‘It won’t be that easy. I have nurtured my empire with my sweat and blood. It is a living thing – it is flesh and blood. If I need to end it, I need to finish myself.’

Saroj looked at her daughter strangely. She understood what her daughter was saying. She didn’t want to accept it yet.

Saroj looked up at the dark sky. She could smell the clouds gathering in the courtyard. Rajjo continued. ‘I am going to pay for my sins. That’s what you wanted.’

‘No. I want you to repent. Not to punish yourself,’ Saroj said teary eyed. But she was not going to weaken. She had to be brave for Rajjo.

On that comforting note, Rajjo closed her eyes. She was going to have a sound sleep. She was going to rest as tomorrow she had a long journey ahead of her.

‘Perhaps it will rain tonight’. Saroj muttered, eyeing the thick mass of black hovering over the terrace.

‘No,’ muttered Rajjo and closed her eyes.

Saroj shut her eyes as well. She was happy to see her daughter asleep. She counted the stars and looked for her Totu. She could feel him flying around in the courtyard. She whispered to him as a tear escaped her eye, ‘She is home now.’ She prayed to her lord to show mercy on her daughter. But Saroj knew a treacherous path awaited her daughter. Atonement was ruthless.

Saroj was ready to leave her village once and for all. She wanted to wake up her daughter and tell her that all she wanted was to be scattered in the fields right outside the house so she could spend her summers playing under the mango tree and winters around the giant pot used for community cooking at the village temple. So she could sit by the fire and tell stories to her children in the courtyard or she could feed Totu near the cage. So she could weep next to the cot where her husband lay, never to wake up again. So she could smile at the little hands of her son, etched out in the wet cement. She had guarded the imprints forever.

But she knew. She had to see her daughter through. She had to wait some more. She could see Totu standing on the offending generator nodding his head and shaking it vigrously. It seems he was trying to tell her something, He pointed towards Rajjo. Saroj put a protective hand around her daughter.

She was going to fight with him if need be, but he had to forgive her. She shivered in fear for Rajjo. She looked over her sleeping daughter tenderly and took out her prayer beads. The dry winds made her cough, the long winter settled in her bones. She prayed for her strength.