Chapter 315 Punishment
Anand and Rajakannu stepped forward, determined to stop it.
Suddenly, the flimsy door of the house banged open and Joseph's wife fell in the doorway, fainting at their feet.
She was naked, her long hair tangled and bloody. Her husband had beaten her with a stick, leaving blue and red streaks all over her back, buttocks, and legs.
Everyone recoiled in horror, horrified both by the horrific wounds on her body and by her nakedness.
Anand was also shocked. Although he was having an extramarital affair, in India at that time, nakedness was like a secret religion.
No one, except the insane or the saint, would show himself naked.
There are many couples in the slums who have been married for many years and have never seen their wives naked.
Everyone felt very sorry for Joseph's wife. Shame filled everyone's heart and burned everyone's eyes.
Then there was a loud roar, and Joseph stumbled out the door, his cotton trousers stained with urine, his T-shirt torn and stained.
He was drunk and twisted, his hair disheveled and his face bloodied, and he still held the stick he had used to beat his wife.
He squinted his eyes as he caught sight of the sunlight, his blurry gaze fixed on his wife. He cursed her and took a step forward, ready to strike her with the stick again.
Everyone gasped, recovered from their shock, and prepared to step forward to stop it.
But the first person to rush up was the short and fat Anand!
His teeth chattered as he struggled with the larger Dojosef and pushed him back.
The stick in Joseph's hand was taken away, and he was pinned to the ground. He struggled and screamed desperately, and a string of vicious curses and saliva came out of his mouth.
Several weeping women came forward, as if mourning the dead, and they covered the body of Joseph's wife with a yellow sari and carried her away.
The crowd punched and kicked Joseph, and Anand slapped him several times. But just when everyone was about to turn into a lynch mob, Anand immediately raised his hand to stop them and control the situation.
He ordered the crowd to disperse or retreat, and the men who were holding Joseph down held him to the ground.
He did not intend to call the police or take Joseph away, but instead asked about the alcohol Joseph had drunk.
The wine was called Daru, a homemade liquor with a very astringent taste.
When the wine was served, Anand asked Rajakannu and Rajiv to force Joseph to drink it.
They sat Joseph down among the burly young men and handed him a bottle of wine.
Joseph stared at them angrily, feeling suspicious for a while, then quickly took the bottle and gulped down the wine for a long time before stopping.
The young men around him patted him on the back and encouraged him to drink more.
He continued to drink the strong-tasting Daru wine, then tried to push the bottle away, saying that he had had enough.
The young men's coaxing turned into coercion. They joked with him, put the bottle to his lips and stuffed it into his mouth.
Rajakanu lit a cigarette and handed it to Joseph. He smoked, drank, and smoked again. He stumbled out of the house holding the bloody stick, but after a few steps, he lowered his head and fell unconscious on the gravel path.
The young men continued to gather around him while Anand ordered tea and water to be prepared. After they had their tea, they began to wake Joseph.
They poked and prodded him, yelled at him, and he stirred, muttering something angrily, and it took him a long time to wake up.
He opened his eyes, shook his dizzy head, and shouted angrily for water.
"There's no water, but there's wine." Anand winked.
They took the second bottle and forced him to drink it, using both coaxing and deceiving him until he had to drink it.
Someone lit another cigarette for him, and many young people smoked with him.
Joseph repeatedly asked for water angrily, but every time he was given liquor.
Before he finished the third bottle, he fainted again and fell to the side, his head hanging at an awkward angle, his face completely exposed to the rising sun, but there was no one to provide him with shade.
Anand let him nap for only five minutes before having him woken up. Joseph woke up, complained angrily, and began to rant and swear.
He wanted to crawl back into the house, but Anand picked up the bloody stick and gave the order, "Start!"
A heavy blow landed on Joseph's back. Joseph howled and tried to dodge, but the young men who had formed a circle around him pushed him back to the center of the circle.
Anand slapped him again and Joseph screamed in anger, but everyone slapped him and shouted at him to be quiet.
Anand raised his stick, and Joseph hunched over, trying hard to focus his scattered eyes.
"Asshole, do you know what you have done?" Anand asked sternly, and then hit him on the shoulder with a stick.
"Tell me, you drunk dog! Do you know what a filthy thing you've done?"
"Don't hit me!" Joseph screamed. "Why are you hitting me?"
“That’s a question for you.” Anand hit him again.
"Ouch! I didn't do anything!"
Rajakanu took the stick and hit him on the arm.
"You filthy pig, you beat your wife and made her show herself naked to everyone. You almost beat her to death!"
The stick came into Rajiv's hand and he hit Joseph's leg hard.
"She's dying! You've killed someone! You killed your own wife and humiliated her!"
Joseph tried to shield himself with his arms and looked around for a way to escape, but he was surrounded.
Before the sticks stopped, each of the young men surrounding him stepped forward to carry out the execution.
Joseph gradually realized the seriousness of the matter, and his face became stiff, showing fear and extreme pain.
"I'm going to fight!" he cried. "I didn't do anything. I didn't mean to kill her! Give me water! I need water!"
“No water!” Anand said.
"This isn't the first time you've hit her with a stick. Now it's over. You've killed her. You can't hit her again. You'll die in jail!"
"You're so big and strong! How brave of you to hit your wife, who's only half your height. Come and hit me! You classless scoundrel!"
Everyone shouted and cursed, and kept hitting with sticks.
"Water" Joseph sobbed and collapsed to the ground in tears of self-love and self-pity.
"No water!" Anand stared at him.
Joseph fell unconscious again, but was awakened again. He was exposed to the sun and suffered terribly.
He cried for water, but every time he was offered only a bottle of wine. He wanted to refuse, but the thirst was too much.
He caught the bottle with shaking hands, and the stick fell on him again. He tried to crawl away, but was twisted back.
Anand asked him to call Joseph's relatives and friends, as well as his wife's family.
After the relatives and friends arrived, the young men withdrew and they surrounded Joseph and continued to torture him.
They scolded him and beat him, and Joseph finally broke down. He had completely lost his fighting spirit.
His resentment and contempt were crushed, and he cried and called his wife's name again and again: Maria, Maria, Maria.
Only then did the punishment end. His relatives and friends brought water and soap and combed his hair and washed his face.
Then they comforted him with a hug and the kind words he had heard for the first time since being punished, and told him that if he truly repented, they would forgive him and help him.
They asked many people to come forward and touch their feet. Then they put on clean shirts and supported him with their arms and shoulders.
"Your wife Maria is not dead." Anand said softly.
"Is he dead?" Joseph said in a low and vague voice.
"Yes, she was badly injured, but she didn't die."
"Thank God, thank God."
"The women of your family and Maria's family have already decided what to do. Do you regret it?"
“Yes, Anandbai,” Joseph wailed, “I regret it.”
"Those women have decided that you can't see Maria for two months. She's badly injured and needs to rest. You almost beat her to death. During this time, you have to work hard and save money.
You are not allowed to drink any dal, beer, or other drinks except water, not even a drop, understand?"
"Yes, I will do so."
"In two months, you will go and ask for Maria's forgiveness. If she doesn't want you, you must not pester her. If she does, you must use the money you have saved to take her on vacation to the cool mountains. You can meditate in a quiet place and reflect on yourself."
"Yes, I will do it."
Joseph was helped away and laid in the hut while two friends fanned his unconscious body with cardboard.
Rajakannu tied a thin rope around one end of the bloody stick and hung it on a bamboo pole outside Joseph's house for public display.
During the two months of his punishment, the bastard will be hanging there.
The crowd gradually dispersed, some went home, and some went to work.
Someone in a small hut turned on the radio, and the plaintive Hindi love songs echoed in the alleys and gutters of the bustling slum.
Where the crowd had just tortured Joseph, a few chickens were pecking at their food. Elsewhere, women were laughing and children were playing.
There was a vendor selling bracelets singing a tidbit in Marathi: Beautiful bracelets, beautiful bracelets!
The slums returned to their normal pace of life. Fishermen returned home from the dock, carrying baskets filled with their catch, which were full of the smell of the sea.
Incense vendors also started to move around, going from street to street, burning sandalwood, jasmine and rose incense to attract business.
Ron was sitting in a car on the side of the road not far away, witnessing everything.
After finishing the matter over there, Anand ran over happily.
"Ron Baba!" He looked very happy.
"Well done."
“I learned all of this in prison.”
"Idiot," Ron laughed, "There's no such method of winning people over in prison."
"Alibai used to lecture people like this in the slums of South Bombay."
"Very good. From now on, Kama Compound will be handed over to you."
"I guarantee there won't be any problems." Anand shook his head. He liked this kind of work.
He can't handle working in an office. The chaotic yet vibrant slums are his paradise.
"Let's go." Ron waved his hand.
“Ron Baba, you want to go back to Uttar Pradesh?”
"yes."
That cable TV
"Go ahead and check out Karuna."
"Okay!" Anand nodded vigorously.
In his own slums he is a fair judge, but in other places he becomes a silver stick.
The city of Mumbai is hopeless, even God cannot forgive Mumbai.
(End of this chapter)
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