Chapter 2 - Kalarikkal House
He imagined that they must have walked about fifteen minutes before the first drop fell on his cheek. They had certainly gone off the beaten path now; all around, all he could see was green, green, and more green. There were no more paddy fields; they had left them behind some time back. Now it just seemed like they were traveling through some sort of a... jungle really. The only noises aside from their feet on the twigs, stones, and leaves on the ground were those of a million critters and birds all around.
Nature was severely overrated, he decided. All this...green chaos... was bound to scare off those wealthy in need of some much needed R&R that he was hoping to lure to this place. The first order of business after he acquired the damn property would be to bulldoze a good part of this down. Nature was good in idea, but not in practice or up close and personal, and certainly not close enough to crawl all over you, he thought in annoyance as he shook off a bug from his shoe.
A few more drops fell on him in succession and he muttered under his breath as he put his cell back in his pocket; he had been checking for reception religiously for the duration of their walk thus far with no luck; he had evidently entered a black hole.
He hadn't really been paying attention to the driver and the girl for a while now as they were talking back and forth in their language as they walked ahead of him. But he did notice when they suddenly stopped. The girl looked back and the rotating motion of her hand of the spirally end of her plait stilled suddenly.
"Atha varunnundu. Ini odiyale pattu! Ee manushanodu chodikku odan pattumonnu?" ("There it's coming. Now we have to run for it. Ask this man if he can run.") He heard her tell the driver who looked at him and translated.
"What's coming?" he asked in English and thought he saw the girl roll her eyes.
"Wait, do you speak English?" he asked, advancing on her.
She tilted her head in confusion and said, "Entha?" ("What?")
The driver, whose grasp of English was limited to the basics, turned to him and said, "She asked 'what?" She didn't understand what you said."
He narrowed his eyes and looked at her even as he spoke to the driver. "Ask her if she understands English."
Molku English ariyumonnu?" ("Do you know English?") the driver asked and he saw the girl smile at the driver as she said, "Ente chetta. Enikkee videsha bashayonnnum ekkillatto!" ("Bhai, none of these foreign languages work on me.")
The driver smiled at her before turning back to him. "She only speaks Malayalam, sir."
Before he could respond, Arnav saw her look up suddenly behind him. And then she turned around and took off like a bullet.
"What the!" he exclaimed but before he could finish the thought, the sky opened up in a torrential downpour.
"Run, sir." The driver shouted out the warning before he too started running.
He wanted to yell or scream at someone or maybe even stomp for good measure, but even he knew that no amount of his infamous temper could fight off nature... one of the many reasons why he chose to avoid being in close contact with it.
He started off at a run-walk but then when he lost sight of the driver finally, he threw caution to the wind and started running in earnest. His shoes and his clothes were a lost cause. No amount of premier dry-cleaning would save it now.
He felt like he ran forever before he found the driver again and even further before he could see the girl.
They were all drenched just as much as he was for all that they were ahead of him.
"How much farther?" he yelled out and heard the driver yell the same question to the girl.
The girl yelled something back and the driver turned around and translated, "Just around this corner."
And sure enough, just as they rounded the corner, off into the distance at the end of the path, he could see it. He had only seen pictures of houses like this, huge old ancestral homes – called Nalukettu - in the old architectural tradition where the house was fashioned in a large rectangle or square around an inner courtyard that was open to the sky. They were a throwback to the old ages when generations of families lived in the same household.
He could only see the top half of the house as there was a wall around the entire property. The girl, he could see now, was walking up the stairs to the gate. She turned around to look at them before pushing the door open.
He stared, confused. Were people just allowed to walk into houses here without invitation? Or maybe they still lived like they did in the old times. He had heard that this particular family's lineage was not just traditional Brahmins, but also some local royalty from long ago. He didn't know if it was mere legend or truth, not that he cared all that much either way.
Just after she entered she turned back and addressed the driver, "Ayalkku kananulla veedethi. Avade thanne nokkukuthiye pole ninnal aareyum kanan pattilla ennu parayu." (This is the house that he wanted to see. If he stands there like a scarecrow, he is not going to be able to see anyone. Tell him that.")
He looked at the driver who told him, "She says this is the house."
"How can she just walk in here? Does she know them well?" he asked just in time to see the girl turn around and walk into the front-yard of the house.
He followed and the driver entered after him.
She must have yelled out for the driver to close the gate because he went back to close it as Arnav stood there and looked up at the house.
Even through the rain, he could see that the house was falling into despair, but it didn't diminish the majesty of what it must have been in its heyday.
The girl was on the verandah now and just as she was about to open the door, the door opened from inside and a woman who looked closer to his age came out.
He stood at the base of the stairs listening to them talk.
"Neeyevideyarunnu ithrem neram? Achanentorum nerayamai ninakku vendi chodikkunnonariyumo?" ("Where have you been all this time? Do you know how long father has been asking for you?")
"Electricity bill kettanayittu ethra neram avide aa line-il nikkanda vannunnariyumo? Adutha pravashyam ichechi tanne poyal mathi. Appa kanam ethra neram edukkunnu. Achanenthiye? Enthengilum pattiyo?" ("Do you know how long I had to wait in line to pay the electricity bill? Next time, you should go instead, didi. Then you'll know. Where's father? Did something happen?")
He saw the woman shake her head before she said, "Karyamayitonnumilla. Orichiri naduvu vedhana pole tonninnu paranju. Ninne kanatha karanam chodichatha. Ini paisa kodukannulla vellorem kandonnu pedichu kanum." (Nothing to make an issue of. He complained of a bit of back pain. He was just asking for you because he didn't see you for some time. Likely worried that you ran into one of the creditors.")
He heard the girl laugh in response to whatever the woman said. "Entichechi, angane pettennu njan pidi kodukkumo? Ithinnum innalem thudangiya paripadi allallo." (Oh didi, would I let them catch me that easily? It's not like this is new to us.")
He wondered how it was possible that the girl had completely forgotten his existence and appeared to be talking with the other woman as if they were neighbors catching up.
He cleared his throat, interrupting the girl's laugh and finally gaining the attention of the other woman.
"Ithara?" ("Who is this?") he heard the woman ask the girl.
"Ariyilla. Nammade veetu peru chodichu vazhiyil nikkunna kandu. Enthanavo oru puthiya tontharavu! Kettidatholam achan nattukarodalle kadam vangiyittullu? Iyal purathunenganda. Achan iyalde kadakkaranavan vazhiyilla" (I don't know. I found him standing on the road asking for our house. Who knows what this new headache is! As far as we know, father has only borrowed money from the people around here, right? This man is from somewhere outside. I don't think it's possible that father could be his debtor.")
He was drenched and annoyed and the women were both staring at him and talking in their language as if he was some sort of buffoon that they were seeing in a zoo.
He looked back at the driver who was standing at a distance and urged him forward. The rain, he could see now, had fortunately trickled to a drizzle.
The driver came forward and stood by his side and he turned to tell him. "Tell them I am here to see Govindan Namboothiri. I am coming from Delhi."
When the driver turned to the women to translate, the older woman spoke up in Hindi. "That's our father. He is asleep right now. And he is not all that well. Would you mind telling us why you have come?"
Our father! So the girl wasn't a neighbor, but part of the Namboothiri family.
"You speak Hindi?" he asked the woman in surprise.
The woman nodded.
"Oh thank God. At least one of you speaks Hindi."
"Both of us speak Hindi." The woman said and he looked at her just in time to see the younger one tug at her arm.
His eyes narrowed as he looked at the younger one. "You lied."
Her eyebrow arched up as she said in perfect Hindi, albeit with her own accent. "When did I lie? I never said I didn't speak it. You merely assumed. That's not my fault."
Oh, she thought she was clever! He was not amused.
He gave her a long look before addressing the older one. "My name is Arnav Singh Raizada. My company, Raizada Developers, has had some dealings with your father in the past."
The older woman gave no visible reaction, but the younger one started at his name. She looked ready to say something, but the older one stopped her by putting her hand on the girl's arm.
"Iyalannenarinjirunengil bakki munnu tire-um njan tanne keeri koduthene." ("If I had known it was him, I would have torn the other three tires of his car myself!") He heard the girl mutter under her breath.
"I take it you know who I am." He gathered from her reaction and offered.
"You're here to make us sell our home, aren't you?" the younger one asked now in clear anger even as the older one tried to rein her in.
"I am here to make you an offer that you can't refuse." He said. He hadn't meant to steal the line from Don Corleone, but oh well... whatever worked. It's not like they would know...
The older woman still had no visible response while the younger one gave a mocking laugh and said, "If you learned your extortion techniques from reading fiction about Italian gangsters, then this is going to be a mighty difficult chore, Mr. Raizada."
He didn't know what part of that sentence he found the most offensive, although he heard himself say, "I thought you didn't speak English."
He saw the older woman give the girl a look. She ignored it as she told him, "The Godfather has been translated, Mister. You don't need to know English to read it."
He had only ever seen the movie. But that was beside the point and he was really starting to dislike the chick. She had a serious attitude problem, he could see.
"Where can I wait for your father?" he asked. "And I need to use your phone."
Before the younger one could speak, the older one quieted her and said, "The power is out. It won't be back until 9:30. Father just went to sleep. I would rather let him rest for a half hour before waking him."
"9:30??" He looked at his watch, it read 7:30 pm!
"Don't you have a generator?" he asked and saw the younger girl snort while the older one merely shook her head.
"Is there any place where I can get cell phone reception?"
"Yea, we've been trying for a few years too. So, good luck with that." The younger one interjected now, but he was too flabbergasted to respond in kind.
"Seriously? No power and no cell phone reception? How do you guys live here?"
The girl looked at him as if he was a strange bee that she had just happened upon in her daily walks and turned to her sister to say, "Ee India kanatha mahananu nammade veedu vilakedukkan vannekunne." (This Mahan who hasn't seen India is the one who has come to buy us out!")
"Nee mathi. Appurathu poyi kulikkan nokku. Aage nananju kuthirnu naashamayi. Eyale njana kizhakke bagathe pathayapurayilekku vidam. Maranayittu achentante pandathe jhuba eduthu kodukkam. Aa driver-koru lungiyum." ("That's enough. Go and take a shower. You are drenched beyond belief. I am going to move him to the rooms on the west side of the house. I will give him one of father's old kurti-jhubas to change into. And a lungi for the driver."). The woman said to the girl, making the girl pull her back.
"Entha, eyale ivide kudiyiruttanano bavam?" ("What, are you going to make him a permanent resident here?")
"Veettil vanna oraditiye purathu mazhayil nirthi vishamipikkan mathram oru Kalarikkal namboodithiri kudumbavum nashichittilla. Nee chellu." ("No Kararikkal Namboothiri family is yet downtrodden enough to make a guest in our home stand out in the rain and suffer. You go now.")
He saw the girl give him one last look before she went inside.
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