ATTJC - Chapter 8

I entered the drawing room and sat myself opposite the headman. It had been two days since I had come back with Naren’s dead body. That had been quite a shock to everyone in the Village, in fact, in all the villages. It was a measure of Naren’s popularity and importance that despite the threat of the Cannibal, people had been pouring in with their families to see him for one last time. The Cannibal had a sense of occasion as well as no one was harmed for those two days. And it was needless to say that once everybody had paid their last respects, they concentrated on blaming me with such hatred and anger that only the Cannibal could have commanded more of each. I was asked not to leave the house which I was only too happy to do. I could do without meeting a lot of people. Not because I was afraid but because I needed time – to think and to sleep. Even within the house I confined myself to my room. Nobody asked me anything and nobody disturbed me for those 2 days. I was strictly left alone unless I desired company, and I didn’t. As usual Radha kept checking if I needed anything. Presently I looked at the headman. It must have taken quite a toll on him, the last two days. But apart from an addition of grey to his hair there wasn’t any visible change in him. An unquestioned ability to lead – that’s what Naren had said. We will see that now, I thought.

“How are you feeling?” He asked me.

I felt better than I had at any time after my arrival. “I am all right.” I answered.

“Yes, you actually look much better.” No sarcasm, a sincere comment. “I need to know what happened.”

I nodded and told him everything. He listened intently and didn’t interrupt until I had finished.

“Remarkable story.” He said once I had finished. “Remarkable and curious. The cannibal had already secured a victim, then why would he kill again? And if we say that he killed because he knew he was being pursued and attacked to punish the intruders, then why not you? You yourself have said that you were leading the chase.”

I agreed with him. I had the same questions myself. That’s why I had needed to think, I knew I would have to answer these question sometime. “The more I think about it, the more certain I become that it was a trap. The Cannibal set a trap.”

He was thoughtful but not doubtful. “I am afraid, for me, it raises more questions than it answers. Can you elaborate on what you have said?”

“I believe we can safely say now that we are pitted against a man eating tiger of abnormal intelligence, almost near human I would say. I have been thinking about his behavior and I believe his name could not have been more apt. So, the first thing that we have to do is stop thinking of him as an animal – I mean as a normal animal. Once we stop doing that and think of him as an adversary with a comparable intelligence, we can start understanding his thinking. And then we can understand whatever he does.

“I cannot speak much about the Cannibal’s behavior before I arrived. But, Naren told me a few incidents that I didn’t pay much attention to then which pointed towards the conclusion I have arrived at. For instance, his first warning when he killed the 2 members of the hunting party; then his second warning when he killed a member of the hunting party and left the body in the chowk. What I should have realized is merely the fact that he gave a second warning proved his intelligence. Ideally he shouldn’t have, but he did. Because he understood that the circumstances of his first warning may make it look like a mistake or aberration. So, his second warning was more explicit and easy to understand. But it wasn’t understood and he kept picking off the hunters one by one till the time the plan was abandoned. And then there was the incident involving my father’s death as well which finally convinced you that Naren was right.

“Anyway, since my arrival his actions have been logical. You remember, when I had arrived he took a longer than usual break before making his next kill? There can be other perfectly plausible explanations but what I believe is he was taking his time watching us. He wanted to know what strategy we adapted, where we went and what our qualities as hunters were. He must have seen they weren’t much because we did nothing but sit on a tall tree and wait. But, yet he took no chances which goes farther than anything I have said so far to suggest that he is extra ordinarily intelligent for a tiger. I believe he thinks his greatest asset is his acute sense of smell. Because every time he attacked he was downwind from us. In that way he would know when we were too close for comfort. And still one more precaution he took was to travel through the grasslands not only to save time but also to have cover. Further even as we belatedly arrived on the scenes and followed him through his trails he kept an eye on us. On a few occasions when he got too close to us I detected his presence as well. Now, sometimes he did that when the kill was still relatively fresh – meaning he had not had time to eat. This tells me that he was very much capable of travelling with a kill without leaving any tracks because we never saw any tracks leaving the trail and taking a detour to come back and watch us. Yet, after every kill we always had a trail to follow and it always led to two points on the riverbank. I believe that he actually wanted to lure us to his den.

“Here, I made a mistake which proved to be a lucky break for us. The entry point I discovered, was not an entry point at all. Due to the hot summer the river water had receded considerably and so the opening in the cliff was visible. In the rainy season when the river gains water, I am not sure the opening would be accessible. Also the open area must get filled with river water. I think there were other ways to enter the labyrinthine caves. And he was making sure that if we entered via any of those, it would be the last mistake we committed. Anyway, we mounted a watch for 3 full weeks. We believed it was only a matter of time whereas his comings and goings were going on as usual. In that scenario, we were in no position to stop him from attacking. So, one day I got fed up. We visited the caves again and I came to a conclusion that there were other ways to enter. So we decided to mount a watch on the crossing points on the river bank itself. Now, I cannot be sure whether he came to know of our plans to mount a watch over the two points on the river bank or it was just pure luck that he chose the day he chose to spring his trap. The former is a possibility because I had been stupid enough to climb a few trees near the river bend to check which one offered the best chance, he could have seen that. Whatever it was, we can see he changed his strategy pretty quickly. Instead of trying to lure us to his den, he decided to do us in the grasslands. Every time he has chosen to kill while I have been here he has either chosen the location or the time that gave him enough head start on us. But, this time he chose a village not so far away. Just to make sure we were not too late in following, he let himself be seen so we knew where he is going. When was the last time a sighting had been made? Not in all the time I have been here, that’s for sure. Then he takes a victim – alive. In all the kills that I have witnessed, the Cannibal always preferred swift execution. He never kept his prey alive for so long. He did so this time – to impress on our minds the need for urgency. And like fools we fell for it – hook, line and sinker. Brilliant planning and even better execution.”

He again listened to me with interest and without interruption. If he thought I was crazy, he didn’t show it. He thought for a while and said, “The question still remains – more prominent than ever. If it was a trap, how cum you are alive and Naren is dead?”

“I believe it was yet another warning, this time for me. While he was watching us, he could see that I always lead on a trail, I always took the decisions. And it was I who could detect his presence.”

“All the more reason to kill you first, isn’t it?”

“On the face of it, it does seem so, I know. But you haven’t understood the Cannibal yet. In a way he is a brave and a fair warrior. He kills either to eat or to warn. And every time he has killed for sounding a warning, it has been someone who was out to kill him. For him it is not personal. Let’s say he is a human – a non vegetarian. He kills because he has to eat. Or he kills to protect himself which is a perfectly acceptable behavior in a human.”

“But still, both of you were out to kill him. Then why did he choose Naren?”

“I believe he respected me as an adversary. As I said it was I who ran the show out there. Now, he has let me know that despite my own qualities, it is his jungle – his arena. He rules here and he has proved himself to be superior by having me at his mercy. But, by not killing me he has given me a chance to live and a warning to get out.”

He sat and thought about what I had said. In all honesty I didn’t care whether he believed me or not. It was what I thought had happened and may not be actually what had happened. I had just told him what I believed to be true. Most probably he didn’t believe it because I knew it sounded crazy. Instead of commenting on my theory, he asked, “What do you propose we do now?”

I had an answer ready. “I plan to ignore the warning. I will continue the game, but alone. I don’t want any second warning.”

“But surely your original plan of action to watch over the river can be implemented.”

“We can try but I doubt it will yield any result. I don’t think the caves were the only hiding place the Cannibal had. And most probably he has abandoned the caves anyway. Because as I told you he knows that we know where he crosses the river. He will most probably settle down somewhere on our side of the river. And if you set out to find him, you never will. Our best chance lies in provoking a reaction from him. It is time to be a bit reckless. A bit of recklessness on our part will cause carelessness on his. I know we lost Naren, but the last time we became reckless and put him out of his comfort zone, we got closest. Because he had to react to what we did. Otherwise he will just set a trap and wait for us to fall for it. And we will fall for it, I assure you.”

“And how do you plan to provoke a reaction?”

“By going out there and becoming a nuisance. He respects me as an opponent. By ignoring his warning I will make him believe that I am ready to take him on; that I am not scared of him. That ought to do two things. One – it will hurt his pride that I am not afraid of him. Two – it will make him believe that I am not so intelligent after all because I couldn’t understand his warning. The first thing will make sure he comes to me to finish me off and not vice versa. And the second thing will mean that he is unaware of the fact that I am aware of his intelligence.”

“I don’t think I understand, but I believe you do. I will be honest with you. I don’t know yet whether to trust your judgment and hence I am not sure if I should go ahead with your plan.”

He was being candid with me. What was noticeable was that he hadn’t ridiculed me for the crazy theory I had come up with. He had been through a lot of stress lately mostly because of my errors in judgment. Yet, he didn’t reject my theory outright. He knew that perhaps he hadn’t thought about the Cannibal in the way I had and hence was unable to understand him the way I could. So, he was seeking some kind of reassurance from my side. But I had my own doubts about my abilities. I couldn’t give him what I did not have – assurance. “Even I don’t. I cannot tell you to trust me because I don’t know if I trust myself.” I told him and compounded his worries even more.

He looked speculatively at me. And then he actually smiled. A smile that reminded me so much of Baba. I had thought only he could smile under such extreme stress, but it seemed there were other men like him. “Fine then,” he said, “As both of us do not have any idea about your judgment, I will go by someone who has a fair bit of idea about your potential.” I looked at him, puzzled. “The Cannibal, of course. If he respects your capabilities as an opponent, so will I. I don’t promise anything, kid. Because I have to put this proposal to the Panchayat and as you know the sentiment is overwhelmingly against you. But, I promise I will give all I have to give you your chance. Often it has proved enough, but we will see.”

I felt mortified. I had done nothing to deserve his confidence. But, I knew I would give my best to justify it.

“By the way, I was worried for you. Naren told me that you had trouble sleeping and that your conscience was bothering you. He wanted me to talk to you about it. And I thought after Naren’s death it will only get worse. But you seem to be doing fine.”

His attempt to change the subject and lighten the mood was bad, but I appreciated it anyway. “Actually when I sat beside Naren in the grass, I realized had I not been burdened by my guilt, he could still have been alive. And in that moment, I finally understood the trick.”

“What trick?” He asked curiously.

“The trick is to keep going, to keep doing your best. It is important not to get bogged down by your conscience for the many you could have saved, but to try and save as many as you can going ahead. Baba taught me.”

On that note I left him to his thoughts. When I woke up the next day, the Panchayat meeting was in progress. I curiously peeked through the door. I could see the Headman was speaking animatedly to the other members. When the meeting was over, he came back and told me that he had to fight hard; harder than ever before, but he got his way. I got my way. But the situation was volatile, he said. We would have to move fast. Panchayat’s patience could snap any moment.

“Do they have any alternate plans?” I asked the Headman.

“Not really. But we really shouldn’t blame them. They are human after all. It is a standard knee jerk reaction to change anything that doesn’t work. Important thing is we got what we wanted and we need to act fast.”

After dinner Radha came buzzing in to my room and asked me if I knew what had happened in the Panchayat meeting. I told her I didn’t, but I was curious. So she told me what she had heard about it. It was being said that there was a big debate in the meeting today. All the other members – other than the Headman – were opposed to the idea of allowing me to continue on the game. When the Headman asked them if they had any alternate idea, they said first it was important to get rid of me and then they will think about anything else. I had caused them enough grief already. It was because of me that their beloved Naren ji was dead. They were just not ready to listen to reason. They accused the Headman of favoring me because I was his friend’s daughter. One of them said that he had opposed the idea of allowing a girl to go after the Cannibal from the beginning and that it was laughable. It looked like for the first time in his life the Headman would be overruled in the Panchayat. But, then the Headman shocked everybody by removing his Pagdi and staking his pride on my success. He told everybody that he was putting all the respect he had earned throughout his life at stake. That if I failed he will never wear his Pagdi again. I gasped loudly. Radha looked at me with surprise and asked hadn’t I noticed that the Headman was bare headed throughout the day? I had but didn’t think much of it.

I put the apprehensions out of my mind before I slept. I had gained much better control over my mind and was a lot calmer since Naren’s death. I had learned to keep my emotions in check the hard way. I couldn’t afford to make any more mistakes by making emotional decisions. Somebody’s pride depended on it. And as the Headman himself had told me, the people in these parts held their pride above everything else – even their lives.

I woke up at first light and got done with my routine. As I was about to leave, I saw the Headman standing by the door waiting for me.

“I wanted to wish you luck, personally.”He said and smiled, “You are a very brave girl, kid. Your father would have been proud of you.” He placed his right hand gently on my head and continued, “Do your best and more importantly, take care. May god be with you.”

I fought back my tears. I wished to god that I felt at least half as brave as he thought I was. I just nodded and left. As I approached the Village boundary, I was afraid more than ever. And when I finally left the Village behind and entered the woods, I realized it was now between me and the Cannibal. And I cursed the gods, who were with me, for such an unfair contest.