Sunday, December 16, 2007

Chapter 7

She was shocked to hear this but she wasn't the kind of person who would pass judgments and she was quite liberal in her views , but all said and done this was the first time she had ever met a prostitute. In her village such a woman would live at the far end of the street and drunken men from her village would go there at night, she always wanted to go to that end of the street as a child but children were beaten if they ever ventured to that side. Her mother used to tell her that evil witches lived there who would kidnap her and turn her and eat her and this did scare her in a way and she never did venture to that part of the street.
Isha looked into her eyes and said "I know its a shock for you , You can leave if you wish to i can arrange for a nice Guest house for you..." , she looked at her and said "Hey! so what ? Its not like you are an evil witch or something" and she giggled . Isha did not get the connection yet she smiled at her and asked her if she wanted some more tea.
She was happy with Isha and she started thinking of her as her sister. She always wanted an elder sister but all she had was an elder brother who had run away to some town when she was very young and never came back.
Next morning she got up and saw her new found sister sleeping all cuddled up with a pillow and looked like a little baby sleeping. She was an early riser and it was only six o'clock in the morning. She went to her bathroom and took a bath and changed into a nice clean pair of jeans and tees. She went into the kitchen and saw that the whole kitchen was messed up and dirty.
She found and old broom and some dusters and soap and she scrubbed and cleaned the entire kitchen in half an hour or so and did the utensils. Her mother had taught her never to work in a dirty kitchen and she somehow never could work in one , she took out a cooker and made aloo bhaji and puris .
She made some tea for her and Isha , she loved ginger tea early in the morning and drank three cups while cooking as it felt so nice. Delhi wasn't that cold , it would've been much colder in her village , though she could feel the little cold which was in the air but she wore a tee shirt as she knew the sun would come out any moment and it would be hot again.
There was knock on the door and she went at the door , a little apprehensive at first but then she opened it and , it was the milkman who gave her a polypack and ran away, she found the newspaper near a moneyplant and she brought it in and locked the door.
She sat down and read the newspaper and Isha woke up around nine o'clock and looked at her and said "You up! when did you wake up?" ,she smiled at her and said "I get up at six everyday".
Isha laughed loudly and went into the kitchen and called her into the kitchen "Oye!! madame what happened to my kitchen??", she ran in and looked at her and said in small hissing tone "I..I..Cleaned it", Isha looked at her angrily and said "tuje meri mama ne to nai bheja na?" and she started laughing , Isha hugged her and said "Its okay with me you can clean my whole house I wont mind , just don't throw me out with the garbage" She said "why would I throw a piece like you out!!"
She asked her to wash up as she had already made the breakfast.Isha smiled at her and went to the bathroom and came out wearing a salwar-kameez which kinda made her look very traditional and sober. She looked at her and said "oh my god!! u look great!! ,I never thought you would wear something like that"Isha smiled at her and said "I like wearing this it reminds me of my village and plus I have a holiday today so I am home all day".
Isha has her breakfast and asked her what kind of a job was she looking for,"So tell me what have you done?" She said to her "I did my schooling in Kullu in a missionary school and thats it"
Isha went straight ahead and asked her "how dough do you need for your dad?" , she said to her in rather sad tone "I need 20K for his expenses plus another 10k for his medicines as his Mediclaim doesn't cover him anymore". Isha said to her straight ahead "Dekh! if you work in a call center you'll get around 10-15k , I know this guy who works in a big company he might stretch this amount to 20k but thats that, and plus this is a city you need to pay for everything from food to electricity everything costs her girl,you are more than welcome to stay here with me and I really want you to stay here but its like this I am not being rude with you but I" She stopped her and said"I know and I'll share the expenses with you" Isha said "expenses is not a problem , you can chip in with keeping the house clean and taking care of the kitchen , but still you can expect to loose at least 5grand at most if you plan to live in the city".
She knew Isha was being fair and was telling the truth and she balanced all the pros and cons fast and said "how much can I earn ...if I work with you?" Isha said "Honey I have sex for money and do you really wanna do that I mean have you ever slept with someone before? do you even know what you are talking about".
She looked her eye to eye and said "I have slept with my old boyfriend in Kullu a couple of times and I know you are concerned but there is no other way and plus its not like as if I am Sati-Savitiri, I could give it a try if don't like it I can quit , cant I?".
Isha knew what she was talking about and she could see the determination in her eyes and she said "Okay give it a try , I'll introduce you to Sweety and he might be able to help you, and don't worry I am there..." , she said to her again "how much can I earn?" , Isha smiled and said "Honey , I earn around 50k from and you can get a huge amount to if only you stick to the rules of the game, and the good thing here is that your first time will get you more money , so you can pay for your dad's expenses right away and also all money you get is cash and tax-free".

2 comments:

My Foot? said...

The dialogue between the two was very well written.. some writers make it very obvious that its a story and the conversation thrown in is so typical, but this was different...

keep writing

lol @ tax free, very smart thinking!

Florence R. said...

I need to become a prostitute.


I agree with Mani, the conversation was very typical of the situation. No reader's biases.