Oppressi Meam

It was  late afternoon in Rang Mahal  , after a long period of sleep she woke up .  However , she wasn't subjected to be ridiculed or beatings, not that day as the manager ( Lakshmi Tai ) was out for some urgent work . Rani was an 18 year old girl  ,who had seen quite a lot in life at this early age . To put it into words , separation from family at an early age , subsequent child labour and then trafficked and sold into the brothels of Delhi . All this she witnessed at the age of 18.

She woke up to the sound of her table clock which surrounded the entire room which was not bigger than 18×15 feet . She was  terrified looking at the clock which displayed , 2:15 P.M. she jumped out of the bed and rushed out to the balcony , washed her face and started to prepare for the evening ahead. She was a subject of gossip and intriguing looks amongst the other ladies of the brothel . As she went back to her room , multitudes of questions rose like a slow tide in her mind  

“ What is it , that these women look in me” ? “ Do  I look like some sort of alien , to them ? .” “ For how long will I survive in such  a hostile place? ”.

Rani was a girl of dark complexion , yet she had a radiant glow on her face  that was typical to a girl in her early adulthood. Rani had vivid memories of her past life . At the age of 16 , she was working in a beedi factory from where she was  kidnapped by a local group of criminals who sold her to a merchant in Hyderabad , who later sold her to the brothel administrators in Delhi . She was trafficked from Andhra Pradesh , a resident of Chittoor district she was a complete alien to this city upon her arrival four months ago . At first she had tried running away from the brothel  but was unsuccessful , when they brought her back the administrators of the brothel who had political support tortured her with an iron rod , leaving her back scarred and wounded .

The wound had healed by now , leaving no pain but a lesson that from such a place no one can ever run away. Four months had passed and now she somehow had  learnt to accept her fate and the way of life .

Being a fast learner she gradually acquired rudimentary knowledge of Hindi which eased her way into the life of a young prostitute .  

Her everyday life was a monotonous pattern which kick-started  in the evening on the balconies of the Rang Mahal , trying to lure customers . And then subsequently indulging in a sensual act which was in  no manner less than a trade of money for pleasure . All the women in this work were accustomed to this pattern and had submitted themselves to it .

That day , with  Lakshmi Tai being on leave , she had the opportunity of flexing her schedule a bit . She changed her clothes and got  out of her

room and walked towards the corridor of the building.  She sat down on a big slab attached to which was a big rectangular window. The railings of the window , resembled the shape of a prison cell . “Is this place any  less than a prison ” , she thought. She held on to those railings for quite a long while and stared outside , she saw kids flying kites in the sky and jumping around happy and content in their little worlds . She saw girls returning from schools  walking and running on the roads in their groups with a smile and a happy face that could last a lifetime.

She suddenly felt an intense desire to free herself and live a life that could be relished and celebrated. But her sad reality and her position made it impossible even to dream of such a  life.

“Enough , I have to find a solution to this ”!  she thought and went back to her room . She lied down on her bed and felt exhausted of everything .

“I cannot run away , these people are too powerful ,   neither will anyone come for my help” , the thought of living a miserable and shameful life of a sex worker crushed her completely and tears came running down her eyes. She spent the whole evening locked in her room distraught and depressed at her condition .

The life at the Rang Mahal continued in it's full vigour over the months . Rani was somewhat lost in the crowd , lost amongst these traders. She despised and hated her being . Beatings at the hands of Lakshmi Tai were happening on a regular basis . Over the days she became an outlaw at the Rang Mahal  and was a constant headache for the administration. The beatings had become a new normal every night , she was whipped by the drunk goons who were called by Lakshmi Tai in order to pour ‘some sense into the demonic girl. ’

One night while  she was still awake , her wounds still fresh which made it impossible for her to even lay down on her bed. She walked out of the room and silently dragged herself up  the staircase and reached the rooftop . She looked up at the boundless sky and smiled . “No more of this pain and misery , you'll soon be free Rani ” , she shouted and reached the boundaries of the rooftop . She looked down at the road which resembled a look of a  ghostly town . She once again looked up at the sky and took a deep breath , with a smiling face she jumped from the rooftop of Rang Mahal . She went head first into the concrete road with blood gushing out from her face , for a moment she sighed for air and then died instantly.  Some dogs upon hearing the sound of her crash started barking . Her body was spotted early morning by one of the goons , who panicked over the incident . They decided to chop her body into pieces and bury her in the backyard of a closed factory nearby.

She was gone , far away from the shackles of Rang Mahal , far away from those leather strapped  whips   , to a place where she was free from the misery  that had crushed her soul and spirit.