The Girl Called Nargis

Chapter - 8 The worthless gold

Once Khala was done teaching, the clock rung seven. It was later than usual. The servants had alredy lit oil lamps around the structure, giving the entire place a golden glow.

"Aahh I'm so tired today" Sanjida groaned, Karishma and her maid in honor nodded.

"But I'd be lying if I said today's lesson wasn't fun" Karishma chuckled, making the other ladies laugh too.

The boys on the other side of the curtain had alredy left to spend the rest of their evening either playing cards on the terrace or cricket in the gardens. Some of the girls too had left to join them in a game of cards or watch them play cricket from afar. It wasn't allowed but Khala allowed it as long as they caused no trouble and didn't step past their boundaries which they were well aware of.

Nargis smiled, she hadn't paid any attention to the lesson today and remembered only bits and pieces from it. Her mind kept wandering off to Faisal and it confused her. Never had she thought of someone so much before.

"Nargis!"

Nargis turned to Sanjida who was looking at her with a frown.

"Yes? My lady? Sorry I didn't hear you.."

Sanjida pouted "We were thinking of playing antakshri, why don't you start?"

(Antakshri: a game of songs where one person sings a song starting from the last letter that the previous song had ended at)

Nargis smiled. "Sure!" She knew better than to say no to a bunch of noble ladies. Khala had told her to behave well with them, friendly but keeping an appropriate respectful distance. Contacts among the nobility were useful in their line of business.

"When the night falls, my eyes wander in your search. In the light of lamps you come to me holding a rose, what is it that you want..." Nargis began to sing and the girls clapped gently to the tune, humming along.

"When the rain falls and my drenched eyes look for you,  will you come to me...will you come to me with the rose?" She sang with a smile, her eyes wandering from face to face, all of them were smiling, enjoying the beautiful melody and then-she almost stopped singing when she spotted a familiar face, looking at her through the rooftop that faced the verandah. It was Faisal.

Is he...listening?...She couldn't tell but continued to sing, not wanting to spoil the mood.
"You come to me with a rose in your hand, in your hand...love. Please come to me with the rose as I wait in the night, in the day and in rain, come to me, my love" She finished the song.

The verandah erupted in a symphony of claps and cheers. She smiled, feeling content with her little performance and her eyes darted up to the rooftop, hoping to see Faisal, clapping, or even just a smile but the spot where he had been standing was no longer occupied. The emptyness also made her heart feel strangly empty, sad and dissapointed.

"I'm tired, I hope you continue without me" She got up and left.

She slowed down as she left the noisy verandah begind, walking through the empty cooridor when someone stepped in front of her. She looked up to see one of the boys who attended the lesson. She tried to remember who he was...

I think he is the son of a landlord... who though I don't remember....god I should have memorised all the names better!! She cursed herself.
"Are you looking for someone?" She asked.

The boy nodded "I was looking for you"

"For me?" She was surprised. "Why?"

"Here..." He reached into his pocket and with another hand grabbed her hand, she gasped and tried to pull away but couldn't as he kept what seemed like metal coins in her hand.

When he finally let go, she could see three gold coins placed in her hand. "What is this..?" She frowned, holding her hand out to him. "Please take these back!"

"No, you have alredy taken them, haven't you?" He spoke with a nonchalant grin as he pushed her into the wall, holding her hands up.

She stared at him, frozen. She couldn't believe what was happening. She tried to scream but no voice would come out. Her heart started to pound in horror as the boy pulled her silk dupatta off of her shoulders, revealing her chest before he frantically started to caress her sides, reaching down and undoing the strings that held her anarkali in place.
She finally snapped back to reality and yelled, trying to push the boy off but he wouldn't budge at all.

"Khala!kha-" Before she could scream more, the boy slapped her hard. She stared in horror, her face was burning up from the slap an anger.

"Khala!" She cried out, trying to push the boy off but with the singing and the screaming of boys playing cricket, she doubted anyone would hear her. Tears began to stream down her face as the boy began to quickly undo the strings of her anarkali, thursting desperately into her when suddenly, someone pulled him off.

Nargis looked up to see Bahadur kaka, one of the guards.
"Are you okay?" He spoke before looking at the boy. "And you, young master have a lot of explanaining to do to your mother and father! Come!" He dragged the screaming boy away.

Nargis stood there dumbfounded as she quickly gathered her Dupatta, sobbing as she covered herself and tried to tie the laces of her anarkali with her shaky hands when she saw a shadow walk past.
"Who's there!" She demanded. The shadow came to a halt, and began to walk towards her, revealing Noor.

"Noor?" She frowned.

"Looks like you have many admirers, at such young age too..." She tsked her tongue as she looked down at her and
slapped Nargis's hands away from her anarkali as she sat on her knees, tying it neatly.

"You saw it?" Nargis sobbed.

"Oh I did....you looked adorable..." She scoffed as she looked down at the three coins scattered onto the floor.

She looked at Noor and wondered if she had been the one to call Bahadur kaka. "Did you..."

"Call Bahadur ? No. He apparently came right on time, didn't he? Well...too bad I was enjoying the show quite a bit" She chuckled as she gathered the three gold coins scattered on the floor.
"I should congratulate you on your first earning" She spoke with a grin as she grabbed Nargis's hand, squeezing it hard and forcing her to open it as she kept the money in her hand. "Keep is as a reminder for what you're worth" She spoke before storming off.

Nargis looked down at her wrist which had turned red from how tight Noor had held it. She looked down at the tiny gold coins and threw them accross the floor. She felt disgusting and wanted to wash her body, no, she wished she could just peel her skin off.

"Didn't know a tawaif could detest money so much.."

Nargis turned to see Faisal, walking in a drunken gait. He was a lot taller upclose, he smelled of wine and perfume. She recognized the smell, it was Noor's.

She felt her stomach turn at the thought of him being with Noor. Noor had a knack for toying with boys younger than her. She liked to play with them, make them desperate and her ruined lovers. Nargis stepped away with her head down, giving him plenty of place to walk past.

He looked at the gold coins scattered onto the floor and scoffed "Good thing your chastity will be worth more than three pieces of gold" He walked past her.

Nargis collapsed onto the floor. Chastity. She had almost forgotten over the years who she was. In the frenzy of songs, dances, lessons and meetings with the nobles, she had almost forgotten who she was. What purpose her existence served to the society. She was just an art, as Noor had said. Just an art.