The Hen and the egg - II

She was throwing up near the village well incessantly. The first rush of motherhood overpowered her. It was divine, calming and terrifying at the same time. The wagging tongues knew no stopping. "You saw the way her face is rounding? It HAS to be a boy", they concluded with a short round round of giggle. Her foresight was getting stronger along with fear and apprehension. Life gave her just one option. Prayer.

---------------------------------------

She carefully stepped into the thorny bushes and glanced at the high cemented wall. Soon she sprang into life when the bell was gone. A herd rushed out running, some walking at their fastest best with bags heavier than themselves yet smiling brightly. Their smiles rubbed off onto her. She remembered her father's words. "No rain, No school". She raised her head to the clear blue sky with something she had in abundance. Hope.

---------------------------------------

Their eyes grew wide and reddened with the rising flame of the torch. "How far could she have gone? She thinks she can fool these eyes with her naive tactics? That heap of filth has no idea what she is getting into (mild laugh)" said one of them with a characteristic deep masculine voice. They furiously marched ahead.

------------------------------------

By this time mortal fear gripped her very tight. She decided to ignore the thump of her heartbeat. She could neither pant nor breathe. This was by far the biggest test of her physical limits. Her eyes roved and landed onto a structure that seemed something like a wall. She knew she HAD to pull this off, for the life inside her and for herself.

------------------------------------

The faint images of garishly dressed women along with half clothed men was making her dizzy. "Where are those sky high buildings? Those long never ending roads they always talked about?" she thought to herself. For once she was failing to cross the blurred lines between right and wrong. Confused, she decided to take a step further without having the least idea how deciding that one step could be. She gave into her dream of breaking the barriers.

------------------------------------

"Do you REALISE what you have done?" exclaimed the head after planting a thunderous slap on his cheeks. "You let that filthy little woman blow dust in your eyes? Do you realise that?" An eerie silence followed. "Its ruined. It is completely ruined" he finished collapsing on a stone seat. The heads hung low and none dared to look him in the eye.

------------------------------------

She quickly cleared the heap of dried leaves and pebbels and sat facing a place that her father always referred to as the "resting place of your mother". Memories of a disturbed childhood and confused youth played in the mental reel one by one making her sullen and reflective. She wept like there was no tomorrow while stretching  her arms into the air and deeply remembering the soul resting below the inanimated stones. She silently promised to herself, "Ill give my child the best of all worlds".

-----------------------------------

PS: Sushmita Banda, this is for you. I dont know if I have done justice to your request but Ill let you decide that. Also dedicated to my mother.

PS2: If this doesn't make sense to you, read the previous post first.

The Hen and the egg

She heaved a sigh of relief when her bottom fell heavy on the ground. Soon tears covered her face like blood oozing out of a wound. She sat distraught and relieved across a kaccha wall of freshly layed bricks. The reflexes forced her palm onto her swollen belly and she sat there praying while trying her best to silence the rhythym of her breath and the pounding heart...

----------------------------------

She ripped through the grass fields with her little palms trying to be out of sight for the old grandmother whose jug she had broken. The old woman continuously cursed and mumbled unintelligibly. "Girls are a pain, I told him but who gives value to the words of this old thing? Losing my sanity am I? This little bitch had made life hell" she finished while looking for another jug in the dust coated shelves.

----------------------------------

She rested under the wall for several hours and woke up only when the early morning rays brushed her pale face. She rubbed her eyes and tried to rise at one go and a flinching pain passed her belly and upper high. Her scream echoed in the nearby fields. She somehow gathered herself and decided to walk. The destination was not as close as she thought..

----------------------------------

She wept after being beaten up mercilessly for the nuisance she caused. "A well deserved punishment" as per the granny, followed by another round of slaps that began in full swing . A robust man barged into the house. "Is this what you old people love doing? For god's sake, look at her?! Arent you woman yourself?" The old woman shrugged, slowly crossed the threshold and disappeared into the curtains.

----------------------------------

She fell on the stairs resting unconscious not being able to bear the pain and exhaustion any longer. Her legs gave up at the very sight of destination being SO close. Spotted her was a man is his late fifties. He stared at her non-plussed, held her by the arms, tapped on her cheeks thinking it was one of those rag pickers waiting to earn some morning bread. The lines on his forehead burrowed deeper when he stared at her swollen belly. This was definitely not the usual..

----------------------------------
The women whispered in their low tones to the others witnessing this miraculous spectacle. They stood aghast not knowing what end this would see. The old man held a newborn in his hand, covered in vermillion, crying and reaching out to her lifeless birth giver.