One day, last month, Govindraj came with the afternoon milk and said that there were policemen at the turn-u who were checking Driver's licences and RC books. Govindraj didn't know the details, but apparently the previous evening, either Terthagiri had attacked his cousin Devendran or the other way around. The assailant had fled and was in hiding and the assailed was in hospital. Since there was no villain (as yet), Govindraj was circumspect in his judgement, but said (neutrally), "Why can't they just beat each other up? Why knives?"

The next day, Sonati and I went to the shandy and got the story on the way, in many versions and with much embellishment, depending on the teller. It was Devendran who had hidden in the bushes and leapt out, unprovoked (at that moment, anyway) and hacked Terthaagiri's neck and fled.

That evening, Govindraj had a villain to rail against: "I never did like that Devendran; who will marry his son, now? Where will they find grooms for his daughters?" When Sonati and I went to Terthagiri's kottai, his mother and daughters and daughters-in-law were there. He had been alone with his wife and mother; the sons and daughters had been away working in Mysore, but had now returned: Murugesh was in hospital, and Sathyaraj at the police station.

Their story was that Devendran had been drunk, and had hacked Terthagiri at dusk; and had then inflicted some injuries on himself and had been admitted to hospital. His father, (Foxy) Aandi was in the lock-up and was the brains behind this attack.

The trouble with this sort of story is that it could well have panned out symmetrically and oppositely with the victim and assailant exchanging roles. Kaatu prachanai (Land trouble) is ever present, particularly amongst brothers and cousins (whose are the adjoining lands, generally), and perhaps this April's heat played a catalytic role. There is a Ray Bradbury story called Touched by Fire which is based on this violence-during-the-heat theme. The tragedy is that the feud will pass down over the generations a la Asterix in Corsica even when the protagonists have forgotten the original cause of the trouble. The evil that men do is visited upon their children. The police and the lawyers make a packet. So both the assailant and the victim are losers.

The only thing to be thankful about is that we haven't reached the level of the American Dream: A gun under every pillow. A month on: The situation hasn't changed. Terthagiri hasn't returned from hospital. He hasn't really recovered full consciousness. Devendran and his dad are in jail. Devendran's wife and children have to cope with the farm work without him. As do Terthagiri's wife and children.