Chapter
12 – Nalan's Lie
"What did they say to her?"
He asked and boy looked at him in confusion and he realized that he had
spoken rather quickly and repeated the question slowly.
"Ah…" Nalan acknowledged
with a nod.
"They say… you live in Kashi Chechy's house. Hmm…"
The boy paused now as he thought once again and after a few moments
said, "They say… why you Delhi-man? Rich men here too."
"bas***ds!" he
muttered under his breath.
"bas***d! Yes. Thantayillaton." The boy agreed, hearing him perfectly.
"Come again?" he
asked, looking down at Nalan. He
wondered curiously how the boy knew both curses and English in equal
measure.
"bas***ds! Without
father, no? Thantakku Pirakkatavan!"
He listened but shook his head without understanding
because the kid had changed the word somewhat.
bas***d would do. He didn't need to know the Malayalam word for
it.
He had to wonder now though why Govindan Namboothiri would
ask a grown man to live in the house with his two unmarried daughters even with
him as a chaperone. The man must know
that the word would spread to the villagers; not that it seemed like the man
was intent on keeping it a secret anyways as Namboothiri had given him permission
yesterday to go into the village with Pallavi or Kashi. Clearly, not a man who was trying to hide
that there was a stranger living in his house.
Was he not worried about his daughters' reputation? Or situations like this where his daughter
would be subjected to lewd talk from assholes who couldn't tell their mother
from their sister.
He resumed his walk as he ruminated in this fashion and
Nalan started rolling his tire along like before and it wasn't long before they
were right in front of the two roadside Romeos.
"Itharada Nalan-Kutta ithu vare ivideyengum kanatha oru
chettan?" ("Who is this dude that we have never seen here before, Nalan?"). He heard the leader douche-bag ask Nalan and
he looked down at Nalan for translation.
The kid only looked at him briefly before looking back at
the men. "Kashi chechy-ye kettan
vannatha kure doorennu." ("He came to
marry Kashi chechy. From somewhere far
away.")
Nalan refused to look at him so he looked at the men to see
their response. Whatever the kid had
said, it had evidently delivered a bit of a blow to the men because the beedi
in the main guy's hand had fallen off while the sidekick's jaw was hanging
open.
He narrowed his eyes and looked at Nalan, but by the time
he looked up, the guy with the lost beedi had gotten up off the log.
"Sariyano chetta?
Kashiye kettan vannathano?" ("Is
it true? Have you come to marry Kashi?")
He was about to speak and tell the guys that he didn't
speak Malayalam, but Nalan suddenly grabbed his hand and pulled on it and when
he looked down at the boy, Nalan avoided his gaze as he told the men, "Ee
chettan Delhi-nnu vannatha. Kashi chechy
pandengo Delhi-yil poyappo ee chettan kandunnu.
Chechy-ye pullikangu pidichu poyi.
Kashi chechyalle.. anganangu veenu kodukkumo. Chechy paranju ethra valia pathrasanengilum
chechy-kku oru pullumalla, chechy-kkisthamillannu. Pakshe ee chettanu Kashi chechye tanne
matheennu. Angane anveshichu
vannatha. Ippam ethandurapicha
matta. Atha ee chettan illathu tamasikkunne."
("He is coming from Delhi. Apparently,
he saw Kashi didi in Delhi a long time ago and fell for her. But you know her… She wouldn't fall that easily. She told him she didn't care what a big-shot he
is, that she is not interested. But,
evidently he only wants her. So, he
came here in search of her. Now, their
wedding is almost set. That's why he is
staying in their house.")
Nalan paused for a
moment and looked up at him and he raised his eyebrows, but the kid shook his
head before looking back at the men and saying, "Chettanu Malayalam
ariyilla. Athondu ningal raksha
pettu. Allengil chechy-yodu ningalu
paranja varthamanam manasilayirunengil ningalde podi polum ippam undagillarunnu. Aalu bayangara viruthana. Kashi-chechynnu paranja jeevanum! Ningade
sthalathu njananengil ini chechy-de aduthu chumma kanja-pinja varthanam parayan
nikkilla. Veruthe chechy-de aduthunnu
pulicha terim kittum, ee chettarinja thadeem pokum. Entina veruthe…" ("He doesn't know
Malayalam. So, you guys were saved. Otherwise, if he had understood what you both
said to her, he would have taken care of you both by now! He is hard-core like that. And Kashi didi is his life! If I were you, I wouldn't say such bullshit
to Kashi didi anymore. You will get
another earful from her and if this bhai finds out, he will kick your ass
too. Why risk it?")
Arnav heard the kid say Kashi's name a bunch of time and
there was a Delhi somewhere in there too, but aside from that, he couldn't make
head or tail out of the long monologue.
He looked back at the guy and saw him look back and forth between him
and kid before his gaze finally settled on him.
At first he saw a questioning look on the man's face, and his gaze
turned into one of confusion. And then
the man's face changed. No matter the language barrier, men had no
difficulty understanding non-verbal signals, particularly those laced with
threat as the guy's expression showed now.
He didn't realize how quickly his own expression could change when faced
even the mildest of provocation. It was
true that he hadn't gotten into a fight since middle school; part of the reason
was his improved self-control, but the other part was that he didn't need to do
anything other than let his face do the talking. He knew his eyes could turn positively feral
when threatened; the potential for that sort of aggression was dormant inside
him, not obliterated completely. It
likely never would.
It must have been intense enough because both guys
physically took a step back. The
sidekick walked away first and was soon followed by the main one. He looked at their retreating backs and when
they were far enough away, he heard a sudden sound and looked down to see Nalan
laughing with his head thrown back.
"What the hell did you tell them?" he asked, thinking over the whole interaction
between the kid and the guys with suspicion now.
Nalan looked at him and winked before he controlled his
laugh enough to ask, "You stay at illam?"
"Illam?" he asked
and the kid nodded. "House. Illam is
Namboothiri house."
"I see." He said
before he said the word again.
"Illam… hmm… yes, I stay at
Illam. How do you know?"
Nalan smiled and gave him another wink before starting to
roll his tire again without answering.
He wanted to once again ask the boy what he had said to the
guys, but then gave up. The kid didn't
seem intent on answering and it wasn't like he was that interested in knowing
anyways, as long as it didn't have too much to do with him.
The girl could clearly fight her own battles, although he
did wonder how they would live down the scandal if there was one due to his
stay. But it wasn't really his problem,
it was their father's. If the man didn't
care what happened to their daughters' good name, why should he worry about it.
He noticed that the boy was about to disappear around the
corner and called to him.
"Show me the way to the…"
he was about to say house, but
then stopped himself and said, "Illam."
He didn't think Kashi would come back to check on him now and he was
sure that she would rather that he got lost permanently.
The boy broke into a wide grin and nodded.
______
Edited by -publicenemy- - 11 years ago
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