"SPEAK NOW....."

“Speak now…….” said the stentorian voice of the churchman addressing the gathering. I was seated at the end of the second row in a dark corner of the church. I tried to rise. I thought I had risen, but I felt weighted down. The churchman ended “…..or forever hold your peace”. I saw the ring being fitted on the groom’s finger. My purpose in coming to the wedding was over as Ruhi had got married to Francis.

Let me tell you about myself. I am a male of average height. I was born in a forest is what I was told. I grew up in the woods. My dad taught me use of firearms and I became a sharp shooter. I moved with foreigners who came on safari. I reported a forest fire which could spread and it was appreciated. A government job was offered to me but I turned it down. I am now 32 and live alone in a quarter near about the camping place for foreign guests.

I only once faced a life threatening situation. It wasn’t while facing a man eating tiger or wild elephant as you could believe. It was due to a very large wild boar which was savage. It came on me suddenly when I was unarmed. Luckily I wasn’t in the path of its reverse swerve and so escaped. I knew its movements and created a trap – a deep pit with leaves topping it. That did it and it couldn’t escape. The locals feasted on smoked ham, pork, sausage and so on for days. When I say locals I include those who lived in villages near the edge of the forest.

A film shooting party came and I was paid handsomely to guide it through the scenes it sought. The main feature film sequences would be shot in the first month. Shooting of other scenes would come later. And one of the locals who had been hired by the film shooters was Ruhi. She was a woman of about 20 and mainly attended to the film’s leading lady. I could see she neither had the face cut nor the form to be chosen for a part in a film.

That day I was to take out the star in a totally enclosed buggy. As the star was boarding she shouted that there was a large snake hiding inside it. Before I could draw my gun, Ruhi who was also armed,  shot at it killing it instantly. Ruhi was handsomely rewarded for protecting the star.

Though I had opportunities to move with Ruhi, I somehow kept clear of her. As I have already said, she wasn’t attractive but she had caught the eye of Gorgon – the stuntman of the group. I didn’t like Gorgon who was a ruffian but I also didn’t like him taking a fling with Ruhi. Why? Some hidden jealousy I suppose! One evening Ruhi took out my buggy without my permission and was trying to seat Gorgon in it when I objected. Gorgon hit me. I tried to hit him back but he was stronger. I was left nursing my injuries.

While the film team made life more interesting, there were more human relations conflicts. Ruhi was a woman with the brittle temper. She would bicker about the food supply at all hours of the day. Though she knew she was jungle staff unused to five star care, she created complications. That night she threw the vessel containing hot soup on the face of the cook woman. The cook tried to sear Ruhi with a red hot brazier which attempt was foiled. But I’m sure the two women’s hand to hand combat which followed would have rendered tame the encounters created by film scripts! The battle didn’t end that easily. There were screams, abuses in coarsest terms with so many items thrown at each other that the place appeared a war zone. In fact the cook versus Ruhi battle showed us that we had been left with not a single china cup. I wisely ordered immediate replacements. Of course the film company compensated us for the losses and damages.

In an improvised scene the leading lady was to drink the water from a coconut seated in the shade of a tree.  A film staff, expert at climbing tall coconut trees, was to pluck coconuts and throw them to the ground. One of these would be picked up by Ruhi, pierced, and given to the star for her fresh sweet drink as she waited for someone to join her. In the course of picking up coconuts, the film team disturbed a group of armadillos lying hidden, tunneled about an ant hill. The director immediately ordered a film shoot of the scaly skinned animals. I was to learn later that the captured scene was very rare.

I could see from the behavior of Gorgon and Ruhi that they had become much more than friends. The two would often go out in the buggy and enjoy themselves, I don’t know where. But soon I came to know the truth. The two would go to a certain pool to cavort in the raw, despite my warning that it would be very risky due to wild life. However the jungle telegraph became active and I, besides several men and women of neighbouring villages were fed what several mobile phones had captured. The females particularly took strong objection to the doings of Gorgon and Ruhi. However shortly after this the film troupe’s shooting was over and the entire group went away.

I made enquiries about Ruhi and found she was a dare devil and now, from videos I had, had even turned a porn star. The disgusting videos showed she had an excellent body. I wanted to immediately expose her but it so happened that a safari troupe booked me for a spell of duty in Africa. I was away for over 6 months. After I came back I was told that Ruhi had converted to Christianity and was close with a preacher Francis. I had assumed she would be marrying Francis. Ahead of the wedding of which I had heard but to which I had no invitation I would practice how I would denounce Ruhi. In fact I wrote down the words I would use. And in fact later my entire speech which I planned to read in church!  I knew this was the right time for vengeance. I would stand up in church and denounce Ruhi as the churchman says “Say speak” but now you know what happened. I had failed! I was also surprised that Ruhi wasn’t marrying Francis! The groom was a Lobo! Whether she had switched her affections this fast or was I misinformed about the groom? With incorrect names my speech would have been unconvincing. Lucky I hadn’t responded as planned! I went back to the safari station for duty in the forest.

END