‘But with me there was
love
, you know,’ he went on. ‘She took an interest in everything I did—what I ate, what I did in school, what I wore, what subjects I took— everything. I mean
everything
. My father tells me she fell in love with me when she first saw me in the hospital when I was born. Apparently she said I would make a lot of money; people with deep belly-buttons make a lot of money, that’s what she said.’
‘Did it come true?’ asked Hamid Pasha, glancing around at the room.
‘No,’ said Praveen. ‘At least not yet. And I don’t think it will happen as long as I am working here.’
‘It certainly won’t happen if you kill yourself,’ Nagarajan said coldly.
Praveen laughed. ‘That too. The only way I can “earn” a lot of money is if she has left me something. We haven’t yet seen who the biggest beneficiary is. I bet
you
two are very interested in knowing that.’ He pointed the bottle at Hamid bhai with a gleam in his eye.
Hamid Pasha nodded. ‘As a matter of fact, we are. Do you have any theories as to who will get how much? If the old lady was close to you, she must have given you some hints.’
‘Ah, no, no. She did not. If I tell you anything about this it will be guesswork on my part. Let me see—Kotesh Bava will get
something
—maybe a plot or two. He may have got one already. You see, he has been tending to her for a good seven years now; well, tending to
all of us
, in fact, for free. So none of us will begrudge whatever he gets. One can think of it as repayment...
‘Other than that, it should be a rather clean three-way split between Swamannayya, Raja and my father. Oh, then there is Attayya as well, I guess. She might get a plot or two. Grandmother would have been a little sentimental about her—and with good reason too. She has been through a lot.’
Hamid Pasha leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. ‘Tell me, miyan, how much property is there in total?’
Praveen shrugged and shook his head. ‘Nobody has gone to the trouble of finding out exactly, I am sure. But there is a lot. Even without the backyard plot there is a lot going around for everyone. And this area has developed so much in the last fifteen years or so, you know. Look around at the number of doctors—land here is gold; pure gold.
‘Do you think your father would get a bigger share because he has a family to support?’
‘Ah—now that makes me think. Grandmother would definitely think along those lines. Yes, you’re right. My father would probably get a slightly bigger share, even though Swamannayya is the eldest.’
‘And Raja might get partial treatment too,’ said Hamid Pasha, ‘because of his condition?’
Praveen looked at Hamid Pasha with a slightly embarrassed smile. ‘You’re not making this easy for me, are you? Yes, of course, that would be correct too. Grandmother
was
quite partial to Raja, even though they did have such huge rows every now and then.’
‘About his smoking, I gather?’
‘And his movie-going,’ Praveen said. ‘You’d be surprised how much money he spends on movies. And of course, Grandmother didn’t approve of movies at all. Even then, she wouldn’t have minded if he did not spend so much money watching them.’
‘Does the family have nothing by way of earnings?’
Praveen grinned; again that contemptuous curl of the lips. ‘That communist party building you see in the backyard was meant to be an investment. But after they moved in we realised they were more powerful than we were. Of
course
. They’re a political party. What are we? Kakaji’s descendants? There is only one winner in
that
battle.’
He coughed, and ran his fingertips along the bruise on his neck. ‘It cut a bit deeper than I thought it would.’ He faced Nagarajan. ‘They say hanging is a painless death. I struggled for a good five minutes before I passed out.’
‘You have to do it just right,’ said Nagarajan.
‘Ah.’ He caressed his bruise thoughtfully for a minute, then turned back to Hamid Pasha. ‘So, yes, it started off being a good investment—they paid us rather well for the first few months; but now we’re almost sure that piece of land is gone. And this won’t be the first time Swamannayya has lost money on a venture. Let us just say he is not a businessman.’ He paused, licked his lips, then said: ‘None of us is.’
‘Not even your father?’
Praveen laughed. ‘Have you talked to my father about it? A similar situation is developing in Puthoor as well. We’re
this
close to losing our land. But at least it is not in the past tense like this one, and that is agricultural land, so not that high in value. But then, land is land.’ He finished his soda, swallowing it with a grimace. ‘They put too much lemon in this.’
‘So in your opinion, everybody wants money.’
Praveen smiled and said, ‘Yes, everybody does, even you and me.’
‘Even you?’
‘Yes, of course. Why would I be here in this office if I had money? I would set myself up so that I could go to Hyderabad, to Kalanjali, and become a stage actor.’
‘Ah, your brother was telling me about that this evening, miyan. You like the stage, hain?’
‘Yes, the stage... it is the one place where you can forget yourself, isn’t it? If you have an appetite for the arts, you can never satisfy it no matter how much you feed it.’ He stopped, and let out a long sigh. ‘Forget it.’
‘And Kalanjali is—what?’
‘Kalanjali school of dance and acting? In Hyderabad? You don’t know of it?’
Hamid Pasha shook his head.
‘Karuna told me about it. She is a regular member there. She even told me to go to Hyderabad. But then Grandmother said no.’ His tone stayed even, but there was a little twinge of hurt accompanying the last sentence.
‘Did you feel any—resentment—towards her for that?’
‘Resentment,’ Praveen said. ‘You’re starting to speak like my brother now. He asked me a lot of similar questions too: if I’d born resentment, if I’d felt anger...’
‘Well,’ said Hamid Pasha, ‘did you?’
‘It is hard to say, isn’t it? One tends to forget most things. I knew what she was like, so I tried not do thingst she disapproved of, but sometimes I couldn’t help it.’ His eyes acquired a faraway gaze. ‘When that happened and— as expected—she disapproved, I let it go. I didn’t give it much thought. It just—passed. It was only when I sat down and consciously thought about things that I really knew how I felt.’ He played with his hands as he spoke. ‘Isn’t that the way with everyone?’
Hamid Pasha shrugged. ‘You tell us what
you
feel, miyan. We are here only to listen.’
‘Right,’ said Praveen. ‘Right. So anyway, now that you have asked me how I felt about it, I am now being forced to think about that time, about how Grandmother behaved, her words, her actions... and yes, as you said, there is some resentment; some anger. I don’t love her as much when I think about these things.’
Hamid Pasha asked slowly, ‘Do you hate her at such times?’
Again Praveen smiled. ‘You speak more and more like my brother. Yes, I do—well, I don’t
hate
her, but I dislike her; intensely.’
‘Enough to want to kill her, perhaps.’
Praveen did not react at all to that. He nodded quite matter-of-factly. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I never thought of actively killing her, but there were times when I thought things would be
smoother
without her around. She had lived her life; she was now living all of ours, I thought.’
‘And yet you cried the most when you brought her out of the well.’
‘Yes, well, it is one thing wishing a person would go away. When you’re thinking of that you’re imagining how things would be without that person present. It was the same with Grandmother. I wanted her gone—I had that feeling only occasionally, but it was there, and it was very intense. But I wanted her to vanish, you know? Without leaving anything behind. One day she would be there, and the next day she would be gone. And all of us would carry on with our lives...’
His voice sank into a murmur, and there was a catch in his throat which he cleared and started again: ‘But she did leave something behind. I did not bargain for her dead body in the well, facing downward, hair loose, waving in the water, her arms and legs splayed out like a dead frog’s...’
Again his throat caught, and again he released it with a cough. ‘You don’t wish for things like that. But what I did wish for—that she would be gone—was basically this, wasn’t it? In a different form, in an
impossible
form, maybe, but the wish was for her to die. And it did come true. Just that she
did
leave something behind, in that well...’
For a third time he cleared his throat, and covered his mouth with his closed fist, bending over it. A thin shudder passed through his body. He massaged his eyes with his fingers; his breathing became forced.
Presently he took a few deliberate breaths and found his voice. ‘I am going to take that sight with me to my pyre, sir, I swear.’
For a minute there was silence. Hamid Pasha emptied his bottle, set it back on the table, and said, ‘Do you not think it strange, my boy, that your grandmother chose to kill herself by jumping into the well?’
‘Because how much she feared it? No, not at all. One way is as good as another. Some people prefer silent, painless deaths. Some like to go for spectacle.’
‘But your grandmother—is she the kind to choose a death of this sort? And for what purpose?’
‘All of us wanted her out of the way, sir—and I am sure all of us have told her that in one way or the other. She was a smart woman.’
‘But that is it? Just because everyone in the family wanted her to die, she would?’
‘Who knows? Maybe it was reason enough for her. Maybe there was a sense of hurt at it all; at how much she had worked at building this family—she had been a young widow with a bunch of kids and a huge estate and a flock of vultures to manage. She did quite well, didn’t she, when you look at it that way?’
‘Most definitely.’
‘Maybe there was a sense of loss, that the family she had moulded with her own hands had now turned its back on her. Maybe, when I turned on her too, it was the last straw...’
‘Has it occurred to you, miyan, that if most of the family did not want her to live, one of them may have pushed her into the well? That she may have been
murdered
?’
Praveen said, ‘None of our family members could be murderers. They lack the guts to carry out something like that.’
‘Ah, you agree the intent is there.’
‘Of course. But who cares about intent? The deed is everything.’
‘You said your brother talked to you about your feelings for your grandmother.’
‘Yes?’
‘When did he do it last?’
‘Listen, I know what you’re getting at, and you cannot be more mistaken.’ He paused. ‘Today.’
‘Hain?’
‘Today. He talked to me today. He was here all afternoon. He—when he talked to me I felt like my grandmother’s dying was all my fault. I—yes, he first asked me about all the resentment I held against her, and then asked me whether my quarrelling with her may have pushed her over the edge. He first asked me to promise him that I did not kill her, of course, and I asked him to do the same.’
‘Ah, indeed.’
Praveen nodded. ‘So I am sure he wasn’t referring to actively killing her. But he did hint that I may be responsible. And after he went it started getting dark—and you know how this place gets when it is dark. It feels like the walls are closing in; and I told you, I saw red on them. Just like Macbeth.’ He shook his head and grinned. ‘Now it feels stupid, but when you’re in that zone...’
Hamid Pasha leaned forward. ‘Miyan, do you see that your brother may have had a reason for coming to you and talking to you today? For placing the guilt on your shoulders?’
‘Sir,’ said Praveen, ‘I know what you’re getting at. I told you—none of our family had the balls. My brother—well, he promised.’
‘What is a promise, my boy, when lives are at stake?’
‘Why would he want to do away with me?’ Praveen asked, and Nagarajan saw the seed of doubt had been sown successfully.
‘Why not?’ Hamid Pasha asked. ‘You are his direct competition to your father’s wealth, are you not?’
Praveen pursed his lips as though giving the matter some thought, but snapped out of it and shook his head vehemently. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I don’t believe it. Grandmother killed herself. Nobody killed her.’
Hamid Pasha smiled at Praveen, and Nagarajan felt he could see compassion in his eyes. ‘All I am saying, my boy, is think it over. The world is not as good as it seems.’
‘No,’ said Praveen. ‘I know my brother. He wouldn’t do it.’
And into the silence that settled on the three of them, the final bell of Vijaya Talkies, signifying the end of the evening show, rang, and Nagarajan heard Shankar’s gas burners come to life downstairs, no doubt in anticipation of the crowd that would soon fill the street.
‘Come,’ said Hamid Pasha, jumping off the table and smelling the air, ‘let us have some samosas!’
17
G
IVEN BELOW ARE
the transcripts taken from the voice-recordings of testimonies given by witnesses Nagesh and Ashok (last names unknown), reproduced with the permission of Inspector Valmiki Nagarajan, Inspector, Hanamkonda Branch.
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Name and address for the record. |
| A NSWER : | Nagesh. I live behind Andhra Bank, sir, near Kothur Flag. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | When were you given the job of planting sprouts outside Kauvery Nilayam? |
| A NSWER : | 11th October, sir. My father told me that he got a call from Swami saab, and that he wanted me to go and do the work for them. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | When was the work planned for?’ |
| A NSWER : | 13th October, sir. I was there in the morning up until mid-afternoon, you could say. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Time? |
| A NSWER : | Ten in the morning to two-thirty in the afternoon, sir, or thereabouts. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Tell us what you heard. |
| A NSWER : | I was doing my work, sir. I had levelled the ground, put some manure in it, dug it up nice and loose, watered it... it is very important that it is watered well before anything is planted, sir. As it is, the ground near Kakaji colony is very dry and hard. By around one, sir, I think I was finished with the initial work and I was ready to plant the sprouts. I had just opened the packet of sprouts, when and I heard the cry, sir. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Describe what you heard. |
| A NSWER : | It was not a full-throated cry, sir. It was more like a whimper—like the lady was not sure whether to cry out loudly or not; you know? I know that sounds stupid, but that is what I felt when I was thinking over it that night, sir. If the lady was really dying, why did she not cry out loudly? Anyway, she only said one word. ‘Swami.’ |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | And you took that to mean...? |
| A NSWER : | Swami saab, of course. Maybe because it was not a loud cry, I did not think much of it. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | To whom did the voice belong? |
| A NSWER : | Kauveramma, sir. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | No doubt about that? |
| A NSWER : | No, sir. I have heard the old lady many, many times. I could not mistake her voice. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Not even when she was yelling? |
| A NSWER : | No, sir, not even when she was yelling. Besides, she was the only one in the house who called Swami saab by his name, sir. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Go on. What happened next? |
| A NSWER : | I heard a splash, sir, exactly two seconds later. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | How are you sure that it was two seconds? |
| A NSWER : | ( After a pause ) It seemed like two seconds, sir. I cannot be sure, of course. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Then perhaps if you are not sure, you should not say ‘exactly’ two seconds? |
| A NSWER : | ( Shamefaced ) Yes, sir, you are right. I heard a splash around two seconds later. It was a decent-sized splash, like you would hear when a person jumps in. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | And that sort of thing is common in the household, a splash in the well in the middle of the day? |
| A NSWER : | It used to be, sir, when they used to swim in the well. But nowadays nobody does, so it was not a very common thing, no, sir. I was quite surprised to hear the splash, if you ask me; especially because of the cry that came before it. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | You found it surprising, and still you did not go investigate? |
| A NSWER : | The gate was locked, sir. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Could you not have called to someone to open it for you? |
| A NSWER : | I looked, sir. I could not find anybody around. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Did the idea of climbing over the gate not occur to you? |
| A NSWER : | It did, sir. But I did not think it would be a good idea. Kauveramma once accused me of lifting some items from her house, sir. I remembered it and decided it was not worth it. Besides, as I said, the cry was not very loud, sir, and everything seemed okay after the splash, so I went right back to work. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | When did you find out about the lady’s death? |
| A NSWER : | That evening, sir, when Swami saab sent for me. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Did you feel then that it would have been better if you had jumped the gate? |
| A NSWER : | Oh, sir, of course sir. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Go on. What happened after the splash? |
| A NSWER : | After the splash, sir? Nothing much; I finished my work, and just as I was about to pack up—I was giving the whole thing another dose of water—Gauri came out of the side-gate and walked away down the path. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | What time was this? |
| A NSWER : | I looked at my watch just before I saw her, sir. It was two-thirty. And I looked towards the gate because Ellayya had come there, calling after her. But Gauri just walked on without looking back. He was drunk, sir. I told him to go inside and sleep. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Do you know both Gauri and Ellayya well by sight? |
| A NSWER : | Ellayya better than Gauri, sir, but yes, I do know both of them by sight. Gets drunk as a fish, does Ellayya. Never cares about what time of the day it is. If you ask me, sir, there is always a time for everything. He doesn’t know that. I don’t know how Gauri puts up with him. He is a lucky man, Ellayya. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Did Gauri acknowledge your presence in any way? |
| A NSWER : | No, sir. She never does. She covers her head when I am around. It was so that day too. And I was by the wall, sir, watering the plants. I only saw her when she walked past me behind me—I heard her anklets, you know—and then of course Ellayya was there, calling after her. By the time I turned around she was gone. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Did you wait until she came back? |
| A NSWER : | Oh, no, sir. I finished my job and I was gone. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | What time was that? |
| A NSWER : | I did not stay for longer than ten minutes after that, sir. So I would say by two-forty, at the most, I was gone from there. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | And you went straight home? |
| A NSWER : | ( After a pause ) As I said, sir, there is always a time for a glass or two. I stopped by at Sona Wines on the way back. But from there I went straight home, sir. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | By what time were you home? |
| A NSWER : | I would say four-thirty, sir. If you want the exact time you’d better ask my wife, sir. She will know. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | And you got the call from Swami saab at...? |
| A NSWER : | Seven, I would say. I was just growing drowsy, you know. But when the guy told me the old lady was dead, I was instantly alert. I sat up—like that old toy they used to sell with a tail to pull. It was like somebody had pulled my tail, sir. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Do you have anything to add? |
| A NSWER : | Sir? |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Anything to add—anything that you noticed that felt out of place, anything that you feel would have a bearing on the matter? Maybe something you did not notice then but later on, on thinking of it, you felt was not quite right? |
| A NSWER : | ( Long pause ) No, sir, I cannot think of anything. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | If you do, come and let me know. |
| A NSWER : | Certainly, sir. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Go and tell Ashok to come in. |
| A NSWER : | Okay, sir, thank you, sir. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Name and address for the record. |
| A NSWER : | Ashok, sir. House number 3-10-28, Reddy Colony, opposite Post Office. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | When were you given the job for the compound wall at Kauvery Nilayam? |
| A NSWER : | ( Long pause ) I do not remember the date, sir. Must have been the 10th of this month. It was not very long notice; that much I know. I remember telling my father they should pay us extra. We are not their dogs, I told him, to go wagging our tails whenever he calls us. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | ‘He’ being Swami saab? |
| A NSWER : | Yes, sir. One day he tells us there is no need for any work on the wall, and a week later he comes and tells my father to send me out in two days to finish it. And I am thinking, ‘Man, decide!’ You know what I mean? |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | When was the work planned for? |
| A NSWER : | 13th October, sir. The same day the old lady went over. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | What time did you hear the splash and the scream? |
| A NSWER : | It was not a scream, sir. It was more like someone who was having second thoughts about screaming. You know? It was almost as if the lady was thinking, ‘Should I be screaming now or not?’ It was—it was—a question, almost. And then, of course, there was a splash. It was five minutes past one, sir. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | Did that not make you suspicious or curious? |
| A NSWER : | ( Pause ) I took a walk up to the main gate and tried it, sir. But it was locked. These people lock their gates at all times, you know. Stupid, if you ask me. Paranoid! But I suppose that is what makes rich people rich, huh? |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | What happened when you went to the gate? |
| A NSWER : | Nothing, sir. I stood there listening for a while, but there was nothing. So I thought everything must be okay and went back to work. I figured someone from the family fancied an afternoon swim. |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | You did not consider jumping the gate or the wall? |
| A NSWER : | Ha, no, sir. Only a fool would jump the gate at Swami saab’s house. I got into a lot of trouble last time I tried doing so. There was no way I was going to do it again. Even if you mean no harm, sir, they make you pay for it, they do. Paranoid, I tell you. Makes you wonder what they have got hiding in their house, doesn’t it? |
| | |
| Q UESTION : | How long were you there? |