Where Angels Prey (7 page)

CHAPTER 10

 

 

 

P
A
R
I
C
HEMAM, 2 OCTOBER 2010

 

Ramaiyya wakes up to a headache and an itchy throat—a clear sign that he has gone without a drink for too long. He slowly sits up, holding his pounding head in his hands. It is dark all around him save for the streaks of sunlight leaking through the cracks in the roof.

The dilapidated structure used to be a cattle shed and a residual odour still lingers in the air. Ramaiyya idly wonders which is worse—the pungent smell or the oppressive heat caused by the asbestos sheets on the roof. The place is now a hideout for Bhava Reddy’s men. The land belongs to Bhava himself, a follower of political strongman Nageswara Reddy.

Ramiayya has been working for Bhava Reddy for almost a decade. An erstwhile history-sheeter with interests ranging from illicit liquor to brothels, Bhava had acquired a veneer of respectability after he joined politics some six years ago. After a fair bit of party hopping, he finally settled down in Nageshwara Reddy’s party. Meanwhile, his other activities continued. The baton was merely passed on to Bhava Reddy’s nephew, Chiranjeevi. The nephew proved a worthy successor by expanding his uncle’s repertoire to include various other activities such as extortion and kidnapping.

In the general elections held the previous year, Nageshwara Reddy’s party had won enough parliamentary seats to merit a presence in the coalition that now held the reins of power at the centre. Bhava Reddy’s clout and connections, in addition to the generous handouts, had ensured that the district police force turned a blind eye to their activities for a long time, but the ascension to power tilted the scales even further in their favour. Bhava Reddy and his band of men developed a stronger sense of entitlement.

A huge feeling of resentment seizes Ramaiyya as he thinks back to the events of the last few days and, more importantly, the part played by DM Veena Mehra. The woman had been a thorn in their side ever since she had taken charge of the district three months ago.

It had begun with a raid on one of their distilleries; then there was the freeing of a bonded labourer who worked on the lands of one of the party benefactors. And now, the crackdown on the loan recovery operations of SAMMAAN Microfinance. Chiranjeevi often assisted these operations on the insistence of his wife Jamuna, whose cousin, Gopal Reddy worked as a loan recovery agent with SAMMAAN.

Their last operation had been the abduction of two girls from his village, Parichemam, to coerce their parents into settling the multiple loans they had taken, and the instalments for which had been more than six months overdue. They had taken both the girls to an old, unused warehouse that ‘belonged’ to Bhava Reddy. Ramaiyya and his team took turns to guard the warehouse while negotiations were on with the parents.

Ramaiyya had expected the operation to go smoothly, as it almost always did. The parents would pay up and the girls would be returned safely. But DM Veena Mehra and her dogged determination upset all his plans. She organized a special police party to rescue the girls; the team raided the warehouse where the girls had been held captive and even managed to free one of them.

Ramaiyya had not been there at the time of the raid. It was his younger son’s birthday and he had gone home to be with him. After stuffing his face with the spicy fish curry his wife had cooked, Ramaiyya had fallen asleep. He was in the middle of a dream involving a buxom film heroine when his wife’s scream jolted him out of it.

“Run, before the cops get here! They have rescued Gomti’s daughter from the warehouse. The DM is coming here to speak to her. She is bound to identify you!”

For a moment Ramaiyya had not been sure which to rue more—the abrupt end to his fantasy or the girl’s rescue. Then he regained his wits and scrammed.

It had been four days since. He had gone straight to Chiranjeevi’s house and was directed to hide in the old cow shed nearby. He assumed that the police would sniff around for just a few days. But clearly, the DM had other plans.

Ramaiyya curses under his breath. Who decided that women should be educated and occupy positions of power? The bitch probably fancied herself as some film heroine out to serve justice to the poor!

Ramaiyya sits up with a start as he hears the door creak open. He heaves a sigh of relief when he sees that it is his wife, carrying a tiffin. He realizes he has not eaten a morsel in almost eight hours. Feeling ravenous, he grabs the tiffin and starts stuffing his face with food.

“Have you brought my liquor too?”

“Today is Gandhi Jayanti, the liquor shops are all closed.”

Ramaiyya curses under his breath.

“I met the DM last night.”

Ramaiyya almost spits out the food in his mouth.

“What...what are you talking about?”

“I met Veena Madam ji last night. She alone can save—”

Ramaiyya slaps her hard across her face. Either the woman is immune to his violence or he is losing his strength
for she hardly flinches.

“Are you crazy? I don’t need any saving! I have my bosses to take care of my safety, they are the ones that have put a roof over our heads!”

“Enough of your nonsense. Your bosses may have paid for the booze that courses through your veins, but they certainly haven’t kept my children or me from cold or hunger. If it weren’t for my snacks stall, we would all be out on the streets.”

“Enough of your drama! You talk too much only because you have a few pennies in your hand. Let me just get out of here, I’m going to send you back to your parents’ home!”

“When you get out of here, you are going straight to prison and nowhere else.”

“So you went and pleaded with the DM to set her cops after me? Revealed my whereabouts, have you?”

“I might have, if you hadn’t been the father of my children. But I didn’t want them to be orphaned!”

Ramaiyya is on the verge of losing patience. Part of him just wants to push her aside and get away, maybe go to the Municipal Councillor’s house, ask for some money and escape to the city for a while.

Almost as if she can read his mind, his wife says, “Don’t waste your time making plans. Bhava Reddy has been suspended from the party on disciplinary grounds. He is too busy saving his own skin to bother about yours!”

Ramaiyya is now a worried man.

“How do you know all this?”

“The farmhand working on their lands told his wife and she told me. That is why I went rushing to the DM last night.”

“How did you find her? You couldn’t have just walked into her house!”

“I can and I did. Now just shut up and listen to what happened.”

 

 

Would the DM help her husband? Or was she unwittingly laying a trap for him herself?

This thought was uppermost in Vijaya’s mind as she waited outside the DM’s bungalow. It helped that she knew the guard on duty; his niece was an acquaintance of hers. Seeing her plight, he had taken pity on her and agreed to inform the DM of her request for an audience.

He had been gone for almost ten minutes. And Vijaya had just begun to wonder if she was better off leaving, when he came rushing back.

“DM Madam has asked me to bring you in. Come now, be quick!”

Vijaya practically ran into the bungalow with the old guard struggling to keep pace with her.

The cook escorted her to the reception area and pointed towards a sofa in a corner. Vijaya was too overwhelmed to even consider sitting. The man shrugged and left.

Vijaya mentally rehearsed her lines. Hardly five minutes later, when the DM walked into the room and nodded at her, all thoughts fled Vijaya’s mind. She was sure she would not be able to get even a word out. Luckily for her, the DM was talking on her phone and probably didn’t notice her expression.

“Okay
beta
, finish your homework quickly now and I will ask your dad to take you to the movies over the weekend.”

Vijaya had not been able to comprehend much of her conversation, but her tone and the mention of homework made her conclude that she was probably talking to her child. The thought made Veena seem a little less intimidating. She was a mother too, just like her. She would surely understand Vijaya’s concern for her children.

“Yes...what did you want to see me about?”

Her tone was authoritative and impersonal. Vijaya felt tears springing to her eyes. At a loss for words, she did the only thing that she could think of.

Veena Mehra was visibly taken aback when Vijaya prostrated herself before her.

“Hey...get up now...I don’t appreciate this kind of behaviour!”

Vijaya could not control herself any more. She started crying loudly.

Veena quickly summoned her assistant and asked him to help her up. The man hesitated and Vijaya shrunk back, reminding Veena about the sensitive gender dynamics in the village. She asked him to get Vijaya some water and helped her up. The kindness made Vijaya cry harder. Finally, after much protest, Veena managed to make her sit on a chair opposite hers.

“It’s okay. Just take a deep breath to calm yourself.”

The cook had entered with a bottle of water and Vijaya quickly gulped the contents.

“Would you like a cup of coffee?”

Vijaya shook her head vehemently.

Veena motioned for the cook to leave before turning to Vijaya, looking at her intently.

“Why do I get the feeling I have seen you somewhere?”

Vijaya was taken aback. She had been on the fringes of the crowd that had gathered around Gomti’s house when Veena had come visiting. Veena had spent almost an hour talking to Gomti’s daughter, Varalakshmi, one of the two abducted girls. The crowd had listened spellbound as she gently assured the girl and her mother of support and protection from the administration. It was the manner in which she spoke to them that had convinced Vijaya to seek her help.

“Amma, you had come to our Parichemam village...to meet Varalakshmi.”

“Wait, weren’t you the woman who kept ducking every time you caught my eye?”

Vijaya squirmed in her seat as she realized that her attempts to avoid being noticed had resulted in the reverse. Not that it mattered now.

“Amma, please help me...my children need their father!”

Vijaya poured her heart out to her. Her unhappy and abusive marriage and their four children, Ramaiyya’ history and how he had never paid heed to her fervent pleas to give up his violent ways for the sake of the children, the fact that Ramaiyya had been working closely with Chiranjeevi and his relative, who had spearheaded the SAMMAAN operations in the area and was responsible for many cases of kidnapping and extortion, including the latest kidnapping of the two girls from Parichemam. She begged Veena to grant her husband a pardon, and promised that he’d surrender himself and offer to turn witness to prove the coercive
tactics adopted by SAMMAAN.

Veena listened patiently before finally telling Vijaya that Ramaiyya would have to face punishment for his actions. However, if he did turn witness, she could request the authorities to take a slightly more lenient view of his actions. She promised Vijaya to help with their children’s education.

Vijaya fell at her feet again to thank her for her generosity and kindness.

 

 

Ramaiyya feels a nagging headache coming on as his wife continues to sing the DM’s praises. He resists a strong urge to wring her neck, just to make her stop. She seems to have developed some connections that might just come in handy.

“I need some time to think.”

Vijaya looks at him like he is a mad man.

“Are you crazy? There is no more time to think. You don’t have any other option!”

Ramaiyya gnashes his teeth. The woman is clearly feeling bold after her tryst with the DM.

“Don’t tell me what I have and what I don’t. I have listened patiently to all that you have had to say. Now I need time to think and make my decision. Even if you run the family, I am still the man of the house!”

Ramaiyya pulls out the bundle of
beedis
tucked into his waistband. There is only one left. He curses under his breath.