Animal's People (45 page)
Authors: Indra Sinha
Says Zafar, “Welcome home.”
So I got it back, my familiar life, I have it back. Everything the same, yet everything changed. After staying three days with Zafar I returned to the tower where I'd lived with Ma. Time passed, the travellers returned from Amrika, in due course I danced at their weddings. All live together now in Pandit-ji's house, I still have my lunch there every day.
Eyes, what else can I tell you? Life goes on. It will take time, so we're told, to appoint a new judge in the case, the hearing's again been postponed, the Kampani's still trying to find ways to avoid appearing, but Zafar is confident we'll get them in the end. There is still sickness all over Khaufpur, hundreds come daily to Elli doctress's clinic. Abdul Saliq stands at the Pir Gate telling the low-souled to fuck off and die, Farouq's still a pain in the arse, Chunaram has various new scams, Faqri's doing good business, the factory is still there, blackened by fire it's, but the grass is growing again, and the charred jungle is pushing out green shoots. Moons play hide and seek in the pipework of the poison-khana, still the foreign jarnaliss come.
Three weeks ago, a fat package arrived, covered in blue and red Amrikan stamps it was, and addressed to Animal, Esquire c/o Elli at the clinic. Inside were many forms, plus a letter with good news for me, money has been found, my operation is booked. Elli was delighted, a huge hug she gave me and said that soon I won't know myself. Zafar says he'll help me to get a passport, in a couple of months I'll leave for Amrika. Elli and Nisha will accompany me. All I have to do is sign a paper.
Long have I sat with this paper under the old tamarind tree that was Ma's parlour. Thought and thought I've, asked aloud for advice, my voices had none to offer, but began their crazy hissing, khekhe fishguts noises. It's then I've remembered the tape mashin in the wall. I will tell this story, I thought, and that way I'll find out what the end should be. I'll know what to do. When I started speaking, when I heard dead Aliya's voice calling, it was like she and the others who are no more came back to be with me. My dear ones, heroes of my heart. Eyes, I can't tell you how I miss them, until I die this wound will never heal. They've been here through every minute of this telling. Ma's here with me now, sitting smiling she's, calling me son. Let me clear my eyes of dust and rainbows. Yes, I can see her. “We'll meet in paradise,” she says. I know that one day I will meet her there.
Eyes, here's what I'm thinking, and this I'm speaking to the mashin, I've told to no one but you. Of the cash I earned from Zafar and Co., which was four hundred bucks a month, each day I spent only four. In a tin inside the scorpion wall is more than ten thousand rupees. Eyes, it was for my operation, but now that cash, plus a little persuasion from Farouq's friends, will go to buy Anjali free and she will come to live with me. See, Eyes, I reckon that if I have this operation, I will be upright, true, but to walk I will need the help of sticks. I might have a wheelchair, but how far will that get me in the gullis of Khaufpur? Right now I can run and hop and carry kids on my back, I can climb hard trees, I've gone up mountains, roamed in jungles. Is life so bad? If I'm an upright human, I would be one of millions, not even a healthy one at that. Stay four-foot, I'm the one and only Animal. What reply would you give, Elli?
I am Animal fierce and free
in all the world is none like me
Eyes, I'm done. Khuda hafez. Go well. Remember me. All things pass, but the poor remain. We are the people of the Apokalis. Tomorrow there will be more of us.
HAUFPURI
G
LOSSARY
(Some common Hindi words listed here have a specifically Khaufpuri twist, and have different meanings in other parts of India;
ñ
signifies a nasal twang, as in French
non.)
aaj kahaañ chalogé?
âWhere are you off to today?
Aawaaz-e-Khaufpur
âthe Voice of Khaufpur
abba
âfather
achchha
âokay
aghori
âascetic devotee of Siva, typically naked, whose meditation is death
alaap
âslow opening exploration of a raga's scale
Ambassador
âMorris Oxford car, made in India under licence
Amrika
âAmerica
anaar
âpomegranate
arré
âan exclamation, like “hey!”
Ashara Mubarak
âthe eve of the 10th of Muharram
asteen ka saamp
âliterally the snake up your sleeve, traitor
baar sau chees
âAnimal's nonsense inversion of
chaar sau bees
(q.v.)
bada batola
âa braggart, big mouth
badmaash
ârascal
baingan
âaubergine
baingan bharta
âaubergine baked on coals, peeled, mashed and spiced
bakra banaana
âto scapegoat
bakwaas
ânonsense
barfi
âmilky sweets, of a fudge-like texture
basti
âliterally village, but in Khaufpur means a poor community
battameez kutté, main tumhe nasht kar doonga
âShameless dog, I'll destroy you.
beedi
âleaf-rolled cigarette
behanchod
âsisterfucker
bhai, bhaiya
âbrother, often used as a term of affection as in Zafar bhai
bhang
âintoxicating drink made from cannabis leaves
bhatt-bhatt sooar
âbhutt-bhutt-pig. A large three-wheel vehicle, it can carry thirty people and gets its name from the noise it makes and its ugly upturned snout above the front wheel.
bhayaanak rasa
âthe emotion of dread, terror
bhel-puri
âa popular street snack
Bhimpalashri
âafternoon raga,
bhonsdi-ka
âfart-born
Bilaval
âraga whose scale is almost identical with western C major scale
biryani
âa dish of meat in rice
Brahma
âin Hinduism the Creator god
burqa
âthe black head-to-toe robe with eyegrill of some Muslim women
chaar sau bees
â420, refers to section 420 of the Indian Penal Code which deals with cheating
cha-hussain
âa gullible fool, someone who's taken for a ride
chai
âtea
chai chappa chai
âa song from the film
HuTu Tu
, 1998
chakra
âcircle
channa
âchickpeas
chapaat-zapaat
ânonsense phrase made up by Animal to signify excitement
chappati
âflat bread, roti
chataka
âa kind of swallow, said to drink only raindrops
chuna lagaana
âto deceive someone, to make an idiot of them
daal
âlentils
dada
âgodfather, criminal ganglord
dadi
âgrandmother
daru
âcrudely distilled liquor
datura
âDatura strammonium (Jimson weed), a highly poisonous plant
Deshkar
âraga of scale
dhaap
âas the sound suggests, a heavy slap
dhaivat
âsixth note of the Indian scale, equivalent of “la”
dha pa ga
ânotes of the Indian system, sa re ga ma pa dha ni sa
dholak
âdouble-ended drum slung round the drummer's neck
dikhlot
âgood looking
elaichi
âbetel nut,
see
supari
enteena ko strain karo
âstrain your antenna, i.e., think harder
fataak
âbang! crack!
fillum khatam
âlit. film over; you've missed it
frangipani
âPlumeria rubra (indica), fragrant white or pink whorled flowers
galla mandi
âvegetable market
gandhara
âthird note of the Indian scale, equivalent of “mi”
garooli
âAnimal's nonsense word for a cigarette
gaya zamaana
âpast age
ghurr-ghurr
âto stare
ghusspuss
âusually whispering, but here means the beast with two backs
goonda
âthug, heavy, muscle
government-waali
âof the government
guftagoo
âconversation
gulli
ânarrow alley
gup, gupshup
âshooting the breeze
gutka
âperfumed and sweetened chewing tobacco, a speciality of Khaufpur
guttu ghumana
âto charm, or cast a spell on someone
guzz
âone of Elli's rare mistakes, she meant
ghuss
, or squeeze
haathi
âelephant
hashish
âcannabis resin
hindi mein samjhaun?
âShould I tell you in Hindi? i.e., Do I have to spell it out?
holi
âSpring festival of colours
imli
âtamarind
Inglis
âEnglish
Isa
âJesus
Isayi
âChristian
ishtoo
âstew
itraana
âto be a bit too clever, protest too much
jaan
âlife
jaanvar
âanimal
jahã jaan hai, jahaan hai
âWhile we have life, we have the world.
jahaan
âthe world
jarnail
âcorruption of English “general”
jhadoo
âhousehold broom, made of a bundle of long grass stems
jugaad
âa great idea; a jugaadu, a genius of good ideas
juloos
âdemonstration march
jungli
âwild
kaané
âcross-eyed
kabbadi
âa rough game, involving wrestling opponents to the ground
kachambar
âcucumber chunks with pepper and lime juice
Kali
âHindu mother goddess, dark goddess of death and destruction
kameez
âlong loose shirt, usually worn over
shalwar
(q.v.)
kankana
âever youthful, full of energy
karnail
âcorruption of English “colonel”
khã
âKhaufpuri term of familiarity like “mate.”
See yaar
.
khaañsi
âa cough
kheer
âa milky pudding
khuda hafez
âlit. God protect you, in Farsi. Used as a farewell.
kismiss
âwhat English sounds like to non-English speakers
KLPD, khade lund pe dhoka
âbetrayal of the erect dick, used of disappointments
kulcha
âflat breads, thicker than a chappati, not as thick as a naan