The Rat Eater

by Anand Ranganathan

‘Thank you, Ghai saab. Go on, Kharbanda.’

  ‘We—I mean, only through the extraordinary efforts of Ajay sir—we knew beforehand of the Agatha Christie connection. We made a list of people who had been borrowing her books from all the libraries in Mumbai. And bhains-ki-aankh. We got Chander’s name. It was touch and go. He had his passport and air tickets ready but we swooped down on him at his home and after a protracted shoot-out, we killed him.’

  ‘Wah. Five stars to you, Ajay. And also to you, Kharbanda.’

  ‘Thank you, Ghai saab.’

  Ghai saab sipped his drink with concern. ‘And this professor friend of yours, Ajay. How come the poor fellow got caught up in all this?’

  ‘Ghai saab, what can I say? My friend had helped this chap get a job at IIT. And in the end...I-I am sorry, I get emotional just thinking about it.’

  ‘Yes, of course, Ajay saab, I am sorry to have brought it up.’

  ‘No no, it’s alright, Ghai saab.’

  ‘…So, why the hell did this low caste—this Chander—why did he kill the professor?’

  ‘Why do you think, Ghai saab? My friend’s full name was Akhil Sukumaran.’

  ‘I still don’t…’

  ‘Sukumaran, Ghai saab, Iyengars. Brahmins of the first order—Vaishnavites, you know. And my poor, brilliant friend was killed for no reason other than the fact that he was a brahmin.’

  Ghai saab drew his breath in. ‘My God. I am so sorry to hear that. This is kalyug, Ajay saab, kalyug. All we can do is wait for the tenth and final avatar Kalki to come and redeem us.’

  ‘Indeed, Ghai saab, indeed. Some more Johnny for you?’

  Ghai saab’s reply was drowned by the doorbell.

  ‘Damn, the bell again. Will you excuse me a minute, Ghai saab?’

  ‘Please, Ajay, please. Here, give me the bottle.’

  Who am I?

  Aham Brahmãsmi

  I am the seeker and the sought

  I am the giver and the got

  I am the thinker and the thought

  Akhanda mandalãkãram

  Vyãptam yena charãcharam

  Cogito ergo sum

  I am the fragmented and the whole

  I am the logic and the lore

  I am the child of man

  I know no end

  And so I never began

  Ya devi sarvãbhuteshu

  Chetanetyãbhidhiiyate

  I am the seed of a plant

  That grows in the world

  That does not exist

  I am the real and the imagined

  I am the Rat Eater

  Acknowledgements

  We thank Nitin Valecha and Praveen Tiwari, Bloomsbury India, for their help and encouragement, and Shreya Chakraborti, editorial manager, Bloomsbury India, for her incisive suggestions and editing.

  Two passages from this book have appeared earlier in articles published by Ranganathan. The Hardtalk transcript used in Chapter 9 is courtesy the BBC.

  Anand Ranganathan

  Chitra Subramaniam

  May 2019