Tiger Boy: Chapters 4–5

Boatmen unloaded baskets of wares for customers who would come later in the evening to haggle over prices in the nearby market.

The building was to be one of the biggest on the island, made with bricks and wood instead of clay and thatch.

Baba was bending over a large pile of wood, which he seemed to be carving as part of a wide veranda on the new building.

A servant held an umbrella aloft to keep Gupta in the shade, but the burly foreman was sweating in the sunshine.

Gupta caught sight of Headmaster and stopped his tirade. He whispered to his servant, cocked his head to listen, and then lifted a hand to wave. “Delighted to see you, Headmaster!” he called. “I’ll be with you shortly.”

Neel could see the other men smirking. They were jealous of Baba’s carpentry skills, which earned a higher pay than their work of laying bricks, and of how quickly his rice harvest had recovered. They were enjoying this spectacle.

“Angry answers hinder God’s purposes,” he often said.

“Ah, these boys will be the death of me. But they are the future of the Sunderbans, you know, and we must invest in their education. We have big plans for our school, so I’m glad a visionary man like you has come to invest in our island. As the English like to say, ‘Two brains are two times as strong as one brain.’”

Two heads are better than one, Neel thought, gritting his teeth. The botched proverb grated on his already raw nerves.

Two heads are better than one, Neel thought, gritting his teeth. The botched proverb grated on his already raw nerves.

Two heads are better than one, Neel thought, gritting his teeth. The botched proverb grated on his already raw nerves.

Gupta smiled, flashing yellow teeth that reminded Neel of a crocodile. “Come, join me for tea, Headmaster. I’ll arrange for a rickshaw to take you back. My, what a dedicated fellow you are!”

“You! Enough jabbering.” It was the foreman. “Gupta isn’t paying you to chat with your lazy son.”

Neel saw Baba’s fists clench and unclench. Though scarred and cracked, they were sculpted from years of hammering, chiseling, and fishing, and were twice the size of the foreman's.

He didn’t expect to see small pugmarks along the banks of the rivulets and creeks, because two high tides and two low tides swept in and out every day.

And now Neel was almost home, where he’d have to face his mother and sister and tell them what had happened. He dawdled at the outhouse and took a long time to wash his face, hands, and feet at the pump.

Rupa tossed the dirty uniform onto the threshold, looking ready to launch into one of her sisterly lectures. Neel tried to forestall it by blurting out the news about the cub. But not all of it, even though he usually told his sister everything.

Rupa tossed the dirty uniform onto the threshold, looking ready to launch into one of her sisterly lectures. Neel tried to forestall it by blurting out the news about the cub. But not all of it, even though he usually told his sister everything.

Rupa tossed the dirty uniform onto the threshold, looking ready to launch into one of her sisterly lectures. Neel tried to forestall it by blurting out the news about the cub. But not all of it, even though he usually told his sister everything.

“He didn’t say much to me,” Neel answered, swallowing. “He...he blamed Baba, Didi. It was so awful.”
“It must have been! And it’s not even his fault! I know you don’t study, Neel. You sit here daydreaming every afternoon. I’d give my whole dowry to go to that school in Kolkata—every single bangle, sari, and necklace. And you don’t want to even try?”

“He didn’t say much to me,” Neel answered, swallowing. “He...he blamed Baba, Didi. It was so awful.”
“It must have been! And it’s not even his fault! I know you don’t study, Neel. You sit here daydreaming every afternoon. I’d give my whole dowry to go to that school in Kolkata—every single bangle, sari, and necklace. And you don’t want to even try?”

At school his back ached from sitting in a stiff chair, and the desks were so rickety it was a challenge to write neatly.

Plus he kept worrying about the cub. Where was she hiding? Who would find her first? If only he could tell the rangers about Gupta’s plan! They came down hard on poachers in the Sunderbans. How dare he even think about stealing one of our cubs!

Rupa’s next indoor task was to sift through a bag of uncooked rice from the market and pick out the small stones the vendors mixed in to make it weigh more.

“You can’t learn math while snoring.”
“I wasn’t snoring!”
Ma pushed back the sari to intervene. “Rupa! Go pump more water and peel the potatoes. And don’t scold your brother—I’m sure he’ll start studying harder than ever now.”