Amah and the Silk-Winged Pigeons by Jocelyn Cullity

Author:Jocelyn Cullity
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Inanna Publications
Published: 2017-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

13.

Amah’s news of Pavan’s death shrinks against the news in the streets that three thousand angry Indian men from four English regiments stationed in Lucknow set fire to the cantonment bungalows. These men were devoted to the Company for years but were nonetheless forced to come to Macchi Bhawan Fort to watch the hangings of their fellow men. Flames and volumes of smoke cause destruction before the men are put to flight and dispersed by advancing English sergeants. Some of the men are arrested, their resistance halted, their regiments disbanded. This time, Jai Lal goes ahead and recruits from the disbanded English regiments. He no longer keeps his Force hidden by training them in low numbers. The several thousand who’ve joined the Organization of Awadh Soldiers mill in and around the Chattar Manzil where the King once served pancakes to his actors. Many of the soldiers take up rooms there. Jai Lal orders them to show themselves in large numbers in the empty streets until Begam Sahiba has moved to the palace and Birjis has been crowned.

That night, old Kasim calls Amah from her restless sleep. “The messengers have come,” he says.

The messengers. At last. In the thick midnight air, Amah shakes jinns from her mind as she makes her way to Begam Sahiba’s candle-lit meeting room. Inside, Rasheed and Akbar, dressed like Delhi poets in English trousers and Indian kurtas, eat kebabs with yogurt. Begam Sahiba leans against the wall, wrapped in a shawl.

After all these months of waiting, Amah wishes to exclaim out loud, to ask what’s happened, to welcome them back, but the silence tells her not to. The messengers’ long faces greet Amah as they eat; their serious eyes tell her they have serious news. A mosquito whines at Amah’s ear, and she slaps at it. Jai Lal lurches into the room, his face covered in perspiration. He bows his head. “Huzoor,” he says.

Begam Sahiba begins to speak as soon as he enters. “Rasheed and Akbar have just come through Cawnpore. All of the English there have moved into a makeshift entrenchment. For safety. They fear violence because they’ve heard about resistance to the English in the whole of Awadh.”

“The English in Cawnpore are behaving with great caution,” Akbar says. “They are not taking chances.”

“The point is,” Begam Sahiba says, “a peaceful escape for the English here in Lucknow via Cawnpore might not be possible.”

It dawns on Amah. “And surely Sir Henry Lawrence knows about the English situation in Cawnpore. He must be communicating with them. Surely, this is the reason the English have moved into the Residency.” Her head swims.

“Of course he must be communicating with them. We’ve not seen that spy, Abhi, around for a long time,” Begam Sahiba says.

“Huzoor, Sir Henry Lawrence won’t go through there,” Jai Lal says.

“The countryside is hostile,” Rasheed agrees. “Travel is tricky. We had to lie low, take rest where we could find it, move very slowly. It is essential to be extremely careful at a time like this.

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