The Mind Creative March 2014
or whether the trader was done in by
an enemy, who took advantage of the
rumours.
Our street was lined mostly with houses
belonging to the upper middle class who
usually had attached servants’ quarters.
All our houses faced a very busy front
street, which during the day, was
dangerous to cross and during the night
became even more so because of the
steady stream of newly manufactured
trucks rushing thorough. There was
usually a lull of about two hours
between midnight and two in the
morning when it was very silent. Across
the road was a cricket stadium situated
next to a shallow tor and bush land.
All the houses on the street were serviced through a back lane that
could be reached via a back door next to the servant’s quarters.
Since the summer was coming to an end, the air was hot and humid
with the expectancy of the monsoon rains. One day, one of the
servants from a neighbouring house on our street told ours that the
Murkatta would strike in our locality soon since (apparently) the
Murkatta had already beheaded a servant in the next suburb. And
that was the trigger for the servant brigade to go up in arms.
Overnight, they became leaders of a vigilante group and their
organization skills were simply awe inspiring. They rounded up all
the servants, the able bodied young men and the not so able bodied
older ones and requested, shamed and even cursed them into
forming an army of sorts. They armed themselves with whatever
came to hand – kitchen knives, hockey sticks, cricket bats, walking
sticks and curtain rods. A decision was made to sit at the front and
back of alternate houses every night. This also included the residents
of the houses on the other side of the service lane. The enforced
rules were widely accepted in the united cause of the fight against
Murkatta.
45