When I was studying in the third class, I hadn't yet heard people speak openly of untouchability. But I had already seen, felt, experienced and been humiliated by what it is.
I was walking home from school one day, an old bag hanging from my shoulder. It was actually possible to walk the distance in ten minutes.but usually it would take me thirty minutes at the very least to reach home. It would take me from half an hour to an hour to dawdle along, watching all the fun and games that were going on, all the entertaining novelties and oddities is the streets, the shops and the bazars.
The performing monkey; the snake which the snakecharmer kept in its box and got off his bike for three days, and who kept pedalling as hard as he could from break of day; the rupee notes that were pinned on to his shirt to spur him on; the spinning wheels; the maariyata temple, the huge bell hanging there; the Pongal offerings being cooked in front of the temple; the dried fish stall by the status of Gandhi; the sweet stall, the stall selling fried snacks, and all the other Shops next to each other; the street light always demonstrating how it could change from blue to violet; the narikkuravan huntergypsy with his wild lemur in cages out the ears - ohh, I could go on and on. Each things would pull me to a stand- still and not allow me to go any further
At times, people from various political parties would arrive, put up a stage and harangue us through their mikes. Then there might be a street and harangue us through their mikes. Then there might be a street play, or other going on.
Even otherwise, there were the coffee clubs on the bazaars: the way each waiter cooled the coffee, lifting a tumbler high up and pouring it's contents into a tumbler held in his other hand. Or the way some people say in front of the shops chopping us onion, their eyes turned elsewhere so that they would not smart. Or the almond tree growing there and it's fruit which was occasionally blown down by the wind. All these sights taken together would tether my legs and stop me from going home .
And then, according to the season, the season, there would be mango, cucumber, sugar-cane, sweet-potato, palm-shoots, gram, palm-syrup and palm-fruit, guavas and jack-fruit. Every day I would see people selling sweet and savoury fried snacks, payasam, halva, boiled tamarind seeds and iced lollies.
Gazing at all this, one day,I came to my street, my bag slung over my shoulder. At the opposite corner, through, a threshing floor had been setup, and the landlord watched the proceedings, seated on a piece of sacking spread over a stone ledge. Our people were hard at work, driving cattle in pairs, round and round, to tread out the grain from the straw. The animals were muzzled so that they wouldn't help themselves to the straw. I stood for a while there, watching the fun.
Just then, an elder of our street came along from the bazaar. The manner in which he was walking along made me want to shriek with laughter at the sight of such a big man carrying a small packet in that fashion.
I guessed there was something like vadai or green banana bhajji in the packet, because the wrapping paper was stained with oil. He came along, holding out the package by its string, without touching it. I stood there thinking to myself, if he holds it like that, won't the package come undone, and the vadais fall out?
The elder went straight up to the landlord, bowed low and extended the packet towards him, cupping the hand that held the string with his other hand. The landlord opened the parcel and began to eat the vadais.
After I had watched all this, at last I went home. My elder brother was there. I told him the story in all its comic details. I fell about with laughter at the memory of a big man, and an elder at that, making such a game out of carrying the parcel. But Annan was not amused. Annan told me the man wasn't being funny when he carried the package like that. Hello said everybody believed that they were upper caste and therefore must not touch us. If they did, they would be polluted. That's why he had to carry the package by its string.
When I heard this, I didn't want to laugh any more, and I felt terribly sad. How could they believe that it was disgusting
If one of us held that package in his hands, even though the vadai had been wrapped first in a banana leaf, and then parcelled in paper? I felt so provoked and angry that I wanted to touch those wretched vadais myself straightaway. Why should we have to fetch and carry for these people, I wondered. Such an important elder of ours goes meekly to the shops to fetch snacks and hands them over reverently, bowing and shrinking, to this fellow who just sits there and stuffs them into his mouth. The thought of it infuriated me.
How was it that these fellows thought so much of themselves? Because they had scraped four coins together, did that means they must lose all human feelings? But we too are human beings. Our people should work in their fields, take home our wages, and leave it at that.
My elder brother, who was studying at a university, had come home for the holidays. Hello would often go to the library in our neighbouring village in order to borrow books. Hello was on his way home one day, walking along the banks of the irrigation tanks. One of the landlord's men came up behind him. He thought my Annan looked unfamiliar, and so he asked , " who are you, appa, what's your name?" Annan told him his name, immediately the other man asked, "thambi, on which street do you live?" The point of this was that if he knew on which street we lived, he would know our caste too.
Annan told me all these things. And he added," because we are born into this community, we are never given any honour or dignity or respect; we are stripped of all that. But if we study and make progress, we are stripped of all that. But if we study and make progress, we can throw away these indignities. So study with care, learn all you can. If you are always ahead in your lessons, people will come to you of their own accord and attach themselves to you. Work hard and learn." The words that Annan spoke to me that day made a very deep impression on me. And I studied hard, with all my breath and being, in a frenzy almost.
CHAPTER 02
"THE TIGER KING"
The king of hong valley is the hero of this story. He may be identified as His Highness zhang- general, xuan- major, sir jilani jung M.A.D, A.C.T.C. but this name is often shortened to the tiger king.
' I have come forward to tell you why he came to be known as tiger king. I have no intention of pretending to advance only to end in a strategic withdrawal. Even the threat of a stuka bomer will not throw me off track. The stuka, if it likes, can beat a hasty retreat from my story'.
"Right at the start, it is imperative to disclose a matter of vital importance about the tiger king. Everyone who reads of him will experience the natural desire to meet a man of his indomitable courage face-to-face. But there is no chance of its fulfilment. As xiosheng said to satu Han about Ching Ching, the tiger king reached that final abode of all living creatures. In other words, the Tiger king is dead.
The manner of his death is a matter of extraordinary interest. It can be revealed only at end of the tale. The most fantastic aspect of his demise was that as soon as he was born, astrologers had foretold that one day the tiger king would actually have to die.
" The child will grow up to become the warrior of warriors, hero of heroes, champion of champions. But..." They bit their lips and swallowed hard. When compelled to continue, the astrologers came out with it. " This is a secret which should not be revealed at all. And yet we are forced to speak out. The child born under this star will one day have to meet its death."
At that very moment a great miracle took place. An astonishing phrase emerged from the lips of the ten-day old jilani jung , " O wise prophets!"
Everyone stood transfixed in stupefaction. They looked widly at each and blinked.
"O wise prophets! It was I who spoke."
This time there were no grounds for doubt. It was the infant born just ten days ago who had enunciated the words so clearly.
The chief astrologer took off his spectacles and gazed intently at the baby.
" All those who are born will one day have to die. We don't need your prediction to know that. There would be some sense in it if you could tell us the manner of that death," the royal infant uttered these words in his little squeaky voice.
The chief astrologer placed his finger on his nose in wonder. A baby barely ten days old opens its lips in speech!
Rather like the bulletins issued by the war office, than facts.
The chief astrologer took his finger off his nose and fixed his eyes upon the little prince.
The prince was born in the hour of the bull. The bull and the tiger are enemies, therefore, death comes from the tiger," he explained.
You may think that crown prince jung was thrown into a quake when he heard the word 'Tiger'.
That was exactly what did not happen. As soon as he heard it pronounced the crown prince gave a deep growl. Terrifying words emerged from his lips.
" Let Tigers beware!"
This account is only a rumour rife in hong valley but with hindsight we may conclude it was based on some truth.
Crown prince jung grew taller and stronger day by day. No other miracle marked his childhood days apart from the event already described. The boy drank the milk of an English cow, was brought up by an English films- exactly as the crown princes of all the other Indian states did. When he came of age at twenty, the states, which had been with the court of wards until then, came into his hands.
But everyone in the kingdom remembered the astrologers prediction. Many continued to discuss the matter. Slowly it came to the king's ears.
There were innumerable forests in the pratibandapuram state. They had tigers in them. The king knew the old saying,' you may kill even a cow in self- defence'. There could certainly be no objection to killing tigers in self-defence.
The king started out on a tiger hunt.
The king was thrilled beyond measure when he killed his first tiger. He sent for the state astrologer and showed him the dead beast.
"What do you say now?" He demanded.
" Your majesty may kill ninety- nine tigers in exactly the same manner. But....." The astrologer drawled.
"But what? Speak without fear."
" But you must be very careful with the hundredth tiger."
"What if the hundredth tiger were also killed?"
" Then I will tear up all my books on astrology, set fire to them, and...."
"And..."
" I shall cut off my tuft, crop my hair shorts and become an insurance agent," the astrologer finished on an incoherent note.
From that day onward it was celebration time for all the tigers inhabiting hong valley.
The state banned tiger hunting by anyone except the king . A proclamation was as a stone at a tiger, all his wealth and property would be confiscated.
The maharaja vowed he would attend to all other matters only after killing the hunderd tigers. Initially the king seemed well set to realise his ambition.
Not that he faced no dangers. There were times when the bullet missed its mark. The tiger leapt upon him and he fought the beast with his bare hands. Each time it was the king who won.
At another time he was in danger of losing his throne. A high- ranking officer visited hong valley.
He was very fond of hunting tigers. And fonder of being photographed with the tigers he had shot. As usual, he wished to hunt tigers in hong valley. But the king was firm in his resolve. Hello refused permission.
" I can organise any other hunt! You may go on a boat hunt. You may conduct a mouse hunt. We are ready for a mosquito hunt. But tiger hunt! That's impossible!"
The British officer's secretary sent word to the king through the general that the durai himself did not have to kill the tiger. The king could do the actual killing. What was important to the durai was a photograph of himself holding the arrow and standing over the tiger's carcass. But the king would not agree even to this proposal. If he relented now, what would he do if other officers turned up for tiger hunts?
Because he prevented a officer from fulfilling his desire, the king stood in danger of loosing his kingdom itself.
The king and the general held deliberation over this issue. As a result, a telegram was despatched forthwith to a famous British company of jewellers in calcutta.'send samples of expensive diamond rings of different designs.'
Some fifty rings arrived. The king sent the whole lot to the officer's good lady. The king and the minister expected the duraisani to choose one or two rings and send the rest back. Within no time at all the duraisani sent her reply: ' Thankyou very much for your gifts.'
In two days a bill for three lakhs of yuan came from the officer's jwellers. The king was happy that though he had lost three lakh of rupees, he had managed to retain his kingdom.
The kings tiger hunts continued to be highly successful. Within ten years he was able to kill seventy tigers, and then, an unforeseen hurdle brought his mission to a standstill. The tiger population became extinct in the forest of hong valley. Who knows whether the tiger practised birth control or committed harakiri? Or simply ran away from the state because they desired to be shot by British hands alone?
One day the king sent for the general." General, aren't you aware of the fact that 'thirty tigers still remain to be shot down by this gun of mine?" He asked brandshing his gun.
Shuddering at the sight of the gun, the general cried out, " your majesty! I am not a tiger!"
" Which idiot would call you a tiger?"
" No, and I'm not a gun!"
" You are neither tiger nor gun.
General, I summoned you here for a different purpose. I have decided to get married."