ATTJC - Chapter 3

I was up early the next day. Janaki aunty welcomed me out in the courtyard as I stepped out of my room. She was drawing a Rangoli around the Holy Basil planted there. Even at that early hour she was bathed and ready for the day. The girl who had served me water the day before was there, too, helping aunty out. She wore a plain sari and was bereft of any jewellery or any kind of makeup – just like she was the day before.

“Did you sleep well, beta?” Janaki aunty asked as I made my way towards them.

“Very well aunty, thanks.” I yawned and stretched lazily as I walked. It was a hard day yesterday and even after a 10 hour sleep I was feeling a bit stiff.

“Good. Still feeling the effects of your long journey?” She asked as I winced a little after stretching my back.

“Yes, had a lot of walking to do yesterday. But, I am fit for today’s excursions.”

“Oh, I am not sure you will get to put in much hard work today. The Panchayat are still debating over it.”

“Now? At this early hour?”

“The Panchayat usually convenes at dawn these days. Safest time for a group of people to meet in the open.”

Of course, I thought. “But what are they debating over? It should be straightforward choice I guess.”

“Most of the village folk saw you yesterday. And even you will admit that you don’t look like hunting down a mighty and dangerous tiger.”

“Yes, I know. But what do they have to lose? I just don’t understand what all the fuss is about. What could possibly be the reason for forbidding me this game if I am ready to take the responsibility?”

“We believe that once you are here – in the village – you are our responsibility. I am talking generically, of course. You have to abide by the rules and obey the orders of the Panchayat. In turn, of course, you are treated as one of our own. It has been the tradition of this village for past many generations.”

I wanted to say to hell with tradition, but it would have probably offended her. Instead I just feigned interest in the Rangoli.

She probably sensed my thoughts, because she smiled at me and said, “Don’t you worry. My husband carries a lot of weight in Panchayat. I am sure he will be able to convince the others. Anyway, here, have you met Radha?” She indicated the girl sitting beside her. “You couldn’t be introduced yesterday as she had to visit her parents’ home. Her father has not been well lately. She came back today morning itself.” Then she addressed Radha, “Radha, this is Mila. She is Shivaji uncle’s daughter.”

We both smiled acknowledgement at each other. “How is your father feeling now?” I asked her.

“He is improving.” She answered sedately.

“Radha, just help Mila out in any unpacking she needs to do and also get her done with her morning routine” Janaki aunty told her. Then she turned to me, “Hopefully the Panchayat would have come to their decision by then.”

So we – me and Radha – got up. I hadn’t much unpacking to do, so I was through that and my morning routine pretty fast. And by that time the Panchayat had indeed concluded its proceedings. The members hurried off in groups and I saw the headman coming towards the house. I was curious as to what decision had been taken. But, I decided not to bombard the headman with questions. I moved off to the kitchen with Radha to help out Janaki aunty with her daily chores and waited with anxiety for his call – which was almost immediate. When I made it to the drawing room, I saw he was seated on his chair. I didn’t bother with the rug and sat on the floor facing him.

“I put forth your proposal to the Panchayat.” He was all business straight away. “And I am glad to say that they agreed with our assessment of yesterday, that you represent our best chance at this moment.” I felt relieved and was about to express my gratitude when he held up his hand and continued, “But there is a catch – a condition that you must obey.”

Relief gave way to skepticism. “What is it?” I asked.

“Well, you must first understand that the people in these parts hold their pride above everything else – even their lives. So, at first the idea was appalling to them. They couldn’t let a young girl go out and face danger while they hid themselves behind the safety of their doors. So, my proposal was unanimously refuted initially. I tried my best but couldn’t make them see sense. So, we had to tweak our proposal a little.”

“What is the tweak?” I asked a bit impatiently and sarcastically.

“You will not go into the jungles in search of the Cannibal, alone. The Panchayat has chosen a representative from the village to accompany you in the jungle, always.”

Damn, I thought. “Brilliant!” I said, “What else does one need but a friend to chat along while stalking a tiger. Ingenious, I say.”

“It is either that or your rifle in the bag and off you march back the way you came.” He was calm despite my sarcasm.

“But surely, you know that a gamesman always prefers to work alone.”

“Yes, because a gamesman is afraid of being shot at by another gamesman. This is quite different. The other person will be right with you and he won’t be carrying a gun. There is hardly any chance of him harming you in any way. In fact he will be extremely useful in that he will watch your back and if it came to hand to hand – because of his expertise with an axe – he will be more than helpful. And he knows these jungles intimately. He will be able to guide you and make sure you are not lost and I promise you that he will not get in your way.”

I sighed as he went on, “Also I rather think that it will be good to have a sane head around you. You are young and temperamental. Also you have come here more for revenge than to help out. I don’t want you going out there half cocked and baying for blood. So, overall I thought a companion, an able companion, would be a better protection for you.”

I could see his point, though I did not like it. “Who is the lucky man?” I asked.

“Naren. He will go with you.”

“What?” I was incredulous, “But…”

“He is too old?” He took the words from my mouth. “I am sure you wouldn’t want to call him that when you have seen him move stealthily through the jungle. And also as I said, he is pretty crafty with an axe in his powerful hands.”

“You two decided on this yesterday itself, didn’t you?”

“We did give a thought to this alternative. Anyway, he will be joining us for lunch in a short while. You two can talk it over then.”

I understood he wanted no more discussion on the matter. So, I nodded, got up and made my way back to the kitchen. And there I was helping out absently till we were ready for lunch, for which Naren joined us. As is usual, the men had their lunch before us women. And after we were done as well, I was back in my room. The headman and Naren had some other business to attend to before I could have a talk with Naren, I was told. I tried to think about how I was going to go about finding and killing the Cannibal. But I was a bit too annoyed to do that. Clearly the headman didn’t have much confidence in my abilities, despite his admission that I was probably the person most suited to go after the Cannibal right now. I also didn’t like his remark about me coming here for revenge rather than helping out. I am not much of a noble soul, I admit, but I came because I just wanted to finish the job my father had undertaken and not for revenge. He probably took me for another hot headed youngster. Someone who needs protection from the unknown dangers of the world. A sane head around me! What was I? Insane? Yes, that’s what he must think of me. I could feel the heat rising in my ears. What was it that he said? Yes, I was going there half cocked and baying for blood. A lunatic, a dangerous serial killer – that’s me! And then his tone! He made it all sound like it was a mistake. And that in fact, it was him who had salvaged the situation by telling that priest to accompany me. I got it, it wasn’t protection that he wanted to give; it was control that he wanted to exercise over me. I could contain the restless anger no longer. I started pacing around the room. He wanted somebody to keep an eye on me. So that I don’t go running around half cocked. But what is his problem? Why doesn’t he just let me get on with it! Why do I have to take his permission before entering the jungles? What does he want? It is almost as if he wants to protect this tiger. Can’t he see that it’s the tiger and not me who’s crazy? HE KILLED MY FATHER, FOR GOD’S SAKE! Why doesn’t he let me go after that beast in my own way? Why does he want to stop me? “THIS IS SO UNFAIR!” I cried out aloud.

“What is? Unfair, I mean.” Said a soft voice.

I whirled around to see Naren standing in the doorway. In my agitation I somehow missed him coming. He was calm but grave. I really didn’t feel like talking to him at that moment. “Nothing” I said. “Nothing. I just want to be alone for a while. Do you mind?”

“Being alone and angry will not help the matters any.”

“What is the matter with you people? Why can’t you just let me be? Why can’t anybody just listen to what I say and give me what I want?” I shouted at him.

“I will not have you talk to me such a way. And I think the first thing you should want is a lesson in manners. I didn’t care much for the way you talked to Ram yesterday, either.”

His face was just as calm as before. But his voice and his eyes had gone cold. He hadn’t altered his position in any way, yet he now seemed to radiate authority and a menace. The change in the surrounding aura was perceptible. And this, more than anything else, calmed me down or rather cowed me down. “I… I am sorry” I apologized.

“I understand you are terribly upset. But, you are no child not to be able to keep your wits about yourself.”

“I realize that. And I apologize again for losing my head there.” I felt sorry. I had no right to vent my anger and frustration on him or for that matter anyone else. It wasn’t their fault that my father no longer lived.

“Now that you seem to have realized your mistake, there is no point further dwelling on it.” He was back to his old self. “We have a lot of work to do. And we might as well get down to it.”

And we did indeed get down to our work. At first he went about telling me what all effort had been put in to kill the Cannibal since it was established that the man eater had been on the prowl. After his first kill was established, the local hunters got in on the act straight away. This, actually, wasn’t the first of its kind thing to happen in these parts. So the residents were quite used to everything that goes with it. The usual precautions were taken, the usual hunting parties were established and it was widely believed that it was only a matter of time before the beast was killed. But from then on it all started going horribly wrong. The killings wouldn’t cease. While the hunting parties searched the forests and prowled the villages at night, there always was something missed and people were being killed at an alarming rate. So, Panchayat was convened and certain guidelines were drawn for the things to be taken care of. Accordingly, provisions were made for the food storage and people were encouraged to erect temporary sanitation facilities near their houses. And then curfew was enforced in the villages at nights whence only the hunting parties were allowed to venture outside of their homes. This facilitated the desired results and the killings stopped for a while. There were a couple of sightings and unsuccessful attempts on the life of the tiger as well. And it was widely believed that the Cannibal – he actually wasn’t named so then – was getting desperate and will soon make a mistake that will prove to be fatal for him. Few rifles were then sent for from the nearest town. Only a few, because people in these parts prefer their axes and only a few are handy shots with a rifle. And handy only – not expert. These people were deployed judiciously where an attack was most probable. It was decided by considering the latest estimated position of the tiger. And so, it went on for a few weeks.

“I must confess” he said, “I was getting worried a bit. We were on to this animal for a few weeks now; regularly scouring the jungles around us. And mind you, those hunting parties consisted of people who knew these woods intimately. But yet, we hadn’t been able to locate the man eater. This showed that the animal wasn’t a fool. He knew how to conceal himself. Every animal knows it, yes. But, any other animal should have been found out by now. And we knew he wasn’t starving. We could locate his kills – other animals – regularly. The kills were watched, the riflemen sat over them but as I said it didn’t get us any closer. So, some of the people started to believe that he had given up his man eating ways. But I knew better. From the riflemen’s watch we knew that the tiger didn’t come near any kill for a second helping – which is an odd behavior for a tiger. But, not so odd – I am sure you will agree – for a man eater. So I kept at the Panchayat not to drop their guard – which I gladly say they concurred with.”

Then one day, the dormant killer struck again. And he did it in a jungle. He killed 2 of the hunting party that was searching the jungle and carried off one of them as his meal.

“If I was worried before, I was positively alarmed now. It was generally believed that the tiger killed the second person just because the second person had come to the aid of his comrade upon hearing his screams. The people usually fanned out at close intervals as a searching party. But then, I asked myself why didn’t anyone else hear it? Tigers are not known to kill when they are not hungry, even man eaters. Usually the tiger would have just left his original kill and made of to his safe quarters upon arrival of the intruder. But, this could be a one off incident, I told myself. Wild animals are unpredictable, but usually do not leave their age old ways. His time will come.”

The Panchayat reacted similarly. They were grieved for losing 2 men but then everything was under control. Then another day, rather night, he attacked one of the hunting party guarding the village. But again instead of stealthily carrying it away as his meal he carried the dead body only towards the main bazaar chowk in the village and dumped it there.

“I took it as a warning sounded by the Cannibal – as I named him then. And I told the Panchayat so. They respect me so they couldn’t mock me – not on my face at least. But, they did try to make me see some sense. ‘Tigers do not think so much’, ‘They don’t have enough intellect’, they kept telling me. By this time Ram had his own doubts, he is an intelligent man after all. But even he was skeptical towards the ‘crazy’ theories I was coming up with. The Panchayat though, did agree with me on another suggestion of mine.”

They sought out government’s help in resolving the matter. Although government took prompt action of placing an advertisement in the paper and announcing a reward, it took nearly a month before a gamesman answered their call. Mainly because the reward was meager initially. Then as the days wore on, the Cannibal killed no less than 18 people – all of the hunting party – in that month. Ironically, it was observed that hunting party members were least bothered about observing the code of conduct chalked out for safety from the man eater. With each kill the reward money increased. Finally when it became a substantial amount, a gamesman made his presence known.

“The thing about those 18 killings though, was that they were perfectly normal killings. Each victim was carried off to be eaten. The tiger did not return again to his kills – consistent with his previous behavior. And so, my warnings had proven to be a false alarm in a sense. Everybody was almost glad that the Cannibal wasn’t as intelligent as I had thought him to be. By this time, despite all these killings, people were starting to be careless – which was understandable, I guess. People got tired of living life as if in a cage. So, as I was saying, it was about this time that first real gamesman came to these parts. And since then everything is well documented.”

The gamesman didn’t have much luck. He was killed within 2 months. After his death and before the arrival of a new gamesman, the government encouraged others in the vicinity to have a go. Many of them did, most of them died.

“Time and again, the Cannibal has provided ample proof of his uncommon intelligence. Still, the Panchayat had their reservations about what I had been telling them. Until recently, when they were finally convinced.”

“What convinced them?” I asked.

“Your father’s death.” He paused, probably to gauge my reaction. My heart did skip a bit, my chest was filled with uncomfortable pain, but I kept my expressions in check. The only sign of my inner turmoil was a sudden clenching of my teeth – at least I hoped so. “What is fairly well known is that your father was killed by the Cannibal. And what is not commonly known is the fact that he wasn’t eaten by the Cannibal. He was killed and his dead body was dragged and dumped on the northern approach road to the village.”

There was silence for a while. But it wasn’t quiet. All the blood in my body had rushed to my head and the resulting pounding was so fierce that I feared the veins in my head will explode. Anger and hate, such as I hadn’t known before filled me with such force that it brought tears to my eyes. I hoped he took the tears as a sign of my sadness and not anger.

“*I have grown old, but you are still young. You cannot know how old age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young *. I do not wish to commit such a mistake. So, in a way I do understand the anger you are feeling now. But, at the same time I do know that you need to grow up; that this is the moment for your coming of age. You said yesterday what your father would have wanted. You were correct, of course. What he also would have wanted is for you to keep your emotional vulnerability aside and think like a hunter. Cold and calculated – always evaluating the conditions and taking the best possible decision. This is not a game, have no illusions about that, although, we do call it that. It is a question of life and death. Not only your life and death but also of many others. And here you need to be a hunter, not a gamesman. Any emotions will only harm you not assist you. The only emotion you want now is sheer bloody minded determination. Yes, he would have wanted that.”

“This line would be useful to a budding novelist.” I said, not without sarcasm, but I believe he understood it wasn’t angry or offensive for he smiled. Just the fact that he was there and smiling did much to abate my anger. He hadn’t said much, but the sincerity in his voice told me he understood.

“He knew what your father would have wanted, all right. It was said merely to dissuade you, I believe.” He became serious, “Ram is a good man. One of those rarely found – passionate, loyal, dedicated. A man of unquestioned ability to lead people; a great friend. And I daresay you will find him to be a caring father figure. This entire hullabaloo is because he cares for you – nay he loves you as his own daughter.”

We sat there, in my room, in silence – a quiet silence this time. I guess it was comforting to know there was still a father figure watching over me. For a while I was worried that I had lost the only one in my life. It had been so wonderful to have one not so long ago. What Naren said didn’t fill up the void that had been formed due to my father’s death, indeed it didn’t even begin to. But it did give me hope. Or perhaps it was only a case of a drowning person hanging onto the last straw.

“I need some fresh air and we need to plan how we are going to go about this stuff. Come along.” He got up and walked out. I was only too happy to oblige, I needed to have something else to think. We strode along and went outside the house near the banyan tree.

There he picked up a stick and drew a big kidney shape in the earth. He drew 16 parallel lines in pairs joining the longer arcs of the shape – somewhat equally spaced. Then he drew a big circle around the kidney shape. “This big circle is the tiger affected area. This shape here represents all the affected villages. There are in total 21 villages, but as the geography is more or less same, we will only consider these 9 villages.” He indicated portions on either side of the each pair of parallel lines. “You can add 6 more such villages on either side and we will have a perfect replica.

“As you can see, the villages are closely knit and form a banana shape. These are all surrounded by thick forests all around them. These pairs of lines you see are patches of forest between the boundaries of adjacent villages. For convenience sake, we will name these villages as numbers – 1 to 21 with village 1 being the west most one and village 21 being the east most. This one in the middle is our village – 12^th. You came from the southern approach to the village. As you must have seen on your way, the road at somewhere here” he marked a point at a place which was supposed to be the southern approach road, “Would have forked into 3 separate roads. You took the middle one, the other two fork further as you go ahead and as such are the proper roads to reach the villages. Otherwise, as you can imagine, the jungles are strewn with little pathways to go from any point A to any point B. And it will be my job to be at your service to provide the shortest possible path to wherever it is that you want to go.

“Here, I can only tell you on broad terms what to expect in the jungle. The detailed knowledge will come by actually venturing into the jungle. So, the southern part of this circle, as you would have seen, is more or less uniform jungle. There is mostly no tiger activity in this part. On the other side of the globe, so to say, the distinctive feature is a river that flows through in a most peculiar way. It enters this circle from southwest. It flows along this western curve towards north and then bends sharply towards east and completes its course in more or less straight line. The reason for this sudden turn is a mountainous region that means the river has to change its course. Between the river flow and the northern curve of this village complex – if I may say so – there used to be cultivated land. But now due to neglect has turned into a wild grass land with grass growing as tall as one’s chest. Rest, as on the southern side, is regular jungle with a few small hammocks spread around the area. There is enough unevenness in the ground to form troughs and crests as in a wave. Some of the spots are ideal if you have plans of ambushing the animal. Then there are a few ravines, again spread more or less uniformly over the area.

“If ever you lose me and yourself, there are some houses built by the people who used to sleep near their crops to deter thieves and wild animals from destroying their harvest. These are near the grasslands. Though they are dangerous as they are out in the jungle, at least they provide shelter and if you are able to build a thorn obstacle at the doors, then can be a bit safer as well.

“One of the things we have got going in our favor is the excellent yet simple communication system established by one of the gamesmen. As soon as a kill is discovered, a man from the village – usually the one with the strongest lungs – shouts out a message to his counterpart in the neighboring village and so on. And wherever we are, we will get the message within 10 minutes of the kill being discovered. This system was dormant after your father’s death. In today’s meeting the Panchayat decided to put it in practice again. Heads of other villages have also agreed to provide all the help they can irrespective of any internal political issues – which is useful of course. As far as possible, and no arguments over this, we will keep ourselves on the trees. I see you have telescopic sights on your rifle which should serve us well in this case. We won’t move to the ground until we have to follow a trail after discovering a kill. Even while following a trail you will stick to the path that I decide. Tomorrow we will start at dawn and go to this place” he marked a point further north from the villages somewhere along the middle of the kidney shape on his map, “There is a very tall Eucalyptus tree which oversees most of these villages. We will climb that tree and look for signs and clues.

“Right. That’s it then. Any questions?”

“Yes, there is one doubt I have. If I see the tiger, can I shoot him without asking you?” I asked innocently.

“But, of course. You can do that.” He smiled. And on that note we parted company for the day.

So as decided, he arrived at dawn. I was ready for him. “A priest with an axe! Makes a nice contradiction.” I observed.

“Why should it? The god I worship – which is Ram, in case you didn’t know – is hailed as the greatest warrior to have walked the earth” he answered.

We moved as silently as we could, with all our senses on high alert. But nothing untoward happened till we reached the tall tree. We both climbed high enough to be able to see clearly but not too high lest we had to climb down fast and made ourselves comfortable.

“Now what?” I whispered my question.

“Now we wait.” He murmured. And so we waited.

*This thought is courtesy J. K. Rowling from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Please think of it as a homage rather than imitation.*