Once the tamarind tree became a deity, Chairman M. C. Joseph did not want to have anything to do with the issue. It was believed that the bishop sent for him and warned him against any further involvement. Copies of the Travancore Nesan were burned at every public rally. The government granted Isakki police protection at his request, and the offices of the Travancore Nesan were guarded by a twenty-four-hour police detail. Isakki’s pen came to a screeching halt on the subject of the tamarind tree. However, just to show that he had not capitulated, Isakki still occasionally published letters that came in support of both sides of the issue. His friends said that the Nesan, which had previously sold three thousand copies, was now hitting the nine-thousand mark in the wake of the tamarind-tree crisis.

Khader alone was seething and fuming.

It was only a few days before the election. I still remember it very clearly. It was a Sunday. Market day. I had set out at the crack of dawn to buy a few things at the market. It was just starting to get hot when I was on my way back home. I stopped for coffee at Ananda Bhavan Restaurant and was just stepping back out when I saw a few people running south from near the clock tower.

My first impression was that the whole street seemed to be strangely excited. I walked closer and asked somebody what was going on. Coolie Ayyappan lay stabbed under the tamarind tree, they said! I rushed back to the restaurant, left my bag of vegetables there for safekeeping, and ran toward the tamarind-tree junction.

The tree was completely surrounded by crowds. People at the back were pushing and shoving, trying to get closer.

By the time I arrived, coolie Ayyappan had already been carried away. Some said that he died only after he got to the government hospital and that the police had been able to record his statement before his life slipped away. Some said he was still holding on to his life by a thread.

Blood lay in congealed splotches beneath the tamarind tree. I could not help but lift my head and look at the silver face of the goddess. It looked to me like her green eyes had lowered their eyelids and she was looking at all the blood on the ground.