’t get even a handful of rice from this street. Please give some pieces of clothes so that I can save my dignity.” The beggar woman started shooting her applications of sympathy.
“I will give you a job. Will you stay with us? I will provide you food for your stomach and clothes for your dignity.” What do you say?” My wife asked her.
“It is more than enough, Mother! Isn’t it? Who else could display such a benevolence these days like this? The beggar woman told, kept staring at my wife, smiled at her.
My wife turned towards me, asked me, “I think we can engage her in the house for two days to assess her work. You also know that I have frequent wheezing problem.” my wife told me.
“What! You have gone nuts. Haven’t you? How could you bring an ass from the street into our house? Can’t you get any other person on this earth?” I told her, visibly annoyed.
The beggar woman standing outside gave out a thick laughter. Her smile was irresistibly attractive. My wife couldn’t take her eyes away from that woman, kept staring at her. It almost appeared that she had surrendered her senses completely to that anonymous woman.
“I am capable of identifying the persons by their face. Ain’t I?” You please come in.” my wife ordered, took that woman inside.
The beggar woman seemed to be extremely happy, and followed my wife. It was just an inadvertent act- I kept on looking at her feet after wiping out my eyes. Her legs were not on the floor; they were floating above the floor at the height of a jeweller’s bead. I got goose bumps. ‘Is it just an illusion?’ I looked at her once again. The beggar woman turned towards me, smiled at me. ‘O! My God! It’s not a smile. Is it?’It pierced like an icy spear through my bone marrows and almost got me killed!
I called out my wife. I explained her that bringing that anonymous woman inside the house was not a good proposition. But she remained stubborn to keep this strange element as her servant maid. ‘The morning sickness caused by pregnancy has many flipsides like this. Hasn’t it? But there must be a limit to it.’ My mind kept on cautioning me that her presence was a sign of some impending danger. I looked at her feet once again. Just like any other human being, they were on the floor. ‘How come is that possible? Is it the same hallucination!’
Tenali Raman 2proved that a black colour dog couldn’t be changed into white colour dog. My wife also proved that a beggar woman could also be changed into a normal human being like us. I was also convinced that anyone who takes bath regularly, wears clean clothes even if it is old, can become friend of anyone. The beggar woman seemed to be very good at cracking jokes and making others laugh. I could hear her laughing frequently. I was astounded to see her helping my wife attentively. It appeared that the fear I had just a while ago seemed to mock at me now.
It was evening, dusk. My wife and the maid servant were chit chatting, cracking jokes. I lighted a lamp in the front hall, and in the pretext of reading a book, I was watching her. A hallway was lying between the hall where I was sitting and the place where they were chit chatting. A full- length mirror was hanging in the hallway. I could see their images clearly in the mirror.
“You have visited a lot many places. Haven’t you? You can tell me some stories. Can’t you? ”My wife asked her.
“Yes…I have gone to Kashi and Haridwar and other places alike. When I was in Kashi, I heard a story there. Can I narrate it to you?” she said.
“You can. Please tell me.” My wife asked her eagerly.
“It must be more than five hundred years, they say. There was a king in Kashi and he had a daughter. No such beautiful girl was found anywhere on the earth. The king got her educated in all the subjects under the Sun. The person who was appointed as her Guru was actually a cunning conjurer. He was a master of black magic, sorcery and witch graft. He was eying up on this girl. But that girl was in love with the son of the minister and wanted to marry him. The conjurer came to know about it…Who came to know about it? Yes…it was that Guru”
I was stunned to see the wonder that unfolded in front of me. I got confused whether I was listening to her telling the story or reading the book which I was holding in my hands. The book I was holding in my hands was “Historical Documents”. The page that lay spread in front of me was staring at me with the story of the daughter of King of Kashi. The last sentence of the pages under my fingers was the English Translation of ‘the conjurer came to know about it’. The sensory ability of my brain stopped for a while. Pimple like sweat droplets appeared on my forehead. ‘O! What happened to me? Have I become crazy?’My eyes were glued to the pages spread in front of me. The letters started getting blurred.
Suddenly I heard a loud demoniacal laughter. It sucked up the interiors of my mind with a tremor. I raised my head in shock. My eyes fell on to the full length mirror. A ghastly ghost showing up its sharp teeth, was guffawing hysterically in it. I had seen many such ghosts in my dreams and the imaginations of sculptors. But I had never seen such a ghastly ghost. All its savageness was reflected only in its eyes and teeth. The face carried a deadly silence, capable of evoking lusty intoxication. Thirst for blood in the eyes! The teeth with a craving for tearing the flesh! Behind this propitious image, were there the flames of fire. I was not under my control; kept on watching it. The image in the mirror disappeared. In a minute, I could see only the face of the beggar woman in the mirror.
“I forgot to ask your name.” I could over hear my wife’s question.
“You may call me Kanjanai. Like the character in the story who also had the same name. Calling by any names doesn’t matter. Does it? One should have a name. That is it” the beggar woman told her.
It didn’t seem to be good idea to leave my wife there alone. Anything could happen. ‘Once the mind is preoccupied with fear, there won’t be limit to the shudders one gets in one’s body. Will there be?’
I went inside. Both of them were talking cheerfully.
I entered with a smile which I brought on my face with a considerable effort. “What business do you have at the place where woman are working?” a sharp question was thrown at me.
The woman who called herself Kanjanai was chopping off something, with her head bent down. A naughty grin was frolicking at the groove of her lips. I just became a mute spectator, stood like bystander hiding behind the fence of books. My wife was a pregnant lady. I couldn’t let her perturbed with fear. At the same time, I had to do something to save her. How?
We all had our dinner. Went to sleep. Both of us went upstairs to sleep. The one known as Kanjanai was lying in the front hall.
I was just lying on the bed. I couldn’t close my eyes. ‘How could I close it?’I didn’t know how long I was lying there. My heart was filled with anxiety as to when I would have to face the same foul odour once again.
A clock from somewhere rang; it was twelve in the night.
The eleventh ringing didn’t stop. The door creaked somewhere.
Suddenly, some sharp nails scratched my body, disappeared.
I sprang to my feet. My goodness! I didn’t speak anything funny.
It was my wife’s hand, resting on me.
‘Was it her hands?’
I got up, bent a bit down, and watched her closely. She was sleeping peacefully; her breath was stable.
I thought of going down to see. But fear didn’t allow me.
I decided to see. Without making noise, I tiptoed, went downstairs.
The time moved as slow as an era.
I peeped into the front hall furtively. The outer door was kept closed. The moon light seeping through the windows was falling on the mat and pillow- Empty mat and pillow.
The earth beneathme caved in. An inexplicable shudder overwhelmed me.
Without turning back, I stepped backwards, came near the staircase. ‘Has she gone upstairs?’
I rushed to the upper floor. There was a deadly silence. The same old silence.
My mind was still muddled up. Stood near the window and watched the moon light.
No sign of human activity around.
Only a dog somewhere afar howled its lament longer.
A gigantic bat came flying towards my house from somewhere in opposite corner of the sky.
I started coming out of fear slowly as I kept looking outside. I reconciled myself that it was nothing but just my hallucination.
But the mind was still not at rest. It wanted to see what was happening downstairs.
I went downstairs. My walk lacked courage, though.
Yes…yonder…It was Kanjanai sitting over there. She smiled at me. The same poisonous smile! I stood frozen. I feigned as if I was cool headed, I climbed the steps murmuring, “Aren’t you feeling sleepy?”
‘Wasn’t there the fragrance of frankincense?’ I could remember that it was its fragrance there.
When I got up, it was already late.
“What happened to you? Your sleeping patterns have gone for a toss. Coffee is getting cold” my wife woke me up.
Everything seemed odd in day time as it had no hiding place for both darkness and fear. But, the fear seemed to have been deep rooted in the heart. How to get rid of it?
‘One can’t confide his mental agony caused by his wife’s amoral behavior to anyone just to find solace. Can he? My situation was almost akin to it. The person like me who boasts about his literary service to the society, holding himself in high self-esteem, can’t go to a sorcerer with a complaint that a demon has entered his house, and it might do some harm to his wife and hence requesting to help him get rid of it. Can he? Asking for such help, would make him suspect for sure if I was simply mocking at him or I had become mad. How to find out solution to this problem? Who could help me in this matter? How long will I be able to linger this issue without seeking help from someone?’
I was very much restless as it might lead to some serious consequences. I was wavering between fake courage and real fear. ‘What sort of stupefying potion that servant maid had given to my wife?’ They were spending their time happily without even a tinge of suspicion or fear.
Today, the time passed faster as if the day time was chasing the night. I had never experienced any day time that passed this faster earlier.
While going to bed, my wife told me, “Today Kanjanai will sleep in the adjacent room in the upper floor. I felt as if I was carrying fire under my belly.
‘What sort of a connivance is this?’
I decided not to sleep that night; spent the whole night awake.
“Aren’t you sleeping?” my wife asked me.
“I don’t feel sleepy” I said. The fear was piercing my heart like sharp spears.
“As you wish” she turned her body other side. Within seconds, she slept. ‘Is it just a deep sleep?’
Sitting for a long time costed me dear. I lay down on bed to sleep.
The clock rang twelve.
The same odour!
My wife, lying beside me, screamed loudly, quite not like human. I could hear only one word ‘Kanjanai’ amidst voices without forms that were coming in the form of words.
I switched the light on immediately, woke her up.
Once gained consciousness, she got up, still tottering. “I felt that something bit my neck and sucked up my blood.” She told him as she wiped her eyes.
I watched her neck. There were two tiny drops of blood in her throat in the size of a pin tip. Her body was shivering.
“Don’t be afraid. You might have dreamt something bad” I told her. It was a lie deliberately told, I know.
Her body was still shivering. She fell on the bed unconscious. That time, the sound of Chemakkalam3 was heard outside.
Along with its music, a song sung in a grating voice was also heard.
Someone called out, “Kanjanai…Kanjanai…”- a commanding tone.
An extremely loud scream came out of the house, quaking. The doors were terribly wind-blown.
Followed it, was there a silence. The silence of a burial ground!
I peeped out of the house. One person was standing at the middle of the street. What a spruce he was!
He signaled me, “Come here”
I came out of the house, walked towards him like an immobile puppet.
While going out, I couldn’t help looking into the room where Kanjanai stayed. It bore the very appearance which I had imagined in my mind. Kanjanai was not there.
I went to the street.
“Smear it on the Amma’s forehead. Kanjanai won’t come here anymore. Smear it immediately. Don’t wake her up.” He told.
The Vibhoothi 4 was hot. I brought it to her, applied it on her forehead. I suspected whether it was a plain Vibhoothior something else. I very vividly remembered that there was no Chemakkalam in his hands either. Didn’t I?
Three days passed.
While giving me coffee in the morning, my wife told, “These men are just like this”. I wouldn’t be able to reply to her question. Would I?”
***End***
Note:
1. In Indian mythology, Brahma is the God of Creation.
2. Tenali Raman was a character in the history of Vijaya Nagar Empire, known for his wits.
3. Chemakalam is a musical instrument.
4. Sacred ash.
Translated from Tamil by Saravanan. K
Source: “Collection of Puthumai Pithan Short Stories” compiled by Veda Sagaya Kumar.
