by Laxmi Natraj
Nakul snapped back before he finished his sentence, “Look here, Shiva. It is my job to guess who could have been involved in the murder or not. You won’t understand the police inquiry procedures. Even if I am casually talking to some man, unknowingly he may mention some common event, which could give me a clue. I am not taking them into custody and questioning! Why are you so touchy about them?”
Shiva could feel the suppressed anger in Nakul’s voice and said, “I am sorry Sir, I did not mean to interfere.”
A voice called from outside, “Shiva!” This time Shiva went out and came back with a fresh tender coconut and handed it over to Nakul.
Nakul noticed three things. First, the coconut man did not come inside this time or definitely had avoided coming in! Secondly, he called Shiva by name. The coconut seller is a worker, and Shiva is a Purohit at the temple. In villages, such hierarchy was very rigid. He should have called Shiva only as Purohitji! But why did he call him ‘Shiva’ as if he was his pal? Thirdly, a few minutes back, when the same man came in, he was in a terrible hurry and looked as though he wanted to talk something very urgent to Shiva. But he backed away. Now he did not even come inside to talk, whatever he wanted to. That means he did not want to talk in front of Nakul. Why? If it was just about the delivery of coconut to the temple there could be no secret talk about it!
Shiva now came from the kitchen and asked, “Would you like to have some breakfast, Sir? You must have left the town pretty early.”
Nakul replied, “It is, ok. I stopped on my way and had some breakfast in the town itself. By the way, do you cook for yourself and your father, here in the kitchen?”
Shiva now smiled broadly and said, “Sir, I am a very poor cook. I cannot even make tea. That is why I keep on making coffee for you as that is the only thing I can make. Since my Mathaji, the wife of Purohitji died, the village people have been supplying Purohitji with food and Tiffin both times, which I also share. They do it by rotation. There are twenty five Brahmin families in the village and they make the food for Purohitji according to his taste.”
Nakul said with real admiration, “I am impressed. These things can happen only in villages. I am happy that these traditions are still kept alive at least here.”
Then getting up he said, “Shiva, I want to go inside the temple and study it in detail once again. It may help me in getting some clues.”
Shiva said, “Sir, the Suddhi Puja is going on. After lunch when they finish it for today and lock the temple we can go inside the temple from the back entrance and you can have a good look.” Nakul nodded his head.
Shiva then picked up Nakul’s travel bag and said, “Will you be staying here Sir, like last time?”
Nakul said, “Shiva, give me that guest room where John was staying. I would prefer staying there.”
Shiva looked a bit disturbed. He said in a pleading voice, “Why Sir? Why especially that room? Even if you want to stay in that temple building, you please stay in the ground floor room, Sir. Why do you want to stay in John’s room, who was murdered just five days back?”
Nakul laughed heartily and said, “Because, you know I have an ability to connect with the ghost! So in the night time, I could call John’s ghost and ask him the details, about his murder and find out who killed him.”
Shiva did not look humoured. He said, “Ok Sir. I will get the building key and the room key. We can keep your bag there and go around the village and if you feel you can talk to any villager who so ever you want to.” He got the keys which were hanging on a peg and picking up the bag he said, “Yes Sir, we can go now.”
As they stepped out, Nakul carefully looked at the bushes on both the sides of the road. As it was daytime, maybe, no ghost was hiding there! As they walked, the villagers passing by first looked at him curiously and then folded their hands in a big “Namaste.”
They reached the temple hall and in the broad daylight, Nakul could see that the building was well constructed and maintained with a new coat of paint. Shiva inserted the key and opened the door wide. They entered the hall. Nakul said, “One second Shiva, You just wait here.”
With a puzzled look, Shiva kept the bag down and stood waiting. There were about eight large windows all around the hall. Nakul went to each and every window and examined it carefully. He checked the locking system and the bolts. They were all fresh, in working condition. The building was built at a height from the ground level. From outside the ground floor windows were about 15 feet high above the grass ground. He noticed that a person could not climb from outside and enter the room. He leaned out of the window, his body hanging halfway out of it, and carefully scanned the walls to see if there was any drain pipe or any other such support with which a person could hold and climb. Nothing was there. The outside of the wall was clean. There was no fencing or compound wall. Only a narrow hedge of flowering plants and bushes were occupying the boundary. A lush growth of creepers had climbed the wall on all side and had bloomed with a lot of flowers.
Yet, his eagle eyes had missed one thing. The creepers just under the window were quite crushed and partially dried as if they were often pulled and clustered to one side. The hedge also showed one single line of dried patch among the thick growth all around. The grass on the space between the wall and hedge had dried out on a single line.
Shiva stepped near Nakul and asked “Sir, What are you looking for Sir?”
Nakul said, “Shiva, the window is at a height and no one can climb and come inside as there is no support from outside. So the person who would have cleaned up John’s room should have come through the main door and also entered John’s room through the door. That means he had both the keys. Did John befriend any person from this village as a close friend?”
Shiva said, “As I told you earlier, Sir, none of the village people were even talking to John though he talked our language fluently. Only after the hospital was built did the villagers started talking to him and that too only as and when they needed his help.” Then he told the story of the construction of the village hospital in short.
They climbed the stairs and reached John’s room. Shiva opened the lock and opened the room. He switched on the fan. He kept the bag on the side and said, “Sir, I will fetch some fresh sheets and a pillow from the house and make your bed in the evening. He pulled the old sheets from the bed and made a bundle and took it in his hand. He handed the room key to Nakul and asked, “Shall we go, Sir?”
Nakul nodded. They came out and closed the room. The auto lock of the door made a clicking noise. As they stepped out of the building, Nakul said, “Just leave the door closed. No need to lock it till I stay here.” Shiva nodded. He placed the bundle of the old sheets on the steps of the hall. Then they started walking.
Nakul said, “Let us go round the village. I would like to see both the village as well as the people.” Shiva nodded again and together they started walking.
A shadow standing far away under a tree talked on his cell phone. “He is staying in the temple’s guest room. They are now heading towards the village. Inform our men to be careful while talking to him.”
Chapter 12
Doctor Netra
As Nakul and Shiva walked, looking around at the houses, they crossed many villagers. All of them saluted Nakul, but rushed away as if to avoid being questioned. The village houses were of simple brick construction, one storey with a small flower bed in the front area or with some sprawling shady trees. There were no compound walls or even fencing. Crossing dozens of such houses, they now saw a cluster of huts. They were also well constructed with brick walls but they were all built together wall to wall as a cluster.
Shiva explained to Nakul, “These houses are the ones where the workers of various occupation of the village live and these were built by Purohitji. Earlier, they use to live in mud and thatched roof huts and used to suffer during the rainy season. So Purohitji called for a Panchayat meeting and constructed all these houses out of the temple fund.”
Nakul was really im
pressed and said, “I had never heard about the temple fund being used for helping poor like this. Does the temple collect a lot of donation?”
Shiva laughed and said, “No, Sir, this temple is actually called as a Sanyasi[7] temple.. You know, the chief deity in every temple is invoked in a certain form when the idol symbolising the Higher Reality is established. Some temples it is in a child form, some places it is in a Naishtika Brahmachari [8] form. In this temple , God is in his Sanyasi Avatar here This is the only temple in India, where there is no donation or Hundi box. People can offer only flowers or puja material to God.”
Nakul said in a confused voice, “But, you just now said that these houses were built by the temple.”
Shiva said, “Yes Sir, Per legend, This Sanyasi Lingeshwar, is supposed to have a large amount of property. It is said that one of the descendents of Chola Maharaja built this temple and left a huge amount of in gold and abundant wealth for the temple. After our country got freedom, this gold was deposited in the bank and an equal amount of money was credited in the name of the temple. No one knows how much money the temple owns. For generations, the Purohitji’s family is the sole owner of this entire property. But he spends the money only after consulting the Panchayat.”
Nakul was about to say something when they came to a modern looking building. Shiva said, “Sir, this is the hospital which was constructed by John out of his own funds for the village. Originally he had appointed one lady doctor to look after the hospital. Since she left the job, there is another lady doctor from our own village, who, along with a male doctor, is looking after the
hospital.”
Nakul stood facing the building and studied it for some time. The single storey building was occupying quite a substantial area among a cluster of shady trees and sprawling flowerbeds. It was built at a height of about 10feet from the ground. They climbed seven steps on the front and stepped inside a long corridor. There were five or six benches which were now occupied by the villagers. The group was a mixture of men, women, and children, waiting for the doctor.
“Doctors” written in the local language was fixed on a large glass door. Shiva pushed this glass door and they walked inside. A young lady doctor, who was examining a child, looked up startled. Her face showed some annoyance at the way Shiva barged in suddenly. She was about to say something, but then, she noticed Nakul coming behind Shiva. Her expression changed in a flash. With a forced smile she said, “Good morning Sir. I am Doctor Netra.”
Before Nakul could ask any question, Shiva spoke, “Sir, Doctor Netra, is our Sarpanch Acharayaji’s daughter. She had just finished her internship and come to the village for her holidays. Since the village women prefer a female doctor, she is voluntarily helping this hospital. The regular male doctor is inside. Let us go inside.” Nakul noticed that Shiva was trying to hurry up.
Nakul felt that for some queer reason, Shiva wanted him to hurry up and quit the room faster. Without waiting for Nakul, Shiva had walked ahead very fast pushing through another door, and disappeared inside the main hospital. Secondly, Shiva had not introduced Nakul to Netra and he was not in his uniform. But she behaved as though she had already met him and knew him. How?
Nakul deliberately slowed down his walking. He pretended to look at the stored medicines in the cupboard with a feigned interest. After a few steps he abruptly turned and looked at Netra. She was standing very still, staring at his back, as if she was frozen in her position. She had even forgotten to attend to the howling child on the bed. A dark cloud of worry and anxiety seemed to have coloured her face making it pale. But the moment, she caught Nakul’s eye, turning and looking at her, she hurriedly looked away. She opened a table drawer in a hurry and she fumbled, pretending to be looking for something inside, managing to avoid his eyes.
By this time, Shiva called Nakul again from the next room. Nakul gave her one more look and started walking away. Netra heaved a big sigh of relief and the village women as well as the mother of the child she was examining, looked at her curiously.
As Nakul entered the second room, Shiva announced, “Sir, this is the patient’s ward of our hospital.” Nakul looked around. The ward looked neat and tidy with the usual pungent smell of antiseptic medicines. There were four beds and two of them were vacant. There were two patients on the beds. They were covered with heaps of bandages tied on various parts. The bandages were stained with blood in many places. There were bandages on their faces too in a criss-cross pattern. A doctor in a white coat was talking in a serious manner to one of them.
Shiva announced a bit loudly, “Doctor, Inspector Sir is here to see our hospital.”
The doctor turned and said crisply, “Good morning Sir. It is surprising that you are showing interest in our small hospital!” His voice was not warm but a bit mechanical and there was a forced smile on his face.
Nakul replying looked at the two patients and asked, “Doctor, who are these two patients and why are they having so many injuries and so many bandages?”
The doctor said, “Sir, these are our village construction workers. This one is Ramlal and the other is Makhan. There is some construction work going on near the school building and these two somehow slipped and fell on the stones pile up there yesterday.”
Nakul looked at the men on the bed. Both of them were young and looked in their mid-twenties, well-built and muscular. They were now moaning and tossing in their bed with pain. He said, “Doctor, these men seem to be in real pain. Do you have enough medicines and injections to treat them?”
The doctor answered, “Yes Sir. Because of the kindness of the great man John, we still have enough medicines. Every week he used to go the town to get us all the needed medicines in sufficient quantities.”
Shiva said, “Sir, there are two more beds, which are cubicles generally meant for women patients. Since they are vacant now, our Purohitji is in one of those beds.” He walked ahead and pushing the curtain partition they came to Purohitji’s bed.
Purohitji was in deep sleep. The doctor who followed them, said, “Sir, Purohitji is in deep shock. When he woke up yesterday he came to know about John’s murder. This news has affected him very deeply. Since his blood pressure is already high, I have injected him with a sedative so that he can recover properly.”
Nakul stood and looked at Purohit. He was not as old as he had thought the other day. He looked to be in his mid- fifties and seemed quite healthy. The first time he saw him he was drugged. Now he had been sedated. Nakul realized that he was not getting the chance to talk to the main man, who allowed John inside the village. He wondered if Purohitji was really so weak, that he could not take the news of a death or had he been sedated purposely so that he wouldn’t be in a position to talk to the police?
Shiva said, “Sir, Shall we go now?” Nakul nodded and with a heavy confused mind, he left the hospital. There was a small market-like place with a number of shops. The place was a bit crowded. Crossing that, they now came to the Village school.
The village school was a three storey structure and had a large compound and playground. Shiva explained again, “Sir, the original school was just a single floor building and only up to the primary level. With John’s help, the building was extended, teachers from the nearby town were brought in, and we have classes up to the tenth standard now. Otherwise, our village children were travelling, two hours to the next town for their high school. Since it is summer vacation, the school is closed.”
Nakul said, “John seems to be a Messiah for the village. It is really great that he has done so many good things for the village.” He noticed that some construction work was still going on near the school and heaps of stone and mud were piled on one side. May be those workers were injured here.
Shiva now called out from the back side, “Sir, it is lunch time. Shall we go back to the house?” Nakul looked at his watch and nodded. Together they started walking back.
A man standing in the shadow, behind the school building talked in a cell phone, “He even came and
inspected the school construction spot. Be careful. He may come back there again.”
Chapter 13
Information from the US
Nakul was really hungry and the food was good. On Nakul’s insistence, hesitatingly, Shiva sat with him for lunch. As they were just finishing lunch, Acharyaji walked in. He said, “Inspector Sir, hope you like our humble food?”
Nakul said with genuine appreciation, “Acharyaji, the food was really too good. Thank you for that. We are so used to eating all types of horrible food either in our mess or hotel, that this was really delicious and a welcome change.”
Acharyaji gave a contented laugh and said, “Thank you, Sir. As long as you are here, I will take the privilege to serve you food. No usual rotation of other houses.”
Then seeing Shiva at the table with Nakul, he glared at him and said, “Is it not good manners to serve the guest first Shiva? You should have served Inspector Sir first” He did not bother to hide the hatred in his voice.
Nakul said, “Oh come on sir. Why all these formalities? Anyway, he had to take me round to all the places. So it is obvious that he finished his lunch with me and saved time. Am I right Sir? By the way Acharyaji I met your daughter Netra in the hospital. I am so happy that even in a village you have taken so much care to get her educated to this high level”
Instead of being happy at that appreciation, Acharyaji again looked irritated as he grunted, “What is the use, Sir? Leaving her good hospital in the town, she is wasting her talent here serving these people and listening to the advice of some useless people.”
Nakul smiled at his emphasis on the word “useless” and could understand very well who he was referring to with that word. Shiva went inside the kitchen to keep the vessels and Nakul said,
“Acharyaji, why are you so annoyed with Shiva? I find that you seem to be taunting him all the time.”