by Vadhan
The brothers acknowledged Sheila’s presence with a courteous nod and a Namaste.
‘Tell me, what we can do for you,’ Ravi asked the Minister.
Govind threw one of his most charming smiles at the duo. His soft eyes crinkled with warmth and pleasure which Sheila guessed was akin to a hungry lion licking his lips.
‘My friends,’ said the Minister, ‘this is a good time for us to bury our political rivalry. There is a great chance for the Suryas to work together with the Government of India for the good of the people. As you well know, the government is setting up wind turbine and hydroelectricity projects across the country and Gudem is one of the villages we thought could benefit from the nationwide project. This initiative, as you may be aware, has the full backing of the Parliament.’
‘Wonderful,’ said the elder Surya in an appropriately cheerful tone. ‘How can we be of service to you?’
‘Everyone wants development except your cousin, Raghuram. The government needs his property to set up windmills. He got an injunction order restraining the Government of India from entering his property. He does not care that it is for public good. I need your help to have the order vacated.’
Aditya peered thoughtfully at the Home Minister. ‘You are aware that the animosity between us runs from the time of our grandfathers when my grandfather, in his insanity, killed his brother, who is Raghuram’s grandfather. We haven’t really been on talking terms. I don’t think Raghuram will even listen to me and I am not inclined to go begging to my cousin.’
‘And, we don’t stand to gain anything from it,’ said Ravi Prasad.
Govind’s smile did not falter an inch. ‘Of course, I wouldn’t dream of demeaning you by asking you to be mediators. I had something else in mind, something that could be mutually beneficial to us.’
The brothers moved forward in their chairs in unison. All of a sudden their expressions turned hawk like.
‘What might that be?’ Aditya asked.
‘Well, I was thinking of asking you to fight your cousin, in court, I mean. If you impleaded yourselves in the case in support of the government’s stand and asked for the injunction to be vacated on the ground that your family has no objection to using the premises for public good, the political leverage to you would be invaluable.’
The brothers exchanged glances.
‘What would the move achieve, considering that Raghu has already got an injunction?’ Ravi asked.
‘Well, when members of the Surya family are divided about the use of family property and when the project is in public interest, the court will have no choice but to throw the matter out. The court might even opine that Raghuram does not have the right to represent the family property on his own. As a corollary, the stand taken by him would be considered as untenable in law considering the other family members are siding with the government. We will get to implement the project and you get a tremendous amount of goodwill and political mileage. You, my friends, will be seen as heroes.’
Govind spread his hands out dramatically and smiled like a saint, ‘Of course, along with you the company incorporated for this will also file for vacating injunctions citing public good supported by facts and figures.’
Ravi Surya cleared his throat. ‘Ministerji, it’s a good ploy. However, you do know that public memory is very limited. Good deeds, especially, are not remembered for long. There’s always someone who’ll want more. That’s politics. I am sure you don’t need me to tell you that. Frankly, we don’t see long term benefits for us in your idea.’
‘I see,’ said Govind. ‘What do you have in mind?’
Ravi smiled beatifically. ‘A few years ago, we filed petitions for partition of our ancestral lands. Raghuram opposed it on the ground that the lands had been bequeathed to the villagers and was for public good. We lost the case on the ground that our petition was opposed to the law on ceiling in holding agricultural land and that the lands had already devolved on farmers.’
‘And the point is?’
The point is, these are our ancestral lands, no one man can simply give them away. We did not receive compensation for losing our properties, either from the government or the farmers. We want justice. Can you help us in this?’
Govind’s smile stayed pasted to his face though most of the warmth in his eyes faded away. ‘What would you want me to do?’
‘Give us half our lands back. Make it look like anything you want. We leave that to you; development, corporate farming, anything. We just want our lands back. Its not that we don’t have money, more than that, it’s a matter of honour.’
‘Let me see what I can do there. I am not promising you anything.’
‘One other thing...’ the younger of the two Suryas interjected.
‘Yes...’
‘We need funds for our ongoing political work...you know how it is. We would be obliged if the Government...or you... could help us there. The exact figures can be worked out.’
Govind’s smile broadened. ‘I will be delighted to personally recompense any such effort. I am always willing to help the people,’ he purred smoothly. ‘A couple of hundred crores will be more or less fitting I think...’ he concluded.
Soon thereafter, after small talk on political alliances and the prospects for the new State of Telangana, the brothers shook hands with the Home Minister and left. They promised to meet with the government pleader in Vijayawada and sign the necessary papers for filing the petition to vacate the injunction after the money was delivered to them in cash in Hyderabad. They were willing to wait for the Minister’s nod to reclaim their land.
CHAPTER 17
WHEN the Surya brothers were gone, there was absolute silence in the room. The manipulations and backdoor arrangements in politics had just reared its ugly head at Sheila. She found the experience revolting.
‘You see, Miss Sheila,’ Kiromal cooed, ‘You must cross the hurdle, not grapple around the place like a blind man in a dark room. Just you watch while I raise such a public outcry that Raghuram Surya won’t be able to do anything except hand over his precious memorial hall to us on a silver platter. That’s the power of public opinion. I’ll have the national print and electronic media eating out of my hand. Development versus Elite. Who do you think will win? Isn’t this better than meeting a few villagers and old men?’
Sheila said, ‘I think I should point out, sir, that the greater question involved is, if we find the energy under the hall to be malignant, we might end up destroying it. I am not sure if it is worth ruining a man’s life.’
‘If it is malignant, Miss Sheila, and that is a big if. What if we don’t do anything and the country stands to lose? You should see the larger picture.’
Sheila did not say anything to that, but as she left the room she couldn’t help wondering for whose greater good Raghuram was being impugned, the country’s or Govind Kiromal’s.
Just as she entered her room and threw herself on a sofa she realised how wrong she was in thinking Raghuram would bargain with Govind Kiromal.
The mobile phone rang.
‘Yes...’
‘Am I speaking to Sheila Pitambar?’ the voice was both deep and icy.
‘That’s right.’
‘My name is Raghuram Surya.’
A thrill ran down Sheila’s spine, taking her completely by surprise. All she could manage was, ‘yes.’
‘I believe you wanted to talk to me.’
‘Mr. Surya...it’s important we meet.’
‘The matter’s in court, I think we can fight it there.’
Sheila’s heart missed a beat. She wanted so much to meet him.
What’s wrong with you?
‘Mr. Surya, there are a lot of things other than cases that are happening here and I think I can help you,’ she said in a steadier voice. She did not want to sound like a little girl lost in the woods. It did not dawn upon her that she was ready to defect. For some reason she could not quite fathom, Sheila had taken Raghuram Surya’s side. It was not a consci
ous decision, but it appeared perfectly natural to her.
There was a pause on the other side, ‘Such as?’
‘I think we can discuss that in person.’
‘I am not convinced at all that you need to waste your time. We can do that on the phone.’
Is the man mad? Did he not want to know what she had in mind? How could anyone be so pig-headed?
‘Mr. Surya, I am not asking you for your professional advice. I am saying its worth your while to meet me. There’s a lot we can do to help ourselves in this situation.’
In Gudem, Raghuram smiled in spite of himself. He wanted to meet the person who owned the throaty, authoritative voice.
‘Really, and why would you be so accommodating?’ he teased.
‘Because I have a message for you,’ said the sultry voice.
He imagined a pretty woman with long hair and a sober if not a severe face to fit the voice. Something about that voice was irresistible. Maybe the tone said its owner was inaccessible. The natural born predatory instinct in Raghuram was running haywire.
Scent of a woman.
‘From the Hon’ble Home Minister no doubt.’
‘No, from pichi Rathaya!’
Raghuram bristled. ‘The old fool must have wanted to meet me. He’s been doing that for years.’
Sheila was at the brink of her losing her patience. I’ll try once more, if he doesn’t agree, let him go to Hell.
‘I am sure he was wasting his time Mr. Surya. He needn’t have tried and neither I, for that matter. If you want to meet me, I am at the guest house in Javaaram. Oh and by the way, he was saying it was time you stopped running away from your responsibilities. Maybe he doesn’t realise it might not be new to you. He wanted me to tell you it was time to use the Agniputr.’
For Raghuram, it was a long moment in which the world turned as black as the monster from the night before. A shudder snaked its way up his spine.
‘H-How do you know about the Agniputr?’
The man’s human after all! She thought...and what was more, he knew about the Agniputr.
If she had to get to the bottom of this thing without that scoundrel of a Home Minister pushing his personal agenda to the limits, Sheila needed Surya’s help.
‘What do you care Mr. Surya? Maybe I should bring that up in court as well. But then, I thought in all fairness I must talk to you first. I guess I was wrong.’
‘All right Ms. Pitambar, please come down to my home in Gudem. We can talk. I promise nothing else.’
‘I don’t expect anything from you Mr. Surya. See you tomorrow, would ten in the morning be fine, or is it too early for you?’ She couldn’t resist the jibe.
In spite of herself, Sheila felt lightheaded. For the first time in years, she felt happy about meeting someone. Though she did not realise it, she had a small smile on her lips.
‘Ten in the morning is fine Ms. Pitambar. Unlike government officials, we have to start working early if we have to make ends meet,’ Raghu said. He could hear her almost laugh, but not quite.
‘I have a favour to ask Mr. Surya. Could you have someone pick me up?’
‘I will have Mr. Krishna Naidu, my friend, pick you up. Is that fine?’
‘Sure, thanks.’
Poti, who was standing by Raghu’s side, squinted quizzically at his boss.
‘Are you sure you two aren’t married? I am sure that’s a domestic fight you just had,’ he observed dryly.
‘The woman is impossible. Anyway, I asked her home tomorrow. You need to pick her up.’
‘Yes my dear Babu Garu, I know you did and I wonder why you invited her home.’
Raghu rolled his eyes. ‘I just lived my worst nightmare last night Poti, I still don’t know how I got into the damn memorial hall, who the Hell P. Eshwar is and what the black thing that followed me was. Women are not on the top of my list of priorities right now.’
Poti nodded tightly, aware that he had offended Raghu.
‘You said last night that I was the only one to make it out of the memorial hall alive in a while. What did you mean by that?’
Poti rolled his shoulders in a shrug. ‘Are you sure you want to talk about it babu?’
‘Yes, I am damn well sure.’
CHAPTER 18
THEY were in the great dining hall. It was six in the evening. A faint mist covered the green fields spreading out for miles in all directions around the castle. Hot chilli pakodis were served in a silver platter with red chilli chutney. Poti poured Chivas Regal into two glasses. No ice. He handed over a glass to Raghuram who was sitting in his favourite dining chair. Poti eased himself to the ground, waving aside Raghu’s gesture to sit on a chair next to him.
‘I am comfortable on the floor. I don’t want to sit with the kings. I don’t know how to behave like one,’ he barked.
‘Kings don’t behave; don’t you know that? Everyone behaves themselves around kings,’ Raghuram retorted, ‘and bloody well obey their commands.’
Poti grinned.
They sipped the alcohol, savouring its after-taste. Raghu crunched into the pakodi dipped in chilli chutney.
‘Ok. So here’s the part of the story I know, Babu. Your father, his man Friday Gopalam Valaneni, and his guard Rathaya went into the memorial hall that fateful night.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know, I was all of eight years in 1971. I don’t know how it is right now but back then elders did not talk serious stuff around their kids.’
‘What happened?’
‘They were inside the memorial hall for four days, Babu.’
‘What about food, water, someone must have gone in with supplies. My father was a man with a medical condition. He needed medical help.’
‘Valaneni ran errands. Medicines, food, water, he managed all of it.’
‘Did no one volunteer to go in? Did the villages abandon my father?’
‘The entire village was out there for the four days. A number of people from neighbouring villages were there too.’
‘So, then, what happened?’
‘We could not see what was going on inside the memorial hall. On the fourth night, when even the owls fell silent and the place was as still as a tomb, the doors of the memorial hall flew open. The sound of the doors crashing against the walls was like thunder. It was Rathaya. He was on fire. Like a human torch. Do you know what the strangest thing was? He didn’t scream. He didn’t attempt to put out the fire. He just stood there, as though he did not know he was on fire.’
Raghu broke into a cold sweat. What manner of man does not panic when he’s on fire? What numbed Rathaya to his pain?
Poti continued, ‘Rathaya looked up at the skies before he finally yelled something at the top of his voice.’
‘What did he yell?’
‘No one could make out. It was like a cry of defiance. Like he was shaking a fist at God himself. Like he had been cheated off something.’
‘And?’
‘He heaved the doors shut. It was superhuman, Babu. Those doors weigh more than a ton. He heaved them shut like they were made of bamboo shoots. It was only then that he fell to his knees. I was sitting on my father’s shoulders, watching the whole thing. The villagers ran forward with pails of water and blankets to douse the fire.’
‘He must have been burnt to a crisp,’ Raghu observed.
‘Yes. He was more burns than man. The strange thing is, he showed no signs of suffering. His face was passive. His eyes were terrifying. There was a thick red line, like a raw nerve, running horizontally across both eyes.’
Raghu said nothing.
‘Rathaya pronounced your father’s last edict. He said that the memorial hall must be sealed shut and that no one should enter the hall during night time. Over and over again he repeated it until he lost all consciousness.’
‘I did not know…’
‘Rathaya’s wounds, they healed completely! It took only two to three hours for them to heal. They were first degree burns, Babu. They-just-heal
ed. Fresh skin replaced the old one. He was as good as new. I have not seen cells regenerate so rapidly. I haven’t even heard of such a thing. It was a miracle!’
Raghu just shook his head. First degree burns did not heal in months, let alone hours. This was the stuff of fairy tales. Except, it did not sound like a fairy tale. It was more like a horror movie.
Poti continued with his tale. ‘The village elders asked him about your father but all he did was shake his head. Beyond that Rathaya did not utter a word of what had occurred within the walls of that hall. He said that what he had to say was for you and only you when you were ready to talk to him. That was the one condition.’
‘My father? Didn’t he say anything more about my father, anything at all?’
Poti shook his head.
‘Several fools opened the memorial hall at night in all these years. No one came back alive. We therefore set up watchmen to ward off nosy meddlers. Gopalam Valaneni’s grandson tried breaking into the hall several times. We managed to save him. The fool thinks he’s a crusader, that the Surya family has wronged him.’
‘He has every reason to think that.’
Poti paused again to take a sip of scotch. ‘A lot of things changed after that night. The land became cultivable again, the terror that had gripped the people from the time of your grandfather’s death died that night. There were no more disappearances or killings or people turning stark raving mad. A dark time had ended. Whatever your father did saved Gudem and its people. The villagers will always be grateful for that.’
‘What the Hell is inside the hall? What did my father do?’
Poti paused to refill the glasses.
‘You said yesterday that you wanted to complete what your father started. I know you meant the distribution of land and managing the trust. But your father did something else, Babu. He stopped a monster, a real monster that was killing this village slowly but surely. I don’t have answers Babu. The one person who has it is pichi Rathaya. Maybe you should go see him.’
Raghu was thoughtful for a while. Then he said, ‘After I meet with Sheila Pitambar tomorrow, let’s go meet Rathaya. I want you to come along.’