The Crow, the Jackal and the Red Crab

  Chapter 2

  Days, weeks and months passed. Lamchwa got over his grief by getting immersed in his work. He knew that it was now up to him to provide for the family. A week after his father's burial, his mother had considered stopping Marbōd and Salan from attending school. She was concerned that they might not be able to afford school fees and other expenses for both of them. However, Lamchwa persuaded her otherwise.

  He had said to her, ‘Bei, how can we give up on father's wishes for them? He had always desired that they complete their education. I, who have missed the opportunity, do not want my brother or sister to miss this chance at education. It is for their own good - as father would often say. Let them both continue their studies, bei. I promise to work hard for their sake. God will give me the strength and so will my father's spirit!’

  Mrs. Rida looked at her eldest son with sadness but with pride. She embraced him and held on to him. Her eyes grew moist and tears were flowing freely as she spoke over his shoulder, ‘Son, you have become a man real fast! Losing your father like that have dashed all my hopes and dreams! But now I see, we still have a man in the house!’

  She released her embrace but still held onto his arms. Lamchwa looked at her silently. He was finding it unbearable to see her tears. She wiped away her tears and looked at him saying, ‘Yes, your father always wanted for you all to get a proper education. We still regret not being able to send you to school. But then times were hard on us in those days. We had never told you about our past because nothing is left of it. We had lost everything in the cyclone that destroyed your grandmother's house and plantations. We also lost many lives in that sudden wild storm including your uncles, aunties and their families. All the houses in the village were destroyed, so were the crops. We were spared from the storm because your father and I had taken you to the Kobiraij (a Traditional Medicine Practitioner) in another village far away. You were only two years old then and you had this chronic problem with your bowels. So, that day we took you to see the Kobiraij. When we returned to the village, it was a complete mess! We were devastated by the loss of lives and property. A few weeks after that cyclone, your father and I decided to leave our ancestral village to start afresh and came to settle here at Mōlaiñ. Your father had worked hard ever since and built this house for us. He had been saving money all these years to buy cultivable land but now I don't know if we can fulfil all his wishes.’

  She let out a sigh and sat down on a pile of wood that was there at the firewood shed. Lamchwa was silent for a while. At length he said to her, ‘Bei, don’t you worry. I will work hard and fulfil all that my father wished to be done. Regret no longer for me. Father has taught me all there is to know to make a living from any kind of work.’

  His mother managed a weak smile and said, ‘Yes, I know you are strong and capable. But I think I should also begin to take up odd jobs to fill my days with something to do.’

  Lamchwa wanted to dissuade her but on second thoughts, he felt it might brighten her up to be in the company of other people during the day instead of being all alone at home. So he let it pass.

  Mrs. Rida began to look for employment in the village. She did domestic chores like washing clothes, doing housework and sometimes would work in the fields. She saved all her wages, for Lamchwa was earning enough for all of them. They had limited needs and wants.

  Today, Lamchwa was having a day off at his construction work because his supervisor had gone to town with the contractor for purchasing building materials. So he went to look for work at the food stalls along the Highway which was an hour's walk from his village. He knew that they always needed a water carrier because they had no permanent water supply line available at their eateries.

  It was now late afternoon. Lamchwa had already filled the cisterns of three of the roadside food stalls. The water source was a spring which was located at the foot of a hill about a hundred yards from the highway. Each trip to the spring and back to the food stalls took twelve to thirteen minutes. Lamchwa carried the water in two tin cans, which were oil containers cut open at one end and a wooden piece nailed on two sides at the top to serve as a handle. Tying a rope on each of the handles, he secured the rope on each end of a bamboo pole which he balanced on his shoulder to carry the water containers. He emptied the containers into cisterns kept in the stalls for storing water.

  It was his penultimate trip to the spring. Two cowherds of about ten years of age were at the spring having their lunch, sitting on a grassy patch. Their herd was grazing a few feet away from them. He greeted them and had idle conversation with them as he refilled his cans; he had once been a cowherd like them too. They invited him to partake in their food but he thanked them and declined saying he had had his lunch.

  As he entered the eatery, he saw that it was filled to capacity with customers - some having tea and some having their late lunches. He went to the washing room where the water cisterns were. As he lifted one of the cans to empty it into the cistern, his left foot slipped on the wet floor causing him to lose his balance. He held on to the can as it fell to the floor and as his palm slipped through the edges of the handle, he got a slight cut on his hand just near the knuckles. Everybody in the shop looked in his direction at the sound of the can landing on the floor. Lamchwa noticed a small gash on his right hand which began to bleed. The shop owner came over to him and expressed concern but he simply shrugged and said that he was alright. He emptied the cans and went back to the spring to make the last trip of the day.

  The wound on his hand was still bleeding. It was a small cut. His father had taught him how to treat cuts and wounds using herbs. So along the way to the spring, he looked for medicinal herbs and plucked a handful of their tender leaves. He washed the blood on his hand at the spring and having crushed the herbs with a small stone, he applied the paste on the wound and wrapped his clean handkerchief over it. He then refilled the water cans and made his way back to the shop.

  Chapter 3

  Their house had three equal partitions which served as rooms. The partitions were separated by flat interwoven split-bamboo walls, held in position by tying them to the wooden pillars with thin split-bamboo stripsand cane strips. The northern partition was where the hearth was. It functioned as a kitchen, dining room and storeroom. The southern partition was again divided into two bedrooms. The middle partition, called the ‘cjyngkōh’, was the most versatile as it functioned as a sitting room, drawing room and a study room for Marbōd and Salan. It was also in this room that Lamchwa and Marbōd slept at night on a fine bamboo mat and a mattress that their mother sewed from rags and discarded clothes.

  It was now early in the evening. Marbōd and Salan were doing their homework and lessons in the cjyngkōh.They sat on cane stools, called moora, and were writing on a low wooden table. Their mother was in the kitchen, cutting vegetables while the rice pot boiled on the fire.

  The children heard his footsteps on the courtyard and Salan exclaimed with a wide smile, ‘Sanpun has come!’ (Among the Pnar people, younger siblings call their eldest sibling as Sanpun.)

  Marbōd dropped his pen and rushed to open the door. Lamchwa was outside the door which appeared to be bolted from inside but was not so;it was simply shut tight. His cloth bag was slung over his shoulder while in his left hand he carried a polythene bag filled with groceries. He raised his right hand to knock at the door.Before his hand could touch the door, it opened and his hand knocked on Marbōd's nose instead. Marbōd's timing to open the door coincided with Lamchwa's knocking and they were both startled. Salan laughed out loud at them and continued to squeal with mirth. Marbōd too began laughing and Lamchwa joined them.

  Their mother could hear their laughter and called out from the kitchen and said, ‘What are you all laughing about?’ She got up to move to the cjyngkōh.

  Salan replied to her between giggles, ‘O bei, if only you would have seen... it was so funny... Sanpun knocked on the door but he knocked on Pundeh's nose instead!’ (Second eldest male sibling is called Pu
ndeh.)

  Their mother had come to the door between thecjyngkōhand the kitchen and looked at them with a smile. Lamchwa was removing a geometry box from his cloth bag and handed it to Marbōd who took it with a happy smile and said, ‘Thank you, Sanpun.’ Lamchwa smiled back at him and ruffled his head with affection.

  Salan was standing now, looking expectantly at her brother. Lamchwa brought out a hair band and a red ribbon from his bag and gave it to her. She clapped her hands in joy and took them from him. She then hugged him tightly. He bent down to kiss her forehead and walked towards their mother who was standing at the door of the kitchen smiling at them. She was filled with love and joy to see her children happy with one another.

  As he handed over the bag of groceries to her, she notices the bandage on his right hand. She takes the bag with one hand and lifts his right hand with her other and asks him, "What happened to your hand, son? Come here and let me see it." She pulls him into the kitchen and tells him to sit on a stool. She placed the bag of groceries at the side and took a bowl from the shelve and sat next to him by the hearth.

  Lamchwa told her not to worry and that it was just a small cut. However she insisted on cleaning it and she called to Marbōd to bring a clean cloth. Beside the hearth, was a teapot filled with hot water. She poured this into the bowl and removing the handkerchief from his hand, she began to wash the wound.

  After wiping it with the clean cloth, she took the turmeric jar from the shelf and applied some turmeric paste on his wound. She then tore off a strip of the cloth and bandaged his hand with it.

  As she was doing all this, Lamchwa looked on at her with love and devotion. His thoughts were now filled with anticipation, for the rice harvest season was only a week from now. Several of his villagers had already asked him to work for them during the harvest. He was happy that he was never short of work which meant that he could keep providing for their family and they would remain self-sufficient.