AND THE STORIES : (1) The Slut
[I worked in The Happiness Country, BHUTAN, for close to 3 decades. As a Language Teacher, not only did I teach students to write Short Stories but also penned innumerable such stories myself.
The present story was one of them. Unfortunately, only 99 people read it. So, I have changed the names of the original places like Bumthang became Dream Land here, just to see if publication on ZorbaBooks brings me closer to a greater readership. Wish me Luck.]
The Slut
I don’t remember who exactly introduced Dema to me. Must have been another beautiful colleague of mine. Dema was of average height, a bit rounded with the most amazingly kind face I’ve ever seen on anyone since then.
The same night, Amitda, a friend of ours, working in the U-Me Carpentry Workshop, invited Mr. Das, a senior teacher of the Aspiration High School and me to dinner. We spent the evening playing cards, chatting, having a rocking time on the whole. We’d dinner at around 11- rice and chicken curry, a mouth-watering meal in those days at a place like Dream Land. One of then made bed for Mr. Das in the room with the bukhari on, while I shared the other bed with Amitda. Amitda was the leader of the pack, beautiful, young and fun-loving.
While my eyes were heavy with sleep, the last I heard Amitda throwing at Das Da was:
“You know, Das Da, what happened last night? On my way back from the market at around 10 at night, I heard a foreigner knocking on the door. The door was cracked open a bit and there’s a bargain going on – Ten thousand was the rate agreed on finally!”
The staggering amount and the bitter tone of Amit Da describing the girl finally brought sleep, dear sleep to my drooling eyes.
The next evening as luck would have it, the same girl, Dema came to my place. I’s occupying the two rooms with the barest of furniture on the ground floor of the only three- storied house in that vicinity. She came sharp at 6 in the evening with her sister – another beauty and completely unlike Dema. Pem, for that was what her sister’s name was, was lanky, slim and in the black tight-fitting jeans and loose T-shirt, she looked just ravishing.
In the front plank-floored room, there’s the electric cooking heater on a small, rectangular piece of wood fixated on the wall. The room inside had a cot and the multi-purpose table facing the window on the east. We’d a very enjoyable evening together. Pem helped me roll the rotis, while Dema prepared the curry on the heater. Later, at around 8, we’d a simple dinner consisting of rotis, daal, fried potatoes and tin-fish. Both the sisters were the unassuming, uncomplaining type. No putting on airs or acts, simply some fun-time together. While I’s reaching them back to their place, Dema told me that we could have an early dinner mainly due to the heater. It was very handy. It had to be as it was a parting gift from one of my South Indian colleagues, Mr. Madhavan.
A couple of days later, Deki, oh, (I forgot to tell you anything about Deki, she was another striking Dream Land beauty working as a contract teacher in our school at that time and married to a wealthy businessman), joined me while I’s coming out of school. One reason of our close friendship was her impeccable English. She did her B.A. from St. Augustine in Darjeeling. I’s young then and held people highly if they communicated well.
I’s surprised when she made the purpose of her surprise visit to my bachelor’s den clear to me. Inspite of having a reputation of possessing the devil-may-care attitude to what the rest of the world felt about her, she was, after all, a married woman. She rejected my offer of tea with a dismissive movement of the hand and came to the point directly:
“Sir, I heard that that slut is hob-nobbing with you a lot these days. Be careful, hah? Stay away from her if you can, otherwise, she’ll ruin your career.”
I’s so taken aback by her direct remark that I didn’t know how to react, what to say to her. Once the message was conveyed, she took leave, telling me that she looked upon me as a good person and friend, and that’s why she took the trouble!
A couple of weeks later, after Deki’s visit to my place, Dema invited me to a party at her place on the main road away from the main town. It’s an experience of a lifetime for me and that was the first time when I realized how fast our country was embracing modernization. She stayed on the upper floor of the house, the whole ground floor of which was used for the production of the famous Dream Land mathra, a warm cloth made of wool.
I got there at 8. Dema looked stunning as usual. So was Deki along with two very handsome, smartly-clad boys in all blacks with their Korean-style hair and all. They made me feel very low of myself, though, in between the drinks and dancing, Dema played her part of a superb host to perfection. Time and again, she came and asked me if I’s feeling comfy or not. I left the party at around 11, pondering over Dema’s beauty and generosity.
A month later Dema sought me out near my place. She had bad news. Her company was shifting to the Distant Land. She’d be leaving soon. The day before she was to move, I paid her a surprise visit. She’s busy packing. When she unwrapped the parting gift I’d brought for her, she broke into a lovely smile. “Thank you. I shouldn’t have spoken of glowing terms about this heater last time…Means a lot to me.”
A few days after her departure, Leki, a common friend, dropped by. He’s carrying a book in his hand. He told me that Dema had left the book with him for me. It’s a book called “Prize” by Irving Wallace.
The book kept sleep away from my eyes for the next few nights. Written in the background of World War II, it tells, in a nutshell, the love story of a Noble Prize designate and a slut. The laureate in his hotel room, while drinking like one drinks water, had tears running down his cheeks in the early hours of the morning once the slut was done with her heart-wrenching narration of why she became one. The lechers in one of those Concentration Camps in Nazi Germany had left her with only option – either to offer herself or her 13 year-old divinely beautiful daughter! The mother in her couldn’t see the wolves devour the daughter.
The book is the best book I’ve ever read. The book made me respect Dema more. A girl who can tell a great book from a good one, may be despised, degraded, or quarantined by the society, but whatever it may be – her tale of sacrifice, courage would be a matter of envy for many.
The End
