In Kali's Country: Tales from Sunny India

y to H

syllable, came the well-known call as scantily-clothed men, falling in beside the train, ran from the end of the platform to the station entrance, with hands upon the

on with heads laden with trunks, boxes, hat-boxes, rolls of bedding, lunch-baskets, baskets of fruit, and every conceivable sort of parcel that an Anglo-Indian or a tourist carries with him in the compartment of an Indian train; for, although luggage v

t, also in topis and linen, were being put in, in no undue haste, for all Indian trains stop fifteen minutes everywhere; while t

ose hand, for the matter of one cent a mile; or he can pay about two cents a mile and ride on cushions a little softer, with a trifle more floor space for stacking his bird-cages and bandboxes and with furnishings a little g

r religions have thus so accustomed the natives to the trains that they seem to be always travelling. The richer ones may go first or second class. But the majority of them go third and, since the first person in

inging women, and their crying children; and still there were several minutes before time for the train to pull out. Then the through passengers, since, as the newcomers were settled, their own seats were secure, could get out upon the platform. A bearded Mohammedan with flowing robes and turbaned head, spreading a mat on the platform beside the car and slipping out of his shoes, knelt three times and said his prayers towards Mecca, unmindful of the crowd

sometimes they are shaped like pretzels; sometimes, rolled into balls; sometimes, chopped into flakes. But all kinds are well liked and the boy, passing along the trainside with the flat basket of sweets upon his head, just in ra

e Mohammedan faithful, who, having deliberately slipped his feet back into his shoes, carefu

d raised

ain st

which had been tied up in a white cloth and raising a wild lamentation because she had lost an anna; and two young beauties in gay saris, with jangling bracelets, clanking anklets, and flashing necklaces

iet. The old woman, exhausted by her unavailing search and grief, was reduced to a quiet mumbling and a hopeless picking at her bundle. And the two young women became less

a second compartment. Next to her, a proximity which would have broken her caste at one time, sat a Chumar woman. Next was a lady with the white head-cloth and one-coloured sari of the Parsi. And beside the Parsi was a tiny high caste girl, most bejewelled and bedecked, wearing the necklace which showed that although

k upon the women within, for, although none of them were keeping purdah strictly, still most

sped tightly upon her lap a carefully wrapped bundle, were thin and rough as if with toil. Her eyes were anxiously examining the faces in the carriage. At every unusual noise or sudden jolt, they would look frightened and she would clasp still more closely the bundle in her lap. It was a bundle about eighteen inches long, tied and double knotted most carefully in a piece of coarse but clean white cloth. The girl's white sari was

she drew out a cold chapati and ate it slowly as if to make it last a long time. As she ate, her eyes met those of a sociable looking, old, gray-haired woman, evidently of low caste, who, s

are you

on was addressed her, but answered tim

attered. "I might have gone long ago when they went, for they always called me a fine ayah and always praised me to all of their guests, but when they moved away to Allahabad I did not want to leave my family. But my boy wen

the conversation was interrupted. And the two women got no further chance to talk until the train pulled into a st

she asked, resuming th

" the girl

k at it?" she went on without waiting for an answer. "There is lots of

er frankly. "I don't think

get ten rup

surprise. "And what do you d

ffin and then put him to sleep. After he wakes up I dress him all up fine and take him out in the compound in the carriage and usually his mother walks with us a little and then I give him an

'd never get a chance to do

s really interested and impressed. "It is a great, big place, as big as that station

es," said the girl, and, clutching at

r, although she must have known f

ible names and told me that if my husband died I would be to blame and that awful things would happen to me. She frightened me terribly and told me that I must not let him die. So I crept away to the temple. I had no offering to make except as I stole a handful of rice in the bazaar and took that. I prayed and prayed. At one temple the priests said that they would cure him for ten rupees but I had no money and I was afraid to go and tell my mother-in-law. A priest at another shr

ve me from the house. But I got work as a sweeper and for two years I have swept up th

hy, the girl covered her face with her sari and, clasping her b

on the girl's arm to soothe her. "What

res," was the only

and night was coming on. The old lady leaned over t

s River-Holy Mother

"Is that the Ganges River?" she asked and looked and looked u

o Benares for?" the o

rl answered again with a fright

ength on the hard benches and went to sleep. But the girl did not use her bu

htened eyes as the train ran through a country entirely strange to her. And when the old woma

iver near here,

plied and her statement was confirm

l with a brighter look. "If the Ganges River is here

d but offered no objections to t

fusion of a large railway station at train time. But the old woman got out

n curiosity as to what she would do here in Allahabad. The appearance of th

demanded, "for I must throw these into the

ith a frightened look such as the girl herself had worn until th

ey are!" she exclaimed triumphantly. "For two years I have kept them near me day and night and saved all my money to come to Benares to throw them into the Ganges River that I might be forgiven for his death and that he might have life and happiness

erly tenderness. She turned away as if to think, murmuring to herself, "The memsahib will surely forgive me if I come a little late. She would like to have me h

nd, for one still tightly clasped the precious bundle, the ol

assed through the station gate, the old woman still holding the girl's hand and the girl