Losing My Religion: Chapter 7 - Trouble in the mountains.

In this week's article of #LosingMyReligion series, I am posting snippets of Chapter 7, where Rishi & Alex get into a mess in Malana. For reasons unknown to them, they are thrown into a trial in what seems like the Malana courtroom. Can they escape from this grip of madness? Read it now.

CHAPTER 7

‘What are you doing here? This is the Jamlu Temple. You are not supposed to be here or touch the walls,’ said someone in Hindi. Rishi could barely hear him. He was totally drugged and it was pitch-dark. He looked around, it seemed like he was leaning on the temple wall, while Alex was standing next to him speaking something like “Alexander the Great”.

The next thing Rishi realized was that a mob of Malani men had gathered around them, asking them to step aside. ‘I need my golden statue back,’ he told them instead. Why did I say that? he wondered even in his drugged state. Alex had passed out next to him on the ground by now.

The next time Rishi opened his eyes, he was floating in the air. ‘I’m flying,’ he kept saying, when he saw Ram Singh holding his legs. He looked around him and spotted Laxman behind him. ‘Where are you taking me?’ he asked. ‘Guesthouse, saab. Sleep, by god se.’

He woke up again and it was bright daylight. He checked his time, it was around three. His mind was a mess, he felt sick, and somewhere in the back of his mind a strange emotion was gnawing at him. He woke up Alex who was sleeping next to him. Just then Ram Singh walked in.

‘I just sacrifice three goats at temple,’ the guide said.

‘Goats? Why? Makin’ meat today?’ asked Alex, yawning.

Appalled, Ram Singh shook his head. ‘Sirji, because you two enter temple last night. Open doors and ask to see Akbar statue. I calm village council and bring you here.’

‘What?’ Rishi said. He looked at Alex, dazed.

‘We were sittin’ on the stairs and we woke up now. What are you talkin’ about?’ asked Alex.

‘You have too much charas, sirji. People hear sounds in night and see you two try open temple. When they ask you to go, you say no and tell them you Alexander the Great and Rishiji, Akbar the great. People here think you both mad. Some think you do it on purpose.’

Ram Singh had told them the story of Emperor Akbar and Malana the day they had reached the village. Akbar was once stricken by leprosy because he had accidentally collected tax from a sadhu from Malana. He had then sent a golden statue of himself and images of horses and elephants in gold and silver to appease the Jamlu Devta. Subsequently, he had been cured of leprosy. Since then Akbar’s statue resided in the Jamlu Temple. Rishi had expressed interest in seeing the statue but Ram Singh had mentioned that it was brought out only during festivals.

Rishi began recalling bits and pieces from the previous night. The mob, the statue, the floating. . . . He felt terrible about himself. He looked at Alex. Alex seemed to be unfazed with the events.

‘Gurr and village council, very hurt. At night, Malani come and shake Laxman and me. They say come to temple, come to temple. We come to temple and see you two at temple! We wait till you go calm and then carry you. It very difficult, saab. My heart go dhak-dhak dhak-dhak dhak-dhak. Laxman tears in eyes. He say we dead, we dead. I stop him cry, carry you, stop Alexji touching Malani. All at once, Rishiji. All at once! Malani very mad about own culture. They could hit you also, by god se. But we save you.’

‘I’m so sorry, Ram Singh. We had no clue, trust me,’ said Rishi. He was still coming to terms with what had happened. This can’t be happening.

‘So what do we do now?’ asked Alex, in a matter-of-fact voice.

‘They want to punish you but I calm them. I say we pay money. They say okay. So, we now go, pay lot of money. I sacrifice three goats to purify temple already. They tell me to tell you no touch anyone, any building in village. I have give promise from you, Rishiji. Okay? You in big trouble if you do.’ Ram Singh looked ready to cry at any moment now.

‘Thank you, Ram Singh, for bringing us back. It won’t happen again, I promise you that. Can we go to the council and apologize?’

Ram Singh nodded, at last looking a little relieved.

The trio went to meet the village council. People looked at them as though they had committed a cold-blooded crime. Rishi paid a fine to the council and apologized. The poojari spoke politely but gave a stern warning not to repeat the mistake. ‘Anyone is welcome in Malana, as long as they follow the rules,’ he mentioned.

***

‘I am done. I am no longer going to be party to this drugfest.’ Rishi looked resolute as he said this, and . . . irked. With himself. For getting carried away like this.

Alex heard him out, and without saying a word strutted off to the Oxford girl’s room, thumping on her door as loudly as he could.

Seeing that Alex had possibly found another partner-in-crime, Rishi shrugged and left the guesthouse. He had made a conscious decision of not losing himself to Malana Cream again. He hadn’t come here to do that. If drugs were how he wanted to get over his anxieties, Bangalore would have been as good a place as this. Well, almost.

Till now his journey had been interesting, but he still didn’t know what he wanted to do. He found no purpose in anything. But, yeah, he had to agree he had begun enjoying travelling a lot more than before. Thinking of which it hit him that he had not explored Malana and the surrounding areas at all till now. Time to do that.

Over the course of the next few days, he visited the Jamlu Temple again and the shrine of Renuka Devi, admiring their unique architecture and woodwork. During the week, while Alex was busy smoking some more charas, he visited the cannabis plantations in the mountains and walked to the roaring river in the valley. It was a good four-hour walk and helped him clear his head.

Later, he trekked to Kasol, a scenic village in the Parvati Valley, and returned after staying there for a few days. With each trip he took, a sense of life, of freshness got infused into him, and he found this to be a headier intoxication than the Cream. But still something was missing.

There were times during his solitary sojourns when he stopped in his tracks and screamed his lungs out into the ice-cold winter air. Howling out his frustrations, his sense of loss, and his loss of belief . . .

Within a couple of weeks, Rishi had seen everything that was worth a dekko around Malana and even that which was not. He was getting restless again. What do I do next? He had no idea how to spend time in this timeless Himalayan hamlet anymore. Alex had found one heck of a partner in the Oxford girl, and was happy to have her for company at all times. He hardly ever came out of the room now.

***

While taking a stroll with Ram Singh a few days later, Rishi crossed the Malani school. It was the only one in the valley, and had nearly a hundred students and just one teacher. Hardly anyone had passed tenth grade in the history of Malana. It never ceases to surprise me . . . this place!

‘Why don’t I take up part time teaching in the school? I can surely educate these kids on what’s happening in the world outside this valley,’ he found himself saying to Ram Singh.

‘No think only, saab. You be in trouble again. This place, self-govern. They have own rules. They no want outside knowledge. It dangerous. Why you want trouble?’ Ram Singh looked ready to cry again.

Rishi controlled his smile and shared, ‘Because I have nothing else to do. I don’t want to smoke hash with Alex and die here of drug overdose. I might as well do something useful, the way I see it.’

Seeing no way out of this, Ram Singh reluctantly agreed and said, ‘Okay, saab. Me take you school. But please be careful. Everyone in Malana look at you like you do big crime. They no forget you taking statue at temple. Also remember, Malani not going to change. Two thousand years and they not change, even a bit; you no do anything.’

‘Okay, Ram Singh. I no do anything. Promise. This is pure time pass,’ replied Rishi.

Later in the day, Ram Singh made him meet the schoolteacher who was a Himachali social worker. The teacher was grateful that someone wanted to share his burden.

Rishi had agreed on taking the History and Science lessons, but he was mainly interested in teaching the kids the latest advancements in the modern society. The teacher said that students understood Hindi and, if needed, he would be there to translate his lessons into Kanashi.

‘I’m prepared to spend as much time as needed,’ said Rishi with conviction, when he was asked for how long he was planning to stay in Malana. Although, at the back of his mind, he knew it would be difficult to survive here. Somehow, the Malanis made you feel unwelcome.

***

Rishi’s first class was on automobiles: how they look, how they function, and how they are used in day-to-day life in modern civilization. The students were excited and asked plenty of questions. Rishi realized that since the children were not exposed to the outside world; they were hungry for knowledge. He was aghast at this village council’s willingness to continue letting everyone stay in ignorance. It riled him at some level. These kids hadn’t seen a computer or even a refrigerator. The only gadgets familiar to them were cameras and mobile phones, as tourists frequently asked them to pose for pictures.

Over the next few days, he taught them about computers, about different jobs available in the cities, about satellites, healthcare, movies, and so on. He tried to touch upon things that made modern civilization a better place to live, hoping to widen their knowledge base as much as he could. Everything was a revelation to the young minds and they absorbed it all with wondrous excitement.

The students seemed to like him and asked him many questions, but always from a distance. A fact that never left Rishi’s mind.

***

The sound of drums fell on his ears. Curious, Rishi followed the sound, and found himself going towards the temple. Ram Singh, Laxman, and a sizeable group of Malanis followed him.

The village elders were gathered in front of the temple and one man seemed to be complaining about something in Kanashi. A few children were standing near him, crying. Rishi recognized them—they were from his classes. The Gurr, the head of the Jamlu Temple, and the pujari soon arrived along with a few old men. Women sat around the place listening to the man complain. Interesting. What got their goat?

‘What’s happening?’ he asked Ram Singh.

‘The man saying, in last few weeks, children touching tourists. Mixing too much with them. It is sin according to Jamlu Devta.’

Rishi broke into a sweat. He had been teaching the children about embracing people of all clans and about cleanliness and hygiene. He had taught them how one should consider everybody equal. He had stressed the importance of human touch! He hadn’t known it would affect the children so quickly. It had just been three weeks since he had started teaching them. That can’t be the reason they are angry, he tried to reason with himself.

‘They sacrifice more than ten goats in last week, this man saying,’ continued Ram Singh.

The man was now making angry gestures and pointing towards Rishi.

This doesn’t look good.

‘Saab, they call you. They angry and say you reason behind this.’

Damn!

***

Rishi and Ram Singh stood in the centre of the crowd. The whole village was eagerly watching what now seemed to be a Malani courtroom scene. Rishi had always wondered how disputes were settled in Malana. Today, he would find out. Try wondering about something else the next time.

Ram Singh whispered in his ear that a few members of the jury were missing and they would arrive in some time. Great! It’s a party now!

They waited. Rishi hoped that Alex or some cop would come to his aid, even Inspector Dogra would do, but no one was in sight.

After a while, the jury gathered and a man started speaking. He stopped after ten minutes or so. Then another man, a solemn-looking elderly priest, started speaking.

‘He say you tell children to go against Malani civilization. First, you and your friend enter temple and break temple doors. Now you go school and teach this. They leave you once but no again. You will talk now and tell why you do this.’

Scores of green eyes looked at him with unabashed interest.

Rishi looked at the men in charge and began speaking in Hindi. ‘Please understand that I am here to help. Human touch is the most important thing in this world. That’s what sets us apart from animals. All humans are equal and we need to embrace each other and share our knowledge for the betterment of everyone.’

The crowd reacted angrily and the priest spoke again.

‘Priest say you insult Malana tradition and God. They no need your help. They say you outsider and they superior race. You no understand their race and you no right to teach Malani children your idea,’ translated Ram Singh.

Damn you! ‘I am not teaching them to rebel. I just taught them the importance of being kind to people, expressing warmth, and keeping the village clean. Hygiene is important. There is nothing wrong in admitting that there are some aspects that can be improved in your society.’ Rishi tried making the priest see his point-of-view again.

‘You insult our race, our village, and our valley. Listening to your talk is in itself a sin for us. Initially, we ignored it. But in a matter of two weeks we have sacrificed so many goats. You are guilty of influencing our children,’ the elderly priest thundered; his Kanashi flowing fast and furious alongside Ram Singh’s translation that was equally fast but so disjointed. ‘We should have banished you when you touched the temple and called yourself Emperor Akbar.’

Rishi closed his eyes in frustration. It was unbelievable how things had come to this.

‘Rishi . . . what are you doin’ there?’ a voice came from behind him. Alex’s.

‘Alex! Thank god you are here. I’m screwed, man. These guys think I made their children touch outsiders,’ he replied.

‘What? That’s ridiculous! What’s goin’ on?’

‘I’m on trial right now in the Malani court. And they haven’t really forgotten our temple episode.’

Alex couldn’t believe it. Just then, a Malani woman walked to the centre and spoke to the priest and the jury. A few more women and men joined her. Rishi recognized them as locals working in the guesthouse. They were now looking at Alex. The elderly man summoned him to the centre, too.

***

Rishi ground his teeth. ‘Did you steal the Cream?’ he asked Alex point-black.

‘No, I didn’t!’

‘Alex. Don’t. You. Lie. To. Me.’

‘I swear. Why should I?’

‘What a mess we are in.’ Turning to Ram Singh, he asked, ‘What do we do now?’

‘Saab. Very difficult to say. You break all Malana rules. They tell you no touch, you touch; they tell you no talking of outside culture, you talk; they tell you no steal, you steal. Now they only know what happen.’

Rishi and Alex realized that Ram Singh was telling the truth. They had blown every Malana tradition and faltered at every level. If they weren’t liable for punishment, Rishi didn’t know who was.

After some discussion with the jury, the priest spoke and announced that they would use the ancient method of solving the issue fairly.

Rishi’s heartbeat rose.

Ram Singh translated. ‘The priest say sirji bring bad name to valley by asking for ess. ee. eks. No one ever in Malana history hear this ever. Some people accuse sirji of stealing charas. He also touch temple and try to see holy treasure. Priest say you two on trial together using old Malana method. You break every rule. If they no punish you, others tourists do same. So, they punish you. Strongly, badly punish you.’

*** [End of Chapter 7]

Read the previous parts of this series here:

• Prologue of 'Losing My Religion.'
• Losing My Religion: Chapter 1 - Broken Entrepreneur
• Losing My Religion: Chapter 2 - Show me a way forward
• Losing My Religion: Chapter 3 - Enter Alex
• Losing My Religion: Chapter 4 - Adventure Begins in the Himalayas
• Losing My Religion: Chapter 5 - Oh, the mysterious Malana Valley!
• Losing My Religion: Chapter 6 - Behind every man, there is a love story
• Losing My Religion: Chapter 8 - Two goats will decide our fate!

If you want to get a copy of the book, here are some quick links

• Amazon - Buy paperback in India
• Flipkart - Buy paperback in India
• Amazon eBook - Global

 You can also learn more about the book on my website - VishwasMudagal.com