Kali with crows

The frenzied crows broke cover from the forest above the bazaar, where the trail continues north along the ridge going up toward Debribas. The flock skimmed the red tile rooftops of the bazaar and dove under the power line, shrieking bloody murder. All but one of them banked right and rose again through the drizzling mist, pursuing a marauding cuckoo into a stand of pines, down on the flank of the slope. The big male crow that hit the wire bounced back in a small violent explosion of black feathers and fell convulsing to the ground. It lay on its back, one wing beating the wet grey stone, the other lying limp beside the kicking black body. The broken crow flapped in circles on the main street of the bazaar, in front of the old Durga temple.

The street was deserted in the chill evening drizzle. From the old brick water tank down to the Durga temple, all along the high wall of the district jail, the worn stone street was littered with wet leaves blown from the two great trees opposite the jail. In the compound behind the wall, all but the guard at the gate squatted under shelter around small fires; he looked in at them in envy.