8

GANGI’S STORY CONTINUES

t comes to pass as Ajji envisages. Annaiah, initially outraged at the idea, reluctantly agrees that the girl should not be forced into prostitution by the unscrupulous Dasegowda. He knows better than Ajji the kind of life Gangi would have to lead in the Ooramma temple. So he doesn’t even talk of that as an alternative.

Instead, he tries to convince Ajji that dedicating the girl to God and destroying her life like this is wrong. It is all nonsense. He tells her that the young girl should get married, have a family and a life of her own. He is old enough to be her father; in fact, he is older than Sannegowda.

Ajji listens, shrugs and says, ‘But such relationships have happened before and will happen again. Please accept her.’

Doddegowda himself intervenes. He fears the wrath of God, now that Dasegowda has mentioned the issue of dedicating Gangi. He does not want to send his beloved niece to that horrible Ooramma temple, but is terrified of not dedicating her to some god. She is promised, after all.

He thinks a lot about it. Will Ooramma be angry if he sends her to Kamadeva instead? His elders are not alive to ask and consulting those bommanru in the big village will not help, because an Ooramma versus Kamadeva fight is too small and too lower caste for them. Doddegowda makes a compromise. He promises Ooramma that he will put some of the profits from this year’s harvest into her hundi and begs her to accept that Gangi will serve Kamadeva and to treat it as if she is serving her.

Doddegowda pushes aside the thought that all this might have happened one generation ago if he had realized that his sister Putti had a relationship with Annaiah. If he had actually allowed a marriage then, like he is thinking of allowing one with Gangi now, Putti might have been alive and well today. Well, life teaches us lessons, doesn’t it? Annaiah, as Doddegowda now knows, is not a bad man at all. Certainly much better than some others he could name, including Sannegowda.

Under the banyan tree, he tells Annaiah to accept Gangi and save Sannegowda’s life. Annaiah tries to tell him a tale about why girls should not be dedicated to temples. To no avail. Doddegowda also refuses to let Annaiah look at Sannegowda’s problem himself and find a solution. He thinks that Dasegowda probably knows more about these things than the rather chaste Annaiah, and anyway, Ooramma can’t be thwarted in every way. It is up to him to balance the powers of the Ooramma and Kamadeva in the village, as always.

Byregowda and Gowra are simply horrified. Byregowda points out to Ajji, Gangi and to his parents that all this dedicating to God is complete rubbish. Hasn’t even Annaiah said as much?