By the time the procession started, he had broken into a sweat. Why on earth was he born as a younger brother to this elder brother? As soon as the band struck its first notes, the horse jumped ever so slightly. And Dagadu’s back was badly hurt. Dagadu shifted his bottom a little, trying to soothe the pain, when the horse bucked again, and again he was struck at the very same spot. Why, oh why, had he been born a human being, lamented Dagadu, looking enviously at Gulama who walked beside him, nonchalantly.

Gulama had wanted to get away from the marriage procession as quickly as possible. But a wedding meant girls, wearing outsized blouses who came up shyly to the guests, over and over again, to sprinkle attar on them. How could he leave? Balachandra Parab had even got him a Gold Spot.

Just as they were nearing Shivaji’s statue, and just as Gulama finished the drink, the horse escaped!

Gulama took off too, right away. He looked neither this way nor that as he ran to the station. At last, safely seated in the train, he did not forget to curse Bhanumati and her father with total destruction.

When Bhanumati’s father woke up at eight in the morning and discovered what had happened, he was filled with rage. He sent some of his tongas to the Kalava-Thane area to look for the horse.

Bhanumati felt an overwhelming feeling of exuberance. She went to her bath, and sang loudly as she washed and scrubbed herself, while her father hastened to the police station to make a complaint. And there they asked him, “What colour is the horse?”

“It is the colour of a horse,” he said, testily. What a stupid question!

Meanwhile, an acquaintance saw Balachandra Parab walking anxiously across the sunny playground. He naively asked, “You? Here? It was your brother’s wedding today, wasn’t it…” and narrowly escaped being beaten up!

Balachandra walked on, cursing his luck. If the horse and Dagadu had not run away, the wedding would be taking place right now. He considered going to the police station. But the thought of paying for the license for the wedding mandapa, and all the other usual payments that had to be made to the police made him weak.

The wedding mandapa, his township, and his tenement seemed far away. Suddenly, a thought struck him. What if Dagadu had got back to the mandapa?

He reached the mandapa around two in the afternoon. Many people still waited. Some women had fallen asleep where they sat. Members of the band and those who had come to hear them were walking in and out of the kitchen wearing toothy smiles.

Around three o’clock, Balachandra stood up suddenly. “It’s all God’s will. What has to happen will happen,” he said, and ordered that lunch be served.

The hungry gathering attacked the food. Balachandra absent-mindedly ate a jalebi his wife forced on him.

To be continued next week

Excerpted from Lukose’s Church & Other Stories
Publisher: Katha

Illustrations: Suman Choudhury