Dead Ends: Episode 5

(This is a lengthy story based on actual facts. Episodes will be posted over a span of a few weeks. There are going to be NINE episodes in total. For Episode 4 click here. Enjoy!)

Episode 5

Two years have passed.

Maheen is sitting in front of the mirror in the master bedroom. She is genuinely happy about something. A smile lingers on her face. She dabs perfume on both her wrists and looks at the wall clock. It is 8 ‘o’ clock.

She walks in the kitchen, where the cook is busy preparing food.

“Sadiq will be here any moment. Is the food ready?” Maheen asks.

“Yes ma’am sahib. I have taken great care in cooking the food today. After all, it is sahibs and your first wedding anniversary.” The cook replies confidently.

Maheen goes back into her room and looks out the window. She is lost in thought. Her memories of the past two years are not pleasant ones. She remembers how she fought with her parents when they had forbidden her to marry Sadiq, the images flash through her head.

According to them, Sadiq was a wicked man who was not only cheating on their daughter but also cheated in his business. But she refused to believe them. Finally she had left her home and eloped with Sadiq. Her parents disowned her.

She remembers when she first caught Sadiq cheating on her. She had accidentally read text messages on his cell phone. She was deeply hurt but she had kept quiet.

Then one day, Sadiq had returned home drunk, spinning a bra in his hand. She had lost her control and slapped him with all her strength. In his rage and drunkenness he had beaten her up and locked her in a room. She had cried all night.

She jolts back to the present when she hears a car’s horn. The guard opens the gate to let the car in. She takes a deep breath and looks up towards God, her eyes closed in prayer.

Sadiq walks in. He throws his briefcase and suit jacket on the bed. He stands in front of the mirror loosening his tie. He looks at Maheen’s reflection.

“What was so important that you had to call me home?” He asks rudely.

“It’s our first anniversary today.”

“So? You idiot you called me home just for that? I had an important meeting tonight! Damn it!”

Maheen clenches her jaw to control her anger.

“I also have some important news to tell you,” Maheen says, “but let’s have dinner first.”

The table is laden with delicious food. Maheen and Sadiq sit down to eat. A few minutes pass in silence. Maheen opens her mouth several times to say some thing, but closes them when nothing comes out from it.

“Yesterday I got to know something.” Maheen hesitatingly starts to speak, “it’s a very good opportunity for us to start over. I mean… uh… I mean that things have not been as they should be between us and I want to give our marriage another chance. And God has given us that chance Sadiq.”

“What do you want to say?”

“The thing that I am trying to tell you is that I’m pregnant.”

Sadiq stops eating, puts his fork down and stares at her. He doesn’t speak for a few seconds.

“Is it mine?”

“Of course it’s ours! How dare you accuse me of that?”

“Hmm. Well it’s an interesting uh… state of affairs.”

“Don’t you treat me like some business associate of yours!”

“I’m not treating you as a business associate.”

“Then what are you treating me as?”

“As my wife.”

Maheen looks at him in the eye. Sadiq takes her hand and puts it against his cheek.

“Maheen, it’s been so long…” He says tenderly.

*                              *                            *

The garden is decorated for a party. There are many people present who belong to an upper middle class family. The groom and the bride are roaming around greeting their guests. A man walks towards them briskly and says something in the grooms’ ear. The groom hurriedly walks on to the stage and takes the mike in his hand.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you are enjoying the party. For your entertainment we have arranged a special dance! A special treat for the gentlemen! Don’t hesitate to enjoy yourselves!”

The groom smiles mischievously and gestures with his hands to let the dancers in. People make a clearing in the centre of the garden. The music commences and three hijra’s enter the empty circle.

With them is Bahadur, now called as Laila. He is wearing a tightly fitted glittering gaudy frock and churidar pajama. His eyebrows are plucked to form a perfect curve. His breasts bounce, his girlish figure twirls, his long hair are in a braid.

All three of them dance seductively in synchronization with the music. The men around them laugh and a few women frown. Guru Ji, who is himself dressed for the occasion, watches them from a distance. He is proud.

After the dance, the three hijras gather the money that was thrown at them. They cat walk through the crowd amid cat calls and whistles. They approach Guru Ji. All three of them hand over the money to Guru Ji. There are five other men standing beside him.

“Take your pick gentlemen.” Guru Ji smiles at them.

Two men take Bahadur’s arm and walk in to the house. Bahadur giggles and shrieks like a teenage girl on a first date as the men whisper in his ear.  

“You girls did very well today.” Guru Ji talks to Bahadur while Bahadur is standing in front of the wash basin in the bathroom, rubbing his face with soap to get rid of the thick make up.

Guru Ji continues, “Our clients were extremely pleased. I’m sure you’ll get more customers from tonight’s party.”

“Well how can I not be good at what you taught me yourself Guru Ji! You have been so caring since I’ve been here.” Bahadur says walking back into the room in a men’s shalwar kameez and sits on the bed.

“You know we earned almost 15,000 Rs. today! I’m so proud… especially of you, Laila! And yes… before I forget… Tomorrow is that new boys’ castration ceremony. You have to be there. So come back early tomorrow.”

“Wasn’t tomorrow the day we were invited to a boys’ birth celebration in Defense?”

“No that’s on Sunday.”

Fajr Aazaan is heard from a near by mosque. Bahadur stretches and yawns.

“Better go to sleep now, or we’ll be tired all day.”

Sakeena, the hijra that Bahadur first met when joining this community is pacing up and down in Bahadur and Guru Ji’s room the next day. Bahadur returns from his daily begging by the roadside. Sakeena see’s Bahadur and falls in a heap on the floor crying like a baby.

“Oye! Why are you crying? Where’s Guru Ji?” He comes towards him concerned.

“Haye Allah! Haye Allah! The worst thing happened Laila!” Sakeena wailed slapping his head with both hands.

“What happened!?”

“Our Guru Ji! She’s… she is in the hospital!”

“What!? What happened to her!?”

“She went to a client this morning. She told me that she’d be back by one… and you know how punctual she is…”

“I know all that! Why is she in the hospital?”

“That dog attacked her! He stabbed her several times and then left her there! She called from her cell phone. Munni, Khusbo and Kulsoom… they went to get her. Now they are in the hospital… They… they told me that Guru Ji has lost a lot of blood…”

Without listening to any other word Bahadur rushes out of the room.

Bahadur climbs out of a rickshaw. He pays the rickshaw-wala and runs into the hospital. He looks around and spots a nurse. He runs to her and grabs her arm.

“My Guru Ji is here! She was stabbed! Can you tell me where she is?”

“Let go of me!” She jerks her arm away, repulsed. Bahadur joins both of his palms and pleads to her.

“Please… Tell me where she is!”

“I don’t know where she is… are you sure she is here? People like you can’t afford a place like this. Go ask them.” She points at the reception desk.

Bahadur approaches them and asks the same thing.

“What’s his name?” The bearded man behind the desk asks.

“Her name is Saleema.”

“His real name.”

“That is her real name!”

The receptionist types on the computer.

“Yes… he is in the ICU. You are not allowed visitations there. You can wait in the waiting room,” he looks up at him, stares at him disapprovingly; his spectacles perched on the tip of his nose, “I advise that you wait outside. You’ll scare our patients.”

“To hell with your patients!” Bahadur retorts.

Bahadur joins his companions in the waiting room. They all hug and cry making a lot of racket. People near them leave the room at the site of them.

“How is she?” Bahadur asks

“She is still unconscious.” Replies Khusbo.

“We all gave our blood for her. You can give too.” Suggests Munni.

“Of course I’ll give my blood! But how do I give it to her?”

They take Bahadur to the blood donating room, where Bahadur gets scared looking at the needle.

He closes his eyes tightly and bites his lips. The lipstick smears onto his teeth as the nurse administers the needle in his arm.

*                             *                              *

Both Sadiq and Maheen are sitting comfortably in their garden in arm chairs. Sadiq is smoking a cigarette and offers to Maheen.

“Sadiq I can’t smoke from now on. It’s bad for our baby.”

“Oh yes! Sorry.” He mutters.

“It’s been a long time since we sat together like this… I have an appointment with the doctor tomorrow. I want you to be there with me.”

“What time is it?”

“It’s at three.”

Sadiq takes out an iphone from his pocket and taps on it a few times.

“I won’t be able to make it Maheen.”

“Why not?”

“I’m busy.”

“Busy in what?”

“A meeting.”

“Who are you meeting?”

“I’m busy in a meeting Maheen! Now will you stop your interrogation?”

He stands and walks into the house. Maheen sighs and massages her temples.

*                            *                                *

Bahadur is still lying on the bed and blood is still being drawn from him. The nurse takes the needle out and puts a cotton swab in its place.

“Your blood will be tested and screened before being given to the patient. You can leave if you are feeling alright.”

“Thank you nurse! Can I go see my Guru Ji?”

“He is in the ICU. People are not allowed to go in there.”

“Can we at least speak to the doctor?” Asks Kulsoom.

“The doctor will himself contact you.”

While Bahadur was getting up from the bed Khusbo came running into the room.

“They want us to pay an additional 100,000 Rs.”

“Allah! Where will we get that much money?” Munni is shocked.

“When do they want it?” Asks Bahadur.

“By tonight!”

“What happens if we can’t pay?” Kulsoom voices what they all are thinking.

“They’ll stop the treatment.”

Stay tuned for Episode 6