Sakina - The Maid (IV)

Earlier, Part-I, Part-II, Part-III

He tried to find work desperately and he found too but only for a few days. Staying at home and the tension of supporting the family increased the frustration in him. Sakina too started criticizing him for doing nothing. This was even more crucial for the relationship they had between each other. The money, they saved earlier, was being spent too quickly despite Sakina’s good management at home. A neighboring elderly woman had told Sakina that some Begum Sahiba needed a maid.

“Agar tu kahay toh mein Begum Sahiba se baat keron?” The woman asked her.

“Khala aj Samuel se baat keron gee mein, phir ap ko kuch bataon gee”

In the evening when he came home, she told him about the offer.

“Aur paisay bhee achay milein gay” She added.

His initial reply was “Koi zaroorat nehein hay tujhay kuch kernay ki”

But later she somehow persuaded him or may be he was unable not to succumb to the idea of her working and him staying at home.

So that’s when she landed in to the Begum Sahiba’s house and that was six years back, she remembered as she completed the work in the kitchen and packed for home. Her youngest kid, the sixth one and the rest too would be waiting for her.

“Ammi a gayee, ammi a gayee” Echoed the voices when she entered her rented house.

“Josephine...... Josephine...... kaakay ko idher la...” She yelled her name twice from the yard.

Josephine would take care of the youngest one when her mother would be away working. Sakina often thought that she was always unfair to her daughter. She always compared herself with her own mother. The thought would have taken her once again to her mother, but Samuel’s husky voice came from inside.

“Sakina... a gayee tu...” He came out.

The words were slurring from his tongue as he was in heavy dose of Heroin. She didn’t look at him for only his sight would be enough for her dismay. But how could she stop her mind. It all started when she began to work and he was staying at home looking after the infant Josephine. Empty mind is the devil’s workshop. So was his. He had ample time and that too on his own, with out her supervision. He befriended with the people who were already rejected from the society and indulged in to the same habits. He started smoking first and then led himself in to havoc by smoking Churse (marijuana) one day. But this was only a beginning. Soon he was addicted to every kind of stuff including Heroin. Initially she didn’t have knowledge and she thought that he would be fine soon. But later, she refused to give him any more money whenever he would come home. He would beat her as badly as he could. Ultimately she had to yield.

This was a very odd feeling for her. She always knew that she wouldn’t keep herself standing up for long. She knew that ultimately she would have to give him the money but even then she would linger it on until he would whack her. She was not just used to it but in fact she somewhat liked it. This likeness had come from the deep longing from within her - the longing for an attachment with a man. She never had a man ever in her life. Her father had died before her birth; she did not have any brother, not even any uncle or for that matter, any male in her family. All she had was her mother. She needed love of a man. But she needed scolding and cursing of a man too. She had love of her husband but she never had tasted the other way around. She had no experience in that and unseen venues always fascinated her.

Human mind is always curious to know the facts which are hidden to it. Her mind was working on the same lines too. There was this whole atypical aspect of love and belonging which she was unaware of. She wanted to experience that too. She had enough of the tenderness and caring attitude. She wanted to be taken over by him. She wanted to be a complete slave to him and she sure was a slave to him. She was working for running the house; she would take care of the kids; she would take care of her house; she would take care of him too, in every possible way. To fulfill her fantasies she would use his weakness – his addiction. She knew that he would come back to her to get money so that he can buy more of it and beat more of her body and she always waited for him for that.

One day, after being beaten by her husband, she went to work. Farhad, the Chotay Sahib saw her stigmatized all over her face.

“Sakina! aj phir tujhay us kameenay ne peeta hay?” He inquired.

She just looked at him with no signs of pleading sympathy and nodded.

“Tu usay police ke hawalay kion nehein kerwati? Mera aik dost aik NGO keliye kaam kerta hay. Mein us se keh ke us ko sabaq sikha sakta hon”

“Nehein jee is ki zarurat nehein... baree mehrbani ap ki” She replied.

She had refused his offer earlier as well. How could she accept that? She did not want to come out of what she had plunged in to.

The same day when she went home, he started whipping her again - striking her everywhere with thin sticks which acted like a whiplash and left several slanting scars all over her body. She won’t stop yelling at him and the kids, like always, started screaming like chimps in the woods. Josephine was hiding behind the door secretly though. The shouting of Sakina made him even wilder and he started kicking her with his shoes. He was looking like a lunatic. He didn’t notice that Sakina became silent and crumbling at that time and blood was pouring out. The neighbor woman who was looking from above the wall spotted that. She came at the very last moment, screaming and calling the other people who were listening to the screaming and yelling but were not paying heed. Samuel was rushing out of the house, still mumbling, when they carried her and took her to the nearby clinic.

The doctor refused to take over the case.

“Ap isay baray hospital lay jayein... mein kuch nehein ker sakta” The doctor said.

“Ray doctor sahib! Larki mer jaye gee wahan tak pohanchtay pohachtay... ap he kuch ker dein” The elderly woman who came along with pleaded.

“Amman! Yeh seedha seedha police ka case hay... kion meri rozi kay peechay per gaye ho aap log... jayein yahan se mein kuch nehein ker sakta” He gave his final verdict.

The doctors at district hospital took care of her immediately. She was pregnant and violent blows had shaken her womb badly. The baby was lost and she came back right from between the claws of death. Had it would be a little bit of more late, too much blood would be lost and she would have not withstood it all.

The incident was highlighted and people from some NGOs wanted to talk to her. But the police had to take her statement first. After the initial official questions, they came to the point.

“Toh bibi! Kya hooa hay yeh aap ko? Yeh sub kaisay hooa hay?”  The officer inquired.

She looked away from the man and stared on to the wall for long, trying to find the appropriate answer. After a long pause she said:

“Sahib jee! Kya janena chahtay hein aap? Yehee na ke meray khawand nay mujhay peeta hay? Kaisay itna khoon baha hay? Kaisay mera bucha zaya hooa hay? Ap logon ko kya pata hota hay jee ghareeb logon ka... Ap ko toh case banana hay... Toh banayein case... per apna kaam asaan kerin aur mujh per bhee ehsaan kerein... likh dein ke Sakina chakar aanay se chhat say gir gayee... bus”

 The police officer gave her one more day; just in case she wanted to change her statement. He came next day. NGOs came, reporters came and her Chotay Sahib and Begum Sahiba also came to see her. But she had only one thing to say;

“................ chhat say gir gayee thee jee. Allah ne karam kia hay per bari mushkil say bachi hon”

------ The End ------