"Fear the ones who live old in the world of young corpses."
I woke up and saw Sumeet returning tired from his early morning lessons with Mukesh. I asked, "So, how was your first day?" Sumeet washed his feet and said, "That guy is very sharp. He is quite eager with correct mathematical skills and rebukes me when I make small calculation errors. He doesn't even use a calculator to make the accounts." I smiled, "Yes. Smart people become smart criminals." Sumeet said, "It isn't the case. Mukesh and his brothers were orphans who struggled quite a lot in their initial days. Sarla worked day and night to feed his two brothers and also worked double shifts to educate Mukesh who had a keen interest in mathematics from a young age." I said, "Yes. But, what did you learn about the"things"?" Sumeet said, "Nothing specific. Mukesh only showed me the accounts regarding the import and export business of Sarla David. I don't think they will let us enter deeper without trust." I looked outside the window and saw the same beautiful woman hanging clothes. I asked, "Who is she?" Sumeet looked outside and said, "She is Sarla David's wife, Meera. Stay away from her as much as possible. We don't want any unnecessary attention on us. Understand?" I smiled, "Of course."
Sumeet entered the bathroom and I slowly walked outside and saw Meera walking towards me. I looked at her and she smiled, "You? I thought you must be fled after listening to the kind of work Sarla is offering to you." I smiled, "The work doesn't matter if the pay is good. I am in desperate need of money as you know." She looked at me and said, "Everyone has necessities, Suraj. But, always remember that humanity comes first. Most of the men here have forgotten that." I smiled, "Don't worry, ma'am. I will never do anything immoral." She laughed, "You are very naive, Suraj. There is still time, if you want to go away now or else later it will be too late. By the way, my name is Meera Rajeshwari Iyer. You can call me Meera." I smiled, "Okay. Meera ma'am." She giggled, "Take a bath, Suraj. I have told Sarla to take you to our old godown. You might find some eligible work there." I smiled, "There was no need for this, ma'am." She smiled, "No. There is. You are a good man and maybe, Sarla sees it too which is a very big thing." She walked towards the verandah and then disappeared.
Sarla looked at me and Sumeet. He said, "I am taking you two to the old godown. I usually don't take new people there, but Meera insisted I take you two. The godown is nothing more than an abandoned shed nowadays, but my father-in-law started his business in that godown. I don't go there much, but my father-in-law would go there on the weekends and meet the people residing in the neighborhood colony. All of them are children of my father-in-law's old companions. Most of them are now gone but some oldies still drink up a little remembering their old days. Both of you are educated and can teach the young children some etiquette and make them literate. I have arranged a house for Suraj as he has to stay there from now on. Ranjit will occasionally go there with Mukesh. I have packed all of Suraj's luggage and you have to go there immediately." He patted my shoulder and walked away.
I and Raju drove towards the colony. The colony was quite big and had many houses inside the compound. I looked at the young children playing in the sand and give them a smile. The children looked at me and smiled. We stopped near the only big house in the colony. Raju said in a cold tone, "Brother always does this. He sends good people here and makes my job harder. Anyway, you are going to live here for sometime. Take your bags and get lost." I took my bags and he quickly drove away. I walked inside the house and saw that no one was there. I looked at the house carefully and I heard a voice behind me, "So, you must be the young man, Meera didi was talking about." I turned around and saw a young girl almost in her early twenties looking at me. I smiled, "Yes. I am Suraj and your Meera didi has sent me here." She circled me and said, "You don't look any extraordinary. You look just like the people who came here earlier." I asked, "What do you mean?" She said, "I am not allowed to talk about unnecessary things. So, please keep yourself away from any danger." I asked, "What do you mean?" She smiled, "Just kidding. I was just trying to scare you. You are my new caretaker, I see. Hello, my name is Aanchal Krishnan. I work here as a housemaid.
Meera didi brought me here along with my father when my father used to work for her father. But, after my father's death I have been living here alone. Didi would occasionally come here but after her father got sick, she stopped coming here. But, she keeps sending men here." I asked, "As your caretaker?" She said grimly, "I don't know. They don't stay here long and suddenly disappears. Didi says that they go away because they don't like me. Maybe, I am unpleasant. That's why mama left me after giving birth to me." I hugged her and said, "Don't worry. I won't leave you." She smiled, "Thanks. Would you like to eat?" I looked at her and said, "Don't worry. I am full. But, have you eaten yourself?" Aanchal smiled, "Actually I was waiting for the guest. I thought we would have lunch together." I looked at her and smiled, "You know what? I might be a little hungry now." She smiled, "Yes. Let's have lunch together." We walked towards the kitchen.
I looked at Aanchal and asked, "What did you father do, actually?" She said, "I don't know what exactly he did, but it killed him." I asked, "And Meera didn't do anything about it?" She said grimly, "She rarely has any say in these matters. Sarla David respects her and loves her a lot, but keeps her away from business talks. In fact, he yells at her when she suggests something to him regarding the business." I asked, "Her father doesn't say anything?"
She smiled sadly, "Her father? That man always wanted a male child, but when a daughter was born in his house, he always treated her like some prized possession that he will exchange for an able and powerful son-in-law. He was so desperate that he fixed her marriage with Anthony who is seventeen years older than her, but when he saw that Sarla David that day, he immediately renounced his long-time faithful man, Anthony and made a stranger his son-in-law. Meera didi is just a toy there. So, she would occasionally come here and stay with me for two or three days and we would spend the night laughing and playing various games. She is like an elder sister to me." I smiled. Now, I realized why Meera send me here. She easily understood that I cannot stay amongst the brutal people who would die for people like Sarla. She knew that I would be more useful here than in that house. I asked, "Why do all the people live in broken huts and you live in a nice house?"
She said, "I don't know. I asked Meera didi the same question once and she told me that this house was made for all of the people to live together, but Sarla convinced her father that workmen should live like workmen and giving them unlimited facilities will make them lazy and inefficient. So, he threw all the people outside the house and the only reason he let me live here is because he felt pity on me." I said grimly, "How cruel of him. There are children out there who also deserves to stay here. They are just being depleted of their rights just because they are work men's children." Aanchal smiled, "I occasionally let some children here to play with me or watch some movie on Sunday nights. But, when Sarla gets to know about it he scolds Meera didi and tells her to keep control over me or else he would throw me out like the other children." I smiled, "Now, I am here. If that man tries to do anything to my little princess, I would turn him into frog." Aanchal asked, "That's impossible. How can someone turn into a frog?" I smiled, "When the right time comes, I would show you the trick."
I finished my lunch and walked outside the house to see the people living in the colony. Most of them looked at me with both awe and joy. Children ran towards me and I gave them some money to buy anything they want. I saw a small restaurant there and walked inside it. There were photos of Rajnikanth and Kamal Hassan on the walls and men were sitting there and eating idli and sambar. I sat in a nearby chair and a waiter walked towards me and asked, "What would you like sir?" He spoke Kannada and I didn't understand anything at all. An old man sitting next to me smiled and said, "He asked you if you want something?" I replied, "Just a cup of tea will be enough." The man told the waiter and the waiter walked away. I looked at the old man and smiled, "Thank you, sir. Actually I am new here and don't speak fluent Kannada."
The old man smiled, "I know. Meera beti sends men whenever she could to take care of Aanchal. Poor child! She doesn't even know that her father is still alive." I asked shocked, "Her father is still alive?" The old man said grimly, "Yes, son. He is alive. But, is in a state even worse than death. Please, don't tell Aanchal that her father is still alive. She is still a child and won't be able to bear this bad news." I asked, "What happened to her father?" The old man smiled grimly, "What would happen to a honest man amongst evil men? He will be devoured. Aanchal's father, Muralidhar Krishnan worked as a clerk in Venkatesh's house. He did his work honestly and never tried to do any mischief in the calculations. But, when he realised that Sarla has been looting a big amount of money in the guise of work from Venkatesh, he told Venkatesh about this. But, that blind man was so entrapped with his son-in-law that he didn't believe his long-time faithful man and told this to Sarla. Sarla didn't do anything in the broad daylight but during the night he kidnapped Aanchal and forced Murlidhar to make a false confession that he was the one looting money from Venkatesh and Sarla is innocent.
Venkatesh publicly beat Murlidhar and humiliated him. He stripped him naked and made the people here throw mud on his body. Aanchal was just a baby then, so Sarla stopped his father-in-law from killing Murlidhar and instead threw him inside an old dry well. He told Murlidhar that if he commits suicide inside the well, he would kill Aanchal and threw her body inside the well. So, from then that poor man is staying alive feeding on the dirty leftovers thrown by the villagers and drinking the dirty rain water." I asked, "Why didn't you do anything? It is plain atrocity and shouldn't be tolerated at all." The old man smiled, "Atrocity? This is that monster's justice. He doesn't kill people but tortures them in different ways. He even tortures poor Meera by not sleeping beside her and spending his nights in the arms of prostitutes. Meera fears that someday he or his brothers would try to molest Aanchal and that's the reason she sends people whom she sees good to protect her. If she has send you, then she must have seen good inside you."
I sighed, "I am an outsider, uncle. No matter what I say or do, in the end it all depends on you. If you can't raise voice against predators like Sarla, then you don't have the right to expect help from some random stranger." The old man smiled, 'My bones have grown old, son. But, you are still young and strong. I don't know how long I will live, but I don't want to die without witnessing Sarla's downfall." He rose and gave money to the waiter and said, "I live in house no. 13. If you want any more information about Venkatesh or Sarla, pay me a visit anytime." He smiled and walked away. I looked at the waiter and asked, "Who is he?" The waiter smiled, "That man made Venkatesh the man he is now. He is Premji Mathur." He walked away and I looked at the man. He was old and needed a cane to walk, but even then his gait had a profound dominance in it...