Bala Devi, Girl-Child Avatar - Book Two - Holiday in Kodaikanal

Chapter Eleven - Rain, Rain, Go Away

Chapter Eleven

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Okay Bala, you can make it stop raining anytime, “said Ajay, laughing, Bala blushed. “Don’t be silly, Ajay; as if I had anything to do with i\the rain.”

The rain prevented the kids from swimming, which meant that Sheila couldn’t show off her bikini, and, in fact, the electric generator flooded, so the power was off in the entire compound. The white marble palace was so cold and dark, and everyone was comparing it to a tomb—Ramanathan’s Taj. The kids either played tennis or went jogging, or huddled under blankets.

Bala, kept worrying about the poor labourers in the huts. “They must be trembling in their thatched huts,” she thought. Waiting until no one was around, she crept around the compound wall to see them.

“Hello, anybody there to speak English?”

They stood and stared at her!

“Hindi?” Silence. “Kannada?” Silence. A few anxious moments, “Malayalam?” “Adhe, adhe.”

“But I only speak a little Malayalam,” Bala laughed. “You’re from Kerala?”

“Adbe, here, this place, Kerala.”

“No, not Kerala. This place Tamil Nadu.”

The women looked confused.

“They brought us here by lorry,” they managed to act the idea out for Bala.

“Not Kerala,” Bala explained. “You lost?”

“Not near Cochin?”

“Cochin very, very far.”

Some of the women began to look tearful.

“You working here? How much paisa?”

“Not paisa. We owe for these things,” they said, indicating the vessels and food seen around the huts.

“No pay?”

The women hug their heads.

“Why work? Why not go home?” Bala asked.

“Where is home?” asked one lady, and another said, “Contract lobour.”

One of the women ran over to a tin trunk and returned carrying papers written in English and signed with X, Bala read aloud.

“One Pillai Gowda has paid the sum of 2,000 rupees for one son, and 1,000 rupees for one daughter of Venu and Rukminiamma, who will work under the Gowda to pay off this amount.”

Bala knew that the amount would never be paid and that the vessels and food would cost exorbitant sums and accrue interest in huge amounts. They would never get back their children.

“Contract labour is illegal in India and they can’t get away with it in Kerala anymore, which is why they kidnapped you. This Gowda must be the labour contractor for Ramanathan.”

At this point, a couple of loud male voices were heard outside the huts, speaking in Malayalam. Bala knew that she was in moral danger.

“Hide me, oh, please, those men will kill me,” and she mimicked two hands squeezing her neck until her tongue fell out! 40

The women got the message and threw a cloth over her and indicated that Bala should curl up and pretend to go to sleep in the corner. Fortunately, the boss didn’t come in, but the woman’s husband did. He told his wife that their work was delayed because of the rain, but when it let up, when the monsoon was over, they would be cutting down trees in the area. Then, he stretched out on a straw mat and went to sleep. His wife covered him with a cloth, head and all, so that he couldn’t see Bala as she hurried away.”