Fiction: The Hatuas navigate a world where ancient traditions are being eroded by modern industry

On our way to school, instead of going via Nilkuthi in Kusturiya village, we sometimes took a shortcut via Babu Ghar in Rohini. I, especially, took that shortcut quite often. Hatibandhi village, with its large mansion that belonged to the zamindars, was close by. It was said that sometime in the past, an elephant used to be tied before that mansion. From that tied-up elephant, the village derived its name. During the winters, when the yards of farmers were stocked with piles of paddy, moog dal and biri dal; when Raymon and Asian circuses were scheduled to put up shows; then the elephants – sometimes a herd of them, sometimes a loner – came swaying along. Those elephants were kept tied up under the banyan tree in the village, from which the name of the village came to be Hatibandhi. Once the elephants were gone, we got to see their droppings – remnants of hay and biri and peas. At that time, the mansion was owned by Rani Shailabala, daughter of Lakshminarayan Shadangi.

It is said that at one time that mansion had been a fortress of the Marathas, the residence of the Maratha invader Bhaskar Pandit. I had learnt from...

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