Free The Faith of Ashish by Kay Marshall Strom Page B

call at will."
    "I, too, have an impressive family," Mammen Samuel said. He sat up tall and assumed his most arrogant tone. "In addition, I am endowed with the power that comes from intelligence, and also that which comes from hard work. My great herds of cows and water buffalo, and the many men I control with a single word, are ample proof of that."
    Babu stepped in, bearing plates of sliced cucumbers and guavas, and a stalk of fingersized deep red bananas. These he laid out between the two men. In the center of the presentation he set a golden bowl of cashew nuts.
    "A village must have someone who can collect the prayers. "Brahmin Keshavan's dark eye's flashed. His words were clipped and brittle.
    Mammen Samuel reached for a guava and slurped it from its skin. "A village must also have someone who collects money." He reached for the golden bowl and scooped out a handful of cashew nuts. "Else wise, who would support you while you pour out your endless flood of words?"
    Brahmin Keshavan made a great show of sipping the last of his tea. Mammen Samuel offered to pour him more, but Keshavan waved him off.
    "I am a tolerant and peaceable man," said the Brahmin. "The low castes are banned from public markets, yet I make it my habit to leave fruit out for them. Untouchables such as your chamar pollute anyone who dares to look upon them. I could have had that one of yours put to death for the abominations he has already poured out on this village, yet I willingly spoke to him, and in a most civil manner too."
    Mammen Samuel tore a banana from the stalk. Expertly he ripped off the peel and popped the sweet fruit into his mouth. "Life cannot go on without the Untouchables," he said through his full mouth. "You know that as well as I."
    "Yes, yes. That is precisely what I say."
    "You mean to say, abiding the mixture of castes is a sacrifice we must make for our comfort and prosperity?" Brahmin Keshavan asked.
    "In that case, the resulting prosperity must rightly be shared with me."
    Mammen Samuel swallowed the banana. Dropping all pretense of a friendly visit, he shoved the fruit plates aside and glared at the Brahmin. "You dare to demand payment from me? You, who do nothing day and night but sit at your doorway and pass judgment on all who pass by? I most certainly shall not share my prosperity with you! No, not one rupee!"
    "To collect a tithe is my right and my privilege," Brahmin Keshavan stated. "Did I not call out a blessing on your harvest?"
    "Not one rupee!"
     

     
    Sitting on his sleeping mat by himself had quickly become boring and tiresome to Ashish. He wished Little Girl would come back to play with him. He finally managed to get a bit of a spin from the top, but even that wasn't any fun when no one watched and admired his success. So he did exactly what his mother told him not to do; he went outside to explore this new settlement.
    So many huts all crowded together, yet so few people! A couple of young girls struggled to tote a large bucket of water, but they paid Ashish no mind. Several other children scurried about searching for twigs and small branches which they threw into a pile. Gathering wood for cooking fires— Ashish knew that job quite well, although he didn't see many twigs or branches lying about.
    Although Ashish often ran and played for hours on end, after only a short exploration of the settlement around his own hut, he felt weak and weary and ready for his sleeping mat. He looked at the hut beside him. Was that one his? No, it couldn't be this close. Maybe the next one? Or the next? To Ashish's dismay, every hut looked like his hut. He crept to the doorway of one after the other and peeked inside, but each time the pots lined up against the wall were not his mother's pots. And not one of those huts had a rack for drying animal skins propped up against the far wall.
    Panic seized Ashish. He ran through the winding paths, searching frantically for something familiar. But weariness overtook him. He staggered