The Last Conversation With My Daughter

  It is an afternoon time; the scorching sunlight flashing is light inside the interrogation room from the small window. And we see, Sub Inspector Vijay is interrogating Deivanayagam along with his station constable, Chandrashekar. Vijay was saying, "Listen, mister, don’t force me to take any action against you. Simply answer my question." Deivanayagam didn’t answer anything. Seeing such action, Vijay got enraged. He slammed the table, and he started shouting at him, "Hey, you old bastard, just answer: what did you do with your daughter's body?" Seeing such anger, Chandrashekar thought Vijay could beat him. So Chandrashekar stopped him and asked, "Sir, please calm yourself." Vijay then replied in anger, "Why should I remain calm? In front of this old bastard who killed his own daughter," Chandrashekar replied, "Sir, you are in a totally frustrated state now. It is better; we will move out now and discuss there. After that, you can start your interrogation." After that, they both left the room.

  When they left, Deivanayagam's daughter’s soul, Sadhana, was sitting on the opposite chair from Deivanayagam. She had blood marks on her forehead and a machete mark on her neck. She asked, "Now you might be quite happy. The society is now giving you a great name, and you will be proud that you killed your daughter for your beloved caste." Her father replied, "Why did you come here?" She said, "I just came here to see my beloved dad. Dad, you know one thing: you are the one who told me that the caste system didn’t exist during the Tamil Sangam period. And you are the one who killed me for the same caste system. Oh, now I get it—that was your sheep cover. This is your real self." While hearing that, Deivanayagam replied, "Just shut your mouth; your mouth doesn’t even shut even after death."

  After hearing that statement, Sadhana asked, "I will not forget that day, dad. When I heard that Arjun had died, I was so shocked. I was totally broken there. I don't know how that could happen. But when I told you about Arjun’s death, you said he just dreamed that he would be equal to me. That time I realised that you were the one who murdered him, and when I asked why you killed him, you slammed a glass bottle on my head, and you didn’t hesitate to slit my neck with a machete. As a daughter, I deserve that death, but what was his fault?" The anger cloud that was forming in Deivanayagam's mind soon struck like thunder through his words. Deivanayagam said, "Yes, I killed that cheap lower caste dog, and how did he think that would be equal to my caste? And you bloody bitch, you're just about to ruin my caste reputation. And I am proud that I killed both of you. I just saved my caste reputation."

  After hearing those words, the emotional lake that was inside Sadana’s heart turned into volcanic lava. She replied, "Reputation! I don’t know what kind of pride you all find in this. But you didn’t show any hesitation while killing me. So till this day, you have seen me as a thing that is an honour to your family." Deivanayagam started replying to her. As he was saying it, his eyes started filling with tears, "You will speak. You don’t know my pain. After raising you with love and care and seeing that you started having an illicit affair with some guy, do you know how much pain I felt? You know one thing: me and your mother dreamed that at the age of 23, you would get married." Sadana then replied furiously, "Parental’s dialogues, dad, do you think I am your slave? I had a life, and my life should have been decided by me, not by you." Deivanayagam replied, "As a father, don’t I have rights?" Sadana then replied, "Obliviously not; it was my life, dad. I was the decider there, and don’t make emotional parental dialogue. Also, one thing: did I say that I am in love with Arjun to you?" Deivanayagam replied, "Our community people have seen you with him." Sadhana again asked in a loud tone, "Did you see me?" Her father replied, "Will you deny that?"

  Sadhana slammed the wooden table with her hand and shouted, "Yes, we didn’t love each other at all! We didn’t," she said, and tears started flowing from her eyes. After hearing that, Deivanayagam was stunned for a moment. The lie, which he believed to be the truth, turned out to be a lie. Sadana further said, "Between us there is nothing more than friendship. Even if we love, what’s wrong with that? He was a nice boy. He was going to be the first graduate in his family. His parents were happy to have such a son. But everything was destroyed by you and your casteist philosophy. Someone came and said that you are above them and they are below you. And people believe this caste system—what kind of fools were they? You called him donkey; actually, you are the real slave donkey. I am feeling disgust to call you a father." After hearing all this, the cruel ice mountain that was inside him melted down. He realised what a grave mistake he had made in his life.

  Sadhana got up from his place in anger and was about to leave. As soon as Deivanayagam saw her leaving, he fell before her and started pleading for mercy. He says, "Sadhana, please forgive me. I made a grave mistake. Please forgive me this sinner." Sadhana didn’t even look at him. She replied, "You killed an innocent boy, ruined his and your family's lives, and you killed your most beloved daughter. It all happened because of your caste fanaticism. If you had thought once in your life as a human, you might not have landed here. You were mad about your caste pride, and your pride cost you all this. And you still think I will forgive you for what you did? I am sorry; there is no forgiveness for you." After saying that, the soul of Sadhana vanished from that place.

  Deivanayagam is totally shattered now. The casteist philosophy covered his innocent eyes, and he lost everything in this world. The caste system is just a system that was created by some foolish people to provide inequality, and it runs in the name of God. Providing equality is not a donation; it is everyone’s job. People might find pride in it, but deep down, you are slaves to one another. So throw his inequality from your heart and stand for humanity. Until that, there will be more casteist people born here like Deivanayagam.