They arrived just before evening. An enormous group. Not marching or anything like that. Merely walking in a disorganised manner. They had ...
They arrived just before evening. An enormous group. Not marching or anything like that. Merely walking in a disorganised manner. They had probably come a long distance. Each bowed down in weariness. Faces damp with sweat. Khaki clothes grey with dust. Almost all the villagers went into hiding. Only Crazy Bodi came forward with a smile. Gleefully, he shouted at them, “What’s up?”
The whole group stopped came to a sudden stop. Crazy Bodi clasped a red gamchha in his hand. Waving the red gamchha like a banner, he shouted, “Where are you going, eh?” He had never seen such a strange sight before.
The major was wearing sunglasses. He took his glasses off and asked in English, “What is this man saying?”
Rafiquddin replied immediately, “The man seems to be a madman. All our villages have one.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, sir.”
“How can you tell that this man is mad?”
Rafiquddin kept quiet. The major had a very twisted sort of nature.
He could squeeze out ten different meanings from a single sentence. Crazy Bodi was running towards them. He was all smiles.
Rafiq snapped at him. “What the hell do you want?”
Crazy Bodi’s smile broadened even further.
Rafiq wiped the sweat off his forehead. He said in a thin voice, “The man is...
