He reached the dining room of his home and gestured for everyone to listen to him
He spoke with command in his voice “tomorrow I and
grandfather are going back to tirur”
This sent shock waves albite solemn and silent one through the family Renjith had uttered the T
word but everyone knew that Renjith
once decided can’t be turned back from
his decision
So they quietly
agreed to the proposal but as always
there was bound to be a voice of descent
This time it was his cousin Ram Nair who considered this all
just a folly
He jeered at
Renjith as he spoke “well why we are going behind some Oldman’s
All this is a waste
of time and money why
the heck do we care those who are dead are
dead and besides they
were just oppressive despots who had it coming for them and their women folk and besides it hastened
the end of British rule
So I see the
rebellion as a good thing
and the freedom
fighters who died as true
martyrs so yes I don’t support this ill-conceived sham of an
expedition”
To this tirade Renjith reacted with a simple quote
“Beware those who twist history shall themselves be twisted
by history”
And made his way to his room for some sleep
Early next morning Renjith
was on his way to his ancestral home grounds or what used to be his
ancestral home as he and his grandfather
made their way to area Renjith was unnaturally silent
It seemed that the weather was also mirroring his mod
as dark
clouds crowded the horizon
waiting on the car stereo he
switched on to his favorite song
In between all this
he took out a photoset of an article
from an old defunct newspaper called the Liberator dated of 26th August 1926
“"The
original resolution condemned the Moplas wholesale for the killing of Hindus
and burning of Hindu homes and the forcible conversion to Islam. The Hindu members
themselves proposed amendments till it was reduced to condemning only certain
individuals who had been guilty of the above crimes. But some of the Moslem
leaders could not bear this even. Maulana Fakir and other Maulanas, of course,
opposed the resolution and there was no wonder. But I was surprised, an
out-and-out Nationalist like Maulana Hasrat Mohani opposed the resolution on
the ground that the Mopla country no longer remained Dar-ul-Aman but became
Dar-ul-Harab and they suspected the Hindus of collusion with the British
enemies of the Moplas. Therefore, the Moplas were right in presenting the Quran
or sword to the Hindus. And if the Hindus became Mussalmans to save themselves
from death, it was a voluntary change of faith and not forcible conversion—Well,
even the harmless resolution condemning some of the Moplas was not unanimously
passed but had to be accepted by a majority of votes only."
As his mind was lost in the cross examination of the said
article he heard his
Grandfather call out to him that they had reached the place
As he stepped out of the car it started to rain heavily but
some how
Renjith did not want to
go fetch an umbrella he just wanted to enjoy
For him and his grandfather
they were at their roots
They didn’t mind getting wet at all in the rain as both the men
stared at the desolate mansion
Renjith had an urge to explore the remains as for the older man it was a
macabre home coming
As both crossed the precinct of the ancient house the outer
courtyard was covered in all kind of weeds and grasses
But standing proudly
in between all this was a square walled holy basil shrub
As they crossed the threshold of the entrance they saw that the
home was stuck in a
Time warp with it becoming an in veritable time capsule
for Mr. Nair it was
like he had stepped back to his
childhood
For Renjith here was where the bloodiest chapter in his family’s
history was written
As he continued
straight on he exited out the back off the house leading right to the well and a bit further on he found that the house
had a small serpent shrine and
A great bath somehow neither Renjith nor his father wanted
to go but they knew they had too
As they were about to leave Renjith inadvertently knocked open
a door
The older man recognized it as his room all was still there all
the furniture that was needed for a set of princes and princesses
As they gingerly entered the room they found a picture frame
with all the members of the extended family that was killed in the
genocide
Mr. Nair took that photo away with him as a keepsake
As both the gentlemen made their way to the car it was still
raining
As Renjith drove of he could swore he saw a women standing
and staring at them
From the front verandah he quickly stopped the car and looked back but there was
no one there
He thought that it was just a delusion that happened to him because he had been involved
in this project with all his heart
he closed the driver
side door and carried on back
to his home but in his mind the fore lone face of that lady on the verandah would stick with him for a long time
At that time he took a solom vow to get back this house and the adjoining
estate no matter whatever the cost
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