SAKUNTALA
Sakuntala grew up in the idyllic village surrounded by hills in remote Arghakhanchi. She spent most of her childhood watching beautiful hills, swimming in rivers, fishing, listening to the chirping of birds, watching beautiful flowers and embracing the beauty of nature. She established an intimate relationship with nature at her childhood. Her benevolent nature towards all living species shows her deep respect towards nature.
She is now eighteen. She is the only daughter in her family to complete SLC, a matter of pride in the whole village. She dreams to become a teacher in future and wants to teach needy children.
She just returned home after grazing cattle. She has become precocious because of difficult circumstances she faces everyday. She is the eldest daughter in her family. She has two younger sisters and brothers. Her father sells milk for sustenance and her mother takes care of the house. Selling milk is barely enough for feeding seven mouths, her father laments. Sakuntala sits in the corner and listens to her father. She now understands the financial hardship her family is going through. In the top of that, her father has huge amount of loans which he borrowed for buying 2 cows and a goat, of which a cow died by a snake bite. Her father tried his best to save the cow but in vain. Her dream of pursuing higher education and becoming a teacher seems dim because of her parents’ financial circumstances. However, she is determinant to become a teacher in near future and bring about change in the society.
It’s 9:00 AM in the morning. Sakuntala, now 25 years old, is standing in front of a door in the ground floor of a 3 story building. She is wearing a white semi-transparent petticoat though which her red underwear can be easily seen. She is looking for a client who can have sex with her for only 50 Indian Rupees. She has become a forced prostitute in the Mumbai’s Kamathipura district, one of world’s largest sexual markets. Once liked to be surrounded by nature is now surrounded by people who wants enjoy her body just for the sake of pleasure. It’s been 7 tormenting years she is working as a forced sex slave. She no more resists the present situation and accepts her present reality as a prostitute in Mumbai. She has become weak. She has lost all her hopes. Once nature enthusiast has now become a mere machine for pleasure. She has become the victim of her own body.
“May you become an educated person,” an elderly person gave her blessing during Dashain. Sakuntala likes Dashain because all the blessings she gets from elderly people makes her implacable about pursuing her objectives in a society where women are not treated equally. She was in her uncle house in Butwal to celebrate Dashain. It was her first Dashain away from home and just after SLC result. She wanted to be away from the everyday lamentation of her father and her mother’s pressure for getting married. She is not among other girls who get married just by parent’s pressure. She has a dream.
It was Navaratri, ninth day of the auspicious Dashain, she met Pukar. As she was offering flowers to Goddess Durga in the nearby temple, she heard a voice from an approaching adult. She responded to the voice. It was Pukar’s voice asking for some flowers from her. She couldn’t reject the humble request of him in front of Goddess Durga, and gave him a handful of flowers. Pukar in turn said, “Thank you so much for your generosity.” She smiled looking at him and said, “Not a problem.”
Sakuntala is naïve village girl whose ambition is no more than to be a teacher and to teach needy children. She has long black hair, big beautiful eyes, attractive red lips, and a beautiful smile accompanied by a pair of dimple. The innocence is in her face which can be read easily. Her innocence, in fact, tells that she is unaware of the complexity of society and the cruel aspect of it.
For a village girl like her, Butwal was overwhelmingly big. For the first few weeks she was fascinated by the concrete buildings, micro buses, rickshaws, television with many channels, huge cinema halls, street vendors, and the everyday crowd in the street. She was not acclimated with that kind of environment. She felt lonely and wanted to be isolated from the bustling city environment. She started missing her family and her friends back home.
It was Pukar who helped her from being lonely. She started liking his company. She especially liked eating “fulki” (known as pani puri in Kathmandu) with him. Roaming in the streets of Butwal with him became more and more frequent. Every single day with Pukar was a new experience for her. He was a stimulus who created a sensation in her brain, and the sensation was making her feel good. She wanted it more. When she watched a Nepali movie at Milan Hall, her big beautiful eyes were wide open until the movie ended. She started liking Butwal. In fact, it was not Butwal she started liking; it was the people, especially Pukar. He changed her world. “Loneliness makes us fall in love.” This was exactly the case for Sakuntala.
Pukar, born and raised in Bhairahawa, often commutes to Butwal. Bhairahawa, just 22 km south of Butwal, is one of the major hubs to cross the Nepal-India border through Sunauli. Nepal-India border is unchecked and crossing it is not arduous. He is 24 years old, and a girl-trafficker who lures girls and sells them for money. Sakuntala is not aware of his hidden motives. In fact, she has made his job easy. When you love someone you become vulnerable. Her love for him is pure, but for him love is just a weapon for getting his job done. He does not have any value for human emotions and all he cares is money. For him, Sakuntala is just another fish ready to be sold. It is now just a matter of time to transfer the fish into a dirty pond where the fish will eventually suffocate to death.
It’s 9:00 AM in the morning, Sakuntala, now 25 years old, is standing in front of a door ……………….
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