Chapter 1

“Amuuuuu!”

Matongini scrunched up her aged eyes shading them with her hands to look into the distance as she called out for her granddaughter. The thin wrinkled skin on her throat stretched and the veins swelled up as she did she so. In her other hand she kept waving the red scarf that she usually used to attract Amu’s attention.

“What is the point of shouting yourself hoarse Owui[1]?” said Shuddho her 20-year-old grandson lazily from one corner of his cot where he had been sprawled out since morning. “As if you didn’t know your favourite shamchik is stone deaf” he said sniggering.

“Keep your foul mouth Shut! You lazy good-for-nothing!” said Matongini scowling at him. The lines on her forehead deepening further in frustration.  “Can’t you see it is past dusk. She is usually back by now. You should be out looking for your little sister yourself instead of sitting here passing comments!”

“Why should I bother? She will be somewhere in those dark marshy forest of hers. Cuddling up with a snake or a crocodile for all I care” he said sneeringly.

“Will you stop your nonsense? Or do you want a slipper mark on your face. Worthless fool!” said Matongini furious with Shuddho for bad mouthing Amu’s love for the wilderness.

Matongini belonged to the Rabha tribe. The Rabhas are one of the ancient tribal groups inhabiting the Chilapata area, in North Bengal. Her tribe was rich in cultures and customs of their own. Over the years, neglect, apathy and ignominy had diluted their authenticity. However, Matongini was one of the few left of her generation who proudly held onto their traditions. Despite Batasi, her daughter-in-law, not being from her tribe, Matongini had ensured that things in her house were run in her way. She had ruled her little kingdom like a queen. However, age, grief and poverty had broken her down bit by bit. It had reduced Matongini to a weak shadow of her former self. Her heartaches had etched deep lines on her face matching them with the creases that was so apparent in her life as well.

After losing her only son and daughter-in-law in an accident, Amodini and Shuddho, her two grandchildren, were her only memories left of them and the old lady had spent her days lovingly nurturing them. Shuddho, her grandson, had however, turned out to be a wild one. She did not know what he did all day. Once she had heard that he had found some odd jobs in the forest rest house that had come up recently within the Chilapata forest area. As the reserve gained in popularity, tourists began to throng their quiet village. Shuddho was in charge of transporting them from the station to the rest house. He was given a monthly salary but Matongini was sure he earned more than what he told her through tips and other unfair means.

Though Matongini was aware of the economic benefit the forest rest house staff provided for their small village, she somehow did not like this new change.  Till now Chilapata was a virgin land. Its pristine beauty was something she had grown up relishing. The advent of outsiders, as she considered the hordes of tourists to be, was disturbing its peace. She could not put her finger on it but there was something amiss and she was scared it might affect her village, her home and most importantly her Amu.

While Shuddho was 11 when his parents died, Amodini was still an infant. Therefore, Matongini had devoted her days and nights in rearing the child.  Over the years, Amodini had grown into a beautiful mellow girl very unlike her raucous elder brother. Matongini was absolutely besotted with her. However, there was just one worry that ate into the octogenarian’s heart as the years went by. Her precious Amu was deprived of the ability to hear and could only produce guttural sounds by way of speech. As soon as she realised this, Matongini never spoke in front of her lest Amu became withdrawn if she was made aware of her shortcomings. Rather, Matongini wanted Amu to grow up as every other child does and learn to embrace her drawbacks in the most natural way without others pointing it out to her.

Therefore, Owui and her darling shamchikcreated a beautiful language of signs and symbols that helped them bond together wonderfully. It was their own special language and nobody was made part of it. Soon it became an addiction for Matongini to make up signs to express different things. So she tilted her hands towards her mouths when she meant ‘drink’, she joined her fingers and moved them towards her mouth when she meant ‘eat’. She made up all these gestures and more to communicate.

Amodini loved this new game. She loved everything her Owui did for her and never wondered why she could not talk or sing like the other little girls in her village. She was happy and contented just being around Matongini. The old lady made up her whole world.

The only hindrance to their peace was Shuddho. Though Amodini hardly met her brother as he was rarely home, however, whenever he was, Matongini noticed he would make fun of their ‘game of signs’ as he called it.

She had explained her reasons patiently to Shuddho, but the boy had somehow never developed a love for his younger sibling. Maybe he was jealous of the attention that his grandmother showered on her. Whatever the reason, Matongini had never been able to make Shuddho be respectful or even congenial towards Amodini. Frustrated, she had given up hope and left all to fate. However, Shuddho’s increasing apathy towards Amu heightened Matongini’s concern for her. She often lay awake at night wondering what will happen to the little girl after her. Who will care for her and ensure she is safe?

There was something else that had added to her worries. Recently she had noticed Amu display an odd behaviour. She used to spend hours with the pet cat or in the cowshed and Matongini sometimes felt she could also hear her sing to them. She would have ignored these as her illusions had it not been for one incident.

Few days back, Noyonmoni, their cow, was disturbed about something and had become very restless. Matongini was at her wits end to understand what could be done. One night the animal was thrashing around in the shed and bellowing loudly for no known reasons. Amu who was sleeping inside their hut had suddenly woken up and while looking for her Owuihad come to stand, silently, near the opening of the cowshed. She looked at Noyonmoni for some time and slowly came to stand in front of the frightened bovine. Matongini was surprised to hear her hum a tune she used to sing to Amu when she was a toddler. It was a traditional lullaby sung by most Rabha women during their children’s bed time.

The Octogenarian stood rooted in her place when she saw Noyonmoni calming down slowly at the sound of Amu’s guttural sounds. Amu was smiling softly at the cow and lovingly caressing her face. The two seemed to be so much at peace with each other that for a moment they completely forgot the presence of Matongini.

When Noyonmoni was finally calm, Amu looked at Matongini as if she had just come in. She went over to her grandmother and gave the old lady a tight hug as if to say, “See it was that simple!”
Matongini had looked at her amazed and asked “How did u do it Shamchik?”
Amu had answered very simply through their signs that they used for each other,
“I looked into her heart and she looked into mine. She whispered her fears to me and I helped her drive them away”.

That night Matongini had realised God had deprived Amu of the regular human abilities only to make space for the special gifts. She was happy that Amu was blessed with what very few people have. However, she was also aware that nobody would understand the worth of such gifts and interpret things the wrong way. That made Matongini scared to think of Amu’s future. She only hoped that the world in which she would leave her little Shamchik , would value and understand her abilities rather than ridicule, rebuke or even resist her.

As she stood now waving the red scarf, waiting for Amu to return, all these thoughts clouded her mind once again. She tried to stop the wild throbbing in her heart that she felt every time Amu was away from her sight and ignored the fear stealthily making its way into her heart. She knew Amu would be home soon but, she wondered, for how long?

Prologue

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[1]              A Rabha word meaning Grandmother.

Chapter 2 – Preview
Amodini befriends a herd of elephants. The matriarch of this herd, whom she has named ‘Mata’, has willingly accepted Amodini as part of the herd and allows her to interact with her herd.
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