Arhi FF: Kalarikkal House (Thread 2 link posted) - Page 81

Chapter 16 – Memory of Something That Never Was…

[Not proofed yet – Sorry guys, no time for proofing nowadays]

"Sir! Are you alright? I thought you were coming back last night. Your phone has been out of range since yesterday evening. I couldn't reach either you or the driver." Ravi's voice crackled out over the cell phone and Arnav moved a bit out of the stationary store, evidently the only one hereabouts that had all the things town people tended to want, according to the driver, whose name was Vasu as it turned out.

"I have to stay here for a week, Ravi. I want you to bring my suitcase here today. Make sure you get my cell charger and laptop as well. My towel as well. What else?" He asked out loud and in the pause, he heard Ravi's voice again.

"You're going to stay there, sir? Where exactly do you mean?"

"In Govindan Namboothiri's house."

"Illatho?" (In the house?)

"Come again?" he asked.

"I mean, you are going to stay in the house? At the Kalarikkal House? For a week?" the man asked and Arnav raised an eyebrow at the man's presumption in questioning what he would be doing.

"Do you have any objections, Ravi?" he asked, looking at the cell, as if the man could see his expression.

"No sir… no, no. I… I am just surprised that he is letting you stay there is all."

"The man asked me to stay here himself. I can't begin to imagine why. But that is neither here nor there. I want another copy of that contract, Ravi. Oh and I need some shoes. Preferably a few pairs and make sure they are good for walking in rain and mud. I need some to use inside the house too, although I have noticed that they don't use shoes inside the house. Alright, so scratch that. Just the outside would do. Alright?"

There was a pause before he heard Ravi's answer, "Yes, sir."

"What time can you get here?" he asked and there was another pause and he looked at the phone in irritation before he barked out, "Is there any reason why you are pondering each of my instructions for a solid minute before responding?"

"Sorry sir. I… It's just that… It's alright, I will be there by the afternoon."

There was something about the man's voice that gave him pause and Arnav asked against his better judgment. "What's the matter, man? Spit it out!"

"I… my two-year old has been running a temperature since last night, sir. I was just going to take her to the hospital to get some medicine before coming your way."

"Have your wife take the child." He said, fighting annoyance, this time with himself.

"Alright sir." The man agreed, although there was something akin to resignation in his voice.

"What's wrong with your wife?"

"Sorry sir?"

"What's wrong with your wife, man?"

"She is sick too, sir." Ravi finally answered. "Same as with me last night."

Arnav sighed audibly now and cursed the inconvenience of sickness before he finally said, "Alright, take the kid to the hospital. Just get here by tomorrow, alright?"

There was another pause now before he heard, "Thank you so much, sir. But you don't have to wait, I can send your things with someone else tonight itself."

He brightened at the idea for a short second before he shook his head. He was not a man who trusted easily and his laptop and that contract were quite valuable.

"No, no… tomorrow would be fine. As long as you come yourself."

"If you're sure, sir."

"I am sure."

"How are things, sir?" the man asked unexpectedly and Arnav looked at the cell in surprise.

How are things indeed…

"Villages and ancient houses and stuck-up aristocrats and their haughty elitist daughters are not my thing, Ravi. Does that sum it up for you?"

"Sorry sir…"

"Yea, me too!" he said, his mood now ruined. He had been here less than 24 hours and the prospect of spending another 6 days in this place sounded like the tenth circle of hell.

"Take care of your kid and be here by tomorrow." He said before he hung up.

He called Aman next and went through his week's schedule, rescheduling almost all meetings and agreeing to send Akash in his place for those that could not be rescheduled. He gave the man a few other instructions and asked him to report to Akash for the next six days while at the same time emailing him a detailed account of the entire day. He would check them once he got his laptop here and figured out where to get a decent hook-up for reception. He called Akash next and explained the same. By the time he was done, his cell was down to 19%. He turned his cell off before turning to Vasu.

"When are they going to come fix the tire?"

"By this afternoon, sir."

He had hired Vasu's taxi for only a day and knew the man had other runs scheduled.

He opened his wallet to pull out a few notes for the tire and labor, but Vasu shook his head, "Your ride is already paid for, sir. I can take care of the tire myself."

"This is not just for the tire, man. This is for getting stuck in that house last night."

Vasu smiled but shook his head, declining the money yet again. "It was my fortune to stay in the illam, sir. It's not often that you get to stay in a place with so much history. It's a bit like those old houses that you see only in movies. Do you know they actually have a room that is reserved for Chaturangam? "

"Chaturangam? Oh, Chaturanga… Chess, you mean?"

"Yes, the older version of chess."

"What do you mean they have a room for it?"

Vasu was about to answer, but his attention was diverted by another man who came up to him and said something in Malayalam.

"Sorry, sir, it appears that they have arrived with the new tire."

Vasu took his leave and Arnav turned back into the store to buy some basic toiletries and a pair of Bata sandals. He couldn't very well walk around without sandals until tomorrow. It was hard to be taken for a civilized male when he had no footwear.

He put the sandals before walking out of the store. When he was walked about half a mile, he heard sounds to the right and following some gut that he didn't even know that he had, he walked around a tiny wooden hut to hear the noises of a scuffle in progress. There was grunting and crashing and more grunting and just as he reached the back, the rest of the crashing occurred as the kid slammed into him.

"What the!" he said just as he caught the skinny arms in his hands to keep the kid from falling.

"Da Panni!" ("You Swine!"). He heard then and looked up to see a taller, heavier kid heaving and out of the breath just a few feet away.

"Poda Nayinte mone!" (Get the hell away, you son of a bitch!). The kid that he was holding onto managed to turn back and yell out.

Even though he only had just this morning's acquaintance, he already recognized the boy's voice.

Nalan.

The other kid looked ready to charge again, but then looked up and saw him and thought better of it.

"Leave." He said in Hindi and knew from the kid's expression that he had understood at least that much.

He looked like he would argue, but then he turned around and walked away.

Nalan looked up at him then and he noticed that the boy had a bloody nose.

"What…" he started but the boy pushed out of his hold and swiped at the blood dripping out of his nose.

Without his hold, the boy swayed and almost fell, but he caught him and dragged him up by the arm.

The boy shook off his hold and walked into the hut. By the time Arnav walked in, the boy was using water from a clay pot to wash his face and bloody nose. The t-shirt that he had worn that morning was now stained with blood.

"Why were you fighting with that kid?" he asked.

The boy ignored him.

"You are angry about Kashi's house." He said.

The boy ignored him again.

He sighed in annoyance before deciding that this line of questioning was going to yield little result.

"I am going to buy you a new shirt. Stay here."

He didn't know why he thought the boy would obey him and sure enough by the time he returned, the boy was no longer in the hut.

Well, so much for that.

He resumed his walk back and found that the boy too had headed in the same direction, running into him after a quarter of a mile.

Rather than calling out his name, he whistled in the high-pitched piercing tone and the boy turned back in surprise.

He threw the shirt that he had bought – a plain white undershirt, the only one he could find in the store – in the boy's direction and the boy caught it out of reflex.

The boy had stopped by then and Arnav caught up to him just as the he looked up and said, "I don't want it."

"You're going to walk back to your house like that? Your father's going to have your hide!"

Nalan looked up and he saw the boy's nostrils flare for a quick second before the boy said belligerently, "My father's dead!"

The boy didn't wait for a reply but dropped the package containing the shirt onto the ground and started walking again.

Arnav picked up the package and fell into step beside him.

The boy tried quickening his pace, but clearly the fight had weakened him and it wasn't long before he stopped trying to outpace him.

He didn't think the boy wanted any more conversation and he was content enough to be silent as well, for the moment at least.

He didn't know where the boy's home was, but didn't have an opportunity to find out when about a quarter of a mile from the Illam, he saw Kashi coming their way.

The boy saw her first and stopped, which is when he looked in the direction of his gaze and noticed that she was walking their way, swinging the end of her braid as she had done yesterday.

The boy looked up at him, something akin to panic in his gaze, before looking back at Kashi. Then he took off running.

Kashi saw him then and he heard her call out, "Da! Nikkada avide!" (Stop right there!").

The boy turned to look back at her before turning back around to run even faster.

He watched in amazement as Kashi ran after him like the bullet that she had proved to be in the rain yesterday and tackled the boy to the ground.

By the time he rushed over to their side, he could hear her speaking to the boy in rapid-fire Malayalam, although he could gather from her pointing at the boy's bloody shirt and the dried blood around his nose and her tone than she was scolding him.

She raised him up by the ear and he could hear the boy say, "Ayyo, ente ponnu Kashi chechiyalle! Njanalla vazhakkinu poye. Aa panna kannali Murugana ente aduttu vazhakkinu vanne. Satyam." ("Please Kashi didi. Believe me! I was not the one who started it. It was that bas***d, Murugan!)

"Enikkonnum kelkanda. Chekkan raavile ente uppumavu kazhikkathe erangiyappozhe enikkariyarunnu innethengilum kuzhappam oppikkannu!" (I don't want to hear it! I knew it! When you left this morning without eating my Upma! I knew then itself that you were going to cause some trouble!)

The girl and the boy paid him no heed and he walked behind them as she kept her hold on Nalan's ear and made him walk back to the Illam.

He was about to call out to go easy on the boy but by then she had climbed up the stairs to the grounds of the house and disappeared from his view.

When he walked in, he saw her disappear around the side corner of the house and he followed.

By the time he reached the back, she had made the boy take off his blood-stained shirt and had him by the outside tap, pouring water to wash off the blood. Evidently the water had turned back on.

She kept up her scolding in a steady stream while she poured the water until she was convinced that the boy was thoroughly clean of the blood.

She walked to the clothesline nearby and grabbed a towel and walked back to the boy and pulled him to her roughly to towel his hair. The boy stood there with his arms crisscrossed across his chest as he shivered wearing just his now drenched suspender shorts.

Arnav found himself leaning against the pillar next to him as an unexpected weakness seized him as he watched them.

It was not a memory of his sister this time…

It was not a memory of anything he remembered even…

It was a memory of something he had never had…

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