The verdict

A couple finds a gardener who becomes a family member until....

“Ma baganer kaj karaben?”

Reena who was sitting under the sun in that cool December morning, looked up from her knitting, while four year old Tuna playing with a doll nearby, made a dash for the gate to stare at the stranger. He wore a lungi and a torn shirt. His face was thin and haggard, scarred by the deprivation that comes from endless sacrifice. The garden definitely needed to be tended and a few vegetable patches had to be dug.

“What are your terms for a full day’s work?”Reena asked. “It is 200 rupees and rice in the afternoon.” The man replied. That was fair enough, others charged between 250 and 300 rupees for a day’s work. ‘The man must be new here,’ Reena thought, for she had not seen him before in this small town.

The spade hit the earth and sent particles of mud and weeds flying all around.

“Dirty Uncle wants water”, Tuna pulled at her mother’s saree, as Reena put down the pressure cooker and switched off the gas. Her day’s cooking was done.“Are you new in this town?” Rena asked, handing the man a glass of water.

He nodded. He was originally from Bangladesh, he said. He had crossed the Bangladesh border in search of work.

“I was working as a porter at the Kolkata port”. He had lost his job when he had fallen ill and had decided to move from the city to the suburbs for survival. “Where are you staying?” Reena asked, as she watched Prasanta (that was his name) mix the spinach seeds with the earth and sprinkle them.He said he stayed on the platform.

“He seems a sincere worker”. Rahul who was back from the factory, took a walk around the garden at his wife’s insistence. “Yes” Reena smiled almost with pride. “Why don’t we keep him as a gardener on a monthly basis?” she asked.

The ground was parched and cracked in some places. It was difficult for Reena to drag the water pipe all the way around the eight cottahs(720 sq ft) of land everyday and water the garden. She needed help. Rahul nodded. In this small town situated a few kms from Kolkata, life could get lonely. Rahul has his work and Tuna her school. The garden was Reena’s sole comfort. It gave her something to do when she was alone and she really ought not to be deprived of this one pleasure in her life, Rahul thought.

“How much do you earn per month?” Rahul looked at the eyes of the man, sunk deep in their sockets.“Nothing fixed,” he replied “Depends on the amount of work I get.” He spoke a Bangladeshi dialect.“How would you like to work for us on a monthly basis?” Rahul asked.

Prashanta’s face lit up and stars sparkled in his eyes as though the vision of a plate of rice and fish flashed before him. The money was fixed at rupees 1500/- His job included watering the plants, weeding the garden, planting saplings, keeping the roots of trees free and breathing.

Tuna was laughing and clapping her hands gleefully as Prashanta swung something in the air and brought it down. It was a puppy. They were playing in the garden. Reena smiled. This was probably the right time to broach the subject. She wanted him to agree to her proposal.

Last evening Rahul had suggested his name when Sheela their maid had suddenly decided to quit. She was getting married and her husband did not want her to continue working. No advance warning no notice it was like a bolt from the blue. Rahul was leaving shortly on a tour of South India. Reena and Tuna would be all alone in the bungalow. Vacant plots surrounded their house and their nearest neighbor lived some distance away. Sheela used to stay over on the occasions Rahul was away.

“Why don’t we let Prashanta stay in the outhouse?” Rahul suddenly suggested. “He could run errands for you and perhaps take over Sheela’s chores”.

Reena looked up startled.” Why that would be fine”, she replied. “But the trouble is “. Rahul continued worriedly, “Is he reliable? I mean, should we trust him this far?”

The vegetable vendor who went from house to house selling vegetables from his cart vouched for Prashanta’s integrity.

“He lives on the railway platform,” the man told Reena, “I’ve known him for quite some time now. He is a good man. Never gambles. He doesn’t even smoke a biri.Rahul wasn’t satisfied. Could one rely on the assurances given by a vegetable vendor?”

“Don’t you know anyone else in this town, Prashanta?”Reena asked him while he was working in the garden.Prashanta scratched his head. Ah yes, ofcourse he knew the primary school teacher, Ashok babu. Rahul decided to call on Ashok babu one evening.Ah Prashanta! Of course! He used to stay in my outhouse before, now he lives on the platform.”Rahul looked suspicious.” Why did he leave? Was he guilty of some offence?”“Oh no!” Ashok babu shook his head. “Prashanta is a good man but I had to ask him to leave, as I needed money and someone was willing to pay rent for the outhouse.”

He fitted in well with the household routine. He swabbed the floor, washed the utensils and ran errands apart from working in the garden.

“Aren’t you married, Prashanta?” Reena asked him one day, untying the strings of her apron after she was done in the kitchen. For a second he was quiet and continued with the scrubbing of the kitchen sink. Reena thought he had not heard her, so she repeated the question .This time, he shook his head. He was all alone in the world he said.

“Ma uncle knows so many stories!” Tuna exclaimed one day while they were sitting in the verandah. They were mainly bird and animal stories but there was one story often repeated, about a little girl called Tuntuni.” Uncle used to know her in Bangladesh. She was fond of butterflies and birds. There were roses in her cheeks and sunshine in her eyes. Everyone loved her. One day, however she went far away and never returned”.Tuna sighed.“You know, Ma, when uncle tells me this story, his face grows sad.” Reena frowned.

The garden was a showpiece. Neighbours often stopped to admire the flowers while out for their morning and evening constitutionals.

“You are lucky , Reena”,Pamela remarked one day, as she stopped to smell a red rose.“Prashanta is a real asset in the garden. Wish I could use him sometimes in my garden too,”But Reena wasn’t going to spare him. “Prashanta really has no time..Otherwise, he would have helped you with your garden.” She said.

Tuna got up with a feeling that she had been furiously running in her sleep. Her whole body ached. Her forehead burned. There was a dull, throbbing pain in her throat. It was evening. Outside, the angry skies unleashed slanting arrows of rain. Rahul had left on his official tour of South India. Prashanta was in the outhouse.

“Prashanta!” Reena called “Baby is ill”. He came and stood out in the rain, Reena gave him an umbrella.She stroked Tuna’s forehead. “Will Dr Sen come in this terrible weather?”

Prashanta had gone to call him. Her heart burned.The doctor did come and diagnosed influenza. He wrote out the prescription. Prashanta left immediately to get the medicine. Tuna had been caught in the drizzle, while returning home from school.

“Prashanta promised to work in my garden for free, if I made this particular house call”,Dr Sen confessed with a grin.” Otherwise, I usually avoid going out in such weather”. Reena ruefully realized that Pamela Sen the doctor’s wife had her way eventually.

“I think we should give him a little gift.” Rahul suggested, after his return from the tour.“Absolutely”. Reena agreed. He deserved it, after all he had done for Tuna. They decided on a polyester shirt. “Give him a surprise tomorrow morning” Rahul told Reena.

The police were all over her garden the next morning. They were looking for a person called Jatin Pal.

“We have information that he is hiding in these parts. We are searching all the houses.” With the police was a young man in lungi and a shirt. Prashanta came and stood for a second at the door. Then he spat on the ground and suddenly lunged at the man. The policemen restrained him and clamped handcuffs on him after the young man identified Prashanta.

“We are sorry, Madam”, they said. “We have to take him away. He has been charged with murder.”Prashanta stood for some time, looking blindly at Tuna, the puppy and the garden, before being taken away in a jeep. Reena stood quietly near the window, staring into the darkness, counting the hours helplessly, while she waited for daybreak.Tuna cried herself to sleep.

“Prashanta is originally from Bangladesh”. Rahul explained on his return from Alipore court where he had met the defence lawyer and discussed Prashanta’s case with him.“His real name is Jatin Pal. A fisherman by profession, he lived with his wife and daughter in Bangladesh”. In the beginning they very happy. Later, though, the woman developed an extra-marital relationship with another man called Nemai.

Rahul paused, “Was it the man who accompanied the police?” Reena asked. Rahul nodded.“One day, while Jatin had gone to sea with the other fishermen, his wife eloped with her lover, leaving their daughter Tuntuni then seriously ill with pneumonia, alone in the hut. When Jatin returned, he found his daughter dead. Insane with grief, he gathered information about his wife’s whereabouts from his neighbours,crossed the border and begun his hunt. He found them in a shanty a few stations away from Sealdah in Kolkata, bided his time and in the dead of night, when his wife was alone, throttled her to death.”

“Did you meet Prashanta?” Reena asked quietly.

“Yes”. Rahul replied.

“What did he say?” Reena’s voice was a sigh.

“He asked about Tuna, the puppy and the condition of the saplings he had planted.” Rahul smiled wryly.

The saplings had grown into trees, Cherry the puppy, was a big dog, Tuna had lost her interest in fairy tales and developed a taste for adventure stories and Rahul had been promoted to the post of Sales Manager, when the court announced its verdict. Jatin Pal was given a life sentence for murdering his wife.