In the Shadow of a Dream Read Online Free Page A

With my dying breath, I will see to it that he goes to my brother’s house.’
    Motilal hooted. ‘Randhir Singh?’ He laughed derisively. ‘Krishna called him Uncle Randy. And randy he is. You know what randy means? You’ll understand when I tell you he keeps a woman in Biwara. Sujata found that out and wanted her brothers to give him a good thrashing. I saved him from that indignity. Did I not?’
    ‘You! It was me. I told his wife, Sujata. I reminded her that I knew she did not care for my brother. I told her not to listen to empty gossip and rumour and as she didn’t care why should she mind even if the rumours were true? “Why,” I said, “why upset peace of a home? Apji,” she calls him Apji. I said, “Apji gives you clothes and jewellery. Be content and enjoy that.” She loves Bombay halwa . Loves sweets, that’s why she’s so fat. He brings her packet after packet.’
    ‘If that boy lives, he won’t thank you for it. Randhir will make him work at the oil mill, morning, noon and night. And he’ll beat the boy soundly for every mistake he makes. You know, if he wasn’t afraid of her brothers, he would like to beat his wife too. So he’ll take it out on the boy, when he is drunk. Why do you think their son ran away? First chance he got, he went. God knows where he is. Randhir is…’
    ‘My brother is not a bad man. It’s the demon drink. It makes him do bad things. And you don’t have the guts to stop Murari selling drink.’
    ‘He spends more time in Biwara. That’s where he does most of his drinking.’
    ‘You forget. If it wasn’t for Randhir we wouldn’t have a railway station. And still you did not make him an elder in the panchayat. ’
    ‘We were happy without the station. He also wanted a post office and a Tar… a wire…telegraph office. We don’t need all that. Fatehpur is well without the modern world knocking on our door. And Biwara is near enough if we need…I know he’s your youngest brother, but you and your mother spoiled him…now Randhir is an old saand …a servicing bull. A violent man, who drinks and still chases women.’
    ‘Well, then, you tell me what should I do for the boy after I’m gone?’
    ‘Give him up, now. I’ll pay a bhil woman to bring him up and soon she will let him beg for his bread like any orphan does. And work for whoever will hire him, like that other village orphan. That – that musalman boy, Asif. He’s lucky to be here. Thanks to Rukmini, this is a kind village. There are villages where orphans and low-caste people are ill-treated, abused…sometimes even killed.’
    ‘I would rather he was free than to be brought up by some low-caste woman.’
    ‘Why not, mother? Most likely he’s low-caste too.’
    ‘Let it be. I know he’s not. Look at his face. His skin is light and his features are sharp. That is not the face of a low caste child.’
    Motilal bent over, and pulling the child’s blanket down, started. ‘Fair? Yes, much too fair. I hope he’s not some Britisher’s child? Half-caste.’
    ‘Nonsense. He’s no lighter than our Krishna was. Oh, what a beautiful baby he was. Remember? Moti? I used to call you “Moti” my little pearl. For your son’s sake, give this child… Hai Raam! ’ Girja Devi held the child up like an offering.
    ‘All right! All right, mother. But let Sujata find a dai, a wet nurse. Another thing to remember, Sujata gets little house money from Randhir. That boy will starve.’
    ‘I will give her my money for the boy. I will leave, in his name, all my javery .’
    ‘Your jewellery?’
    ‘Yes, even my mother’s gold necklace. When I am gone, Vishnu’s gift to me must live on.’
    ‘Do you realise the boy will still be a minor after you have gone? Randhir will bully Sujata and spend all your legacy on drink. Nothing of yours will benefit the boy. He will be abandoned and become a gypsy among the Bhils. ’
    ‘Then you must help. See that does not happen.’
    The fate of Bal went exactly as Motilal