Listening to the music of the rain, watching the crystal beads of water from the heavens, tht drop s down to purge men from the bounds of earthly evils, my mind was transported to an instance narrated to me by a friend of mine-- a story of sin. My friend is a social worker who had easy access to all walks of the society...say the creamy high class level and the down-trodden low class.
Being a person in power, and entitled to social reforms, he was assigned this herculean task of evacuating a filthy whore-house, as it stood in an isolated place, yet the hullabaloo in the place affected the peaceful life of the civilized inhabitants nearby. My friend had to use power, armed force and aid to abusive words and law, so as to achieve the same.
He was astonished to see a face there, a sweet placid face of a woman...He had seen her here and there before, but this was the last place where he hoped her to belong to...His surprise gave way to hatred and anger. He whacked her on her face and after an array of abuses, seeing her son uncontrollably saying she had no other escape, no other way to resort to, to earn her living, he felt an interminable pity towards the abominable situation that she was in.
Being a committed person to the social interest and well-being, he promised to save her from the kind of abhorred life she wa leading, but asked her to make a promise that she will never return to such a life again. Thus when al the rest of the arraigned lots were arrested and taken to the police station, she was released -- free to live her life once more -- a chance to correct her mistakes and live a new life. My friend had an intuition that she would survive, and would return to the respectable strata the society in course of time. In his view, his words have opened her eyes and made her regret for her sins. Also it was a second birth, and a new phase of life that she was going to lead. He was optimistic or even quite over confident about the outcome.
Later after many months, he saw her again. Time was about 10.30 at night. My friend was eatin, with his friends at a motel. He saw her coming from behind a huge building, hiding in the shadows of the night. Her eyes flickered in the sight of a familiar face. He asked her about life, when she answered that she has totally given up that unworthy profession. She is into manual labour. But she did not have a. Ouse to live in, or a speck of land as asset. So she spends her night in such places, like the verandah of shops, the spaces behind big buildings etc. She said with desperation lining her eyes, that once fallen into this profession, escape is difficult. Because she was a whore in the eyes of the public and she is perceived by others, as a public property. She spoke to him about how society condemned her, when she tried to abstain from being illicit, and how they dragged her back to what she was.
" I tried my best sir, made the effort as the best as I can, to live like a normal woman in the society, accepted and respected. I am still trying. I am trying how long I can hold on".
There was nothing else that my friend could do at this juncture, so he smiled helplessly at her.There are always limits to our strivings when it comes to the scenario of helping others.
For quite some time, he did not see her again. Later, once as he was speeding on his bike, with his friend, his eyes fell on a very familiar face, walking through the road. He stopped, and saw that it was she, so lean and tired. There was a man with her, whom she introduced to him as her husband. He saw her passing something to the man, as he approached her in the bike. When asked what it was, she didn't give a clue. Taking the packet by force, he found that it was opium. He also gathered that both of them were drunk. On further enquiries it was evident that the man with her was not her husband. Out of desperation, my friend asked her many more questions in animus rage. For which she answered:
" Onnu po saare, leave me alone. It is my life".
And holding hands they walked away. My friend followed his gaze, till they disappeared in the horizon.
There are many things, which deserves to be changed, but cannot be changed, much because our lives are also tuned by the invisible but powerful strings of the society which moulds it's inhabitants mostly to the way the majority needs it to be. Once fallen into the depths of this oblivion, there is, for sure, no come back...ever...
No comments:
Post a Comment