The voice of the turtle

The voice of the turtle

For, lo! the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
– Old Testament

“We are from a small town near Belgaum and in those days, i.e. in the 40’s and 50’s, it was a nice little town, peaceful and charming, and we were the landed gentry in those parts.” Our friend said and paused. “It was a good life.” He said reflectively.

“Naturally, from the landlord’s point of view” we chided him.

Our group from the same ‘batch’ was having an easy, happy chat over the coffee. (I personally do not like to call us a ‘batch’. Makes us sound like biscuits.)

“Of course, a landlord’s life also had its downside” he said. “We had all the responsibility of the land-tenants on our shoulders”

“Yes, yes. We can see that. Your shoulders are really stooping under the load” we further teased him. He had very broad and straight shoulders.

“No, really, you people do not understand. I will tell you a story from my own childhood and then you will know.”

A story from him was always a treat. He was a good tale-spinner.

“I must have been hardly 9 or 10 years of age. Our town was near the river and we boys used to go swimming in a little pool in the river, which was surrounded by the rocks. One day, I found a little turtle on the rocks and brought it home.”

“There used to be a water-tank outside the house for bathing. My mother was very strict. She would not tolerate anyone coming inside the house unless they washed themselves. The tank was meant for these ablutions. There was a metal bucket and a metal ‘lota’ in the tank. Yes, you guessed it. No plastic drums in those days.”

“I kept the turtle in the tank.”

The evening meal was over and the all of us went to sleep peacefully.

“AEIOOOOOOOOO!!! Help Help!”

We were awakened by the awful sound. For some time we just could not think clearly, but then Amma correctly surmised that it was coming from near the tank. She was always afraid that thieves will rob our house, it being on the outskirts of the town and a bit solitary. “Robbers!” she said.

The racket was still continuing, but it was pathetic rather than frightening. Appa picked up a stout stick from the corner and called our two servants, “Bhima, Ramu, come with me.” The three of them went towards the tank.

Amma meanwhile had rushed towards the prayer-room, because all the silver things that she used for the worship were there. But she did not find them there and so, she started crying. Fortunately, my father had managed to persuade her to keep her dowry of “A hundred tolas of gold” that she was so proud of, into a bank, so it was safe.

Appa and our two servants dragged the thief inside the house and lit the lamps. The poor chap was howling with pain, and hanging from his fingers was my little turtle.

It appears, after collecting the silver things from the prayer-room, he had stopped by the tank and seen the copper ‘lota’ at the bottom of the tank. He had just put his hand inside the tank to take out the ‘lota’, when the turtle clamped its teeth on his fingers and just would not or could not let go. He had tried to bang the turtle on the edge of the tank, but the tough exterior shell of the turtle could well withstand the impact. All it had done was to withdraw into the shell, fingers and all.

The thief was one of our own tenants.

Amma had come to the scene from the prayer-room by this time and she was seething with rage. “Call the police” she said to Appa, “put him in prison.”

Appa was always a cool person. “We will have to get the doctor before that” he said.

“A doctor? For him?” Amma was flabbergasted, however before she could remonstrate further, Appa ordered her to go upstairs. “This is a job for men” he said. Amma collected the silver tied in a cloth and went grumbling. “You too” Appa said to my elder sister. She did not want to go, but had no choice.”

“Men were men in those days” he said wistfully, “and women obeyed their men”.

Here, we girls from the batch objected. “MCP!”

“Appa did not order me to go upstairs. Being a boy, I suppose, I qualified as man.”

“The thief on the ground was begging Appa’s forgivance in between his howls. Bhima and Ramu wanted to thrash the thief, but Appa did not allow them. He was arranging to send for the doctor. The doctor came, but he was helpless to pry open the turtle’s jaws from the fingers of the thief, so Appa sent for a vet, who did the job.”

“So, we ended spending money for a thief, who was trying to rob us.”

“Appa DID punish the thief by giving him a ‘punishment posting’ on the farthest fields, which were near a jungle but he paid the doctor’s and vet’s bills for the night-call and for the medicines. Needless to say, he never mentioned those bills in Amma’s presence, and he did NOT make a complaint against the thief, much to Amma’s chagrin.”

“After all, being the landlord, he felt he was responsible towards the family of the thief. If the bread-winner went to the jail, they would have suffered.”

“So, folks, I say, we had great responsibility towards our tenants. Appa always told me “You can hit their back, but never hit their stomach”, figuratively speaking.”

“What happened to the turtle?” we asked.

“Oh, I took it back to the river. It had sung its song” he said.