Battle
for Survival.
By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando
Acahala seemed very impatient, worried, and breathless
inside the police cell. “ This is my
first night in a police cell in my whole life. I do not know what to expect,”
she muttered to herself in anguish while biting her fingernails.
“ What can you expect? You can expect only to lose all your today’s
earnings”. A swift reply, in response to Achala’s muttering came from the
young woman, who was with her in the same cell.
“ Have you been in a
police cell before”? Nervous Acahala
enquired from the young girl in the cell.
“ You look new to me…
Yes… on and off. I have been locked up like this till dawn, and they have
always released me. This is a game my dear; they too have to do their job no!
But in the meanwhile, they are trying to make a quick buck out of us, whenever
possible. It’s always the poor, like you and me dear, become victims to this
new game. Never you mind, but one thing I can tell you is, just forget about
all the money in your possession by tomorrow morning”.
“I am nervous”,
replied Achala.
Today, everything has
turned into a business, sister; do you think they really understand why we have
to degrade ourselves and get humiliated in this manner, by having to sell our
bodies to earn a few chips? No! I don’t
think so, sister, I don’t think they have an iota of what we have to go through
in life, and how disgusting this job is, to submit our body to all kinds of
male brutes, just to earn a few chips to feed a few hungry mouths at home. The
worst is that whatever we have earned out of this disgusting job we will, for
sure, have to go empty handed in the morning, as some of these enforcement
officers tend to misuse their power and grab every penny in your possession. I
am talking through my experience Akki, but you will be lucky if you do not get
even raped by some of these brutes also inside this safety net.” The young woman vented her frustration and anger.
In the meanwhile, a police constable walked towards their
cell, unlocked the door and said:
“ Look here, the big
boss wants to speak to you”, pointing to Acahala. She immediately came out of the cell, in an
apprehensive mood, and entered the Chief Inspector Kamalasena’s room. The CI
gave her a surprised look; the very moment Acahala entered her cubicle.
“ Sit down”
Achala sat down and hid her face by looking down at the
floor.
“What is your name”?
Achala she mumbled and pronounced her
“Achala who, what is
your full name?
“Achala Kamalasena” she answered without raising her head.
CI Kamalasena gave her a strange look
Achala’s thoughts flashed back instantly to the past.
* * *
Achala could vividly remember how she had been a smart
athlete as a schoolgirl and represented the national netball team once. On this
particular occasion, her memory went right back to a sports meet where she
became the junior champion, and Sub Inspector of Police in the local
constabulary participated as the chief guest to distribute prizes. When she
walked several times to receive many winning prizes from the chief guest, their
eyes met more than once, and she noticed a glint in his eyes!
Sub Inspector, Kamalasena, found Achala to be very
attractive. Her tall athletic and curvy frame gave a much more mature deceptive
look than her age, along with the white short pleated skirt exposing her well
toned calf and thigh muscles.
During the prize giving, perhaps unknowingly, their eyes
were trying to communicate with each other, but died instantly like a natural
death as a passing cloud on that day.
Later Achala was taken by surprise to learn from the school Principal
about her being chosen as an athlete to represent Sri Lanka by the Olympic
Committee. That afternoon, she rushed home with excitement to give the good
news to her mother.
“Amme, Amme!! I have a chance to travel abroad to
participate in Olympic games.
“ Where to my darling…
Which country to… Her mother sounded
highly excited but anxious as well.
“ Yes Amme, to China.
But I do not even have a good pair of tennis shoes, apart from having spikes!
Neither do I have any decent clothes to wear, so how can I go, Amme”? She sounded frustrated.
“Don’t you worry putha,
even I have to go without food for a week, I will buy you a pair of shoes and
some new clothes. I am so proud of you darling. I will also make a vow to Lord Katharagma,
to shower you with his blessings. Come… Come……let’s go to the town and shops”.
On their way to the town centre, a police jeep came to a
stop with a screeching sound of braking noise right in front of them. S. I.
Kamalasena, on his usual rounds, had spotted the mother and the daughter. He
gave them a charming smile.
“ Where are you two
heading for, mother and daughter, you seem to be in a rush”.
“ Going to the town
centre, sir, to buy some clothes for my daughter, Achala”.
Achala gave a shy smile and Kamalasena quipped.
“ I can’t clearly
remember your name, but remember you as an athlete with a future”.
“ I am Achala” she
replied humbly.
“ A ..C.. H.. A.. L..
A.., that sounds a pretty meaningful name. It means unwavering type, isn’t
that so? Are
you going to be married
Achala that you go shopping to buy some clothes suddenly”?
“ Aiyo no Sir, she is
just a little baby no, what marriages for her. But she has to go with the
Olympic team to China as a competitor to represent Sri Lanka.” Her mother answered on Achala’s behalf.
“ Congratulations! I
am pretty certain that you will bring back a gold medal and glory to our
country Achala. When do you have to leave Sri Lanka, perhaps, I could drop in
sometime time leisurely at your place before you leave.”
A few days later the police jeep arrived at Achala’s home, and she ran and hid in the kitchen.
“ Amme, Anna police
sir is coming to our house this time” she exclaimed.
“Oh my God! Let me go and see what the matter is.”
“Ah Sir, what brought
you this way”/
“ No, nothing special
about it, but I was passing through this way, and thought of just dropping in
and say hello to the mother and daughter”.
Kamalasena attempted to put them at ease. Achala, in the meantime, was
peeping through a tiny gap between the kitchen doors, while her mother spoke
with the police officer.
The first visit was followed by the second, until it became
habitual. One find day Kamalasena broke the ice and wanted to speak with
Achala’s mother on a one –to-one basis. .
“ Amme, I have been
pondering over this for some time and waited for a suitable opportunity to have
a chat with you on a personal matter”.
“ What is it about Sir”,
we have not done anything wrong?
“ No.. no such thing,
but if I may come to the point straight Amme, I would like to marry Achala and
make her my wife”.
“ Ane Budu Mahattoyo!
What will your parents say to such an idea? We are very poor people Sir, and I
do not think your parents will ever approve of such a marriage. Please do not
misunderstand me Sir”, lamented the old lady.
After much persuasion and procrastination Achala’s mother
gave her consent to Kamalasena to marry Achala, but indeed, it became an
arduous uphill task for the sub-inspector of police to convince his parents. At
the end, however, on his own accord, he decided and got married to Achala
privately at a Registry Office, with Rohan as the Best man. He was obviously
ostracized by his family.
For nearly two years, Kamalasena and Achala enjoyed the
matrimonial bliss and lived happily, minding their own business, until their
neighbours and some of the relatives became inquisitive and gossip mongering. One
fine day Achala’s mother approached the daughter to surprise her with an
unwelcome enquiry by wanting to know whether there was any problem that she had
not conceived for nearly two years!
“People are beginning to be inquisitive and may come to the
conclusion that you are infertile, child”!
Achala and Kamalasena, at first began to worry, and then
treated it as a social menace peculiar to Sri Lankan society! Yet it certainly
managed to disturb Achala’s mind at times to a certain degree. So, she decided
to discuss this matter with her husband.
“Kamal, I can’t tolerate
this kind of nonsense any longer, it is rather embarrassing and annoying too.
Can we, perhaps, consult a specialist gynecologist and check to see whether any
thing is wrong with either of us?
“OK! OK” if you insist, I shall ask Rohan to take
us to one of his good gynecologist friends. Being himself a physician, he has
many good contacts in the medical field”.
After the medical consultation Rohan became closer to Kamalasena’s
where socializing formed a part of their weekend routine. With Kamalasena’s
promotion as Chief Inspector, he completely forgot about informing Achala about
what was mentioned in the medical report. When Kamalasena’s responsibilities
expanded, both of them thought it as a blessing to have a good and reliable friend
like Rohan, at hand, in times of need.
On a Poya day, since Kamalasena was ‘on call’, Achala
decided to take her mother to the local temple. When she informed her husband
about it, Kamalasena obliged without any hesitation. Minutes later, Achala clad
in a white sari, and Kamalasena in an immaculate white tunic, started their
journey early in the morning to go pick up her mother and to avoid traffic congestion on the
roads,.
Seated in the front seat of the police jeep, she was
preparing her mind the best way to disclose some good news on this Poya
morning. So, when the vehicle was passing through a lonely patch of the road,
she decided to break the news.
“Kamal….”
“ Yes, my beloved….”
“ I have some good
news to give you”.
“ What sort of good news love”?
“Kamal…. You are going
to be a father soon”!
She expected Kamalasena to greet the news with gladness, but
instead, he jammed the brakes hard, and the jeep came to an abrupt halt, with a
loud screech.
“ You are a dirty
bitch Achala! Whose bastard are you carrying in your stomach”? Kamalasena bombarded her with a shell.
“ Don’t be silly
Kamal, what are you talking about, on this Poya day especially. Why do you want
to be so irrational”?
“Am I being irrational?
My foot! You are a bloody whore Achala,
if you ask me. I can tell you that right her to your face, do you know that”?
Kamalasena was shivering with anger.
Achala started sobbing and pleaded with her husband to have
some trust on her.
“Oh my God, Kamal, who
has poisoned your mind to this extent. Believe me, darling; it is your own
child and not anyone else’s I am carrying. How can you come out with such a
sinful statement on a Poya day of all”?
“Achala, please do not
make me mad any more. You know that I always carry a revolver with me, and if
you utter one more word about it, I am going to blow your stupid brains out.
You imprudent promiscuous woman.”
Achala started sobbing, not knowing what to do, when quite
unexpectedly her husband behaved in such a boisterous manner and before chucking her out of the jeep and going away
like a rocket, he had to say this to
Achala.
“ I will
tell you something to you now, and right here Achala. Can you remember you made
such a fuss to consult a specialist
gynecologist, and later our friend Rohan
took us to him? Yes, I got the full medical report, but I did not want to upset
you by saying what was indicated there that I will never be able to father a
child. You did not know that did you, before going and sleeping with others”?
·
*
The Chief
Inspector Kamalasena, still kept looking pathetically at Achala, while she was
in a dream world of the past, and seated in front of him, in his office and
speechless. Tears started to roll down her cheeks. Finally, composing herself,
she raised her head and looked sharp into his eyes, for the first time after
years, and tried to explain.
“ Sir, that day, after you threw me out of the police jeep
on to the road, and drove away in a rage, and divorced me, I became helpless
and desperate sir. My poor mother also died of a sudden heart attack not being
able to bear the shock of it. Then our good friend, Rohan, the only support I
had, also left for England to take up a post in a London Hospital Sir”. All
that placed my poor son and myself in a sorry and desolate situation, Sir,
please have mercy on me.
I am not selling my body for the pleasure of it Sir, but I
sincerely hope, you will understand that my child and I too have a right to
survive in this world, no, Sir. I know it is a crime Sir, but what else is left
there, for poor and desperate women like me in this world? Please try to understand my helpless
situation sir, I beg of you”.
IP Kamalasena
became tongue-tied. It appeared that he
too was overcome with emotion. Immediately, he pressed a bell and summoned a police constable
to his office room, and issued an order.
“ Ananda, please
take this woman out from my office, and release her without any charges and let
her go free”.
tilakfernando@gmail.com
Sri Express - 2013
Sri Express - 2013