With Kuttachan’s departure, the crowd began to lose steam. Anthony made other plans. He stationed men with weapons to the south and west and closed off the exits. Then he came back to the fight.

‘Stop!’ he shouted at the crowd as though a harmless snake had suddenly found its hood. ‘Haven’t you had enough? Let him be! Let him go off into the forest.’

Calling out obscenities at Anthony, most of the crowd began to walk away. Dodging the others, the buffalo ran northwards through the gap Anthony had created. The greenery of the forest, almost within grasp, reflected in his tired eyes.

The gap Anthony had created led to a creek that emptied into a swamp. The buffalo swam across the water and began walking into the sticky mud. Soon, his pace slowed, and he made a failed attempt to push down with his forelegs to raise the hind legs. By then, walking with slow, high steps, Anthony was upon him. With the crowd baying all around them, the scene looked like the arena in an ancient empire where an enslaved gladiator faced off a fearsome creature in a deadly fight. Indifferent to the fact that he had no underclothes on, Anthony took off his lungi and tied it around the buffalo’s face. Someone threw him a large knife, and he rammed it into the buffalo’s chest, piercing through the creature’s heart and lung.

As some of the spectators hoisted Anthony up in the air and danced in celebration, others tied ropes to the carcass and dragged it out of the mud. By the time the day broke and the sun was warm, people were seen going back to their houses carrying large chunks of buffalo meat, with the glow of victory on their faces.

The cow-buffalo that had escaped into the inner forest stumbled into the sight of a four-or-five-member gang. Frustrated by mosquito bites, blood-sucking leeches and hunger, they were squabbling with one another.

‘See what happened?’ asked one of the men. ‘We can’t get out now. The police are everywhere, and we’ll be arrested for entering the forest illegally. You said the whole community will support us. So now, where are they?’

‘Look, there it is,’ said another, catching sight of the buffalo. ‘Catch it!’

The buffalo gathered up her strength and took off, and the hungry men chased after her.

The next Sunday, Kaalan Varky’s butcher shop was busy as usual, but there were some small but significant changes. Anthony had become Kaalan Anthony. He did not bother getting married to Sophie. They just started living together in her room. Anthony prepared the meat and chucked large chunks of it at Varky who, with an expression of respect, chopped them up for the customers.

‘Buffaloes . . . They’ve always been dangerous creatures,’ Prabhakaran joked as he stood around waiting for his meat. ‘A long time ago, it was buffaloes that scuppered a plan of ours to attack a police station. Some of us had armed ourselves and surrounded the station in the night. Suddenly, we heard the sound of an approaching battalion of soldiers marching down the street, and we took off immediately. Turned out, it was a bunch of buffaloes meant for the night market being herded down the street!’