Forbidden India Ch. 02

Three Sisters And The Cock Of Windsor

"Who is this man Arthur Windsor and why has he come here?" Savitri asked.

The three young women sat in a small, public courtyard with only a few other people walking about. The day was very hot, as were most days in that region. Despite the great heat the women preferred to be outside than inside of their crowded home. This was because they shared their two-level house with their grandmother, their parents, their in-laws and their unmarried sisters. Every bedroom contained an entire family.

Nipa and Savitri were true sisters, while Pritam was their sister in-law. The women were all in their early twenties, married, and each had one child to take care of. Actually, the consensus was that Pritam was estranged from her husband. The man had gone to the city one too many times and had not come back for several weeks. The biggest reason why the three women stuck together was because the townsfolk unfairly blamed Pritam for her husband's running away. Nipa and Savitri would not stand for this because they knew how bad a husband their blood brother had been to his wife.

Pritam was the most heavyset and curviest of the three. Her skin was dark and her face homely, but she made up for these deficiencies with her heart of gold. The sisters were of much fairer skin tone, having come from a once proud family that had long ago fallen out of favor and into obscurity. Savitri was very pretty, but also smart and curious enough to want to know everything about everything. By far, Nipa was the biggest prize for a husband to catch. She was a beautiful girl; with eyes that sparkled and a smile warm enough to melt ice, if any ice were to be found in that hot, humid place.

All three women wore loose blouses and the traditional saris, which were long strips of fabric that wrapped around their entire bodies. Their saris ranged in soft colors of blue, yellow and orange.

The women lived in what is properly called a cantonment. Originally, these were neighborhoods built for the British, set up near rural villages or cities but not within them. This particular cantonment was located on the outskirts of Chennai, far enough not to be part of the big city's hustle and bustle, but not completely out in the country either. It boasted of large, pleasant bungalows, streets lined with pretty trees, and also electricity and plumbing. Important Britons: politicians, military sorts or the wealthy retired to such places.

When the majority of the British had either moved away or died out, the cantonment became populated with native Indians. Also, the cantonment had been expanded with all manner of brick and concrete structures and even boasted a small, Western-styled shopping district with a cinema.

The biggest problem was that these young women quickly grew bored with their surroundings. The heat was oppressive and there was simply nothing at all to do. Most of the young men were off working the fields to the west, unless they were lucky enough to find stable and better paying employment in Chennai. The husbands of the sisters would board a bus early in the morning, along with a number of other local men, so they would be taken to their jobs in the city. The older and younger men of their cantonment went into the farms to work the fields and were also gone from nearly sun up until sun down.

Younger women would always pick up the bad habits from the older women, and our three ladies were no exception. They spent hours contemplating and deliberating over the latest movies from the cinema, or they complained about the heat, or they would walk over to the textile store to consider whatever new fabrics had come in. If a cow wandered into the cantonment, they would talk about that and wonder what had caused the cow to end up there and so far away from its ilk. Most of all, and just like the older local women would, these three ladies like to gossip about other people.

"I don't think his last name is Windsor." Pritam admitted.

"Of course it isn't." Savitri shook her head as if that was clearly obvious. "That man is using a false name. He must have been involved in a great scandal to end up here. He is using a false name so that whoever is looking for him will not easily find him."

"Do you suppose someone is looking for him?" Pritam asked.

"There must be." Savitri replied. "Otherwise there would be no need for using a false name."

"What do you think he did?"

Nipa, who was the quietest of the three, spoke up. "Certainly he didn't embezzle any money or he wouldn't have come to such a worthless place as this."

"I think he is a British bastard." Pritam said, causing the sisters to break out in laughter. "Think of it. What do we know about this man?"

"He's an old man." Savitri said. "Certainly he is over sixty years old."

"He speaks good English." Nipa added.

"Well, of course he speaks good English because he is English!" Pritam scolded.

"That isn't what I meant." Nipa made a face. "I mean that he speaks a cultured form of English, as if he is an educated man."

"He has to be an educated man because he teaches the children here English!"

"Any fool can teach English here." Savitri said. "But I think my sister is correct. This man is a cultured man. Not only does he teach English, but he teaches the children manners and art as well. Yet he is still keeping his head low. Mr. Windsor is obviously more intelligent than the English teacher we already have, Mrs. Knobbs. He only assists her when he could very well teach on his own. The panchayat would grant him a larger stipend if he only showed his credentials, but he refuses to do this."

"What else do we know about Mr. Windsor?" Pritam asked.

"He knows how to fix things that are broken." Nipa said. "He even knows how to make things that none of the other men around here can make."

"He is educated and he is an inventor." Savitri concluded. "I believe he was taught in a university."

"No, he's much too strong to be a scholar." Pritam refuted. "I've seen him carrying heavy logs on those broad shoulders of his. There are strong men here, but they are young men when compared to Windsor. That man is building a house for himself out by the river! What sort of scholar would do that?"

"That's because nobody likes sharing a bungalow with Mrs. Knobbs." Nipa said. "That old woman is crotchety!"

"I think he was a military man." Pritam suspected. "I think he has retired from the military and come out here to settle."

"Perhaps he was thrown out of the military." Savitri theorized. "Perhaps he has been shamed. This could explain why he is using a false name and taking great pains to keep his identity concealed."

"Then you agree with me that he is a British bastard?" Pritam asked.

"He is some sort of bastard!" Savitri laughed, prompting the other two to giggle.

"We must get to the bottom of this." Pritam decided. "We must find out Windsor's secrets."

"But how?" Nipa wondered.

"We can become sleuths." Savitri looked animated all at once. "We'll follow him and see what he does and who he talks to. We will make a list of clues until we know everything!"

"I will help you." Pritam said. "What about you, Nipa?"

The prettiest of the three ladies said simply, "It will give us something new to do, other than to sit here and melt into puddles every day."

After several days of investigation, the three women were no closer to unraveling the mystery of Arthur Windsor than they'd been at the start. Oh, they had the man's routine down to a predictable schedule. Windsor assisted Mrs. Knobbs at the school during the morning and could be seen piddling about sometimes before noon. After that, the man simply disappeared until the next morning. It was theorized that Windsor spent the rest of his day out by the river where he was building his house.

There was one Saturday when Windsor boarded the morning bus with all of the other local men. He was gone until sundown when all of the men returned. Because Savitri and Nipa were married women, they couldn't simply ask their husbands what Windsor had been up to because it would arouse suspicion.

Most of the locals knew that Pritam's husband was gone, even though some of the man's family members still held hope that he would come back. Since Pritam was considered less than married, it was easier for her to mingle among the unmarried men. These men all tolerated Pritam's many questions, as they simply thought she was trying to entice one of them into marrying her once her divorce was deemed official.

The weather was so warm that many of the locals had taken their cots out of doors to sleep. The sisters were eager to see if Pritam had learned anything at all, but they had to keep up appearances until most of their family members had lain down. Together, they made their way over to Pritam's cot, as their sister in-law and her child slept separate from the others.

"Will you tell us what you've found out?" Savitri asked. She was clearly eager for any new information.

"No one knows a thing." Pritam frowned. "The local men went to their usual places and had nothing to report regarding Windsor. They hardly paid any attention to him at all. The nearest I can tell is that Windsor exited the bus between the fisheries and the city. When he boarded the bus in the afternoon it was from Chennai, so obviously he got from one place to the other while the men were working. They said he brought two bags of groceries with him, but no one knew what was in those bags."

"That could be a clue." Savitri said, hopefully. "We must find out what was in those bags!"

"This tells us nothing!" Nipa balked, quietly so her nearby relatives wouldn't hear her.

"What can we do, short of walking up to Windsor and demanding an explanation from him?" Savitri sounded perturbed.

"The two of you can't ask the man directly because you're both married." Pritam thought things over. "On the other hand, I can walk all over and ask any man anything I wish. No one will think ill of me for doing this, because everyone knows my husband ran off from me."

"Your plan is to ask Windsor?" Savitri asked, as eager as ever. "Do you think he will tell you anything when he hasn't told anyone else? When will you make your approach to him?"

"I don't know." Pritam frowned. "I suppose I can catch him after he leaves the school, but he doesn't always walk in the same direction." A sudden glint came into he eyes. "Do you think I should walk out to the river and talk to him there?"

"You should do it tomorrow." Savitri decided.

"Oh, but it is so hot during the day." Pritam grumbled. "I'll become a puddle on the ground if I set off near noon, when Windsor is seen heading that way. I know! I can go now! One of you will have to watch over my daughter while I'm gone. The people here will think I'm out attempting to seduce a man into marrying me. I can get away with it if I do it now. Will you help?"

"Everyone will be talking about it, if you're gone from your cot and the two of us are left watching your daughter." Nipa cautioned her relative.

Pritam made a face of contempt. "Half of these imbeciles blame me for my husband not coming back. I was a good wife to him! These people have no right to ostracize me for something that was not my fault. Nipa, I know you will watch my child if I ask you. Will you do it?"

"Yes, of course I will." Nipa replied. "We'll carry your daughter's cot and set it next to those of our children."

"We will both watch her." Savitri agreed. "Go, and don't come back until you have news. I'm dying to know what secrets that man is hiding!"

Pritam took a look around, making sure that most people were asleep, or at least not paying attention to her. Shortly after, she slipped away through the trees.

Because it was easier, the sisters carried Pritam's empty cot to where their cots were gathered. Nipa went back to fetch the sleeping little girl.

A few people noticed what they were doing, but no one stirred up to make a fuss about it. The sisters did expect a great fuss for the following day, however. Possibly a dozen new local detectives would make it their mission to learn what Pritam had been up to that night.

Because everyone in the village went to the river to bathe, it was not hard at all for Pritam to make her way there. She did not pause at the village bathing spot, however, but kept her steady pace toward where Windsor was setting up his house.

She found a small fire going, illuminating the cabin the mysterious Briton was in the process of building. The fire was set in the soft dirt near the river's edge, and close by it was the cot where Windsor slept. Holding her sari up and away from her bare feet so she wouldn't get it muddy, Pritam snuck even closer.

Windsor was dozing peacefully with a dreamy look on his face, as the fire flickered to his side. The man wore only a pair of shorts because of the heat, giving the young woman a good opportunity to study his body. He was taller than any of the other Indian men who lived there locally. Windsor's frame looked sturdy as well, with long and wiry arms that were shaped like a swimmer's and a taut chest. The man was clean-shaven and handsome despite his age, as if he'd been active or athletic all of his life. What Pritam liked most about Windsor was the creamy color of his skin. He wasn't dark or reddish like the rest of the Indians. Only Mrs. Knobbs had paler skin than Windsor, but that old woman's skin looked more sickly than pleasant. By contrast, Windsor's frame looked strong and tempered well by the sun. He looked nothing like a man of over sixty years, Pritam considered. No, in her judgment Windsor looked to be a man in his forties.

As Pritam stepped around the man's cot, she saw a bottle of wine resting there on the ground. The bottle was half-full with the stopper lying there beside it. Tempted by the wine as much as she was by Windsor's secrets, she went to sit on the ground beside the cot and took up the bottle.

The wine was tangy but full of alcohol. It was a cheap wine, she decided, and not at all refined as she expected a mysterious man like Windsor to be drinking.

"You'd better not finish that." Windsor said, smacking his lips as if he were only just waking up. "Those bottles don't grow on trees."

Pritam glanced over, observing as the old man sat up on his cot. "I only wanted a taste of it. I saw the bottle on the ground and didn't think you would mind."

"You're one of the local women, yes?" Windsor asked, as he sat up and rubbed his head. "Why have you come out here so late? The way I understand it, Indian men don't let their women stray very far, especially at night."

"I can stray wherever I please." Pritam replied. "My husband has run off and left me with his young child."

"And so you're out looking for a new husband now?" Windsor chuckled. "I do hate to give you this bad news, but you won't be finding a new husband around here."

"I only came for a walk along the river, when I saw your fire." Pritam fibbed, only to have a sudden idea come over her in the next instant. She stood up and took several steps away. "I won't give you this bottle until you've answered my questions. What is the truth of who you are? Why have you come to hide in this place when there are so many better places that you could have gone?"

"Say again?" Windsor rubbed his head again.

"You must tell me why you are using a false name or you won't have your wine back."

"Keep the bottle then." Windsor shrugged.

"You must tell me!" Pritam urged. She didn't want to go back to the sisters with empty hands, after she'd come out all the way to the river to get answers. To further threaten the man, she took another swig from the bottle. "I'll finish your wine if you don't!"

"We have this saying, you know, that curiosity killed the cat." Windsor told her. "I could very walk up to you and take my bottle back by force."

"If you come any closer, I'll throw it into the river."

"If you throw my wine into the river, I will throw you into the river to fetch it. Why is it so urgent for you to know these things about me, anyway?"

"Because you are a man with secrets and I want to know what those secrets are!"

"There isn't much difference between British women and Indian women, is there?" Windsor asked, shaking his head. "Well, have it your way. Come and give me my bottle so that I can have a drink from it. I won't give you any specifics, so you shouldn't pry for them. I will answer your questions because I want my wine back, and because I do wish I had someone to confide to at times."

"Answer my questions first." Pritam insisted.

"I already said I would. Come on, let me have the bottle."

Reluctantly, Pritam took it to him. Before she handed it over, she took one last drink. Windsor took his own gulp once the wine had returned to his possession.

"Well, then," The man started. "What are these burning questions that are keeping you up at night? What is your name, anyway? I do like to know the names of my drinking chums. Since you've already helped yourself to my wine, you might as well tell me what you name is."

"Pritam." The Indian replied. "My surname is Sharma, but it will likely be gone if I take another man as my husband. Why do you use a false name?"

"Why do you think I use a false name?"

"Because you are hiding from someone."

"Close, but not quite. If I am hiding from someone, it is from myself. I am rather ashamed of some things from my past. I would rather use a different last name than to be reminded of those things. No one is out looking for me. No one even cares that I exist."

"What is it that shames you?" Pritam asked. She could hardly contain herself now, as she was so close to finding out what her and the sisters had been gossiping about for so many days now. "Will you tell me?"

Windsor sighed, before taking another swig of wine. He handed the bottle to Pritam so she could have one as well. "Back when I was in the RAF, I earned a reputation as a hole-plugger."

"I don't understand." Pritam said.

"The RAF is the Royal Air Force." Windsor explained. "I was a fighter pilot. When I say I was a hole-plugger, I mean I slept around with a good number of women. Every so often I would plug the wrong hole and I would end up in a twist over it. If you have to know the gist of it, my brother's wife heard a rumor about me. She set out to discover if it was true or not. She found out all right, and so did my brother. It wasn't intentional on my part, you understand, at least not at first. I knew it was my brother's wife and I didn't want anything to do with her. The woman hounded me until I gave in and plugged her.

"My brother never forgave me for that. I use another surname because when I think of my own, I remember the trouble I caused for my brother. That's all I'm going to tell you, except that my brother has now passed and he never forgave me for what I did. Not that it would matter, as his wife squarely put the blame on me. She said I was the one who pursued her but that was not the truth. I had witnesses on my side; to show my brother that it was his wife who went to the places I would be found. I never tracked her down. My brother never believed me, but it is the truth."

"And what was the rumor that got it all started?"

"I would rather not say, because then a whole new rumor will start off here. I know how this goes, Pritam. If I tell you, then you'll tell another woman and she'll tell another. Pretty soon, the entire cantonment will know and I will have to move elsewhere. I don't want to do that because, as you see," He pointed back toward the house he was building. "I can get that done before wintertime. I don't want to have to start building a new one somewhere else."

Pritam knew the sisters would want to know as much as they could, just as she did. She decided to push Windsor for the answer. "What was the rumor?"