The Punkhawala and the Prostitute Read online

  “This is the SingLit work I’ve been looking for. Aroozoo has written a thrilling tale of mystery and danger set in the late nineteenth century. I love the gorgeous imagery, the sociocultural authenticity, and prose that evokes unease and wonder in equal measure. The hunt for Rimau Satan hits home in a more contemporarily satisfying manner than the hunt for Moby Dick, and tugs fervently and menacingly at fear triggers I never knew I had. Count me among Aroozoo’s fans, a group that will surely grow with this fine new novel.”

  –SUFFIAN HAKIM, bestselling author of The Keepers of Stories and Harris bin Potter and the Stoned Philosopher

  “Combining memory, myth and a dash of magic, Wesley Leon Aroozoo’s first novel is not only a tale of two survivors in a brutal, nineteenth-century Singapore, but also a harrowing glimpse into the heart of human darkness.”

  – DARYL QILIN YAM, author of Lovelier, Lonelier

  “A beautiful novel that vividly captures the lush wildness of 1860s Singapore. The characters of Oseki and Gobind are sensitively drawn and make you want to keep turning the pages to understand their journeys, the circumstances that each has left behind, and the painful and unimagined lives they find themselves leading in a foreign country.”

  – PALLAVI GOPINATH ANEY, author of Kopi, Puffs & Dreams

  Copyright © 2021 by Wesley Leon Aroozoo

  Cover design by Priscilla Wong

  Published in Singapore by Epigram Books

  www.epigram.sg

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  NATIONAL LIBRARY BOARD, SINGAPORE CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  NAME: Aroozoo, Wesley Leon, 1984–

  TITLE: The punkhawala and the prostitute / Wesley Leon Aroozoo.

  DESCRIPTION: Singapore : Epigram Books, 2021.

  ISBN: 978-981-4901-80-2 (paperback)

  978-981-4901-81-9 (ebook)

  SUBJECTS: LCSH: Prostitutes—Fiction. | Prisoners—Fiction. | Humanity—Fiction. | Singapore—Fiction.

  CLASSIFICATION: DDC S823—dc23

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  First edition, November 2021.

  To the forgotten ones who shaped Singapore’s early history

  1

  DO NOT WORRY, I am not asleep. My eyes may be shut, but I am far from rest. I close my eyes to be near you. When I focus hard enough, I can imagine your fingers gently gliding across my shoulders. Feeling you lean into me, I take a deep breath and your fragrance sinks deep into my lungs. Champaca, jasmine, camellia. Deeper your scent falls and I see you, beautiful as the day when I had to leave you behind. My lungs hurt as I hold on to that last moment. My breath escapes, out of my control, and I am empty once more.

  Renuka, I never told you this, but there were countless nights when you would assume I was fast asleep. I made you believe that with my heavy breathing. But I was always wide awake thinking of you as I lay next to you. Our hearts may be moving further apart as the days go by, but with each throb, I know I am a beat closer to returning to you. Once my punishment is over and done with, I promise to never let you go again. They can send me as far as this ship can sail; I do not care about the heartless black seas or my afterlife rotting away. All I care about is what I can do with the life I have now, and not the ones that I may never have. The others on board, they care too much about their varna. They are afraid of not being able to reincarnate for crossing the forbidden seas away from India.

  You should see, Renuka. They cleanse themselves every day at dawn, noon and dusk with water from the Ganges that has been stored on-board in a large wooden barrel that reaches up to my waist. They use a single old cloth and take turns soaking, squeezing, then rubbing it against their skin. I would occasionally hear them utter “kala pani” with anger and frustration as they queue to clean themselves with the stored sacred water, as though it could wash them back to India.

  Do you remember the time you caught me watching you clean yourself? Do you remember, Renuka? You were so silly, you didn’t talk to me for days. I was your overcaring fool.

  It would be foolish to wonder if his tattered singlet could cover his paunch. The moonlight seeping through the porthole on the cramped lower deck of the Lady Ebsworthy illuminates Jaffa, a burly man whose life of excessive drinking remains visible despite days deprived of adequate sustenance. He bends over the wooden barrel, his belly spilling over the rim and covering a third of it.

  “How can this be? It’s empty!” he exclaims as he lowers the washcloth into the barrel. The sudden shock sends softness to his knees and the bewildered Jaffa can barely keep his balance as the ship dips into another swell. The other convicts quickly wobble over, surrounding the barrel to see for themselves, waiting for the moonlight to attest and confirm the truth.

  “What happened to our water? Yesterday, there was at least a quarter left,” one convict says. He seems a breath away from sinking into delirium.

  “How are we going to cleanse ourselves until we reach land?” another chimes in, his eyes wide in disbelief.

  “The white men tricked us, our brothers,” Jaffa declares. “They knew it would never be enough for this long journey across the kala pani.”

  “If you didn’t use so much water to cleanse your fat body, we would still have enough left,” another convict says as he rubs and scrapes his palms on the insides of the barrel, every drop worth a splinter.

  Jaffa, almost at a loss for words but determined to always have the last say, cries, “I used the same amount as all of you! You saw me! You all saw me!”

  The convicts start to jeer at him. Jaffa instinctively pulls his tattered singlet down over his stomach as he searches their eyes for affirmation.

  “Do not panic, my brothers. You will be fine.”

  An earnest voice at the back of the deck has the huddle of heads turning in unison like flowers shifting to face the sun. There is the imposing sound of chains dragging on the floor as Gobind approaches them with bloodshot eyes and hands clasped together in prayer as the ship’s rocking calms. Even though he is the only one amongst them in heavy, rusted iron cuffs on his wrist and ankles, Gobind does not look like a convict at all. He is different from the others and it is hard to put a finger on it. Maybe it is the air of peacefulness he bears. Perhaps it is his dark, neat and tiny curls, the kind usually found on the crown of a little boy lovingly groomed by his mother with her own saliva.

  “You do not have to be afraid,” he repeats.

  Or could it be his tender and assuring tone that falls gently on one’s ears, leaving all silent? They have never heard him speak a word before.

  “I promise you, my brothers,” Gobind continues. “Help each other and we can get through this.”

  Jaffa spits on the ground. The worn wooden planks beneath his bare, bloated feet groan with each step he takes towards Gobind. As brave as he looks, Jaffa only dares take a few steps and keeps a good distance away from Gobind.

  “We are not your brothers, you monstrous swine. We have sinned but you’re not like us.” He stomps his foot with authority.

  Gobind looks around and sees all the convicts staring back at him with judgement in their eyes. He instinctively replies, “You can ask my wife. She will vouch for me. It was a mistake.”

  “Look, even if you threw yourself into the sea, the kala pani would spit you out!” Jaffa scoffs.
He feels bolder with the support of the other convicts, who break out in laughter. There is power in numbers.

  “Spit you out a thousand times over, back to India!” Jaffa sneers, his spit flying as the convicts roar louder with laughter at Gobind, who looks puzzled by the onslaught of such unfair accusations. Keeping his emotions at bay, Gobind grips the iron chains in his hands tightly and retreats into the shadows, but the moonlight seeps in and stays, dispersing the darkness and not letting him hide. He clenches the chains tighter, his yellowed and grimy nails grinding into the rust of the iron. Any harder and the chains would dig into his skin.

  “Quiet down there! What’s this…bloody…racket!”

  A European officer has staggered down to the lower decks without anyone noticing. His top is unbuttoned, crumpled; his eyes glazed, probably from drinking too much during the dull days out at sea. His moustache could use some grooming as well.

  “Any more…chatter…I will…”

  The officer needs time to think. The convicts stand quietly at attention, waiting, at the mercy of the effects of alcohol on the brain.

  “I will…”

  It finally comes to him.

  “Throw…all you…savages…into the…sea.”

  He punctuates his threat by slamming his baton against the bulkhead. The meaning is clear even if none of the convicts understands his language. Proud of his bravado, the officer turns and stumbles back through the wooden hatch above, slamming it shut after him. Even Jaffa the loudmouth has been silenced. Now, nobody dares to ask about the mysterious disappearance of the stored water from the Ganges.

  Renuka, do you remember that day at the Ganges? I squeezed through the crowd just to find you. The sun had set and swarms of people of all ages had gathered along the river to be part of Aarti.

  “Renuka,” I called out.

  My voice drowned in the continuous ringing of bells and the hypnotic chanting of thousands of worshippers. They raised their hands up to the heavens before lowering them together in ritual. I caught a glimpse of you in the crowd limping away and tried my best to keep up before I lost you in the sea of people again.

  “Renuka!” I called out louder this time.

  A plump lady blocking my way cupped her palms over the flame of a priest’s lantern before sweeping her hands over her head. I dodged her devotion and saw you in the distance, standing in the crowd. I hastened my steps and soon, I was within arm’s reach of you.

  “Renuka.” I reached out and held your hand. You turned around and were unusually silent. What’s wrong? You looked at me void of expression but you were still the most beautiful, with the brightest and kindest eyes anyone has ever seen. When you look at me, I can hear myself breathing, I can feel my heart pumping and I can never take my eyes off you. I noticed you fiddling with your turmeric-coloured sari. You never fiddled unless something was not right. I know you.

  “Renuka, what is wrong?”

  With a smile, you shook your head, assuring me that nothing was amiss. I took your soft hands and led you gently down the steps to the silt-laden waters of the Ganges, mindful of your limp.

  “Slowly,” I cautioned you. You must remember this moment clearly, or maybe even better than I do. There, it was only me and you as we shut out the thousands of voices around us.

  I presented to you a floral diya. Though it looked just like any other leaf boat made from folded banana leaves with an oil lamp sitting in the middle, ours was special. Ours had petals of pink camellia, white jasmine and marigold champaca. It was more beautiful than anyone else’s. You looked at it with no interest, then at me with no expression, before returning your gaze to the holy waters. It couldn’t be the flowers. Something else must have been wrong.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, but you did not answer. Perhaps you would be happy once I lit the oil lamp. I bent down and placed our diya into the Ganges, dabbling the water to gently propel it forwards. Even as it floated away from us to join the hundreds of other diyas on the river, we kept sight of ours as if it were the only one that mattered.

  “I forgive you, but don’t do it again,” you suddenly said. What did you mean?

  “Just promise me you won’t do it again. Don’t suddenly walk away,” you pleaded as you grabbed my hand as you have done a thousand times before. You bit your lips, just as Mama would on the rare occasions when she was displeased with me.

  “You always remind me so much of Mama,” I replied. From your expression, it was not the right thing to say. I turned my head away and racked my brain to figure out what I should promise to never do again when, from the edge of my vision, I noticed something.

  “Our diya!” I shouted as it caught fire. It crumpled swiftly, the fire engulfing it before thousands of voices chanting in the Ganges became louder than before, thundering us back to reality. The noise was a roar of commotion, coming from above the deck.

  I open my eyes in a jolt and see no other convict in the lower deck with me. This can’t be. I hobble, still in chains, to the porthole and see fire out at sea. Above me, I hear terrified screams and scattered, panicked footsteps. How long have I been asleep?

  Dragging my chains, I clamber up the rickety ladder leading to the deck. I manage to slide the hatch open and pop my head out. Flames swarm the mast, climbing high into the empty night sky above me. In the alarming glow of the blaze, I spot the European officers trying to stop hordes of men armed with wooden spears from coming on-board. I do not know the intruders, who are bare-chested and tanned with long, unkempt hair.

  Jaffa and the other convicts are fighting alongside the white men. Jaffa knows how to use his weight to his advantage. He pushes through the mob, snatches a spear and impales a foe right in the gut. He pulls the spear out. Blood all over. Then, he pierces his enemy again. And again. You should never see such brutality, Renuka. With blood splattered on his face from his kill, Jaffa turns and looks at me like a savage.

  “Get out here and help, you fool!” he screams in desperation. I turn to my left and see the drunk officer who reprimanded us earlier leaping overboard to escape. I look back at Jaffa and the others. More invaders are starting to swarm the ship, more are coming on board. We are clearly outnumbered. I am about to close the hatch before I remember what you had asked of me. Not to walk away.

  You would have been proud of me, Renuka. I did not think twice. With my hands tied I climb onto the deck and grab a wooden stick that has been left on the ground. I see men being stabbed, pushed to the ground, screaming in pain. There—the enemy with his back facing me. I charge towards him before something in the sea catches my attention amidst the chaos.

  Floating amongst the enemies’ long wooden boats, each easily fifty to sixty feet long, is our diya. It drifts in the water before it suddenly burns away, just like when we last saw it on the Ganges. Almost like it was stuck in time, each flame swaying slowly but surely, the ending all but certain. The beautiful champaca withers, the jasmine blackens and the camellia shrivels to dust right before our eyes, out of our reach, as I squeeze your hands tightly by the Ganges. Your soft, perfect hands, filled with warmth. Knowing that I will never let you go, I caress every arching line on your palm, all leading to me. It’s like you never left. I look down at your hands and see that they are no longer wrapped in mine.

  Looking up, I see a wild man swinging his spear towards the side of my head and I find myself knocked onto the cold, wet deck. Everything starts to blur. A ringing is piercing my ears. The sound intensifies and punctures my skull. It hurts. I feel it getting closer to my eyes and my body starts to shake involuntarily. I am choking—there is barely enough air left to scream for help.

  It is so painful, Renuka.

  But it is not nearly as painful as having to leave you in the forest. Not as painful as letting you down. I hold on to my thoughts of you, Renuka, as my consciousness starts to slip. I am sorry that I can’t get up and continue to help my countrymen in this fight. The moonlight sweeps in then rolls away as the roar and rumble of the fight fade to sile
nce. In this quiet, my body, prone on the deck, feels every tremble caused by footsteps running past me. Unwillingly, I close my eyes. I don’t want to, but just for a moment.

  A moment where I fall into a spin thinking about the promise I made to you at the Ganges. I never could figure it out, but I confidently promised you anyway that I would never do it again. Now, I promise to return to you if I make it out of here alive. I promise to do whatever it takes to be by your side again. I promise to always take care of you, be wide awake for you. In the darkness, I am still watching you even when I’m miles away, hurting with my eyes closed.

  Do not worry, I am not asleep. My eyes may be shut, but I am far from rest.

  2

  “IT’S NOT POSSIBLE... Otouchan cured me,” Oseki whispers to herself as she squirms and grips her undernourished belly that sinks below her ribs. A familiar pain from years ago twists and croaks again.

  “Spare me...please…” she gently pleads with the pain as she tightens her grasp.

  Fifteen-year-old Oseki’s long and slender frame, adorned in a plain white kimono, curls in discomfort as it knocks against the cold iron bulkhead of the Takachiho Maru. The ship bellows and rattles while it battles the stormy seas, while squealing gusts of wind make their way past hidden gaps in the shoddy ironwork to enter the musty boiler room in the bottommost pit of the vessel. The wind unsettles Oseki, but it does not seem to unnerve the other ladies the slightest bit. But this is not a place for a girl like Oseki, who exudes innocence and beauty. Her skin is so white and flawless that if it ever suffered a scratch or a scar, one might assume that the mark would just melt away as nothing ugly could ever be found on such loveliness.

  “Leave me alone, kishaku,” Oseki says, and she suddenly covers her mouth, trying not to vomit.

  “Who are you talking to?” Hoso, a lady in her twenties, has woken up. She uncrosses her legs and stretches her back like a cat. Hoso would be considered pretty if not for her stumpy nose and large nostrils that always seem to stare at you even if you look away. Oseki turns away timidly, not wanting a confrontation.