Chikthayi stands there, numbly gazing at Putti. Quite calmly, Putti turns, as though she has not screeched at Chikthayi, and looks back at the wall. They silently watch the form of Annaiah wearing a gleaming garland of swetasanchari and suryavamsi. He climbs the banyan tree and disappears.

4

PUTTI AND GOWRA

hikthayi and Putti walk back to the village, hand in hand. Putti is calm and composed, her loose night-black hair swinging silkily. But Chikthayi is breathing hard. Putti takes Chikthayi to the women’s room at the end of the old stone corridor, puts a wet cloth on her forehead and lays her down on the hard bamboo mat.

Chikthayi develops a fever for which nobody knows the cure. It lasts for nearly five months. She talks suddenly, laughs abruptly in a joyful sort of rush and chatters away in a language no one understands. Only Putti knows how to soothe her; she unbinds her hair and strokes it.

One day, in the middle of one such session in the afternoon, Chikthayi suddenly gets up and starts walking, in a gait not her own. This time, it is Putti who follows her as she heads towards the wall. Ajji, her mother Dyavamma, Putti’s married elder sister Bhagyakka and Ningamma also follow the girls.

Chikthayi stops near the wall, a shudder passing through her. She sees Annaiah’s beckoning eyes, shaped like the suryavamsi flower, on the wall. Putti, the only other person to see it, rushes past Chikthayi, screaming in the alien language. Putti stands in front of Chikthayi, blocking her with her own body. A dazzling light blinds Ajji, Ningamma, Bhagyakka and Dyavamma, who haven’t been able to make out why Chikthayi has halted and why Putti has rushed forward to scream some gibberish. Putti screams some more and collapses on the ground. At that moment, Chikthayi’s fever breaks. With the sweat streaming in rivulets down her forehead and face, Chikthayi runs forward to catch her cousin.

The women carry Putti back home. She is desperately trying to say something to Chikthayi, but the words don’t come out. Bhagyakka, worried about her sister, offers to stay but finally goes home to her husband and in-laws. That night, after Chikthayi has lain down, exhausted with worry and effort, Putti gets up, goes to the smudged mirror in the corner of the room and unbraids her hair.

She reaches up and takes out her jewellery box, in which all the glittering jewels saved up for her marriage are stored. Chikthayi watches stealthily as she puts on every one of them and stands awhile, smiling at her reflection in the mirror, turning this way and that.

Finally she takes out her black kankappu and lines her eyes, making them appear even bigger. She gives a final, satisfied look at her reflection and makes her way to Chikthayi, who just manages to close her eyes in time. Putti kisses Chikthayi’s forehead and quietly slips out of the room. All the other women in the room continue to sleep undisturbed. Putti goes swiftly to the well in the courtyard. There, she bends her left ear to the opening and listens.