Sold Souls-Chained Existences
By Raja Sharma
Copyright@2011Raja Sharma
Smashwords Edition
Chapter 1: Act I
Scene I
Supreme Soul: Get ready, quickly! You! Are you listening to me?
Boy: Shall I bring tea, Madam?
1st Soul: For me too! I feel totally fucked up!
2nd Soul: Bread for me and a glass of milk.
Supreme Soul: No milk, today. Take tea, income is not good!
3rd Soul: I earned you more than three thousand last night? I will have milk and jalebi.
Master: You are not in your in-laws’ house. Eat what is given to you.
(The souls have been sleeping all over the place in one large drawing room and adjoining three cabins. Some are sprawled on sofas and some on the floor. There is a kind of odour in the room which gives the sense of staleness and the dying scent of the flowers bought last night. Supreme Soul has her own large bed in one corner of the drawing room. She has her own bathroom and a cupboard. Master can share things with her. He lives with her and takes care of all her financial business and arrangement of new souls from other places. In one corner, kept high on a shelf on the wall, there is a television showing an old Hindi movie. It is 1:00 pm and the sun is high. The souls generally get up at midday and do the works like cooking, cleaning, and washing clothes. At about 5:00 pm, they get ready for the real business and wait in the drawing room for the prospective customers.)
2th Soul: I can’t stand it anymore!
4th Soul (in a whisper): Don’t speak loudly! You will be beaten if Master hears you.
(They look at the other souls who are gradually waking up and leaving the drawing room. 2th Soul has a one hundred rupee note hidden in her blouse. It was given by her regular customer. She plans to buy a few chocolates when the vendor comes in the evening.)
Chapter 2
(In a small town in the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal, a man, a woman, and their daughter are sitting for the breakfast.)
Man (with tears in his eyes): I miss her.
Woman: She is my daughter too!
Man: You gave her all the freedom?
Woman: Don’t blame me! You gave her everything and spoiled her!
Man: I did not know the boy she was in love would pollute her mind. He has disappeared too.
Woman: We tried our best to find her, spent thousands of rupees, and prayed to gods.
Daughter: Where is didi, ma?
Man (Embracing the youngest daughter): She has gone away to study. She will come back soon.
Woman (looking at her husband with sympathetic eyes): Get ready; you are getting ready for your school.
(A boy, about 16 years of age, enters the room and sits at the table. He has his school bag with him.)
Man: How are your studies going on?
Boy: I need Math tuition. Shall I join extra tuition class?
Man: How much do they want?
Boy: One thousand a month. It is a three months’ course.
Man: No problem. Take three thousand from my wallet.
Boy: Pa, after this school, I want to study abroad. My friends will be studying in Bangalore.
Man: I will make arrangement for everything. You just concentrate on your studies.
Boy (taking the money from his father’s wallet): Thanks, pa. Bye ma, bye pa, bye chutki.
Man (after the departure of his son): She was the eldest. How I used to take her to the shop every morning to buy chocolates and gifts. She was stubborn and she won’t go to school without chocolates.
Woman: May be she is doing fine somewhere? Who knows?
Man: Who will give her chocolates?
(The man leaves the table and enters his bedroom. He begins to get ready for his office. The woman gets busy in the house, doing household chores. The little girl is leaving the house for her school. The man gives her some money before she goes out. He kisses her on her forehead.)
Chapter 3
Agent: It is very difficult to find fresh things nowadays.
Friend: I think I will have to go and live in a village for a few days.
Agent: I have two in my eyes. They are ready to work as maids.
Friend: Then what is the problem?
Agent: They are living with their uncle and he is a greedy old man, harami!
Friend: How much did you offer?
Agent (lighting his cigarette): Five thousand a piece.
Friend: Money is hard to find nowadays.
Agent: Can’t sell products for more than twenty thousand a piece. Then there are expenses, money to mama, train ticket, hotel charges, and clothes, etc.
Friend: We will have to raise price. Call your friend there and tell him.
Agent: How much?
Friend: At least forty thousand a piece!
Agent: He won’t agree because Madam takes the decisions.
Friend: Fresh pieces don’t come cheap. You will have to tell her.
Agent: I will try.
Friend: Why not to look for an individual?
Agent: It is quite difficult. Rich men are afraid of the mediators. They are happy to call the kotha and have a piece sent.
Friend: I know one in Delhi.
Agent: Let’s sit somewhere.
(They enter a nearby beer bar and occupy a table. It is about seven in the evening. The dance girls are about to begin their performance. In Kathmandu, even college girls are involved in this business.)
Friend: I know her.
Agent: The one dancing in front?
Friend: Yes, she studies in the college near my room.
Agent: You tried to make a pass on her.
Friend: She goes with rich ones only.
Agent: She is not local.
Friend: From Pokhara.
(The music gets louder and the dance pulls the attention of the drinkers. The small bar is filled with young men, with their pockets full of currency notes. The cigarette smoke has made the environment hazy and the visibility is too low and the dim lights make is more difficult to recognize the person even sitting next to you.)
Chapter 4
(A middle aged woman is moaning in a dark small room on the first floor of a building. She is running high fever. She is waiting for her daughter to return, crying in her bed.)
Daughter: Ma, how are you feeling now?
Ma: Give me some water.
Daughter: Have you taken your medicine?
Ma: Ho, chori.
Daughter: I got late today. It is past 11 pm today.
Ma: Why don’t you work in an office that runs in day time?
Daughter (hiding her embarrassment): We have different customers, ma. They come in the evening.
Ma: This woman from the ground floor was talking rubbish about you. I scolded her.
Daughter: Ma, people have their mouths. I am working and not doing anything else.
(Suddenly, her mobile rings. She answers the call.)
Daughter: Hello.
Caller: You left your bag in the bar today.
Daughter: I will collect it tomorrow.
Caller: I got a customer today. Why don’t you start doing this? There is a lot of money in it.
Daughter: Dance pays enough and I don’t want more. I want to complete my studies.
Caller: A customer was asking about you. He is ready to pay twenty five thousand for one go.
Daughter: Please, don’t talk about all that. You know I will never do that. All right, now I have to cook form my mother.
(She switches off the mobile and enters the small kitchen next to the room. She has brought a few things from her bar for her mother. She cooks rice and warms the chicken curry which she has brought.)
Ma: Did you cook this?
Daughter: No, ma. I brought it from my office. Food is free for us. I did not eat it there so I brought it here.
Ma: Have you written to your uncle?
Daughter: No, ma. It is no use. He will not give us our share of land.
Ma: But he has confiscated your father’s land. We must get it back.
Daughter: Father had not got the land transferred in his name. The entire piece is in uncle’s name.
Ma: I think, we should visit the village at Holi.
Daughter: No, ma. Last time they had insulted us. They threw us out of the house after the death of father.
Ma: But, chori, relatives are after all relatives.
Daughter: Will they feed us? I am happy with you. I will earn my own money and then buy a house for both of us. Aren’t you happy with me, ma?
Ma: I spent my entire life in the village. I miss them too much. I miss those fields, our cows, our dogs.
Daughter: When father was alive, we were respected. He died in the struggle and we lost everything. Don’t you remember they did not show us his dead body after the encounter? A great commander he was, they say. His wife is rotting and his daughter is a beggar.
Ma (almost in tears): Na, chori, don’t say that. Try to contact your uncle, my brother. He will definitely help us.
Daughter: He is working in Dubai, and I don’t have his address.
Ma: He can find some better work for you.
Daughter: I won’t leave you, ma.
Chapter 5
(The Souls are heavily made-up for the visitors. Loud music is almost deafening. There are about twenty of them, between sixteen and thirty years of age. They have fake smiles on their faces, very masterly concealing the agonies which are the inevitable and inseparable part of their existence. Supreme Soul is ensconced on her throne-like bed, chewing paan. Master is in white Kurta and pajama. He has a string of white sweet scented flowers around his right wrist. The souls are sitting on the sofas. A few girls are shaking their bodies to the tune of the music. There is everything which is needed in a perfect Asian brothel, though souls from the Souls are missing.)
First Young Man: You go in first.
Second Young Man: All right. Follow me, and don’t feel shy.
First Young Man: What if someone sees us?
Second Young Man: No one is going to see us. All are same here. All are nude in a hamam.
First Young Man: We can get AIDS here. I am afraid.
Second Young Man: You are not a man. There are methods for prevention. (He pulls a condom packet from his pocket and inserts it into the front pocket of the First Young Man’s shirt.)
First Young Man: I won’t talk. I don’t want to do it. You can do what you like.
(They enter the big hall-like drawing room. The girls are delighted to see them. They begin to call them with their eyes and fingers. Second Young Man views all the girls one by one with his experienced eyes. Suddenly, his eyes fall on the 2nd Soul. He calls her, making a gesture with his pointed finger. 2nd Soul smiles and leaves the sofa.)
Second Young Man: How much?
2nd Soul: Night?
Second Young Man: No, one or two hours.
2nd Soul: Two hundred for one go, one thousand for night.
Second Young Man: You go with my friend, there.
2nd Soul: His first time?
Second Young Man: Yes. He is shy.
2nd Soul: I will take care of everything. He is quite handsome.
(Second Young Man pushes First Young Man towards 2nd Soul. She gets hold of his left hand and pulls him towards her. She takes him to the nearest cabin. His legs are shaking and he is sweating.)
2nd Soul: What is your name?
First Young Man: I don’t want to do this.
2nd Soul: Don’t be afraid. I won’t eat you. Sit comfortably on this bed.
(She pulls him on to the bed and embraces him. He trembles but he likes it. He does not make any attempt to get freed.)
First Young Man: Why do you do this?
2nd Soul: What?
First Young Man: This work.
2nd Soul: I must do it to survive.
First Young Man: Have you ever been to school?
2nd Soul: Yes, I was in X class.
First Young Man: Where are you from?
2nd Soul: I have answered this question hundreds of times.
First Young Man: You are very beautiful.
2nd Soul: I know. All of them say so. Come and do it quickly. I have to go out. We have little time.
(She begins to take her clothes off but First Young Man stops her. He gives her one hundred rupees and begins to leave the room. She pulls his hand and makes him sit with her.)
2nd Soul: You will have to sit here for some time, otherwise Master will beat me.
First Young Man: Who is Master?
2nd Soul: If we don’t make our customers happy, we are beaten, and they don’t give us food. Please don’t tell them that you did not do anything.
First Young Man: I will come again, some other day. Now, I will go.
(First Young Man leaves the cabin and enters the drawing room. His friend is still inside one of the cabins. He sits on a sofa and waits for him. 2nd Soul sits in front of him. She smiles at him. He is attracted to her. The young mind of this inexperienced man is trying to find the thing called love which he has either seen in movies or read about in the novels and story books. He returns her smile and shifts his eyes in other direction. 2nd Souls laughs loudly and whispers something in the ear of the Soul sitting next to her.)
Second Young Man (coming out of a cabin): How was it?
First Young Man: Let’s go.
Second Young Man: Was she good?
First Young Man: We are getting late!
(They descend the narrow stairs, one at a time, and come on to the street below. Second Young Man is in a happy mood but First Young Man is very serious. He turns and looks at the number of the house. He plans to visit the place again, but alone, without his friend.)
Chapter 6: Act II
Scene I
Man: Someone saw that boy in Kathmandu.
Woman: Where?
Man: At the bus station.
Woman: You must try to find him in his village.
Man: I have told some of my friends and they will get him arrested.
Woman: Was she with him?
Man: No, he was alone. They say that he must have left her somewhere in India.
Woman (bursts into tears): Hey, Bhagvaan! What will happen to my daughter?
Man: Calm down, we will find her.
(Their son enters the room and takes a seat. He has passed his exam and he seems to be very happy.)
Man: Chora, you can go to any other place but not to Bangalore.
Boy: Why, pa? What is wrong with Bangalore?
Man: Don’t ask me anything about that!
Boy: All my friends are going there. Why can’t I go to Bangalore?
Man: I can’t send you to India. I am afraid.
Boy: Nothing will happen to me. They have a wonderful college hostel there and people are friendly there.
Man (Sotto Voce): How should I tell him that there is nothing wrong in going to India! For Nepali girls India is a market and they disappear without even a trace! How can I send him there?
Boy: You did not answer, pa?
Man: We will talk about it some other time. I have a headache. Tell your mother to bring a cup of tea for me.
(In the kitchen, the woman is trying to make her son understand that his father is disturbed because of his elder sister’s disappearance. She tells him about the boy who she was in love with. She assures him that she will convince his father and he will agree to send him to Bangalore.)
Woman (giving him the cup of tea): Will they find her?
Man: Keep faith in God, everything will be all right. After all she is our daughter. We will bring her back to our house. Then we will all be happy together.
Woman: They say that girls are sold in India?
Man: Not in all cases, but thousands of our girls are in the brothels there. Some were taken with force and some were sold by their relatives. You please don’t talk about that. I fear to talk about all that.
Woman: What if our daughter…?
Man: No…she is educated and she understands everything.
Woman: What if they force her to do the things which she does not want to?
Man: Mala, please don’t make your stupid surmises. I am already very disturbed. God will take care of everything. It is the price of our sins committed in our former lives.
Woman: I will seek the audience of Lord Shiva in Pashupati Temple and offer a goat there after her return.
Man: She will come back, keep faith. Time will take care of everything. Nothing lasts forever. Our good days will come back soon.
Woman: You are such a nice man. I am proud of you. Every child should have a father like you and every woman a husband like you.
Man: Now go back to your kitchen and cook something for chutki. She will be back from school any moment.
(The woman reenters the kitchen and the man picks the newspaper lying on the sofa. He begins to scan the news items.)
Chapter 7
Agent: I have my business in the city.
Girl: Then what are you doing here in the village?
Agent: I am looking for a piece of land. I want to start a small industry here.
Girl: You are living in your friend’s house?
Agent: Yes, we are intimate friends, like brothers. We went to college together in the city.
Girl: You must be a very rich man.
Agent: I have enough to survive. Have you ever been to the city?
Girl: No, but I plan to visit after my High School. There is no college here in the village.
Agent: Why don’t you come with us? I will show you around. You can stay there for a day or two and come back.
Girl: My parents won’t allow me.
Agent: My friend can talk to your parents.
Girl: No, they will beat me. I am no supposed to talk to the outsiders like this.
Agent: I will stay here for one week. Will you meet me tomorrow?
Girl: Yes, I come to this temple every morning. Tomorrow is my holiday so I can spend some more time.
Agent: I will wait for you.
(In a village house, Agent and Friend are sitting, drinking locally brewed beer. Friend has come back to his village after about five years. He has been sending some money to his old parents in the village. He has a piece of land in the village.)
Agent: I think I will be successful soon.
Friend: I saw you with that girl. Her old parents have some land here but the financial condition is not so good. Their son had left them ten years ago. He went to Netherland with a white girl.
Agent: She is a student, studying in X class.
Friend: Don’t take fast actions. Go slowly.
Agent: I am trying to convince her to visit the city with us.
Friend: Don’t involve me in this; otherwise the villagers won’t leave me alive.
Agent: Don’t worry. Next time, I will come alone. I don’t believe in eating food hot.
Friend: You will have to make false promises, like telling her about marrying her and all that stuff.
Agent: Not this time. I will leave this time with a good impression. After two or three visits, they will start believing me.
Friend: Next time, bring some gifts for her and her parents.
Agent: Yes, some investment is needed.
Friend: You are a real harami!
(Next morning, Agent gets up very early. He visits a barber and gets hair cut. He buys an expensive pen and a diary for the girl.)
Agent: I have been waiting for two hours.
Girl: I got late. My mother is not feeling well. I had to cook for my father.
Agent: So you cook too? When are you inviting me to lunch?
Girl (her face blushing): You can come any time. I have told my mother about you.
Agent: What did she say?
Girl: Don’t meet these town boys! They are not good.
Agent: Am I bad?
Girl (laughing): You are different but my parents talk about other boys.
Agent (feeling confident that the girl is almost in his grasp): Should I come to your house to talk about us?
Girl: What do you want to talk about us?
Agent: About us together!
Girl: We are together, aren’t we?
Agent: Not in this way. I mean, I like you, I love you.
Girl (cheeks all red): I like you too.
Agent: Is that all?
Girl: What else?
Agent: Don’t you want to be with me?
Girl: Why should I be here otherwise?
Agent (taking her hands in his hands): I fell in love with you when I saw you first.
Girl: The same I felt when I saw you with your friend at the bus stop.
Agent: You were coming back from your school with your friends.
Girl: My friends talk about you.
Agent: How many girls are there in your class?
Girl: Twenty in all but four of them are my good friends. I talk about you with them.
Agent: Won’t you introduce me to them?
Girl: I will but at the right time.
Agent: Let’s go to that tea shop and sit there for some time.
(They enter a tea shop near the temple. Agent orders tea and some biscuits. The girl is shy and afraid. She keeps looking at the faces of the people who enter the temple lest someone known should see here there with a stranger.)
Chapter 8
Daughter: Ma, I am leaving some money on the table, you go to the shop and buy your medicine.
Ma: Chori, I don’t think these medicines will ever cure me. My ailment can’t be cured with medicines.
Daughter: No, ma, take your medicine on time. I will be back soon today. I will take you to the New Road to buy a few clothes.
Ma: I don’t want new clothes. You need money for your education.
Daughter: I have enough, ma.
(The daughter hugs her mother and shoulders her bag. She counts some money and keeps it on the table.)
Dancer: Fridays are good, the dance begins early.
Daughter: I have to leave early, at about six o’ clock.
Dancer: You won’t dance in the evening?
Daughter: Not today. I must take my mother to the market to buy a few clothes.
Dancer: You work so hard and you go to college. I am illiterate and I have no one to earn for.
Daughter: You will find a good husband and get married.
Dancer: Who will marry me? I am saving money for my old age. If I want to marry, I will have to go back to the village.
Daughter: Who is there?
Dancer: I have no family but the villagers are there. They will respect me if I go back as a rich woman.
Daughter: Why do you go with the customers? Isn’t dance money enough for you?
Dancer: I want to earn as much as I can while the sun is shining and I am young.
Daughter: I want to complete my education and get some other job. I want to buy a house of my own.
Dancer: It is easy for you because you are educated.
(The boss calls the girls in to the back room. He gives them instructions about their Friday dances.)
Customer: I want that girl, the college girl.
The Boss: She is not that type.
Customer: I can pay any amount.
The Boss: Money can’t buy her. She performs only two dances in two hours and that is all. Her tips and salary can meet her demands. She does not want more.
Customer: I want to talk to her.
The Boss: It is not possible inside the bar. We have our rules. If a girl is ready, we can contact her, but if she is not ready, we don’t force her.
Customer: At what time does she leave the bar?
The Boss: Today at 6:00 pm.
(Customer orders drinks and occupies a seat near the stage. Daughter is dancing on the stage. She looks in the same way at all the customers present there. No one is special to her. Customer gets up and extends a note of one hundred rupees towards her. She gives him a smile and pulls the note out of his hand. Customer returns to his seat and begins to enjoy his drinks with the dance.)
Chapter 9
(The Souls are waiting for the doctor. In the first week of every month, a doctor is brought their by a lady who works for an NGO.)
Doctor: Have you been taking your medicine regularly?
4th Soul: Yes, doctor, but there are some black spots at that place.
Doctor: I will talk to her and tell her not to send you to the customers.
4th Soul: She won’t agree and then she will tell the Master to beat me.
Doctor: I will talk to someone.
4th Soul: I don’t want to do it anymore.
Doctor: Do you want to go out?
4th Soul: Yes, doctor.
Doctor: All right, don’t tell anyone about it. I will make arrangements.
(After the departure of the doctor and the lady from the NGO, Supreme Soul calls 4th Soul into a cabin. That cabin is the last in the row, specially made for Supreme Soul and Master.)
Supreme Soul: So you want to leave?
4th Soul (shocked and trembling): No, madam.
Supreme Soul (slapping her on face): Bloody bitch! I have paid fifty thousand for you and you want to run away.
(4th Soul is trembling with fear; she begins to weep but lacks courage to cry loudly. She knows that Master is looking at her and she knows that he will beat her like an animal. She will be kept in solitary confinement for three days, without food and water….)
2nd Soul (whispering in 1st Soul’s ear): She should not have talked with the doctor.
1st Soul: All are together in it. We can’t believe anybody here.
2nd Soul: The lady from the NGO gets her share too. Last time when they sent us to the police officers to spend night, an officer told me about it.
1st Soul: It was my mistake!
2nd Soul: I should have listened to my parents. My father used to give me everything I demanded.
1st Soul: You were lucky that you had parents. For me it was the same in my uncle’s house. Uncle’s friends and other men did the same to me there and now customers do the same. Yes, I was free there but I was doing the same thing over and again, sleeping with different men.
2nd Soul: Did your uncle do it with you?
1st Soul: No, he is a drunkard. He would give me away for a bottle of whiskey or rum. He had many army men known to him. He would invite them to his house and make me sit with them.
2nd Soul: I did not know that Raman would do this to me. He was very kind to me when we were there. We were living as husband and wife but when he brought me here, I did not know that he was going to sell me.
1st Soul: I think you should take a good customer of yours in your confidence. Do you have your parents’ phone number with you?
2nd Soul: I have already thought about it but then I think it will bring bad name to my parents when people will know that I was rescued from a brothel.
1st Soul: Nothing will happen; people will forget everything with the time. You must try to call your parents.
2nd Soul: I saw dark blue marks on her body this morning. They beat her severely. I don’t want to be beaten like her.
(The light is switched off. It is past midnight and most of the customers are in the cabins, some with their night customers and some alone. Supreme Soul has already counted her day’s earnings and kept the bundles of notes safely in her cupboard. Master is lying next to her in her large bed. He is drunk, almost unconscious.)
Chapter 10: Act III
Scene I
Daughter: How much will it cost doctor?
The Heart Specialist: Bypass surgery will cost about half a million and medicines and other things about two hundred thousand.
Daughter (feeling almost giddy): I will arrange the money. How much time do we have?
The Heart Specialist: The operation must be performed within six months.
Daughter: I will come back. I will meet you after the arrangement of money.
(While walking towards her room, Daughter’s legs are not supporting her. Every step seems to be laden with millions of tons of sorrows. Having reached her room, she looks at her mother on the bed. She is sound asleep. Daughter keeps her bag on the table and takes a sip of the water from the tumbler kept on the table. She knows what she is going to do. She has to save her mother.)
Daughter: How much will he pay, that man you were talking about?
The Boss (with a glitter of shine on his face): Twenty five thousand.
Daughter: One hundred thousand for one week plus other expenses for food and all.
The Boss: I will talk to him. But, why did you change your mind?
Daughter: You will not understand. You should try to make your customers happy.
(The Boss is quite confounded because had it been for any other girl in the bar, he would not have said anything, but this girl was different. He decided to talk to her.)
The Boss: I know you are hiding something from me.
Daughter: There is nothing to hide. I will sleep with him if he pays the said amount.
The Boss: I am not talking about that. Why do you need so much money?
Daughter: Everyone needs money, don’t they? I am young, I am beautiful, and I can make people happy if they are ready to pay for it.
The Boss (a little hurt): You know, you are different and that is why I never compelled you to do anything which you did not like.
Daughter: You are my boss, aren’t you?
The Boss: Yes, I am but I am a young man, and I can understand a little about your situation.
Daughter: There are certain things which can’t be shared.
The Boss: Not even with me, if I speak to you like a friend, and not like your Boss?
Daughter: I did not know you could be a friend to someone. Everything is business for you, isn’t it?
The Boss: You are wrong, I have a heart too.
Daughter: My mother is very sick, I mean, really sick, on her deathbed. I need money for her operation.
The Boss: I can lend you one hundred thousand if you don’t want to do what you have decided to.
Daughter: It is going to be a beginning. I need much more than that.
The Boss: How much?
Daughter: About a million.
The Boss (with seriousness): Give me some time to think about it.
Daughter: Am I worth one million, Boss?
The Boss (thinking seriously for a while): Much more than that. You will not dance from tomorrow. You will control the cash counter.
(The Boss pulls his cheque book from his drawer and begins to write a check. He fills the amount Rs. 1000000/- and gives it to Daughter.)
Daughter (speechless): Bo…s…s! I can’t take this.
The Boss: You can pay me back in a few years. I will keep on deducting a certain amount from your salary every month. Second thing, my younger brother is in High School and he is very week at English. You are appointed as his new tutor. You will be paid extra for your services as a teacher.
Daughter (bending down at his feet): I had heard about angels but today I have seen one!
The Boss (touching her shoulders): No, don’t make me one. I am happy as a human. You need money for a good cause and I have extra to lend you.
Chapter 11
First Villager: I am sure that she has eloped with that boy from the city.
Second Villager: In six months he visited our village four times.
Third Villager: He used to bring gifts for her parents.
Father: He was a nice boy; he can’t do this to us.
Second Villager: Your daughter was seen with him many times near the temple.
First Villager: Even her friends know that something was going on between them.
Third Villager: He must have taken her to the city.
First Villager: If he marries her, it is all right; otherwise you know what they do to young girls in towns…
Father: Please don’t speak like that. My daughter is not like that.
Second Villager: Your daughter is not like that but people in town are not like us. They are shrewd and they sell our girls.
Father: I have his town address with me. I will go to the town.
First Villager: It is no use. You will not find him there.
Father: Her mother has been weeping for three days. What should I tell her?
Third Villager: Daughters come with their own destinies and they don’t always remain with their parents.
Father: I should have thought about it earlier and married her to a boy from our village.
(The villagers sympathize with the father. The father is helpless, almost resigned. The poor soul does not know what to do. The most he can do is to give her photo to the nearest police station but he knows that it is not going to help.)
Chapter 12
Scene III
First Young Man: How many men visit you?
2nd Soul: Two or three in a day.
First Young Man: Don’t you find it disgusting?
2nd Soul: I am helpless. If I don’t do it, they will beat me and I will starve.
First Young Man: You were talking about your parents?
2nd Soul: Yes, I have my father, mother, a brother, and a little sister.
First Young Man: Have you tried to contact them?
2nd Soul: I can’t. They won’t let us go out. Here we can’t believe anyone.
First Young Man: If you say, I can try to talk with an NGO.
2nd Soul: Please don’t! They are all in it together. They will harm you. I don’t want that.
First Young Man: I have visited you seven times but I have never touched you. Do you know why?
2nd Soul: I think I have some idea…
First Young Man: I know you don’t belong here.
2nd Soul: But I am here.
First Young Man: And I want to take you away from this place.
2nd Soul: Where?
First Young Man: Somewhere very far from this stinking dungeon.
2nd Soul: You are a nice young man and I respect your feelings but I don’t want to drag you with me.
First Young Man: How will you drag me in with you?
2nd Soul: If they overhear our conversation, their musclemen will beat you and put me in solitary confinement.
First Young Man: Do you have your parents’ phone number?
2nd Soul: 9841740394 country codes will be needed.
First Young Man: I will take care of all that.
(2nd Soul has tears in her eyes as she sees First Young Man go out of the cabin.)
Chapter 13
Scene IV
Man: Hello!
Caller: I am speaking about your daughter.
Man: Yes…yes…where is she?
Caller: I know where she is. Please listen to me carefully.
Man: Please tell me quickly. Is she all right? Is she safe?
Caller: Yes, she is safe and sound but she is at a very bad place.
Man: I will come there, please give me the address.
Caller: No, it will take some time. She will have to be rescued from there.
Man: Please speak frankly where is she?
Caller: In a dirty place.
Man: Won’t they allow her to come with me?
Caller: No, if they know, they will hide her.
Man: Tell me what I should do.
Caller: I wanted to inform you that she is safe. I will do everything and bring your daughter to you.
Man: Who are you?
Caller: Just a human being.
Man: You are a God to me. Is this your mobile number?
Caller: Yes, you can save it. You can call me when you want to.
Man: Thank you very much.
Caller: Please don’t talk with anyone about it. I will call you in a day or two. Oh, your daughter misses your chocolates.
Man (tears in his eyes): I will buy tons of chocolates for her.
(The phone is disconnected but Man’s eyes are shining with a new light of hope. He rushes towards the kitchen.)
Man: She will be back soon!
Woman: How do you know?
Man: An angel called me today. He has met her.
Woman: Let’s go there and bring her.
Man: It is not so easy.
Woman: Why?
Man: You won’t understand.
(The boy enters the room and finding no one there turns towards the kitchen.)
Man: You can go to Bangalore, Chora!
Boy: Really, papa?
Man: Yes and your sister will be back in a few days!
Boy: Where is she? Is she all right?
Man: Yes, she is all right.
(The environment has suddenly changed in the house. One phone call has brought this wonderful change.)
Chapter 14: Epilogue
I don’t think I would try to end this play in a particular way, for I believe that problem plays do need implied ending. There might be hundreds of question rising in the minds of the audiences: Will 2nd Soul be rescued? Will the girl be rescued from the clutches of Agent? Will the Boss marry Daughter? Will Daughter’s mother survive? What is going to be the future of the other Souls there? What will happen to First Young Man? Will the people in the neighbourhood know about 2nd Soul’s rescue from a brothel in India? Will Agent be punished? Will Supreme Soul and Master continue to exploit new Souls? Will Dancer find a husband for her, or will she become a rich woman? There are so many possibilities but any adventure in this direction to provide a definite ending to the play will mar the whole.
I know it would be quite comforting to see 2nd Soul with her parents again and there is no doubt that most of the audiences and readers will agree with me, but I feel that it would be injustice to thousands of Souls who are compelled to live under the circumstances which are not only adverse but also inhuman.
Getting Agent arrested and punished for his crime would definitely bring the consent of almost all the readers and audiences but it would not be enough to justify myself as a writer who writes for the sake of writing and not with a view to giving solutions to the problems as presented.
The marriage of Daughter and the Boss can undoubtedly work like an icing on the cake but it would kill the realism of the entire. Where do we generally find the bosses like the Boss? Thousands of women die untimely because their near and dear ones can’t afford the expensive treatment. Now, would it be justifiable if I bring this particular Mother, Daughter’s ma, back from the clutches of imminent death?
The Souls will continue to exist without souls in every age, and, in fact, they have been for hundreds of years. How can 2nd Soul’s rescue change their fate? Is my writing going to be a precedent? No way! It is like saying ‘I am the Creator and I am the Destroyer’. I am a writer and my characters live with me and they must die when I want them to. They must follow my commands.
Supreme Soul and Master can be punished in this particular incident but it won’t change the fact that they will be reincarnated over and again. Every individual is responsible to some extent, every system is culprit, and every society is blemished, for we see it happening around us but we remain mere spectators. Ironically, I can only tell you to remain readers, not reformers. Such is the life and these are the problems of the time we live in!
Chapter 15: Glossary
Bhagvaan-God
Chora-Son
Chori-Daughter
Chutki-Little Girl
Didi-Elder Sister
Hamam-Shower Room
Harami-Bastard
Ho-Yes
Holi-A Festival of Colours
Jalebi-A Traditional Sweet
Kotha-Brothel
Madam-Controller of a Brothel
Mama-Policeman
Master-Muscleman
Paan-Betel leaves combined with areca nuts, chewed as a palate cleanser, breath freshener or stimulant
Piece-Young Virgin Girl
Soul-Prostitute
Sotto Voce- In an Undertone
Supreme Soul-The Woman in Charge of a Brothel