Storytelling Week 2: The Case of Thataka

“Let’s go,” Viswamithra shouted to Rama and Lakshmana, waking them up.

It was hard to believe that Rama and Lakshmana had managed to fall asleep in the crowded police car before they were expected to leave on their next assignment at dawn.  Viswamithra jumped into the driver’s seat and began to drive to Wasteland. 

Rama and Lakshmana had only been on the force for a few months, but Viswamithra had demanded that the two come on this assignment.  Without question, Rama and Lakshmana took the case but still questioned why they were chosen to go to Wasteland.  The Wasteland was a notorious trailer park that was avoided by cops because of the heavy drug use.  For this reason, the two rookies couldn’t believe that there was an assignment in this part of their district.

After a few minutes of riding in silence, Rama asked, “Viswamithra, what are we doing in Wasteland?”

            “We’re going to arrest a major dealer.”

“What!” Rama and Lakshmana both exclaimed.

“Are you sure that we should be on this assignment?” asked Lakshmana.

            “Yes,” Viswamithra answered plainly. 

After a long pause Rama asked, “Well, how are we taking him in?”

“He is a she, and her name is Thataka.  She’s sixty-five years old and a mother of two.”

“Really? Rare for a woman to be on the dealing side,” Rama said puzzled. 

“I know but don’t be deceived by her gender.  She’s been in this game for many years.”

“Years? How does a woman get into the drug business?” asked Lakshmana shocked.

            “To be honest,” Viswamithra started, “I don’t know the entire story but I do know enough.  She was from a pretty nice family but at about sixteen, she got pregnant by this regular hood rat named Sunda.  Thataka's parents disowned her, one kid turns into two.  How can a teenage mom and deadbeat dad support themselves and two kids? Sell cheap drugs.  Sunda was the main dealer, and she did whatever he asked.  I guess that’s how it all started.”

            "Well, how did she become a big dealer?" Rama asked annoyed.

“I suppose,” Viswamithra continued, “everything went okay until her sons Mareecha and Subahu were reported selling drugs around their high school.  The police followed the drugs back to their father and a few weeks later, the police set up a sting.  During the sting, things went bad, and there was a shootout.  Sunda was shot and killed, but then his sons joined in and killed three cops.  At the end of the day, four people were dead, Mareecha and Subahu were arrested on multiple felony counts, and Thataka was left alone in that trailer house.  She never graduated from high school.  All she knew was how to make easy money through dealing.  So, that’s what she did and she became the number one dealer in Wasteland, and Wasteland became the number one place to rot.  All these drugs and the people they create, no wonder this place can’t sustain any life.”

After a couple minutes of silence, Rama asked, “There’s one thing I still don’t get.  Why didn’t they arrest Thataka along with her sons?  They would’ve had to know she was a part of it.”

 “Simple, she was a woman,” Viswamithra said just as he put the car in park.  “Let’s go.”

An older cop car model from the Gorillaz music video "Stylo." Source:Wikipedia.

Author’s Note

For this post, I wanted to update “Thataka’s Story” with a contemporary setting and focus on crime, which is something that we can all relate to.  I only wanted to focus on Viswamithra telling Rama and Lakshmana her story and their reaction to it.  Within the original, I found Thataka’s back-story more interesting than the scene where she is killed.  She is described as someone who falls from a goddess to a demon.  Through this story, I wanted to explain why she fell and what really happened to her and her family.  Furthermore, her story allowed for so much creativity, and I felt like I could do the most with her back-story.  I wanted to show her suffering and how these choices led to her being alone, which is why I chose to have her sons leave.  Within the original story, she seems like a bitter and lonely woman.  For these reasons, I chose to not include Rama killing Thataka.  I chose the crime of drug dealing because the type of destruction it does to communities paralleled nicely to the type of destruction Thataka does to the land.  Within the original story, Mareecha and Subahu are a bad influence over their father, and Thataka and Sunda get married and then have children.  Other than these two changes, the rest of my story is true to plot.   

Bibliography

Narayan, R. K. (1972).  The Ramayana