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Vimal seems restless today,
Malabai. Sing him a song, or tell him one of the old
tales.
Do you know the story of
Jarasandh, Vimal baba? Of how king Brihadratha’s wives gave birth to half
a child each?
And the demon Jara
glued them together into one boy. Whole, but monstrous and thwart.
A boy who belongednowhere--
As you say, memsaab.
in the moment of his death, I know him at last. Know
both of them, in fact.
His childhood--in Nasik, where he was born to the widow Ashalata Devi in the
third year of her mourning.
His context--the clash and grind of one world against another. Of implacable West AGAiNST intransigent East.
Sensibly, she found herself a rock to cling to–-ColonelEdward Yeames Cathcart of
the Deolali Cantonment.
But how the neighbours’ tongues clicked, even before
the child was born.
What would a Brahmin’s widow know of the world?
So strange. So perfect.
The pieces of them fall into a new pattern.
UNTOUCHABLE.indd 1 7/30/08 11:05:08 AM
So may demons meddle with
many an honest woman, and though their babies may
look human--
Pay her no heed.
Why, mother? Why
does everyone tell me that
story?Why does
everyone talk to me about demons
all the time?
Did Malabai
say that to you? She
said it once. Andsome of the servants’
children call me Raksha-spawn.
They spit on the ground
after I’ve passed.
You shouldn’t have
to listen to talk like that. You shouldn’t
suffer for my--
I have a friend in
the British Army. I’ll ask him to
help us.
--for stupidsuperstitions.
Was--was my father a
demon?
I’ll sing my son to sleep
myself.
As the memsaab wishes.
Enough.
UNTOUCHABLE.indd 2 7/30/08 11:05:08 AM
Deolali Cantonment.
For now, you will sit on
the floor.
Not there, boy.
You haven’t earned yourself
a chair yet.
Sir, is he to share a dorm
with us? Of course he is. if that
distresses you, feel free to make your complaints directly
to Colonel Cathcart.
The lad I talked about, Captain Soames.
Vimal Dhatri. Throw him in with your Bandar-log,
eh?
Gentlemen, meet Vimal Dhatri, the latest addition
to our little menagerie.
How perspicacious
of you, Williams. I would never have
noticed.
But sir, he’s a native,
sir!
Knock some of the rough edges
off him.
Certainly, Colonel Cathcart. We’ll make sure
he feels--at home.
Dhatri, you may
sit.
UNTOUCHABLE.indd 3 7/30/08 11:05:09 AM
in 1600, Queen Elizabeth granted the
East India Company its royal charter. But civilization in India begins when General Clive gives the Nawab of Bengal at Plassey
a good old-fashioned hiding.
Don’t mix with your betters,
Jungle Boy.
We’ll teach you your place, if Colonel Cathcart
won’t.
Your mission is two-fold. To bring civilization to this
country--
--and to maintain civilization
in yourselves, so far from
home.
“I come not to bring
peace, but a sword,” Christ said.
For the true believer--the pilgrim--must walk through blood and fire to reach his
goals.
it’s back to the jungle for
you.
Salter, I see you
fidgeting at the back.
Wake up, ape!
I will be testing you on these dates.
UNTOUCHABLE.indd 4 7/30/08 11:05:09 AM
All right, my lads. Look lively.
These heathen jungles are full of all the worst things you
could imagine.
So to start the
wilderness games, we’ll have an exercise
in camouflage and using the
ground.
But Sir, Dhatri has an unfair
advantage. He’s as black as a nigger. if he hides in the shadows, he’ll
disappear!
Thank you, Bingham. Yes, Dhatri will be given a fair
handicap, of course. He’ll be carrying
this.
And he’ll be wearing
this.
At my signal, you will all hide, and I’ll come looking
for you.
Tigers and cobras
aren’t the bloodyhalf of it.
UNTOUCHABLE.indd 5 7/30/08 11:05:09 AM
Dhatri, don’t be a
fool!
...huff...
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She smelled him themoment she awoke.
I must have him.
The raw, sour, sensual smell of fear and sweat and mud. She heard the world’s-end thunder
of his heart, and her first conscious thought was this:
To run from her? Across her own jungle?
The land that FiTTED her like a skin? That she WRAPPED around herselfat night like a cloak?
Amusing.
Futile.
Ludicrous.
H--Hello? is someone
there?
UNTOUCHABLE.indd 7 7/30/08 11:05:10 AM
Chillllld.
Hhhhhuman child.
Full of red juice and brittle
bones.
I ’m here, little
morsel.
Little playmate.
I’m at your side.
And everywhere
else.
Littletoy.
Wh--where are you?
Come out!
UNTOUCHABLE.indd 8 7/30/08 11:05:10 AM
Now what have you to say
to me--
--before I feast on your
heart?
Are you--
--are you a friend of my father’s?
Dhatri!
Where are you, boy? Show
yourself!
UNTOUCHABLE.indd 9 7/30/08 11:05:11 AM
C--Captain Soames! There
was a--
You can speak when
you’re damn well spoken to.
You ledus a merry
dance, didn’t you? Disobeyed
my express instructions.
There was a creature! I ran from it, and I--
Discipline is the cornerstone of virtue, Dhatri.
This will do you the world of
good.
Go to, sir. We’ll
hold him.
Got him, sir.
Williams. Bingham. Be
good enough to hold the nabob
still for me.
Silence, boy.
UNTOUCHABLE.indd 10 7/30/08 11:05:11 AM
Put him on the bed, and let’s get out
of this.Well
that’s his problem,isn’t it?
No! No! Don’t kill me!
Don’t--
The--theothers?
He’ll bleed on the
sheets.
Shhh!Soft you
now, little boy.
I had my chance to kill you out in the jungle, but I stayed my
hand. The pale ones. The ones who beat you.
What are they?
When I went to sleep,
there were no such walking worms
upon the Earth.
Tell me about the
others.
UNTOUCHABLE.indd 11 7/30/08 11:05:11 AM
What do you want to know?
Fight them? N--no. I want to fit in here. To
belong.
Of course! Why? Don’t
you?
Do they bleed and
break , as yourkind do?
I am Jara , of the Rakshas.
immortal. Spawned from the feet
of Rahu.
Before the sea spewed up the
land, I was. And when the land melts back
again into salt tears, I will endure.
But--it is colder here now
than it was. The walking worms have bound the land with iron, and
words of power.
To belong? Hah. Let me know when that project
fails, golden boy. For a while
at least, my offer stands.
What if I gave you the power to hurt them back? How would
that be?
Goldenboys and pink-FLeshed
boys are irreconcilable , are they not? We will FLght them
together.
Even the air tastes
different.
UNTOUCHABLE.indd 12 7/30/08 11:05:12 AM