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After living with the fisher folk in the village where the girl was from and not being able to win her hand in marriage, frustrated, Ranganadan hopped on a boat and went to South India.

After a year he returned with his heart full of secrets. He did not have the pain of losing his sweetheart Arunakshi any longer. Now his hope was to gain something greater than Arunakshi.

Whenever Ranganadan visited his mother’s house in Puttur, his sister Janaki made an effort to hide her son Vasantharaja from his view. Even now Vasantharaja could remember how one time she hid him under the bed when Uncle Ranga was on his way to the house.

Most of the things that Uncle Ranga said in a high voice, little Vasantharaja did not understand. But every so often he heard his mother saying that the boy was not home.

In the beginning Vasantharja did not understand why his mother hid him every time that Uncle Ranga came over to visit. If mother knew ahead of time that his uncle was coming, Vasantharaja was not allowed to even stay under the same roof. At these instances, mother sent him to a neighbor’s house. But mother could not play her game forever. Just like someone wanting to taste the forbidden fruit, Vasantharaja became more and more keen on meeting his uncle under these restrictions.

One evening, when Uncle Ranga showed up beyond the palm leaf fence without any warning, mother hastened Vasantharaja to leave the compound from the back way. Every time prior to this, Vasantharaja had run on to Sivamma’s house without any questions. But today, he hid outside the palm leaf fence and listened.

Uncle ranga and mother talked loud for a long time. Grandmother also interjected words once in a while. After this, Uncle Ranga walked out of the house while cursing everyone at home. As he walked on to the road, Vasantharaja moved out from behind the fence and walked upto him.

Their eyes met. In Uncle Ranga’s eyes was a fierce look and on his lips was a cunning smile.

“Hey, podian, come here.” Hearing his Uncle’s beckoning, Vasantharaja was drawn to him like a needle to a magnet. “Would you like to go with me Vasantharaja? You have no hope living with these women. How old are you now?”

“I had my thirteenth birthday, uncle.”

“That’s the age when milk flows from the stem. Aye, ada, we will give you whatever you want, man. You don’t have to suffer by hanging around here.”

“Where can I go, Uncle?”

“If you want to you can go to India even. Hey, podian, do you like guns?”

Vasantharaja nodded his head like a puppet.

“Do you know why we are all trapped here? The ones who live below us have surrounded us, that’s why. Hey, do you like to fight, like M.G.R.?”

Vasantharaja nodded his head once more. He could smell the sweat on Uncle Ranga’s body when he got closer.

“Adey, you come with us. I will come tomorrow night with the motorcycle. You will have to stay up till I get here.”

“What time, Uncle?”

“Do you know how to read the time?”

“Not in the dark.”

“Do you sleep inside the house?”

“When it’s real hot, I sleep on the porch.”

“Then tomorrow you will have to say you feel hot and then sleep on the porch. I will come here without the motor running on the bike. Do you understand? You come with me for a ride. I will whistle. Then you come out, right? If you don’t come, I will kill your mother and grandmother and everyone else, right?”