Korok listened to the conversation among the villagers assembled outside. The elders had been arrested because, the police said, they had been in touch with Maoists and were planning to attack the police and Collector Behera. Korok didn’t know much about Maoists. He had heard of the Red Brothers. They were fierce fighters in the forests of Chhattisgarh, and the police and other people had been battling them. Nothing like that had ever happened in Balangir. Korok didn’t know much about Maoists or why they were fighting. They were supposed to be on the side of poor people, which must mean they were on his side, because he was certainly the poorest person in Deogan. But he did not know much beyond the few things he had heard.

If Korok’s father had been in jail for months because of timber theft, the mahji and Jadob could be sent to jail for years. Maybe they would never be let out. And what would happen to his mother’s hanal, and all the others?

Some of the villagers decided to go and meet the arrested men in Balangir Jail. Korok walked home slowly. He wasn’t sure if he should go to the garden. Later in the day he thought he must, so he went and poked around half-heartedly among the plants. The ground had become even harder, but the plants were holding on. Anchita had gone somewhere with her mother and the house was empty. Korok returned home, made khichdi with red rice and ate some of it. It tasted really bad. He didn’t know if he had forgotten to put something in it or if he had lost his appetite.

In the evening, Korok went and sat outside the mahji’s house till the old man’s wife came out and asked him if he was all right. There was more news from Balangir. Patnaik had acted very fast. He had produced all the arrested men in court, where the magistrate allowed Patnaik to keep them at Balangir police station and question them for two days. There was no point in asking them questions, because they had absolutely no idea why they had been arrested, but those were the rules, and Patnaik wanted to show the judge that this was a very serious matter. The mahji’s wife asked Korok to stay for dinner, but Korok told her he had food at home and he would manage. Then he returned home.