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Back Cow and Company Save as PDF
Chapters (46)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. 23
  26. 24
  27. 25
  28. 26
  29. 27
  30. 28
  31. 29
  32. 30
  33. 31
  34. 32
  35. 33
  36. 34
  37. 35
  38. 36
  39. 37
  40. 38
  41. 39
  42. 40
  43. 41
  44. 42
  45. Acknowledgements
  46. THE BEGINNING

“Must be Guru Raam Singh,” one of them said.

“That was fifty years ago Kookay,” the other responded. They are quite opiated and have lost their sense of time . . .’

~

It was then that the relatives of the old paanwala bribed the doctor to declare him mentally unfit and seized control of his finances. When he asked them whether the private agent had been paid, they nodded. When he asked whether there was any news from the agent, they read him the same letter over and over again. He responded by saying something cryptic:

‘Get him to Peshawar by train.’

‘Give him a hundred gold coins from our royal treasury.’

‘Where will he spit? Make arrangements.’

‘Dispatch an elephant. No, maybe not. The mahout cannot be trusted.’

He also spoke in other languages.

‘It’s Persian,’ said his grandson, who had begun boasting at school that his family, through his grandfather, was linked to royal blood.

‘No one lies on their deathbed. My grandfather had a royal treasury full of gold. We became poor because he distributed it to the scoundrels in the north. I remember he mentioned your father,’ he said to Baghel who had moved to Bombay city from the Rajputana Presidency and had told everyone he was a prince with a four-gun salute.

‘There were many Rajputs in our court, many,’ the grandson continued, ‘we had a hundred-gun salute.’

‘There is no such thing as a hundred-gun salute.’

‘Yours is a lineage of a small princeling. What do you know about our ways?’

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26

The mill worker wondered where the others were. Was this the right place? He had slept on the pavement the previous night. The breeze there was better than his room’s stale air.

The policeman walked around him but did not touch him. Could be the plague? But that was years ago. Why bother? the policeman thought. If he is around tomorrow, I’ll call someone.

‘Are you okay?’

‘Yes.’ The cleaner from the municipal corporation was surprised to receive a response.

‘Don’t you have a place to stay?’

‘Yes, the goshala (cow shelter). I live in the goshala.’ The worker remembered going there two nights ago. He did not remember that he was not allowed in.

‘This is for cows,’ they had said.

~