Four girls were standing with their head bowed, on the veranda, in front of a room of a housemother, Sabitry Basnyat. All four girls were confused and frightened wondering, why they were there standing in front of her.
The housemother, was a tall and heavy woman, she was about 5’6” tall but almost 80 kg and when you have seen her in mid 80s, it would not have been usual sight like today. So to the teen girls, who were studying in grade eighth or ninth; she, sure were very intimidating and over towering to those around her. Especially to girls.
Then, she broke her silence, clearing the confusion from the girls and other girls watching them from safe distance by asking the four girls “do you go to school to study or be fashionable ?”
Still bowed head, one barely audible voice came from a girl “to study.”
“What !” she raised her voice, seemingly angry, that the answer coming from the girls. It was regarded as a disrespectful manner to answer back your seniors and they were the girls from an orphanage. They were not supposed to answer back at least not so quickly.
There was a long silence and the girls were very nervous with the thought, what she was going to do to them and for what ? As she was very abusive and never hesitated to bang or smack girls for the drop of the hat.
She was holding a long and big thick stick. It was her idea, to tame children in that orphanage. Like others, she also thought its, the only way, they can be tamed. Girls knew she hated answer back and yet she was repeating the same question “why do you go to school, to study or to be more fashionable ?”
Rita Manandhar, mumbled amid fear “… to study dijju.” The housemother, was on the side of Narayani Sigdel, so she smacked hard on her right side with “what” on her mouth. presuming, she is the one, who had answered back.
“Aaiya !” Narayani cried in pain and they could hear the sound of Auh ! from the girls watching from the distance.
“Why do you go to school ? what do you think, why you girls were sent to school; to be fashionable ?” she raised her voice in anger. She poked the each girls, with the tip of the stick in search of an answer.
All the girls remained silent, which tested her patience limit, then with frustration of not getting an answer, she smacked all the girls one by one with two slap sticks each. Rita and Narayani started crying but Shova Acharya and Babita Rokaya tolerated the sharp pain.
Then, she changed her question, “how much money you paid for the cut and who gave you money ?” This is one of the main reason, which has angered her to the max.
“We did not pay for the cut and it is a free cut.” Narayani summed up the guts to answer even at a cost of a sharp smack of the thick stick.
The lovely hair cut, was sure a free of cost cut from- government run Skill Development Program, which was on the way to these girls school. Students of the institute loved to see these girls, who gave them opportunity to work on their hair.
“Who gives you this good hair cut at a free of cost ?” “are they your relatives ?” she asked back with a loud shout. It seemed that, she had made her mind she was not going to believe them, even though, they were telling her truth. No body can help those people, who already had a preconceived notion about the truth. But then, with that answer, she was even more angry and then she smacked them, with more force this time. “Aaieya ! Aaieyayay !” she let out a sharp cry in pain and then sat down on the floor.
Every time there were a smack of a stick, the sound of Auh ! from the girls watching from the distance could also be heard.
Rita, slowly raised her eyes from the floor to look at Babita and Shova, still her head bowed. Their eyes met at one point and then it followed back to where Narayani, had fell down on the ground. She had peed on the floor. Then all the girls eyes met again and then they looked down at the floor.
Shova and Babita remained silent, even with all red scars on their hands and legs. Because they had tolerated so much pains, so now their face also had became so red and still they looked straight ahead, instead on the ground now, and ignored the piercing questions coming from the housemother.
Now, she was sure, she was not going to get any answers from these girls; So, she gave them the ultimatum; “if, I see you girls flaunting this kind of hairstyle next time, you girls are going to find yourselves in hospital, now, you go !”
How much she meant that threat, only she knows.
Her smack, was far less painful, than the hairstyle; which we used to get from the man the orphanage authority selected, always a man, from Medhesh area, who did the work not for fun but as a living and when he used to come to give us the cut, he did not have to worry about getting work in his saloon for a whole week.
Later that evening, most of the big girls - age range from fourteen to seventeen, were trying to find out some answers, whats wrong with the good haircut ? Just because they lived in an orphanage, does this meant they should not even have better haircut; even at free of cost ? what the housemother or any of the authority of the orphanage has to loose or will it harm girls in any way ? Does ugly haircut is associated with better brain or more responsible behaviour ?
They could not find any answer then. So, in future, they were more careful hiding the haircut, than to think of going to school with that horrible looking cut, which they used to get from the barber.
Girls, go through all kinds of pains and troubles to stay in tune with the pace of time. No pain, is too much for them to bear. Oh ! how we wished, that tall and heavy housemother and other authorities of the orphanage, had this much conscience.
No comments:
Post a Comment