TRINOYONI

The Slaughter Of Sonagachi

Author’s Note

This book is based on the true story of Troilokya Tarini Debi, a fraudster and serial killer who robbed and murdered several women in Calcutta in the late nineteenth century. This is a dramatized account of the life and times of Troilokya, arguably the first female serial killer of India. Names of most of the characters have been changed and several fictional characters have been added, according to the demands of the manuscript. Several incidents and events in this book are fictional and have been included to dramatize the scenes narrated. The author has no intention to disrespect, impair or hurt the sentiments of any person(s), communities, religions or nationalities in this book.

Tara Debi

Tara did not like being confined to her house, and Trina became her companion to religious sites such as famous temples and to weekly haats (fairs), where people from different walks of life collected for commercial and entertainment purposes. At these weekly fairs, children would crowd the toy stalls and young women would rush to the imitation jewellery stalls.Whenever eighteen-year-old Trina attended these fairs, she would be the cynosure of all eyes and the lustful gaze of men would make her uncomfortable. When she shared her concern, Tara simply laughed.During one such fair in the village, Trina spotted a man trying to sell bangles to Tara, who never wore any jewellery apart from the flowers she sometimes tucked in her hair. So, Trina was rather surprised to witness the bangle-seller holding Tara’s hand and trying to fit a bunch of bangles around her slender wrist. After watching them for a while, Trina realized that Tara wasn’t wearing the bangles. The man was simply brushing his hand against Tara’s and nudging her sari off with his elbow, grinning as he did so. Suddenly, Tara noticed Trina watching them.

‘Do you want some bangles?’ Tara asked. ‘Come here.’Trina shook her head but walked towards Tara. The Vaishnavite woman asked for a pair of bangles for the young widow, but as the man advanced towards Trina, she turned her back towards him and ran away.When they returned home, Trina complained to Tara about the bangle-seller.‘I didn’t like that man, didi,’ Trina expressed. ‘Why were you talking to him so nicely?’Tara smiled and replied, ‘He was a man in distress, Trina. He received solace when I touched him. It is my duty as a servant of God to help humankind in any way possible.’‘But—’ ‘Men have needs, Trina. And it is our duty, as women, to satiate their urges. We have come to this world to fulfil their desires and give them what they want.’‘But what will I get in return?’ Trina wondered.‘Money, food and security for as long as you want. If you take care of men well enough, you will always be able to live comfortably and peacefully.’Trina listened attentively. While explaining the bangle-seller’s needs to Trina, Tara didn’t mention the coins that the man had slipped through Tara’s sari down her neck, allowing his hand to subtly feel the softness of Tara’s flesh under the off-white sari that covered her body.

Fifty-year-old Tara Debi was a good-looking Vaishnavite woman whose origins were shrouded in mystery, but her now-fading beauty indicated that she had been quite a stunner in her heyday. Tara had migrated to the small village in Burdwan a decade ago and had mingled with the village community. She lived in a shanty straw hut, adjacent to Trina’s parents’ house. Everyone knew her to be a helpless Vaishnavite widow who begged for a living. Some villagers also assumed that Trina’s Brahmin parents had given shelter to poor Tara.Tara was the epitome of simplicity. Usually dressed in a milky-white starched saree with a garland of tulsi leaves around her neck, Tara wore earrings and a nose-pin made of fine beads and carried a small botua, containing religious necklaces that she used for her prayers. Like a true Vaishnavite, Tara generally began and ended her sentences with ‘Hari Om’ and ‘Hari Bol’.The earliest memory Trina had of Tara was of a pleasant-looking woman with a big sandalwood tika on her forehead, gently pushing the half-broken door of her straw house to venture out to the streets with a begging bowl in hand. Once Trina’s brother Shankar had expressed his dissatisfaction to Trina, ‘You are always worshipping that fallen woman! Have you noticed that she doesn’t go out to beg anymore? How is she arranging for food and money? Who provides for her?’Scared of her brother, Trina had replied sheepishly, ‘Oh…I have seen her begging.’‘Has anyone in the village even seen her husband?’ her brother responded, furiously. ‘We’ve only heard that he went missing from the village. Why didn’t he ever return? She has no answer.’

Trina knew that her brother had spoken the truth. But she loved Tara too much to doubt her about anything.Another time, as Shankar had left for the temple, Trina had seen her neighbour Dhuri babu and his wife walking home along with Tara, and had noticed a fish-knife in Tara’s hand.Dhuri babu had sounded grateful, ‘Thank you, Tara! Had you not stopped me at the right time, I would have killed my wife today. I thought she was cheating on me.’ ‘You will never need to use this, Dhuri babu,’ Tara had said, pointing at the fish-knife in her hand, ‘your wife worships you.’ The wife had smiled coyly. Dhuri babu had paid some money to Tara for her help, who had gracefully accepted the money with folded hands.Trina had witnessed Tara helping people earlier also. Once, two women had been fighting over carrying water from the nearby pond, and Tara had intervened and solved the issue, leading to the fighting women finally embracing each other.Tara could sense the pulse of the village. She always played a big role in the marriage ceremonies and festivals in the village. She would sing and bless married couples and attend their bashor raat celebrations too. To this, Trina’s mother had once remarked, ‘That’s how the greedy widow feeds herself!’ But Trina felt that Tara was kind to everyone because there was a void in her own life, which she filled through interacting with people and helping them. To her, Tara came across as a reliable and devout person who selflessly helped everyone she could. She had never met anyone, except her family, who had spoken ill of her Tara didi. She saw her as a as a simple Vaishnavite woman, who begged for a living and roamed around the village singing kirtans praising the Lord.

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