The Hungry Tide - Amitav Ghosh [96]
Through Kanai, Piya conveyed her gratitude to Moyna and told her that in return for all Fokir had done for her, she wanted to give a gift to the family.
Piya had already prepared a wad of banknotes. She was taking it out of her money belt when she noticed that Kanai was leaning back to make room for her to reach over to the chair beside his. Moyna, meanwhile, was sitting forward with an expectant smile. It was evident that they had both assumed Piya would hand the money not to Fokir but to Moyna. This was in fact what Piya herself had intended a moment ago, but now, with the money in her hands, her sense of justice rebelled: it was Fokir who had risked his life in pulling her out of the water, and it was only fair the money should go to him. After everything he had done, she could not treat him as if he didn’t exist.
Whether he chose to give the money to his wife or his family was his business — it was not for her to make that decision for him.
Piya rose from her chair but was quickly preempted by Moyna, who stopped before her with an extended palm. Thus forestalled, there was nothing Piya could do: she handed the money to Moyna with as much grace as she could muster.
“Moyna says she’s very happy to accept your gift on behalf of her husband.”
Fokir, she noticed, had sat through this without making a move: it was as if he had grown accustomed to being treated as though he were invisible.
Piya was going back to her chair when she heard Fokir say something that provoked a sharp response from Moyna.
“What did he say?” Piya whispered to Kanai.
“He told her it didn’t bode well to take money for something like this.”
“And what was her answer?”
“She told him they had no choice: there was no food in the house and no money either. Nothing except a few crabs.”
Piya turned to face Kanai. “Look,” she said, “I don’t want to interfere in whatever’s going on between them, but I also don’t want this to be just between Moyna and me. Isn’t there any way we could pull Fokir into the conversation? It’s him I really need to talk to.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” said Kanai. Rising from his chair, Kanai went up to Fokir and said in a loud, hearty voice, attempting friendliness, “Hã-ré, Fokir, do you know me? I’m Mashima’s nephew, Kanai Dutt.” Fokir made no answer, so Kanai added, “Has anyone told you that I used to know your mother?”
At this Fokir tipped his head back. Now, looking him full in the face for the first time, Kanai was startled by the closeness of his resemblance to Kusum: he could see her likeness in the set of his jaw, in his deep-set, opaque eyes, in his hair and the way he held himself. But Fokir, it seemed, had no interest in pursuing the conversation. After briefly locking eyes with Kanai, he looked away without answering his question. Kanai glared at him for a moment, then shuffled his feet and went back to his chair.
“What was that about?” said Piya.
“I was just trying to break the ice,” said Kanai. “I told him I knew his mother.”
“His mother? You know her?”
“I did,” said Kanai. “She’s dead now. I met her when I came here as a boy.”
“Did you tell him that?”
“I tried to,” said Kanai with a smile. “But he gave me pretty short shrift.”
Piya nodded. She hadn’t understood what had passed between the two men, but there was no mistaking the condescension in Kanai’s voice as he was speaking to Fokir: it was the kind of tone in which someone might address a dimwitted waiter, at once jocular and hectoring. It didn’t surprise her that Fokir had responded with what was his instinctive mode of defense: silence.
“Let’s leave him where he is,” Piya said. “Maybe we should just get started.”
“I’m ready.”
“Please tell him this.”
With Kanai translating, Piya explained to Fokir that she was doing research on the species of dolphin that frequented the Garjontola pool. After these past two days, she said, it had become clear to her, as it evidently was to him, that the dolphins left the pool to forage when the water was running high during the day. Now she wanted to trace their routes and map the patterns of their movement.