beaches—I will bring them to my settlement. Of course, they and their families will live across the fields from your pure house!"
"I have decided to give more attention to my prayers," Mammen Samuel told his wife. "Prayer in the morning and evening, at the moment of night's darkness and the first light of day—that's what the Indian Hindu religion promotes. Pray at each union of day and night. It could be a good rule for a Christian too. I have decided that I shall follow that pattern."
Parmar Ruth looked at her husband most curiously, but she held her tongue.
It had been so long since Mammen Samuel had prayed that he wasn't sure he remembered how. He sat all alone in a room with his legs crossed, just as he had seen Brahmin Keshavan do. He had no idol, of course, but he stared straight ahead at a picture of Jesus that hung on the wall and intoned:
"Kill the tiger. Kill the tiger or move it far away from my fields." He paused to consider. "Prosper my harvest with much golden grain, and my thoughts with increasing wisdom." For good measure he added, "Bless everything I do and prosper me in all things. Bless me and prosper me more than you bless and prosper Brahmin Keshavan."
Satisfied with his prayer, Mammen Samuel smiled and said a hearty "Amen."
14
T he savages! Yes! Such an inspired idea, and it had come to Mammen Samuel but a mere moment before the words leapt from his mouth. He immediately recognized the brilliance of his budding scheme.
It had been a particularly dry year. The previous summer's monsoons were disappointingly light, and since then not one drop of rain had fallen. Already a smattering of tribal people had drifted down from the mountains and up from the beaches in search of food—or money to buy food—and the hot weather had not even started. Many more were sure to follow. With Mammen Samuel's workers refusing to go to the fields before full daylight, and insisting they be allowed to return to the safety of the settlement before sunset, the harvest fell further and further behind. The tribal people's strong arms and backs could indeed be put to good use. But Mammen Samuel saw an even more appealing reason for elation: Brahmin Keshavan.
As much as the Brahmins despised Untouchables, they loathed tribal people even more. Not only did the tribals eat meat, including wild chickens and the pigs villagers kept to clean up the garbage, but they ate beef. Yes, they actually dared to eat cows!
Mammen Samuel chuckled as he imagined the Brahmin's raging: "Uncivilized! Filthy, polluting, stupid savages!" If it made Keshavan angry to see Untouchables mixed together on the other side of the field, now he would be beside himself!
Mammen Samuel sat back, folded his hands across his belly, and enjoyed his first hearty laugh in many days.
Generally, tribal folk took care to keep their distance from people of caste. Even now, when drought made them desperate, they pulled away from the offer to work in the fields of a rich, upper caste landowner. All except Hilmi, who had watched his fishing lakes dry up, his unused boat crack in the sun, and his family wither from hunger.
Latha and Sethu stood on the outside of the crowd gathered to watch as Anup led the fisherman and his family into the settlement. Fierce, they were. Small and wiry, their skin almost black. And Hilmi, the most fearsome of all, with teeth brown and cracked from chewing betel nut, and no turban to cover his wild hair. He wore his mundu tight and short, wrapped around him like a pair of shorts.
"Just look! His legs and knees exposed for all to see!" Latha exclaimed, clucking her tongue with disapproval.
Behind Hilmi walked two young boys, both older than Ashish, though not by many years. Hilmi's wife—Jeeja, a thin, nervous woman in a shabby, dirt-colored sari— followed after and two girls came along behind her. The girls looked to be older than Anup's two oldest daughters. Both wore metal collars around their
"I have decided to give more attention to my prayers," Mammen Samuel told his wife. "Prayer in the morning and evening, at the moment of night's darkness and the first light of day—that's what the Indian Hindu religion promotes. Pray at each union of day and night. It could be a good rule for a Christian too. I have decided that I shall follow that pattern."
Parmar Ruth looked at her husband most curiously, but she held her tongue.
It had been so long since Mammen Samuel had prayed that he wasn't sure he remembered how. He sat all alone in a room with his legs crossed, just as he had seen Brahmin Keshavan do. He had no idol, of course, but he stared straight ahead at a picture of Jesus that hung on the wall and intoned:
"Kill the tiger. Kill the tiger or move it far away from my fields." He paused to consider. "Prosper my harvest with much golden grain, and my thoughts with increasing wisdom." For good measure he added, "Bless everything I do and prosper me in all things. Bless me and prosper me more than you bless and prosper Brahmin Keshavan."
Satisfied with his prayer, Mammen Samuel smiled and said a hearty "Amen."
14
T he savages! Yes! Such an inspired idea, and it had come to Mammen Samuel but a mere moment before the words leapt from his mouth. He immediately recognized the brilliance of his budding scheme.
It had been a particularly dry year. The previous summer's monsoons were disappointingly light, and since then not one drop of rain had fallen. Already a smattering of tribal people had drifted down from the mountains and up from the beaches in search of food—or money to buy food—and the hot weather had not even started. Many more were sure to follow. With Mammen Samuel's workers refusing to go to the fields before full daylight, and insisting they be allowed to return to the safety of the settlement before sunset, the harvest fell further and further behind. The tribal people's strong arms and backs could indeed be put to good use. But Mammen Samuel saw an even more appealing reason for elation: Brahmin Keshavan.
As much as the Brahmins despised Untouchables, they loathed tribal people even more. Not only did the tribals eat meat, including wild chickens and the pigs villagers kept to clean up the garbage, but they ate beef. Yes, they actually dared to eat cows!
Mammen Samuel chuckled as he imagined the Brahmin's raging: "Uncivilized! Filthy, polluting, stupid savages!" If it made Keshavan angry to see Untouchables mixed together on the other side of the field, now he would be beside himself!
Mammen Samuel sat back, folded his hands across his belly, and enjoyed his first hearty laugh in many days.
Generally, tribal folk took care to keep their distance from people of caste. Even now, when drought made them desperate, they pulled away from the offer to work in the fields of a rich, upper caste landowner. All except Hilmi, who had watched his fishing lakes dry up, his unused boat crack in the sun, and his family wither from hunger.
Latha and Sethu stood on the outside of the crowd gathered to watch as Anup led the fisherman and his family into the settlement. Fierce, they were. Small and wiry, their skin almost black. And Hilmi, the most fearsome of all, with teeth brown and cracked from chewing betel nut, and no turban to cover his wild hair. He wore his mundu tight and short, wrapped around him like a pair of shorts.
"Just look! His legs and knees exposed for all to see!" Latha exclaimed, clucking her tongue with disapproval.
Behind Hilmi walked two young boys, both older than Ashish, though not by many years. Hilmi's wife—Jeeja, a thin, nervous woman in a shabby, dirt-colored sari— followed after and two girls came along behind her. The girls looked to be older than Anup's two oldest daughters. Both wore metal collars around their
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