THE CURSED BEAUTY

C-22

PRESENT (1801)

Ishumati hurried down to the hospital to meet Malti. After Ram dev's assuring words, she mustered up courage to face her friend. 

Dressed in a sea green tant saree tied in Bengali style, she looked like an epitome of grace and beauty. Her hair adorned with white lilies which the slum children offered her this morning, paired with some light jewelry. She gracefully strided down the small hallways of the hospital along with her maids and two guards appointed by bade thakur, who followed her like a shadow, much to her annoyance.

She stepped inside the small room where Malti lied, her eyes looking onto nowhere, her body though patched up with hundreds of bandages, looked frail and cut.

 Malti never looked this lost. She was a happy young woman as what Ishumati remembered. She loved being loved. Though the darkness of her identity of being a dev dasi haunted her soul and body every minute, she never gave up on life. But now, seeing her like this was breaking Ishumati's heart piece by piece.

"Malti?" Ishumati called out softly. Her eyes pooling with unshed tears which she quickly wiped away.

"dekhiye toh, ham aapke liye yeh roshogulle le kar aye hai."She said and forwarded a pot full of Bengali delicacies in front of her. But Malti gave no response. Her eyes were fixed to the ceiling.

"roshogulle nahi chahiye?" Ishumati asked confused and disappointed. She really thought sweets would bring smile onto her friend's face but she was wrong. What must she do now?

"Koi baat nahi, ham aapko batate hai , kaise hamne aaj ek chote kookur (dog) ko, uss badmash devojit ke upar chor diya." She giggled although it did not feel genuine. She wanted to make things light, but distracting malti's mind from the unfaithful past events, but all her attempts were in vain. Her sadness now reflected on her facial expressions.

" aap baat nahi karengi hamse?" Ishumati tried to touch her shoulder but Malti flinched. As if her touch would burn her.

And this time Ishumati could not control her tears. Her friend was in so much pain but she could do nothing to ease it. She felt insecure and useless.

Malti then turned to look at her frantically with her eyes full of panic. But somewhat relaxed recognizing her, although her guard was still up. She removed her eyes from Ishumati and resumed looking at the ceiling without saying a word.

Ishumati sobbed silently. This was not how things were meant to be. After meeting Anirudh in that temple, she thought she would take his help to free all the dev dasis by enforcing law, but the turn of events just ruined everything. From his mother's death to grieving and fighting with Ishumati and Malti getting raped. Everything was messed up.

Ishumati did try to talk to the village head about the freedom of the dev dasis and the sex scandal run by the temple authority, but the head joined his hands to bid her goodbye. He did not even listen to her plea. 

"Aap Ma hai, palanhaar (the one who provides food) hai. Iss liye izzat aur prem se keh rahe hai. Dharam ke karmo beech mat aiye. Varna dharam aapko nahi chorega." he tried to explain it softly to her.

"ek stree (woman) ki kismat uske mata - pita (parents) ya pati (husband) ke haath mein hoti hai. Unn striyo (those women) ki kismat ,unke mata pita ne mandir ki seva ke sath jod diya hai. Ab woh seva aadhyatmik (spiritual) ho ya shareerik (physical)."

 Ham usme apni taang nahi adaana chahte. Yeh mandir ke pradhikaar  ka mamla hai."

[we don't want to interfare in between. This case belongs to the temple authority.]