Untouchables (Part 1)

The sun was waking up in his cloud bed. Birds recite their morning song. Madhav has already completed his chores. The streets were clean. School children were walking toward the school.

Madhav came back to his house. His wife hands him a glass of water. She placed one thick finger millet roti, with some raw onions on the plate. Madhav recites his prayer, thanking God for giving him food and life.

"What will you eat?" Madhav asks.

"I have for myself, you eat," she says. Madhav knows her wife well. Despite being married for a year, he seems like he knows her for a lifetime. How her face twisted and her lips quiver when she lies.

Madhav doesn't find any food. He makes her sits with him. He tore the roti into half pieces.

"I had promised you. We will share everything. Go on eat it," Madhav says.

"I am full," her wife says taking two-bite from it. Madhav work every day, he needs energy for it. How could she full her stomach when her husband is hungry? She drinks water to suppress her hunger. The soft finger millet roti tastes still lingers in her mouth.

After having breakfast, Madhav sits outside his house. He slides the blood-red clothes and reveals his instrument. An awl, a hammer, a thread. A schoolboy dressed in a fine school uniform, clutching a man's arms head toward him.

Madhav bows his head in front of his customers. Thanking god.

"Make a little stitch on the side," the man says. The bottom layer of the shoe was tore from the side. The leather was of fine quality. Madhav had never seen such fine leather in all his life.

"Two minutes, saheb(sir)?" Madhav says as he digs a hole with his awl and started stitching it. Burning the thread end with a matchstick he hands the shoes back. The boy in hurry and innocent of the worldly affairs touch Madhav.

"Move back chote saheb," the man scold the boy.

"They are untouchables. It is a sin to touch them," the man explains to the boy.

"Why? Is he suffering from a disease like my mother?" the boy asks.

"No chote saheb. He is different from us. Let's go home," the man says.

The man paid him fewer amounts as a punishment for him. The orange glint of the descending sunrays tells Madhav it was time to wrap up. Madhav hands the coin in her wife's palm. Her wife collapse in his arms as the coin roll down on the muddy floor.

"Deepa, what happens? Open your eyes?" Madhav says patting her cheeks. He lay her on the wooden cots. Madhav ran through the deserted roads. He was not permitted to walk on the village road. He knocks the vaidya(ayurvedic doctor) house.

Vaidya's face scowls seeing Madhav now. "My wife, she...she is not opening her eyes. Please come," Madhav says.

Vaidya came back with his bag. Madhav walks in front of him, maintaining a distance from him. Deepa was laying on the bed, her eyes shut. He checks her pulse, thinks for some time, and walks out from his house as if it might burn him.

"She is pregnant," he says. Madhav bow in front of him. He offered him freshly baked clay pots.

The days turned into months, Madhav worked all day. A new member is about to come to his house. And the time finally arrived. It was a boy. The baby cackled up, clutching Madhav's rough and cracked fingers. Keshav he names him.

Keshav loves his parents dearly. A new ray of joy spread inside Madhav's dark house. Madhav soon started teaching him, how to sew shoes and sandals.

He made Keshav sat beside him all day during work. One day, he was teaching Keshav how to use an awl. A dark figure shadow clouded on them. Madhav looks up, it was a man dresses in an ironed shirt and trousers.

"I heard you mend shoes," the man says.

"Yes saheb, I do," Madhav says.

The man removes his shoes and lands it in front of Madhav. Madhav analyzes it, the leather was looking fine from all sides. He was about to ask the man about the problem, as his eyes landed on a small hole in front of the shoes.

He fixes it within a minute. The man was in perplex, seeing his speed.

"You are quite good with it," the man says. Keshav's chest puffs up hearing his father compliments.

The man gave him a 10 rupees note. Madhav's eyes grow wide in horror.

"The amount is too much, sir. It had only cost me 25 paise," Madhav says. The man was further impressed by his honesty.

"Take it. The amount is nothing for me," the man says.

Madhav didn't argue anymore, as he takes the money. The man flew away from sight. Madhav hands the money to his wife as Keshav narrates the whole scene.

A week later:- 

There was a knock on Madhav door. Village people were standing in a circle with a wooden stick in their hands. Madhav bows his head in front of them.

"Go inside and check it," the village head commands a man.

"What happens, saheb?" Madhav says as he hears the breaking of clay pots from inside his house.

"You are a good actor, Madhav," one man says coming forward.

"Acting so innocent. You steal money from our houses now."

The man came back with five rupee note between his fingers. "Now, explained to us. Where did you get such a big amount?" another man asks.

"A man came to me. I mend his shoes. He had paid me, saheb. I hadn't stolen anything," Madhav says bowing down in front of the people.

"Liar."

"You were in a hurry at the shop," the shopkeeper says coming forward.

"My son and wife were hungry and they needed food. That's why saheb," Madhav says.

"Liar. You were fearing about getting caught," the shopkeeper says.

"He is a liar, burn him."

"Who will pay 10 rupees to a cobbler?"

"You had stolen the money." People started accusing him of sins. The man started throwing stones at him for lying. They throw stone until their souls are please by the screams of Madhav.  

Madhav walks inside as blood was oozing out from every corner of his body. His dark burned skin was peeling off at many places. His wife boils some water. She cleans her husband's body. She applies some medicinal plants on the scratches.

She tore her husband's cloth and wraps it around his body, stopping the blood flow. Madhav lies on the bed, his eyes fixed up. He didn't look at her wife and his son.