‘Afternoon’: In Malayalam writer Sethu’s short story, an elderly woman awaits her son’s return

When Amma woke up with a jolt from her afternoon siesta, she saw a soiled, crumpled piece of paper near the window. A missive, tossed in by the dust storm and mid-day sun, through the rusty window bars.

Haridas was coming home.

As she smoothed the folds of the paper and let her eyes wander again and again through the words, Amma recollected the sights glimpsed in her sleep. Two guards were leading a young man towards a stone quarry. The shackles around the man’s hands and feet were gleaming in the sunlight. He wore a jailbird’s outfit inscribed with some number. There was a grubby cap on his head. His insteps were singed and swollen. Sweat was streaming down the face darkened by harsh sunlight.

The images flickered in the dusty wind blowing around. The men stopped under the monstrous rocky cliff which was trying to hide the sky. The guards unchained the prisoner and sat down on the boulders nearby. They were muttering curses while trying to light up the beedis in the unforgiving mountain wind.

The convict looked around hopelessly as he crouched amidst the stone splinters. Not a soul around. When the guards started screaming, he got up slowly. The man started breaking the...

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