It was a very simple request, really. It told the court that the government wanted to take away the Gonds’ sacred hill, and march them out of their village, and wanted to give all the land to a company for a bauxite mine. The Gonds, said the petition, were not denying that there could be valuable metal under their hill. They had not much use for such things, but they were not denying the metal was actually there. In discussing the petition with their lawyer friends, Jadob had explained that they should not deny the importance of the bauxite, or that it was present under the hill. The judges were not fools, so there was no point in telling them the bauxite did not matter. What the judges needed to be told, said Jadob, was that the Gonds should have the chance to decide if they needed the mine or not.

All they wanted, said the petition to the Supreme Court, was a vote on two questions. The Gonds of the villages around Devi Hills were to be asked: first, do you want to move out of your villages and go live somewhere else? And second, do you want Devi Hills to be dug up for a mine?

If they were allowed the vote, and if the answer to both questions was ‘yes’, the petition said, the Gonds would listen to the government and move out. Here, again, Jadob had specified to the lawyers who were writing the petition that they should explain to the judges that the Gonds were willing to follow everything the court decided. Jadob wanted the highest court of the land to understand and believe that the Gonds were law-abiding, honest people, happy to farm their land and keep to themselves. Jadob knew the judges had heard about the Maoists and the arrest of the headmen. He did not want the judges to doubt the honesty of the villagers.

To make it easy for everyone, Jadob’s friends had also written down how they would like the voting to be done. Who should get it done, who should watch over the process to see it was fair, and who should vote, and how.

About a few minutes after the mahji got the phone call from Delhi that the petition had been filed, the headmen made formal announcements in their villages, and everyone got to know.

Then they settled down to wait.

11

OCTOBER-NOVEMBER

‘How? How did they do it?’

Ghosh and Patnaik were sitting in the car at their usual place near the bridge, looking across the river at Deogan and the hills. Patnaik could now go wherever he wanted, but after weeks of sitting here they had become used to it, so they would often come and wait in the evenings. For Patnaik, this was still a part of his district, and he was still the lord and master of it. For Ghosh, the hills reminded him that his job here was not finished.