The Savage Chickens

“HEY BULLISH MANDEEP I NEED SOME two hundred organic chickens to fry on my birthday party,” Sanjay said. He was running a paan shop on the roadside in Ranchi in Jharkhand. He wore white cotton kurta and white pyjama. A red thilak was smeared in the center of his forehead. He had heavy muscles, though he was a few days away from celebrating his fortieth birthday.

“No bhayya, it’s not possible these are small chickens. It is only a month since they have hatched. It will take time to grow, you know,” Mandeep said. He was standing before him. They both were inside the wider chicken coop, as chickens were pecking the littered tiny grains on the ground. There were at least thousand chickens.

“Huh, what are you talking Mandeep? I can see thousands of fat chickens clucking here. But you are telling me, you don’t have them. Have you gone mad or what?” Sanjay said. He pulled a small steel paan box from his kurta packet and shook it as few areca nuts and mukhwas fell on his left hand through a small hole. He crushed it with his right palm and stared at him like a rogue.

“No, most of them are already booked. Five hundred chickens were booked by Theja on last Wednesday for his daughter’s marriage. And three hundred chickens were booked by Ajay on Thursday to dedicate to Kali temple. And remaining of them was booked by Shanta for his chicken stall business in the market. That’s why I am unable to offer you now,” Mandeep said in a low voice.

He really didn’t like to say this to him, but he had to. He had small sunken cheeks and big eye sockets. He wore grey payjama and white half sleeved vest which had holes in his armpits and around his chest and his back. It looked like he was wearing it for many years. There was a red turban around his head which was bigger to his lean body.

“I don’t know why this Ajay needs so many chickens to dedicate to Kali temple. This is such a waste of money you know,” Sanjay said as grabbed betel leaf from other kurta packet and wiped it on one side of his pyjama and spread it on his left palm as placed the grinded areca nuts and slacked lime on it. He folded this betel leaf in square shape and tossed it into his mouth and chewed it as his tongue had become blood red.

Meanwhile Mandeep had grabbed handful of grains from the small plate kept on the small round table and threw it in front of the chicken herd, which started pecking it. He wiped both his hands and looked at Sanjay and said, “He said the Kali God had blessed him when he had struggled in his business. Now his mobile shop is become famous among youth and he is getting lots of revenue it seems. That’s why he wanted to do something in return for the Kali.”

Sanjay made his index and middle fingers in V shape and pressed it on his lips and spat on the grills of the coop, as it had turned reddish now.

“You cancel his chickens order and give it to me now,” Sanjay said in a maligned voice.

“No bhayya, I can’t do this. This is against my business rules. It would impact my business because I will lose the trust of them,” Mandeep said in a thick voice.

“Mandeep do you know whom are you talking with? You forgot all the past, eh?” Sanjay said as he crushed the gravels under his feet as if he wanted to crush him. Yes, people were frightened to deal with him, because he was a badass fellow, he had beaten many of innocent people who had raised their voices against him. Only last month, he had beaten a tailor guy for stitching his shirt a few inches wider, the red marks on the guy’s cheeks hadn’t faded for at least a week.

“I know everything. I haven’t forgotten anything. See bhayya, you are also running a paan shop and you knew it is impossible to bring the trust back from the customers once it is lost,” Mandeep said in an imploring voice.

“This is not going anywhere. I want two hundred chickens on coming Friday morning.” Sanjay said. He brought a kerchief from his pajama and wiped his mouth slowly as if he was thinking what to do next.

“No bhayya, you can’t talk like this. Please understand me, I can’t do anything in this matter,” Mandeep said as he folded his hands before him. He bent his back as if he wanted to fall on his feet.

One fat chicken raised its neck and noticed what’s going on here. Its wings spread and rubbed the other chicken and asked it to look at the master. Likewise ten chickens were hearing the conversation with their small ears. These had refused to peck now.

“You useless slumdog. Don’t you heed to my voice? Do you think you will become a big business magnet like Anil Ambani or what? You son of whore,” Sanjay said and rose his right thigh to his head height and brought it down with a huge force and punched on the old man’s stomach. He stammered back and he was about to fall on small chickens, but they flew away from there rapidly in sheer panic.

“Sanjay bhayya, you don’t beat me. Don’t beat me. I don’t want to make you an enemy,” Mandeep said as his both hands shook in front of his eyes as to stop him from beating again.

“Then take my order and cancel the order placed by Ajay,” Sanjay groaned like a bull. He was still chewing the betel leaves as the red liquid dribbled down the corner of his left mouth.

“No bhayya, I can’t do this. I can’t do this. Please ask me anything but not this one,” Mandeep said. He was still lying on the gravel, some of it was sharp and piercing his back.

“You can do anything for me, is it?” Sanjay said and smiled like a coon, “Then send me your wife for tonight. You know one thing I like her very much,” he said, as averted his eyes on Mandeep’s wife, who was watering the sheeps and cows in the front yard of the house. Her face wasn’t shown but he had seen her back through the small holes of the chicken coop.

“You……bloody scoundrel. What are you talking? I am only giving you respect because you are a customer. But you…..” Mandeep said as spat on his face. It sat on his mouth and dribbled down to his chin. He wiped it with disgust and ferocious anger as he stared at the Mandeep.

Sanjay’s fingers’ formed into fists as he lurched forward and grabbed the strong wooden stick which was stacked in the corner. He came down heavily and jumped over his torso with his both legs, as fresh blood leaked out of his mouth immediately. Mandeep couldn’t speak now because Sanjay’s sandal clad feet was crunching his throat as he pressed it harder and harder. He then held the wooden stick firmly in his right hand and brought it with so much energy as he hit on his back of the brain. He couldn’t see him clearly now, because his vision had become blurred. He was feeling dizzy and tired. A mighty pain touched his head as struggled to open his eyes fully. Blood had slightly crawled down from his back of the head and touched his neck and made his vest smudged with the dark blood.

“You poor fellow, don’t you know how to respect me? If I ask something, you should do it. You shouldn’t oppose me, got it you bitch?” he said, as he gave one more hit on the back of his head. This time Mandeep had lost his consciousness and in a few seconds he was lying on the ground without a soul. On seeing this, the chickens were flying everywhere in panic as if he was going to slash them now. And they had screeched louder to see their master was dead.

Sanjay tossed the wooden stick on his stomach and fled away from there. On the way, he met Mandeep’s wife, who greeted him warmly. He felt like he would rape her now on seeing her young face. But somehow he felt it wasn’t a good sign to do it. He wanted to escape from there as soon as possible.

“Hello brother, had you finished talking with my husband?” she asked.

“Yeeaaah… yeah… finished,” he said in a struggling voice.

She hadn’t seen him speak like that before. She had guessed there was something bad happened. But she didn’t want to doubt him. She continued talking with him, “What he said? Did you order the chickens? I think there are no chickens to book. What my husband told you, brother?” Her eyes were staring at him keenly.

“He told me the same thing,” Sanjay said, “okay I am going back to home. I have more work.”

“Come and have cup of coffee and go, no?” she said affably.

“No, I don’t want. I have to go,” he said in a hasty voice.

She had seen the chickens were flying everywhere in the coop, she could hear their screeches distinctly now, “Why these chickens are flying? I had never seen them behave like this before. It’s strange. What went wrong there?” she asked him.

“I don’t know, may be your husband has beaten them with a stick,” he said.

“No, he never beats any of them. Even if I hit them with a stick, he would fight against me. No, there is something wrong?” she said, averted her eyes at him. There was a blood stain on his cheeks and his front of the dress was slightly smeared with blood. She thought it was betel gooey marks earlier, but she had doubted it now.

“I don’t know, you go and check it,” he said in a stern voice.

She grabbed his hand and said, “Tell me what you had done to him? How this blood marks came on your shirt?” she said as showed her index finger on his shirt.

“Remove your hand, otherwise I don’t know what I am going to do with you,” he said, his chest broadened now.

She didn’t remove her clasp, and her nails had dug on his skin, “You bloody scoundrel, tell me the truth. What you did to him? I couldn’t see him from here,” she said.

“You big slut,” he said as lump formed in his throat and he mustered all the power he had and twisted his hand strongly as released her clasp and suddenly grabbed her neck like duck’s neck. He pushed her slowly towards the brim of the well as she had lent over the upper concrete ring precariously. If he pushed her harder, she would fall inside the well, it was very deeper. There were no steps to come back safely. Even there is no water in it. You could see the jutting rocks on the bottom. If she fell on it, no one could help her.

She grabbed a red brick from the concrete edge of the wall and hit on his face. His nose's’ center bone was broken, and he had felt heavy pain now. His anger rose to his head and squeezed her neck very tightly. Her eyes turned bigger now as if they were going to come out of the sockets, “Leave me alone. You coward. Don’t touch me,” she said.

“Am I coward?” he said and laughed weirdly and held her face before him and ran his fingers over it and slowly brought it down to her neck. Before he ran down his fingers further below, she jumped and fell into the well. Her head was plummeted on the rock and she died immediately, as blood profusely soaked the bottom of the well. Sanjay drew away from there immediately.

Now, Sanjay sat on the couch in his house and watched Jab we met film in the TV. His wife was sitting close to him. His son and daughters were sitting on the floor and doing their homework. They were twins for them.

“Shall we have dinner mom? I am feeling hungry,” her small daughter said as rubbed her hand on her flat stomach.

“Did you finish your homework? What about the division and multiplication?” her mother asked her.

“I had done it mom. Rahul is still doing it,” small girl Ramya said.

“Let him also finish. Then we all have it together,” her mother said.

“Mom, I will do this multiplication in the early morning, I promise,” small boy Rahul said.

“How many are still pending?” her mother asked.

“Only two,” he said.

“No mom, he is lying and he hasn’t even started doing the multiplication. I have seen it,” Ramya said.

He had beaten her with his small fisted hand and Ramya started crying.

“What happened with you guys? Why are you fighting like this? Is this what you learnt in your school? See beating others is wrong,” their mother said and averted her glance at Rahul, “Rahul ask sorry to Ramya.”

“I won’t ask sorry. She is lying toyou,” Rahul said.

“What are you doing Sanjay? See our children are fighting here, but you are watching TV, eh?” his wife said, plucked the remote from him and turned off the TV.

“Let them be. They are just children, no,” he said.

“Is that okay to beat her. You support him, eh?” she said.

“No, I didn’t say like that. I mean if they grow up, they knew what is good and what is wrong,” he said. He stood up and came down and hit on their heads lightly.

“Because of you only Rahul is behaving crudely these days,” his wife said.

“Anisha, just leave this matter. What did you cook today?” he said and rubbed her back ans kissed on her forehead.

“You always know how to switch off my voice,” she smiled and said, “Today I have done chicken tikka, grilled chicken, lamb chops soup and……” she started counting with her fingers.

His head spun as he heard her listing down the chicken items. The memories of what he had done to Mandeep and his wife had driven back to his mind heavily. It had almost bitten every bit of his happiness now. He didn’t want to think of it.

“Just shut up Anisha,” he screamed at her.

“Are you okay, dear? What happened to you?” she said.

“I am okay. I am perfectly all right,” he said as stood silent, his eyes were closed for few seconds. His children were shocked to stand before him as if he had come from a different planet.

“Rahul and Ramya clean your hands, we will have dinner,” she said as her children hurried to the sink and washed their hands and pressed the lifeboy liquid on it. White foam formed as they giggled together and splashed water on their faces playfully.

“Sit behind the dining table. I will bring dinner for you,” his wife said to Sanjay.

“Okay, make it ready,” he said.

He and his children had feisty meal. His stomach swelled after having heavy dinner. He washed his hands on the plate and poured water on it. He wiped his hands with the towel his wife handed to him. He said looking at her, “Anisha it’s a great dinner I have had after a long time,” he belched.

He and his wife Anisha had slept together. His children slept in another room. Sanjay had sex with his wife before she fell asleep. Today he was in a frantic mood, as he had bitten her cheeks which turned purplish white and also squeezed her harder. He was in deep sleep now. Though he had killed two innocent people in their home, he didn’t have the slightest guilt that he had done wrong. He thought no one knew he was the killer. The night was cold and mist hung in the leaves, but the moon was slowly floating in the sky as billions of stars studded above.

At midnight Sanjay woke up and ran his fingers over the side table to grab the water bottle. But he didn’t find any. He woke up from the bed and walked towards the door and he clicked the doorknob. When he opened the door he was shocked to see, thousands of chickens filled in the living room. The chickens were everywhere in the house, even in the kitchen room where some of them were pecking at the food. Few chickens were stood in the sofa and pierced it through its beak and pulled the soft white woolen out of it. The room was smelt of chicken shit now.

“What the f……..” Sanjay said as clutched his both hands over his head. He looked at the main door, it was closed firmly. He didn’t know how it had entered in the house. He then averted his head at the windows and his heart was pounded faster when he had seen the glasses where broken.

One chicken which sat on the top of Samsung TV, flew few meters and sat over his head and drew her head high as if a bow was drawn tighter to pull an arrow and hit his head with its sharp beak. Before his hands hasten to grab this chicken, it slid off his fingers and flew away. He ran his hand over his head and had seen the blood was slowly dripping behind his left ear. A terrible fear clutched his heart on seeing this horrific event. He had never imagined chickens would punish someone badly like this. Before he could think of anything, two fat chickens came from the dining table and sat on his feet. Now other two had flew from the kitchen and sat on his shoulders.

“You bloody chickens. Get out of here, otherwise I will shoot all of you,” he said in a high voice as shook his fingers in front of them. Now, a strong dose of pierce came into his shoulder like the jack hammer was drilled on it. The chicken had created a hole on his kurta as its beak entered deep into his skin. He moaned heavily this time. He could feel the thumping pain in his body. He hastened his hands to grab the chicken but now it had pierced into his throat. He couldn’t move his adam apple, it was wounded as blood plopped out in gooey mass and messed up his kurta. He staggered forward and his limbs were weak now as the two chickens were scratching his feet with the jutted glass pieces.

He stomped his both feet harder but they didn’t stop hurting him until his white bones were revealed. In sheer frustration he bent his body and grabbed both chickens and kicked them out of his sight. He kept screaming now, but no one heard his screams, his wife and children were in deep sleep. Now many of the chickens raised high to the ceiling and came in a light speed and knocked him with a heavy thud. He almost collapsed now, as he lent on the wall and plucked the photo frames and hurtled these items on them. But chicken flew away safely and these photo frames fell on the ground and broken to million pieces.

He had walked down the floor as the shattered glass pieces pierced into his sole and the blood stained feet could be seen on the floor now. He rummaged his fingers inside the drawer of the small table kept behind the window. He wanted to take his small pistol and shoot them out. It took him few seconds before he grabbed it in his hands. Now he got it. He stretched the pistol and pulled the trigger and aimed to shoot them. But before he released the bullet, two chickens flew towards him from the kitchen and had forks in their small mouths.

They came rapidly and pushed the fangs of forks into both his eyes. He dropped the pistol down now as groaned in whooping pain. His both hands had rubbed over his eyes as his hands were poured with blood. He swayed to and fro, he couldn’t see anymore. His head hit the wall and he fell on the ground with a big thud. He couldn’t wake up again. The remaining chickens had eaten every tiny flesh of him and had flown to the coop before the dawn.