No Pain Like This Body (16 page)

“It hard to find she on a night like dis,” Nanna said.

The lightning danced over their heads like golden forks and silver spoons and the thunder rolled and rolled and rolled as if the sky God was beating heavy drums in the sky. The rain fell as vomit on the trees in the forest and the water made the earth cold and muddy.

“Go back in de house and get de drum,” Nanna said.

Nanny left Nanna in the forest and went back to the house for the brown hand drum. While she was looking for the drum in the dark Balraj, Sunaree and Panday came home.

“All you see all you modder?”

“No Nanny,” Balraj said.

“All you look good?”

“Yeh Nanny,” Panday said. “We look till we see a lagahu.”

Then Nanny got the drum. She told them to stay at home, but they wanted to go with her; they were afraid to stay at home. Nanny walked with the drum into the night; they fol­lowed her like dogs. And Nanny beated the drum slowly:

doom doom doomed!

doom doom doomed!

Then she beated faster:

bamboo patcha! banga patcha!

bamboo patcha! banga patcha!

bamboo patcha! banga patcha!

go going gone!

go going gone!

go going gone!

Nanny beated the drum with life; with love; she beated the drum with all her strength and the drum sounded loud as if a spirit was bawling in the forest.

The sky twisted like a black snake and the clouds rolled and rolled and rolled as a big spider; the wind shook Tola in a rage and the rain pounded the earth; the lightning came out of the mouth of the darkness like a golden tongue and licked the trees in the forest and the drum ripped through the darkness like a knife. They moved deeper and deeper into the forest, and they felt the rain falling upon their heads from heaven.

GLOSSARY

Arti:
a fundamental part of almost every Brahminical rite, in which a diya is set on a taria, lit, and moved with circular gestures.

Baba:
a Hindu priest, usually a member of the highest

(Brahmin)
caste.

Bandicoot:
large rat.

Beti:
daughter.

Bhajans:
hymns.

Bi
ya kola
: a small plot of riceland with rice seedlings.

Chamar:
one who belongs to the lowest of the four castes. The majority of Indians who came from India to work on the sugar plantations between 1845 and 1917 were chamars.

Change:
tether.

Chila:
fire-stick.

Churail:
a spirit of purely Indian origin. It is believed to be the restless soul of a woman who died during pregnancy or childbirth. Its malicious mission on earth is to haunt the wife and children of its former husband.

Cola:
(See meri.)

Crappo:
frog.

Crappo
fish: tadpoles.

Creole:
a Negro born on Carib Island.

Cutlass:
blade used for cutting sugar cane.

D
al (or dahl)
: yellow split peas. Dal and rice is the staple food of the East Indians in Carib Island.

Diy
a (or deeya)
: small earthen vessel. During Hindu cere­monies, coconut oil is placed inside the diva, then a small cotton wick is inserted and lit by a priest or devotee. The flame is recognised as holy fire.

Duenne:
a spirit of African origin. Duennes are the spirits of children who die before they are born. The heels of the foetus-spirits are in front, and the toes are turned backwards. These tiny spirit creatures dwell in small com­munities deep in the forest.

Flambeau:
a torch. A flambeau is made by putting kerosene into an empty beer bottle and inserting a cloth wick.

Jables:
(corruption of the French term diablesse, or female devil). A witch, or agent of the devil, who takes the shape of a beautiful woman. People in the countryside believe that the jables has one normal human foot and one cloven. Keeping the normal foot on the road and the cloven one in the grass, she lures men who travel at night along country roads to their destruction.

Jamet:
whore.

Jumbie:
spirit. People in the country believe that mysterious creatures lurk around the villages at night. The term is of widespread use in the Caribbean: some people believe jumbies are sent by obeahmen (sorcerers), while others think of a jumbie as the soul of a departed person. The lat­ter belief is particularly strong among the Indians.

Jumbie
bird:
owl. The Indians in Carib Island believe that if an owl sits on a rooftop and hoots, someone in the family will die soon.

Lagahu:
(corruption of the French term loup garou, or were­wolf). A living person who has made contact with the devil. Through supernatural prayers he takes the form of an animal at night. The devil pays him a sum of money and rides him through the village.

Lota:
brass cup.

Madrassi:
all black, or dark-skinned East Indians. The term is used loosely; black East Indians came from Ceylon as well as the state of Madras.

Mantras:
prayers.

Meri:
a low straight bank in the riceland, usually built to con­trol the water in the cola. The meris meet at right angles, forming plots; these plots are colas (or kolas).

Nursery:
seedling.

Orhni:
headshawl worn by married Indian women. Today it is worn mostly in the countryside. Indian women who live in cities and towns refuse to wear the orhni because they have become “too creolised.”

Pandit:
a Hindu priest. Only a Brahmin (one who belongs to the highest caste) can validly become a Hindu priest. Dur­ing the period 1845 to 1917, very few Brahmins came to Carib Island from India. Many men of lower caste were known to go to other villages and set themselves up as Brahmin priests, thereby escaping the hard work on the plantations.

Quenck:
wild hog.

Roti:
unleavened bread.

Saddhu:
a Hindu ascetic, or one who lives in a temple. A Saddhu usually belongs to a lower caste, and so cannot become a pandit.

Silkcotton
tree: a tree that is the ideal abode for spirits. Super­stition has it that if a silkcotton tree is struck with an axe, blood spurts out. Jumbies also live in mango, neem, and calabash trees.

Taria:
a brass plate.

Tola:
village, settlement.

Trace:
unpaved road, mud path.

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