Shatru Sesham: Sequel of Baahubali ✔️

Chapter Thirty-Four

Early in the morning at the Ashram,
This was the hour the cows would be milked by the milkman, Gopal. Dilipa, who was in-charge of the Gaushala, was crouching and kneeling down on his haunches in the cow shed. He was comparatively well-hidden behind the white curtain.

Dilipa was on a sting operation to expose a petty crime. He had a very strong and nagging suspicion that the milkman, Gopal was cheating the hermitage by secretly stealing some milk and refilling the deficit quantities with water.

It was usually the practice to leave Gopal alone with the cows and calves while milking. First, the calves would have their fill of their mother's milk, and then, he would begin his job of milking the cows. He had been a faithful and long-term employee at the Ashram. Why he had taken to these stealing ways was still beyond Dilipa's understanding!

For the past week or so, many of the children had been joking, "This milk is too watery and thin. Are you giving the cows more water to drink than fodder, Dilipa?"

Bhavani who was assigned the duty of helping in the kitchen would complain often, "The yoghurt is not at all curdling properly. Don't know what is happening! Earlier it used to curdle properly. Maybe I am getting the yoghurt culture wrong."

Dilipa sought his friend, Narasimha's opinion, "What do you suggest? I am pretty sure Gopal is tampering with the milk. Shall I report it to Guruji?"

"No, not yet! You don't have any clear-cut evidence against him. Unless you catch him red-handed or find proof against him, you cannot cast such aspersions against him", said Narasimha.

Dilipa agreed, "Yes, you are right. I cannot accuse anybody like that just on the basis of doubt."

So, the upshot of this discussion had been that Dilipa find proof to strengthen his case and doubts. And true enough to his suspicions, Gopal had been mixing water in the milk while pocketing some milk in a container and keeping it hidden under the layers of his clothing and winter woolens.

A loud and irate argument broke out in the Gaushala as soon as Dilipa witnessed it, "You swine! You've been swindling the Ashram all these years and pocketing what belongs to the hermitage?"

"No...no....you're mistaken....", the stunned milkman wined.

"That is what every thief says when he is caught", said an angry Dilipa. "I knew something was wrong since the beginning. I come from the Royal House of Gandhar. Don't I know how much milk a pure desi-bred cow gives and its thickness? I wish Guru Dharmagupta was here. He would give you the dressing down you deserve. But since he is not here, I am reporting this matter to Upadhyay Sukruthi who is the in-charge in his absence."

"Please master.....I didn't.....Please don't report....", Gopal pleaded.

An unrelenting Dilipa however dragged the offending milkman and presented the full case before the current Ashram in-charge, Sukruthi. The altercation had been loud enough to draw all the students to Sukruthi's chambers to satisfy their curiosity.

The Upadhyay listened carefully to what Dilipa had reported, "Gopal will be handed over to the authorities who will give him ten whippings in the town square and brand him a thief on his right hand. This will be a deterrent for other criminals like him."

Dilipa's jaws dropped when he heard about the prevailing law of the land for this crime. Gopal had stolen. True! But it wasn't something very big or valuable. This punishment would disgrace him for the rest of his life.

It was not as though the ten whippings were going to kill him. But after this, he wasn't going to get a single job anywhere. He and his family were going to starve. That was the way the world around them worked. Even if Gopal repented and mended his ways, this would be a permanent black mark against his name.