The Sinner's Trial

The watchmaker’s job is only to make watches.

The watches he has made, he does not care for.

For his watches now tick by themselves every second.

He only sits back and watches.

For now the art is perfect; The artist deserves not the luxury of meddling with the art.

“Train number muru, muru, ombattu KSRinda Mysurige hoguva Inferno express eega hattne

platform alli nintide”

The noises were deafening. Cain did not seem to mind though.

This tunnel would lead us right to the first platform. I was very tired after waiting for him on the

tenth platform. Of course! The train had to stop at the farthest platform from the exit. Platforms

three, seven and nine were all blocked due to trains crashing into each other. I heard about 60 died

today alone in these incidents. The tunnel was echoing with screams of little children being

abducted, some being mutilated and others seeing the end of their very brief life through the rage of

a random commuter.

The first platform was notorious for its robbery and rape cases. One would almost not notice the

bodies piling on the tracks as the trains would squish them as they passed by every half an hour. The

staff would try their best to clean off all the blood stains and the stranded guts lying around them

but their efforts would be to no avail. The noise grew louder and louder as we approached the exit.

Right near it lies the entrance to the ticket superintendent's office. Cain had been contacted to be

present here by the railway officials. I was their messenger.

The office was a very large hall. Cain was surprised as the room did not appear to be this size from

the outside. “Lazarus Cain of the family of Adam,” a voice boomed from the loudspeaker. The

room was very brightly lit and it took a while for Cain to properly see what lay before him. Poor

Cain had no idea what he had been called for that fateful morning.

The watchmaker watched his clock ticking slower and slower.

Has the time come for Cain?

----------------------------

The typewriter’s keys produced the only sound to be heard in the room (or hall, as it seemed that

way from inside). The loud voice had silenced everything and everyone. Walls the colour of rusted

iron and floor made of tiles seemingly hand-cut (they were mismatching… as if made by

barehands!). The room was far from welcoming and it seemed the inhabitants of it felt the same. In

front of Cain lay a large hole, the circumference close to that of a water tank. The hole seemed to be

filled with dark smoke resembling clouds preceding heavy thunderstorms of the retreating monsoon

on the Deccan plateau. The pit seemed to be virtually bottomless! The pit was situated right next to

a pedestal. Calling it a pedestal would be an understatement, it was the length of two train carriages

stacked up vertically.

The silence of the room was just an illusion Cain fell into as unbeknownst to him, a very long queue

of people: men, women, children and all others who we call people, stood on the very pedestal.

These were people who had lived their everyday normal lives up until that moment. That moment

when they were to be the sacrifice, the price for the sins of this man: Lazarus Cain.

The Watchmaker nods to the man next to Cain.

The trial begins NOW!

----------------------------

I stood as the scroll was unfolded. Each line of it stood for every sin of Cain’s. For every line in that

very scroll, there was a person on the pedestal. I looked to my right and Cain was staring in

disbelief. It seemed to be the case that Cain was still not aware of his surroundings. I looked at him

and told him to calm down. He didn’t listen. But then when had he? I have known Cain from when

he was a child. He was one stubborn little devil. Never listened, never learned and never once

repented.

The bright rays of the morning sun shone through the one lone window in that room as the clocks

struck thirteen. I read from the scroll his sins. Time won’t permit me to retell every story of his and

so here are four which came to my mind when I thought of this trial. They are as follows:

The Sins of Cain:

The first bell rings. Its Hindi class. The teacher enters the class.

“GOOOOOD MOOOORNINNNNGGGG TEEEEACHERRRRR!!!”

The chorus sings as the teacher tells them to sit down. Ravi asked Cain for a pencil. Cain gives him

one telling him that he needs to return it by the end of class. The class ends but Ravi doesn’t return

the pencil. Cain doesn’t ask again. He picks up his pen and drives it into Ravi’s ear. Blood shoots

out as the class erupts into chaos. Cain grips Ravi’s head with his left hand as his right hand holds

the pen in Ravi’s ear. Ascreaming, bleeding and fighting Ravi’s stares into Cain’s smiling face. A

menacing look greets him just before he loses consciousness.

The executioner calls forth the next person in line. He covers the person’s mouth as he pierces their

eardrums with a nail about a feet long. Giving the person no time to react, he kicks them into the

pit. Screaming echoes fill the room for a few seconds. The image of the wide-eyed dying person’s

face etched into Cain’s brain, he stands their frozen in place.

Sienna was the new transfer student. Cain had had his eyes on her for some time now. Her flowing

hair traced her long, slim outline which swayed from side to side as she walked from bench to

bench, distributing some answer sheets. His eyes never left her. She was visibly disturbed by his

gaze but little did he care. He craved for the hesitant and shy kind. He knew he had found his prey.

Sienna was the his victim for an entire week filled with forced undressing and harsh bullying. He

would push himself onto her in the morning assembly, throw paper and pens at her, bully her friends

for being with her and harass and blackmail her on social media publicly. Sienna left the school in a

week.

The executioner called a tall, burly and well-built man over. The executioner picks up a sharp claw-

like weapon from his inventory. The man feels a sharp, unbearable pain in his crotch. Blood seeps

through his pants as he loses balance and falls into the pit. He had lost consciousness halfway down

the pedestal.Avisibly shaken Cain looks up at the executioner as the executioner smiles at him.

Cain had worked in this location for a long while now. He had made his contacts and was very well

known in certain circles. The night before Easter, he made his way to the local D-Mart. It was

closed. He wasn’t here to shop. He had a commission to fulfil. Roy was called here for a shipment

delivery. He had brought the money. He approached Cain with duffel bag in his hand unaware of the

surface he was walking on. The smell of oil only struck him when he was right in the middle of it. A

burning matchstick and fifteen minutes later, Cain walked back to his car with a few limbs and a

skull. Dinner for theAdam family was freshly prepared that day: finger chips and bloody bones

curry.

“Just in today, the Supreme Court of India has criminalised homosexuality……”

“Kannaa, get off that tv and come help me!”

Tarun walks from the hallway to the bedroom. His mother was working on his social science

project. He hears the doorbell. Dad was supposed to return by now. Tarun runs to the door. He

opens it to find a drunk man holding a cricket bat. THUMP!

The boys falls to the ground. The man walks into the bedroom.

“Hi, Jane!” Not a second passed before Cain had her unresponsive on the bed. He throws the

bat at their wedding picture making it shatter into a thousand pieces. Much like his life after the

divorce. He jumps on the bed and laughs maniacally. He had her all to himself. Tarun crawled his

way to the bedroom only to find a locked door. His mother’s screams and cries for mercy would

scar his mind forever. Cain ripped apart her kurta and thrust himself into her with all the boiling

anger and frustration he had carried in him up until now.As he rocked the entire bed to and fro with

his motion, he would laugh loudly to make his presence known. He was a man of no guilt and took

pride in his sins. Aman who considered himself above God.

“Breaking News! Rapist from the Shivajinagar-Mother rape case still at lose! Investigators

are….”

The executioner drags a little boy to the front. He kicks the child. I heard the poor child’s sobs all

the way down here. The executioner kicks him in the head. The child bleeds a little. Not enough. A

baseball bat meets the child’s head at such great velocity, the body falls silent. Aslight push and it’s

on its way into the pit.

.

.

.

.

.

Two hours and twenty-eight bodies later…..

The last body fell into the pit. Silence overwhelmed the room. Cain and his friend stood hopelessly

near the pit. Every time a body fell, Cain inched closer and closer to the pit. The executioner

climbed down the pedestal. I looked at Cain one last time before leaving the room. I exited the room

into the ruck. Abreath of fresh air filled my lungs as I pushed my way to the Majestic Bus Stand.

The 342F would leave in a few minutes.

The next trial was in 3 hours. The more crowded the bus, the better.

----------------------------

The Watchmaker asked, “What do you plead, my son?”.

“Guilty.”

The executioner stepped up to Cain.

“Close your eyes.”

Aknife pierces his liver. His mouth covered by the executioner, he struggles trying to scream.

He is pushed into the pit.Ablood spill marked where he previously stood.

The pit closed itself and the pedestal descended into the earth.

Two men walked out the ticket superintendent's office for their lunch break.