‘Korok, you don’t understand. This is a big company. It has offices around the country and even outside. It is very powerful. If it says it is going to dig somewhere, it will. Many people have protested against it, filed cases against it. I read some of the news; I will read more and tell you. But I will ask my mother to explain it properly.’

Korok was still puzzled. The government he could understand. A company?

‘See,’ said Anchita, trying to think of a way to explain the problem to him. ‘These people’—she tapped the screen full of people in yellow hats and big machines—‘companies like this, they are like weeds. You can’t stop them if they want to take over. They are united, determined, very powerful and have a lot of money, my father says. If they want your flower bed or your village or hill, they will get it. The government will make you move, and give them the land. That has happened elsewhere too.’

She tapped a few more keys.

‘See, here is news about a company digging up a village in Chhattisgarh. The people were moved somewhere else.’

‘But … but … this is our home. Devi Hills is sacred for us.’

‘I wish I knew what was happening, Korok.’

They were silent for a while.

‘I don’t know much about this, but I will keep searching and tell you,’ she said.

‘Maybe it is just a government survey.’

‘Maybe, but it looks very serious. What I don’t understand is why the mahji hasn’t heard anything.’

‘Oh, he is not interested in anything outside the village.’

‘Still, he is the official headman, isn’t he?’ asked Anchita.

‘He says the government puts up signboards all the time and forgets about them.’

‘I don’t know, Korok. But if I find anything more, I will tell you.’

Korok returned to his flower bed and dutifully raked through the medicinal plants and watered them. They would be ready for next week’s batch. But his heart was not in his work just then.

‘They are like weeds,’ Anchita had said. Ah, she was a city girl and didn’t know much about gardening. Weeds don’t just take over a flower bed or a garden. It might look like that to an outsider, but it is a complex process. They don’t just appear one morning and choke the flowers. They don’t make conspiracies and hide plans and things. And all weeds are not the same. They do not grow or multiply or destroy the soil in the same way. They are as different to one another as flowers are.

Still, in a way he knew what she was talking about. Weeds are never good news for a garden.