No Pain Like This Body (12 page)

The priest gripped his shoulders. “De boy done dead. Worryin not goin to help Babwah.”

Pa and the priest walked away from Rama.

VII

SUNAREE AND PANDAY
heard
hoosh hash hoosh hash see saw see . . .
They heard it inside their ears; they woke up.

The carpenter from Rajput Road was sawing board to make Rama's coffin. He had a yellow pencil stuck to his right ear. Jadoo and Pulbassia were holding the board across a wooden bench. Benwa and Pa stood with folded arms and looked on.

Sunaree and Panday got up. They went inside the kitchen. Soomintra the wife of Sankar was standing near to Ma. Ma was folded up in a corner; she was crying. Her mouth was open. There was a full bottle of rum sitting next to her. Many empty bottles were scattered on the ground. Nanna, Nanny and Jasso were there; leaning against the tapia wall.

“Nanny!” Sunaree called.

“Wot you want?”

“We just get up.”

“All you hungry?”

“Yeh. Yeh Nanny, me and Panday hungry hungry.”

Nanny gave them some biscuits and black coffee. Sunaree took hers, but Panday refused his again. He said that Rama was dead; Rama came inside the house and pissed in the coffee; he was not going to drink the coffee.

“Drink de coffee boy,” Soomintra the wife of Sankar said. “Me eh want none,” Panday declared.

“Boy eat dat food!” Nanna shouted.

“Oright Nanna.”

While they were eating Panday said to Sunaree, “You see wot I tell you. You see good. Rama smart like hell I tell you. He not by dat ricebox now. He get up in de night and hide away in dat riceland. He runnin whole night in dat wadder. But he better hide good from dem snakes. He runnin like a mule in dat wadder. But wen you see dem snakes get vex in dat wadder dey go eat he ass.”

“Where Rama gone Nanny?” Sunaree asked.

“Rama not gone one place. He just lyin down in dat house. He goin to bury dis mornin.”

“O God! O God!” Ma bawled out.

She tried to stand up. She fell
buffon
the ground. Nanny and Soomintra the wife of Sankar dragged her into a corner.

And Ma: “Where me Panday and Sunaree is? Dem too small to know wot happen in dis house.”

Panday said, “Ma you drink rum and playin in you ass!” Ma was getting on; bawling and swearing and getting on. Pa came inside the kitchen. “Keep dat bitch quiet!”

“But she chile dead,” Soomintra the wife of Sankar said. “Yeh. De chile dead, but she eh have to get on like a ass!” Pa walked out of the kitchen.

The village priest was asleep on some ricebags. He was snoring like a bull. Flies settled on his face. Now and then he lifted his hands and drove them away.

“Bisnath Saddhu!” Benwa called.

The priest rubbed his eyes. “Wot you want?”

Before Benwa could say anything the one-legged villager said, “He is a modderass chamar and he playin Brahmin. Bisnath Saddhu is not a priest. He fadder used to mind pigs in Jangli Tola. He modderass chamar come to Tola playin holy.”

And Pulbassia laughed and said, “Yeh One Foot. Give him in he ass!”

Bisnath Saddhu the village priest said, “Shut you one foot tail! I not from Jangli Tola. Me fadder and me come from de Punjab.”

“Punjab me ass Punjab!” Pulbassia shouted. “You son of a bitch Baba all you used to mind hog in Jangli Tola.”

“Who say dat?”

“Me Pulbassia.”

The priest sat up, wiped his eyes with the back of his hands, yawned and said, “I de born a Brahmin.”

Bisnath Saddhu stood up. He was dressed in white, but his gown was dirty. He looked like a bird, but uglier than a white bird. Without even worrying about Pulbassia he walked up to the village carpenter.

“Sitaram Baba,” the village carpenter said.

“Sitaram. How de box comin?”

“It comin good Baba.”

The carpenter showed the holy man a crate. He sat down and sang bhajans. Then he called Pa. They talked a little about the funeral. Pa told him that everything was all right.

It was after nine when Nanna reached with the horse cart from Tolaville. The horse was trotting and the wheels threw dirt in all directions. The cart sang:

grang grang grang!

grang grang grang!

grang grang grang!

Nanna left the horse by the cashew tree and walked into the yard. Then he came into the house with a brown paper bag. “Sitaram Baba,” he said, as he handed the paper bag to the priest.

The holy man peeped into the bag. “Oright,” he said. Nanna left the priest and went into the kitchen.

Ma was still drunk inside the kitchen. She walked to the fireside. Then she fell.

Nanna, Nanny and Soomintra the wife of Sankar held her and dragged her into a corner.

“Wot de ass all you doin?”

“Now stop talkin like dat!” Nanny shouted at Ma.

And Ma: “O God! My head hurtin me. Where Panday is? De rain fallin and dat rain wettin dem chirens. De modderass man is dey fadder. He runnin dem in dat rain. Look at dis house.”

“Shut you ass nuh woman!” Madrassi Jasso shouted.

“Watch you mout Jasso!” Nanny said. “Is me dorta you talkin to. I is she modder and all you kinda Madrassi bitches and dogs cant talk to me dorta so.”

Pulbassia ran inside the kitchen. “Wot happen?”

“De drunk bitch makin trobble!” Madrassi Jasso said.

And Ma: “De man runnin de chile in dat rain. De mod­derass man drinkin rum . . . “

Pa ran inside the kitchen. “Shut you kiss me ass mout! You drunkard bitch! You son in de house and befo you try to do someting, you drinkin rum. I go hit you one kick and break you kiss me ass back! You chamar modderass you!”

And Ma: “Now you want to kill me! O God de man want to kill me. He kill me son and now he want to kill me . . . “

“De man not doin you one kiss me ass ting!” Pulbassia said.

Benwa came into the kitchen. He said to Pa, “Babwah leff de woman alone!”

“I go beat she ass!” Pa shouted.

And stick-fighter Benwa got mad. His face became red. “Now Babwah if you beat dat woman I go put so much lix in you ass! If you want to fight, den fight me!”

Jadoo came inside the kitchen too. He and Pa were very good friends. Jadoo just folded his arms and looked at Benwa. Benwa went on talking. And when Benwa finished, Jadoo said, “Benwa dis is de man house. If you want to fight him, you cant hit him in front of me.”

And Benwa: “Me eh want to hit him at a wake! But Jadoo watch me good. Me eh want one hundred mens to stand up behine me befo I go in battle you know! I . . . “

“All you behave all you self,” Sankar the husband of Soom­intra said.

The village priest came running inside the kitchen. “All you come outside and leff de womens in de kitchen.”

They listened to the priest. Pa, Jadoo and Benwa came back by the village carpenter.

“Time to get de prayers goin,” the priest said.

Pa, Nanna, Sunaree, Panday, Jadoo and Benwa and some of the women went inside the bedroom. Rama was lying on a white flourbag sheet. A deeya was burning by his feet, another was lighting by his head. The priest stood by Rama's head and recited some mantras from the Puranas and the Mahabharat. He recited as if he was quarrelling with God and quarrelling with the child; his voice sounded as if he was hungry or dying or something; his voice was heavy and it grated
crat crat crat
as if he had a cold; his breath was stinking so much that some of the villagers turned their faces away; a long line of spit came out of his mouth as a fat whitish cord; and the flies went
buzz buzz
trying hard to get inside his dirty mouth. When he heard his voice long enough, he stopped the recitation. He took the Iota and sprinkled some water on Rama. “All you bathe him now.”

Nanna went outside. He took a bucket and went by the rainwater barrel. Then he came inside the bedroom with the water. The priest said a few holy words over the water as if the water was dirty as his mouth. Now that the water was blessed Nanna removed the flourbag sheet that covered Rama's naked body. Rama was stiff as a piece of stick and bluish all over. There was a long cut running from his neck to the end of his belly; the cut was sewed up tightly. Just as Nanna was about to bathe Rama, the one-legged villager said, “Wait! He modder have to bathe him fast.”

“But he modder drunk!” Pa shouted.

“She still have to bathe de chile,” Sankar the husband of Soomintra said.

Sankar was a mystic from Gam Gam Tola. The village priest didn't like the way Sankar was siding with the one-legged villager.

“If he modder drunk, den she cant bathe him,” the priest said.

“You is a chamar Baba! You not know you ass from you elbow!” the one-legged man shouted.

“I is a Brahmin!” the priest bawled out.

Pa took a piece of white cloth. He fingered it a little, then he dipped it
splunkf
inside the water. The cloth went
took took took
as the water wetted it. Pa wiped Rama's face and hands; he wiped slow. When he was satisfied, he passed the cloth to Sunaree. She was afraid to wipe Rama, so she merely touched his feet and passed the cloth to Panday. He was afraid. He just held the cloth and stared at Rama.

“Wipe him fast!” Pa shouted.

Panday just touched Rama's face with the cloth and handed it to Nanna.

Nanna kneeled down on the earthen floor. He took his time and wiped Rama. Then he turned him over and wiped his back as well.

“Good now. Put on he clothes.”

Nanna had some trouble putting on the white merino for Rama; his hands were stiff like copper wire; Nanna had to bend them; bend them as if he was bending a piece of crappo board; bending the hands as if he was going to break them
crax!
But Nanna had no trouble to get the pants on him. Then Nanny handed him a small black comb. He took it and combed Rama's hair in a side part. Then Nanna put on a pair of white socks for him, and sprinkled a phial of essence on his face.

The priest called out to the carpenter, “De box ready?” “Yeh.”

“Make sure de foots face de trace. Dis chile have to leff dis house for good.”

“Oright.”

Then they came out of the bedroom, but Sunaree and Nanny remained inside the house with Rama. Then Sunaree said, “But Nanny.”

“Wot you want?”

“Wen dey bury Rama in dat bellin ground, de Devil goin to ride him in de night.”

“No. Rama goin right by God. Wen chirens dead, dey does go by God.”

“So wot de Devil goin to do?”

“Dat Devil cant do notten. God goin to come down from dat sky. As soon as it get dark, God goin to come in dat ceme­try and carry Rama to live in dat sky.”

“And dat is because he done dead.”

“Yeh,” Nanny said.

“Den I want to dead too Nanny.”

“Hush you mout, chile!”

The priest and the villagers came back inside the bedroom. The holy man sang some bhajans. Then Pa and Jadoo picked up Rama and carried him outside.

“Put de chile in de box one time,” the priest said.

They put Rama inside the box. Nanny threw the black comb inside the box with him. Then the priest winked and said, “Now is arti time.”

Nanna brought a Iota of water and handed it to the holy man. There were a few mango leaves floating in the water. Then Nanna went outside and got a taria. He held it in his hands. Nanny placed a block of camphor in the brassware and lighted it. The priest recited the sermon in Hindi as he sprin­kled water on Rama. Nanna passed the taria to Pa; he passed it over Rama five times, then he handed it to Sunaree. Then Panday did the arti and gave the taria to Nanny.

The two villagers who were sent to dig the grave walked in the house. They had mud all over their clothes.

“Oright. Time for de burial,” the priest said.

The priest and the villagers were becoming impatient; they were kicking their feet in the air like goats and scratching their bellies and grumbling.

“Take de chile in de yard.”

“Oright Baba,” Pa said.

The villagers carried Rama in the yard. Jadoo went by the cashew tree and got the horse cart. He brought the cart in front of the house.

“Put de chile on de cart now.”

But they couldn't put Rama on the cart. Stick-fighter Benwa took his shirt and flung it in the yard. “He modder have to do de arti.”

“But she kiss me ass modder drunk!” Pa shouted at Benwa. “Dowlat!”

“Yeh Benwa!” Nanna answered from inside the kitchen. “Bring she out to do de arti.”

Nanna and Nanny dragged Ma out of the kitchen. Soom­intra the wife of Sankar went and helped them. Ma didn't even make an effort to get up, so they just dragged her through the mud in the yard and brought her to the box.

“Stand up!” Nanna said.

Nanny and Soomintra the wife of Sankar held her up. “O God me chile! Look how he dead. He fadder runnin him in dat rain. God you know . . . “

“Shut you modderass!” Pa shouted.

And Benwa: “Babwah if you touch dat woman today I go beat you! Let de woman cry over she chile.”

The heavy clouds were moving in the sky and the thunder was beginning to shake Tola. The eyes of God were moving up and down in the sky and the lightning winked
zip zip
at the earth.

“Let she do de arti fast,” the priest said coldly. “De rain goin to come.”

Ma did the arti. Then she dropped the taria and held on to the box; she was holding on and getting on.

“Take she inside now!” Benwa said.

Nanna and Nanny dragged her back into the kitchen. Pa and Jadoo lifted the coffin and placed it on the cart. Nanny remained with Ma in the kitchen, but Nanna came back and sat on the cart. The priest sprinkled some water on the coffin again and said, “Drive now.”

“Oright,” Nanna said.

The villagers and Pa and Sunaree and Panday and the priest walked behind the cart; sometimes the cart went
plops plops
as the wheels went inside the deep holes. Each time the box tried to fall off the cart, the villagers pushed it back on the cart with their dirty hands. The trace was full of bam­boo and basmatia grass, but the horse trampled over them
chich chich chich,
and the villagers walked
sich sich
behind the cart; they walked northward to Tola cemetery. When the cart reached the main road, Nanna drove the cart westward down to Karan Settlement.