Kathirinahami seated herself on the pila and looked into the distance, her stare blank. The weedy compound where their house was located in looked more like an abandoned paddy-field than an unkempt home-garden. The mango tree opposite the doorway was being smothered by the creepers of pila, draining its life. Nature, it seemed, had willed it to die in the stranglehold of pila. Had she also willed this woman to die in the stranglehold of insanity?
She was in her mid fifties, tall and had a thin triangular face. With sunken cheeks and bleak eyes and streaks of grey hair, she looked wasted, care-worn. Her jutting front teeth were stained with betel juice as well as her lips. The expression on her face, however, was serene. Was it possible that the silent water always ran deep?
Sapin, her husband, returned home from the paddy field half a mile from their home. He was but an andha goviya(a quasi-farmer), that is to say, he aswaddumized a paddy-field that belonged to someone else. His landlord offered him ¼ of the harvest as a reward for his efforts. From an acre of arable paddy-yard, this amounted to a substantial quantity. Still, his share was far out of proportion with the sweat he shed to aswaddumize it. But, he rarely complained about it. Incidentally, some 25 years ago, it had belonged to him.
He was 60, a stout man with thick-set features. His hair almost grey receded on the forehead. He was almost as hirsuite as a grizzly bear and black as pitch. He was precisely the picture the word ‘demon’ painted in children`s mind. He too used to have a demonic temper in his youth. But, he had so mellowed with age that he rarely raised his voice now. He knew he had suffered a lot due to his ungovernable rage.
As he was about to put down the mammoty on his shoulder, Kathirinahami stared at him, wide-eyed and yelled, ‘Blood! Blood! Blood! You see it is blood! Blood! Blood!’ As she shrieked, her whole body shook and hair fell over her face. It was as if an evil spirit had taken possession of her. He walked over to her and calmly shepherded her into the house as she kept yelling,‘Blood! Blood!Blood!’ He laid her down on the bed covered with a coarse thunhiriya mat and picked up a bottle of ointment which had been lying on the table facing the bed. Taking off the stopper, he poured a thimbleful of oil onto his palm. As he massaged it into her forehead he remembered the day when he had brought all this misery upon her and upon himself.
It all happened one Saturday almost 30 years ago. They had just been married and were both young and healthy. They raised a puppy. Because they did not cage it or had it chained , it used to roam around the neighbourhood. Their next door people who were not on good terms with them always complained about the puppy sneaking into their kitchen, peeing and turding in the garden etc. That fateful Saturday, when he had just returned from the paddy-field, he heard his neighbour`s wife Sisilin chasing away the puppy. When he reached the fence in the backyard where the sound came from, she exploded, ‘Why do you rear dogs unless you can keep them caged or chained? Can we always put up with your bloody dog?’ Without saying so much as a word, with cold eyes, he regarded the puppy now lying curled by the pila near where the mammoty stood. The devil came over him, and his fury knew no limits. He covered the distance in just four strides and picked up the mammoty. He held it aloft and with all the force of his demonic fury, he bore the sharp blade down on the puppy`s neck just as it looked up at him,’Blam!’ So effective was the stroke that its neck was cleanly severed from its body.
With his fury yet to subside, he lifted the headless carcass, dripping blood by its hind legs walked over to the fence and showed it to Sisilin, ‘Are you happy now, bitch?’ who ran back back crying. It was at the same moment, Kathirinahami who had been taking a bath at the well got there. She had heard Sisilin scolding but had not given it much thought as such altercations were little foreign to them. The moment she saw the bloody carcass in her husband`s hand she froze on the spot, and shrieked, ‘Blood!Blood!Blood!’
Sapin heaved a deep sigh as he heard his poor woman mutter ‘Blood!Blood!Blood!’
She was in her mid fifties, tall and had a thin triangular face. With sunken cheeks and bleak eyes and streaks of grey hair, she looked wasted, care-worn. Her jutting front teeth were stained with betel juice as well as her lips. The expression on her face, however, was serene. Was it possible that the silent water always ran deep?
Sapin, her husband, returned home from the paddy field half a mile from their home. He was but an andha goviya(a quasi-farmer), that is to say, he aswaddumized a paddy-field that belonged to someone else. His landlord offered him ¼ of the harvest as a reward for his efforts. From an acre of arable paddy-yard, this amounted to a substantial quantity. Still, his share was far out of proportion with the sweat he shed to aswaddumize it. But, he rarely complained about it. Incidentally, some 25 years ago, it had belonged to him.
He was 60, a stout man with thick-set features. His hair almost grey receded on the forehead. He was almost as hirsuite as a grizzly bear and black as pitch. He was precisely the picture the word ‘demon’ painted in children`s mind. He too used to have a demonic temper in his youth. But, he had so mellowed with age that he rarely raised his voice now. He knew he had suffered a lot due to his ungovernable rage.
As he was about to put down the mammoty on his shoulder, Kathirinahami stared at him, wide-eyed and yelled, ‘Blood! Blood! Blood! You see it is blood! Blood! Blood!’ As she shrieked, her whole body shook and hair fell over her face. It was as if an evil spirit had taken possession of her. He walked over to her and calmly shepherded her into the house as she kept yelling,‘Blood! Blood!Blood!’ He laid her down on the bed covered with a coarse thunhiriya mat and picked up a bottle of ointment which had been lying on the table facing the bed. Taking off the stopper, he poured a thimbleful of oil onto his palm. As he massaged it into her forehead he remembered the day when he had brought all this misery upon her and upon himself.
It all happened one Saturday almost 30 years ago. They had just been married and were both young and healthy. They raised a puppy. Because they did not cage it or had it chained , it used to roam around the neighbourhood. Their next door people who were not on good terms with them always complained about the puppy sneaking into their kitchen, peeing and turding in the garden etc. That fateful Saturday, when he had just returned from the paddy-field, he heard his neighbour`s wife Sisilin chasing away the puppy. When he reached the fence in the backyard where the sound came from, she exploded, ‘Why do you rear dogs unless you can keep them caged or chained? Can we always put up with your bloody dog?’ Without saying so much as a word, with cold eyes, he regarded the puppy now lying curled by the pila near where the mammoty stood. The devil came over him, and his fury knew no limits. He covered the distance in just four strides and picked up the mammoty. He held it aloft and with all the force of his demonic fury, he bore the sharp blade down on the puppy`s neck just as it looked up at him,’Blam!’ So effective was the stroke that its neck was cleanly severed from its body.
With his fury yet to subside, he lifted the headless carcass, dripping blood by its hind legs walked over to the fence and showed it to Sisilin, ‘Are you happy now, bitch?’ who ran back back crying. It was at the same moment, Kathirinahami who had been taking a bath at the well got there. She had heard Sisilin scolding but had not given it much thought as such altercations were little foreign to them. The moment she saw the bloody carcass in her husband`s hand she froze on the spot, and shrieked, ‘Blood!Blood!Blood!’
Sapin heaved a deep sigh as he heard his poor woman mutter ‘Blood!Blood!Blood!’
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