The Gonds didn’t have anything to lose, and there was nothing else they could possibly do anyway. It was all in the hands of the Supreme Court.

At first, Jadob had been afraid of this idea. It was not something he would have come up with, and he did not think even Patnaik would fall for it. But Jadob was grateful for Korok’s earlier idea about voting over the mine, so he decided to listen to the boy. Perhaps, against such powerful enemies, the Gonds could only win by cunning. And they had talked and talked about it. About how it could be done, what could go wrong, and how to make sure nothing went wrong. Jadob finally came up with a detailed plan, and said it had to start from the jail.

So Korok had gone to Balangir and met his father, and explained everything to him. Korok’s father, although very worried about the boy, had listened. He had spent months in jail for something he had not done, while his village and people were in danger of being uprooted. Here was a chance to strike back at Patnaik.

Korok’s father had talked with just a few of the many Gonds in jail, those who could be trusted. Then they had started the rumour that a top Maoist leader would be coming to Deogan. The rumour had got its own life, and quickly spread everywhere, even outside the jail. Some of the police informers did not know the truth. Some of the informers, all Gonds, did know that it was just a rumour. But the news spread very fast and, in a few days, so many people were talking about it that Patnaik and his officers were convinced it was going to happen.

On that eventful January morning, Patnaik’s driver had made sure the phone battery was low, and the charger would never be found. Patnaik’s wireless operator was quite ready to not take any message from Collector Behera. The informer from Deogan was ready to call Patnaik at the last moment, and make the police rush to the village without getting time to think. All of them were Gonds. They worked for government money, but they also believed in the goddess of the hill.

All that was needed was a name. Jadob could not get it from his friends in Delhi. When Mishra finally arrived in Deogan from Koraput, without the officials in Balangir getting to know, Jadob got a name. The informer had called Patnaik, and Patnaik had made the arrest. It was simple, and against all odds, it worked. Because everybody knew how Patnaik thought, and what he would do. He had been in Balangir a long time, after all.