THE FULL CIRCLE: PART 2
Raja’s re-appearance was as mysterious as his disappearance. The vanishing act in the night was followed up by a re-appearance in the early hours of dawn; Raja’s interim location being a clandestine affair. The bruises on his hind legs and whip-marks on the upper back indicated that his temporary handler had faced strong resistance. This time around, the rumour mill was active with the play of black magic whilst the daroga tried to claim stake by influencing public view in favour of his efforts towards ensuring Raja’s safe return.
Raja’s homecoming was rejoiced by Kailash – economic reasons apart, loss of near and dear ones had been a stark reality in his life. Having lost his parents at a young age, Kailash had lost his wife to the jaundice epidemic soon after Radha’s birth – the little girl had been only a few months old when Kailash had offered the urn of her mother’s ashes in the Ganges at Gaya.
With a personal conviction to bring up Radha in the face of the demise of his counterpart, Kailash had made it his life’s objective to provide for every need of his daughter’s happiness. Managing solely on the home and field front initially had required Kailash to be on his toes throughout, with intermittent help sought from next-door neighbours doubling up as Radha’s guardians.
Kailash was adept at handling the on-field activities, shuffling between the crops of wheat & maize during their respective kharif and rabi seasons through the year, but it was the summers that would keep him particularly busy. The adjacent orchard of shahi litchi trees would be up for lease by the beginning of the summers every year.
With over 300-plus trees in bloom, many like him would place their bids on the tree/s of their liking for the season basis the flowering and expected fruition thereon; whilst the landlord was immediately compensated with the highest bid for his plantations with certainty, it was a mix of sprinkling of adequate fertilizer & insecticide along with the alacrity of the outbreak of monsoons that set the tone for the negotiation of deals in the near-by Muzaffarpur market. The short fruit season of 1-2 months required Kailash to travel to the market on a regular basis for finalizing deals.
With the minimum prices being fixed statutorily on crops, making an additional buck on his limited land holding was purely a function of the statutory prices being raised; the litchi season thus provided Kailash with one of the few occasions to get more bang for his buck.
The post-litchi monsoon season was dreaded by one & all for the floods that accompanied the downpour. With high precipitation in the Himalayan ranges of Nepal leading to swelled up reservoirs and dam walls being tested, the Nepalese authorities would release a good deal of waters into the Kosi river which would find its directional flow into the Indian plains of bordering districts of Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Madhepura, Saharsa etc. through various tributaries. With almost 70% of the area under floods, the population of the district had become that of a fleeting nature during the monsoon season due to the widespread human, lifestock & material loss.
As such, the summers provided Kailash the only time to make good for the rainy day.
Meanwhile, Radha too, had responded well to the very modest upbringing her father could afford to provide for. Over the years she had grown up to take on household chores apart from learning to cook for herself and Kailash from a very young age. Not restricting her helping hand to the home front, she would regularly set up the scare-crow in the field dressing it up with Kailash’s old clothes to ensure the birds picking on the grain were kept at bay.
The arched pink-coloured walls with blue doors of the single-storeyed structure of ‘Saraswati Vidyalaya’ had been an ideal learning ground for Radha’s academic upbringing – the al fresco art sessions in the verandah under the banyan tree of the adjoining ground were most liked by her. Bringing Laxmi back from the grazing fields, Radha would return home from school and pull up water from the hand-pump to fill up all the earthen pots. Her cycle rickshaw sojourn to the weekly Sonbarsa haat ensured a regular flow of basic essentials to meet the needs of the two of them; although she relied on the old & trust-worthy Jagdish Kirana for monthly grocery requirements owing to the on-going credit provided by him – besides, Kailash would settle his account at the end of every cropping season on being flush with funds.
Retreating home from the temple to the sounds of chirping mynahs and field crickets, Radha would switch on the radio by her bedside, tuning into the latest numbers and dancing to the tunes – her favourite pastime. Baking sattu-filled litti on the earthen chulha with freshly made baigan-chaukha, she would prepare the evening meal by the time Kailash was back home from the fields bringing firewood tied to the back of his bicycle.
With only a couple of years to go for Radha to complete her higher schooling, Kailash had been planning to settle her down scouting an appropriate groom and fulfilling his obligatory duties. He would scan the newspapers running his eyes down the matrimonial pages through columns of Brahmins, Bhumihars, Banias, Kayasthas & Rajputs to finally arrive at the cattle-rearing agriculturist Yadav caste that he belonged to – an inter-caste betrothal was unheard of in the land owing to the social hierarchy accorded as well as prevalent caste rivalries & prejudices; with recent cases of the educated Brahmin class tying the knot with the trade & commerce predominant Bania class being viewed as almost sinful.
Raja’s homecoming was rejoiced by Kailash – economic reasons apart, loss of near and dear ones had been a stark reality in his life. Having lost his parents at a young age, Kailash had lost his wife to the jaundice epidemic soon after Radha’s birth – the little girl had been only a few months old when Kailash had offered the urn of her mother’s ashes in the Ganges at Gaya.
With a personal conviction to bring up Radha in the face of the demise of his counterpart, Kailash had made it his life’s objective to provide for every need of his daughter’s happiness. Managing solely on the home and field front initially had required Kailash to be on his toes throughout, with intermittent help sought from next-door neighbours doubling up as Radha’s guardians.
Kailash was adept at handling the on-field activities, shuffling between the crops of wheat & maize during their respective kharif and rabi seasons through the year, but it was the summers that would keep him particularly busy. The adjacent orchard of shahi litchi trees would be up for lease by the beginning of the summers every year.
With over 300-plus trees in bloom, many like him would place their bids on the tree/s of their liking for the season basis the flowering and expected fruition thereon; whilst the landlord was immediately compensated with the highest bid for his plantations with certainty, it was a mix of sprinkling of adequate fertilizer & insecticide along with the alacrity of the outbreak of monsoons that set the tone for the negotiation of deals in the near-by Muzaffarpur market. The short fruit season of 1-2 months required Kailash to travel to the market on a regular basis for finalizing deals.
With the minimum prices being fixed statutorily on crops, making an additional buck on his limited land holding was purely a function of the statutory prices being raised; the litchi season thus provided Kailash with one of the few occasions to get more bang for his buck.
The post-litchi monsoon season was dreaded by one & all for the floods that accompanied the downpour. With high precipitation in the Himalayan ranges of Nepal leading to swelled up reservoirs and dam walls being tested, the Nepalese authorities would release a good deal of waters into the Kosi river which would find its directional flow into the Indian plains of bordering districts of Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Madhepura, Saharsa etc. through various tributaries. With almost 70% of the area under floods, the population of the district had become that of a fleeting nature during the monsoon season due to the widespread human, lifestock & material loss.
As such, the summers provided Kailash the only time to make good for the rainy day.
Meanwhile, Radha too, had responded well to the very modest upbringing her father could afford to provide for. Over the years she had grown up to take on household chores apart from learning to cook for herself and Kailash from a very young age. Not restricting her helping hand to the home front, she would regularly set up the scare-crow in the field dressing it up with Kailash’s old clothes to ensure the birds picking on the grain were kept at bay.
The arched pink-coloured walls with blue doors of the single-storeyed structure of ‘Saraswati Vidyalaya’ had been an ideal learning ground for Radha’s academic upbringing – the al fresco art sessions in the verandah under the banyan tree of the adjoining ground were most liked by her. Bringing Laxmi back from the grazing fields, Radha would return home from school and pull up water from the hand-pump to fill up all the earthen pots. Her cycle rickshaw sojourn to the weekly Sonbarsa haat ensured a regular flow of basic essentials to meet the needs of the two of them; although she relied on the old & trust-worthy Jagdish Kirana for monthly grocery requirements owing to the on-going credit provided by him – besides, Kailash would settle his account at the end of every cropping season on being flush with funds.
Retreating home from the temple to the sounds of chirping mynahs and field crickets, Radha would switch on the radio by her bedside, tuning into the latest numbers and dancing to the tunes – her favourite pastime. Baking sattu-filled litti on the earthen chulha with freshly made baigan-chaukha, she would prepare the evening meal by the time Kailash was back home from the fields bringing firewood tied to the back of his bicycle.
With only a couple of years to go for Radha to complete her higher schooling, Kailash had been planning to settle her down scouting an appropriate groom and fulfilling his obligatory duties. He would scan the newspapers running his eyes down the matrimonial pages through columns of Brahmins, Bhumihars, Banias, Kayasthas & Rajputs to finally arrive at the cattle-rearing agriculturist Yadav caste that he belonged to – an inter-caste betrothal was unheard of in the land owing to the social hierarchy accorded as well as prevalent caste rivalries & prejudices; with recent cases of the educated Brahmin class tying the knot with the trade & commerce predominant Bania class being viewed as almost sinful.
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