South from Sindh,
He knew in his heart
that something was wrong
about the execution.
The eyes of the man
he had hanged last week
still stared down his soul.
The sharp look of that
young boy followed him
everywhere-
Fearless. Unblinking.
Far too alive for someone
he had watched die.
Months passed before
the winds from northwest
carried the truth down to
the Deccan plateau.
By then, this hangman
from Dharwad had begun
to understand what
the officials had made
him do-
But isn't sometimes
having a conscience is
a crime? Especially when
you're a government
hangman?
But can a noose ever
redeem the acts of
another noose?
That's what the policeman
asked himself when he
found a newspaper
clipping clutched in the
hand of the body-
A picture of a young man
in Pagdti. Sharp eyes,
and fresh moustache.
His name below-
If he had read it aloud,
An empire would have
fallen then and there,
and a country would
have born.