Ratan

Description

A palanquin bearer in the Pelham household, and the loosest tongue at any fire he sits at. Aggrieved about his wages and entirely unguarded about saying so — to other servants, to strangers, and to a serving havildar of the 67th he had never met before.

Background

He works one of Calcutta’s grandest households and is paid like a man who works one of its meanest. That gap is the whole of his character: it makes him talkative, acquisitive, and easy to buy.

At St John’s on 9 October 1814 he approached Pratap Singh among the carriages and the non-Christian servants, complained about his wages, and asked whether there were openings with the Company. Pratap rebuffed him flatly — the Company pays its soldiers three times what any local prince’s army offers, and that is precisely how the Company took India. When the party wanted the Pelham palanquin moved so their own carriages could get away first, negotiation failed, a swung fist missed him entirely, and rupees succeeded where both had not.

That evening at Garden Reach, with the second course going in and every hand busy, he was caught palming silver spoons from the Magistrate’s table.

Motivations

More money, by whatever route presents itself: a better position, a bribe, or a pocketed spoon. He does not think of these as three different things.

What He Carries

• The burned box. Two cups of arrack into an evening he will tell the servants’ fire that the judge’s house burned a box of old petition papers last cold season, and that the memsahib supervised the burning herself. It is true. See Anne Pelham. Not yet spoken in play — still available at any fire he sits at.
• The wage grievance, which he offers to anyone, unprompted.
• Household traffic — where the Pelhams go, who calls, whose palanquin waits how long.

Connections

• Roderick Pelham and Anne Pelham — his employers, and his grievance
• Havildar Pratap Singh — rebuffed him, swung at him, then paid him
• Charles Ashworth — whose spoons he was caught with
• Garden Reach — the servants’ fires

Appearances

Relationships

• Serves Roderick Pelham — Bearer in the judge's household. Aggrieved about his wages and loose-tongued about it
• Serves Anne Pelham — Carries the memsahib's palanquin. Knows the household burned a box of old petition papers last cold season and that she supervised it herself
• Knows Havildar Pratap Singh — Approached him at St John's about Company wages and was rebuffed; was swung at, missed, and then paid to move the Pelham palanquin
• Located at Garden Reach — Present at the servants' fires during Ashworth's dinner, where he was caught palming silver spoons
• Deceived Charles Ashworth — Caught attempting to pocket silver spoons from the Magistrate's table during the second course