That evening, Korok visited Jadob’s house and talked to him. The next morning, he visited his mother on the hill, and spent a long time at the hanal kot. And then, knowing Bishto would turn up whenever he was needed, Korok walked down to the main road and waited for the bus.

Ghosh was packing up to leave. His work was done. The Company had asked him to solve the problem, and he had. It had taken a little longer than he had expected, because of the court case, but he had won, as he always knew he would. Now he couldn’t wait to leave dusty Balangir and go to Australia.

He was very happy when he met Patnaik.

‘I am relying on you now, Patnaik. Remember that. Collector Behera can do what he likes. Everything is up to you,’ he said, at Patnaik’s office.

Ghosh had been telling Patnaik that it was over, and the Gonds had lost. Patnaik had not been quite sure.

‘You need not worry. The Supreme Court has just asked for a report from the ministry of forests. So they will write a report and send it to the judges. That is what the government is good at. Writing reports that don’t mean anything. Then the judges are going to tell the Gonds that their request for voting on the mine can’t be allowed. And that will be that.’

Patnaik nodded and stared at his cup of tea. This man Ghosh was scary, in some ways. First, because he clearly had so much power. People in Delhi listened to him all the time. Second, Ghosh had been living in Balangir for months, and had not even complained once. About the food, or water, or dust, or the weather. Nothing seemed to bother the man. Almost as if he was beyond all this. Patnaik wasn’t sure whether that made Ghosh a superman or something else.

‘So you can relax. But not quite. I have to go, but you have my phone number and can reach me anytime. But don’t just call me unless it is very, very important. Now, what you will have to do is also very important. You have to keep a tight control over this district, particularly the Gond areas. There must be no crimes, no big incident that will be in the newspapers. Nothing must make the judges notice Balangir in any way. So when they get the ministry’s report, they will just treat this district as a normal place. You understand?’

Patnaik said he did.

‘That also means no lathi charge. No more beating up the Gonds if they protest. You are a new kind of policeman. You frighten people into following the law by smiling at them.’

Patnaik thought about it. A New Policeman. He smiled. He liked the idea.