Malathi attended the meeting with the Collector on Monday which was quite hectic and finally, when she reached her office, her landline was ringing and was surprised to hear the voice of Vishnu on the other end.

"Vishnu etta, why are you calling me? We just met yesterday. And how did you get this number?" she asked.

"Malu, I got your office number from the directory. I wanted to warn you about what happened yesterday. Do you know that my family; Paarakkal, is not on good terms with your husband's family?" he asked.

"I didn't know that! My husband never told me anything", said Malu.

Vishnu winced at hearing about her 'husband'. "It a feud going on for the past fifty years and has been in many instances pretty violent", he said.

"What!" she exclaimed.

"I am sure that Pranav will be giving you their version of the details once he comes to know that we know each other. I don't know if I will ever get a chance to tell you our version, but it doesn't matter, all that matters for you will be the version he tells you. Yesterday when I saw you stranded on the side of the road, I debated a lot about whether to help you. But ultimately I decided to because one way or the other, he will come to know that I was your tenant, so no point in hiding it", he said.

"I guess you are right", she muttered.

"Malu, be careful of how you introduce to him the topic of how we know each other. It is your future on the line on this. And if he insists that you never speak to me, do as he says", he said.

"I guess you are right," she muttered.

"Living in Kaniyankara might not be a pleasant experience for you Malu when you get to know how the village works. All I have to say is, I won't cause any trouble for you and I will not be contacting you again" said Vishnu sounding concerned.

The entire week Pranav never gave a hint of knowing about the roadside incident. But the weekend Malathi came to Kaniyankara to stay with him, he decided to talk to her about it. The family had a pleasant dinner together that night and retired to their rooms. Malathi was arranging her clothes neatly in the wardrobe when Pranav entered and closed the door. He sat on the bed and asked her to sit beside him.

"I came to know from the boys that you know Vishnu Paarakkal", he said.

Malathi was prepared the answer since Monday.

"Yes, he used to be my grandfather's tenant", she replied.

"Really? You know him well?" he asked in surprise.

"Well, I knew him since my school days" she replied.

"And he used to be nice to your family?" he asked curiously.

"Yes. He paid rent on time and was cordial with us. He also helped me fill out my entrance exam form and whenever I used to have doubts about my studies he used to help me out. Once he came to visit me in my hostel as well. We never had any problems with him", she said nonchalantly.

"You have no idea how surprised I am! He and his family usually don't mix with anyone from our community", he replied.

"Really! We never faced any such issues", she lied. Of course, he was like that when they met in the initial days, she was the one who changed him.

"I did not know he had such a helpful side. What kind of a person is he?" asked Pranav.

Malathi wasn't prepared for this question! She thought for a second and said, "He is very intelligent, well-mannered, and kind and he speaks very well too. He had very good relations with the elders of our village even though he rarely spoke to anyone apart for my grandfather".

"I feel like if I knew him from somewhere else I might be friends with him", said a perplexed Pranav.

This conversation was making Malathi feel guilty and miserable, so to divert the conversation she asked, "Why are you asking about him?"

"We are not on speaking terms with any of the Paarakkal family members. We have a long-standing feud with them", he replied.

"How long?" she asked him.

"Almost half a century!" chuckled Pranav.

"That is interesting, tell me more", said Malathi settling down cross-legged on the bed with eyes full of expectation.

"Around 50 years back this whole village and surrounding areas belonged to Paarakkal family. The land reforms came and the government redistributed the land among the tenant farmers. Being landowners now, I can understand what a big blow it must have been for them. But you should understand, nobody in this village owned a single piece of land. No personal decisions could be made without their approval, including whom to marry or where to bury your dead. Everyone worked for a pittance, it was just a step up from slavery, and don't even get me started on other things they did. There were entire generations of fair children born in dark families. When they redistributed the land, around 10 to 15 families in the village got it. Many sold and ran away for their dear lives fearing repercussions. One of the few who remained was my grandfather's maternal uncle. Sadly a few months after he got the land he went missing. There was a disturbance at the border of the paddy field that he shared with the Paarakkal family and he was called there and was never seen since. Of course, it was those days, who dared to go and complain to the police. But after seven years he was legally declared dead and my great-grandmother inherited the property. It was almost seven years since any farming was done on the plot and our grandfather decided to start again. In the process of preparing the land, in the water channel near the border to Paarakkal property, my great-granduncle was discovered, buried in what might have been mud on the day he died. And most probably, he would have been buried alive", said Pranav.

"WHAT!" shrieked Malathi.

"That kind of thing happened a lot in those days", said Pranav.

"I know. But it happened in your family?" said Malathi.

"Yes. Then my grandfather went about and tried to reopen the case and it went nowhere because they paid all the politicians and police. Seeing how things are, my wickedly clever grandmother, Kunjiamma, decided to do something. She made grandfather buy as much plot from the others as possible and got some of her relatives resettled into this village to increase grandfather's supporters and since then it was an uneasy calm, until...", he stopped talking.

"Until what?" asked Malathi impatiently.

Pranav very hesitantly told, "Until Amma came along".

"Amma!" Malathi exclaimed.

"I don't know whether to tell this you or not. But eventually, you will know, so I will just say it. Amma came to the village around 25 to 30 years back. The present patriarch of Paarakkal, Subramaniyam's sister's son, his name is Sharavanan, was staying with the family here. He is a low-life and he became interested in Amma and tried many crooked and underhand ways to get her... to make her his mistress. Achan saved her from him and they fell in love and got married", said Pranav.

"I can't wrap my head around all this!" said Malathi.

"Yeah, each generation seems to have a reason to feud with each other. Of course, I have omitted the parts that show Kalarikkal in a bad light. But I have to say, the only solace is until now, the present generation has nothing to personally feud about. So try to avoid talking to that family. We don't want any trouble, do we?" asked Pranav.

Malathi silently nodded.

They talked for some more time and Pranav who was very tired soon fell asleep. Malathi did not sleep for a long time. She laid down beside him and looked out of the wooden windows to the clear night sky sprinkled with stars and remembered the final night on the mountain with Vishnu. Malathi recalled what all Vishnu had said about his family; a family of close-knit ruthless people. She had come to understand why Vishnu was like that when they first met and why Aniruddhan, a gunda was always with him. She understood why Vishnu did not want anyone to know about their relationship, his family would have no qualms about getting rid of her, just like that Christian boy and just like Pranav's great-granduncle. She remembered the conversation they had on his bed while looking through his family album and vaguely remembered the name, was it Mahadevan? A cousin of Vishnu, whose father was so terrible that his mother sent him to live with Vishnu's ruthless family because they were better than his father! But hasn't Vishnu changed? Won't the others belonging to the younger generation also change? Even though it might have been a painful past, can't people push past it and build friendships however radical they might find it? Isn't it exhausting to keep adding fuel to the fire of hate for generations? When will at least Pranav, Vishnu and the rest of the younger generation move past all these? With all these thoughts swirling in her mind, she decided to follow the advice of both Pranav and Vishnu, to not speak to Paarakkal family members, and to keep her past with Vishnu, a secret. She hoped that the peace between the current generation remained, but that was going to take a turn for the worst.

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