Juveria Tabassum
The students of
Klemine High decided to perform a play that was centered on a controversial
subject. The play dealt with the issue of child labor, and was about a hard
working, homely little girl, whose family was assaulted by her employer.
The story was
considered inappropriate for the students of tenth grade to present. The
teachers felt scandalized by the thought of a packed audience witnessing such
outrageous behavior. However, Sam, the creator of the play, knew that some
stories just needed to be told.
For her, and her
bunch of friends, this tale mattered more than just a few outraged spectators.
Quite a few days were spent by these determined tenth graders in convincing
their teachers to come on board. Between all the arguments, pleas and
compromises put forward, Sam hadn’t yet divulged the truth. That would need
courage of a rare kind, and she had yet to discover that within herself.
The green signal
was eventually won, and the students started their preparations. The casting of
the little girl Nina was a tough job. In the end, it was quite a surprise when
Laila was selected for the role. The boisterous, sometimes broody Laila was
quite a contradiction to the subdued, sincere, mellow Nina. Their teacher Ms.
Asha’s, however, pulled Laila aside, and convinced her to try and portray
Nina’s character of an illiterate servant girl, on stage. Sam played Nina’s
best friend Bani, who was the local politician, Mr. Bulend’s daughter.
It was the bond
between these two characters that had appealed to Ms. Asha the most. She had
been instrumental in convincing the rest of the staff to give the go ahead for
Sam’s play.
Nina’s
straightforward innocence complemented Bani’s outgoing nature. Although Nina
and her family worked at Bani’s house, the two girls had always drawn towards
each other. They saw each other’s life through their eyes, and couldn’t help
but marvel at the pomp and the poverty coexisting together.
When they lay
side by side by the verandah, and watched the clouds scribble stories on the
sky, they talked, and they forgot about Bani’s big bedroom, which she said
could fit Nina’s entire family’s little shack inside it, and still leave room
for her big doll house. This always made Nina giggle because she pictured her
shack next to Bani’s doll house, and her eyes always stuck at both of their
chimney stacks- the same rusty gray color. “Ironic,” said Bani, and smiled when
Nina asked her what that meant.
One day, they
were called out from their verandah side storytelling by a scream from within
the house. They rushed inside to find Nina’s mother Shaila sat on the floor,
weeping, while Mr. Bulend stood over her, his hand raised. The ruckus had also
brought Nina’s father, Balu, into the house. Despite the incredible scene, and
the hysterical screams from the girls, his eyes just found his wife’s, and
thousand words seemed to pour out from Shaila’s helpless ones into Balu’s
dumbstruck brown ones. The only words that passed between them were Balu’s cry
of, “Why didn’t you tell me?!” and Shaila’s silent tears that hit the floor as
she looked down. Sarika, who played Shaila, and Manu, who played Balu, had to
be specifically, explained what this scene was, and Ms. Asha took the
responsibility of easing then into these difficult roles. She knew life
wouldn’t be the same again for these kids, but she also knew that facing such
realities was simply a part of the growing up that they all had to do.
After Balu had
dragged Shaila and Nina into their small shack, and Mr. Bulend had shut himself
in his room, Bani went back to her room, turned her face towards her window,
and tried to let the clouds tell her their bedtime story. Eventually, she did
drift away into a deep sleep. When she woke up, the sun was bright in her eyes,
and there was not a cloud in sight. She left her house to find Nina, and, on the
verandah, she saw Nina curled up, fast asleep. Out of all the scenes in the
play, Sam seemed to find this one the hardest to act out. She somehow either
forgot her dialogues, or missed a beat, or simply couldn’t say her words out
loud enough. Laila on other hand seemed to have no trouble slipping into Nina’s
shoes. Her acting skills surprised everyone, and although she looked like she
was taking it with her usual devil-may-care attitude, Ms. Asha could see that
this discovery pleased her immensely. Laila could make Nina curl up on that
verandah in the most heartbreaking way possible. And when Bani’s voice wakes
her up, Laila could make Nina sit up exactly like the frightened child that she
was.
“Why are you
sleeping here?” asked Bani.
“I couldn’t
stand my dad’s words,” a tearful Nina replied.
Bani put a hand
around her friend’s shoulder. “What happened yesterday? Dad wouldn’t tell me
anything.”
Nina’s face
twitched at the mention of Mr. Bulend. “I think my mom is going to have a
baby.” Bani looked confused. “Isn’t that something to be happy about?”
“You know Bani,”
said Nina, “the clouds don’t always tell us the truth. I thought a new baby was
a good thing too, but my dad says it will be monster. Last night, I heard him
tell my mom that she had ruined our family. She only kept mumbling that she
couldn’t help it, and something like, ‘He forced me, I couldn’t do anything…’ I
couldn’t understand why it was such a bad…”
A scream once
again interrupted their conversation. This time, it came from Nina’s shack. The
gardener’s tools were lying at the open door. The girls followed his footsteps
inside, and were met with Balu and Shaila lying side by side. Around Shaila’s
neck was Balu’s turban, and in Balu’s hand was a bottle of pesticide. The
gardener carried the screaming girls back into the house, where they were
locked inside a room.
The scene
shifted to Mr. Bulend’s room. All the servants of the house were huddled in
there, and despite the warm summer night, they were shivering. “The bodies of
those ungrateful fools have been cremated,” said Mr. Bulend. “I forbid you from
ever speaking about this incident again. I will not allow two worthless
servants to blot my reputation.” Mitty, a burly boy who played Mr. Bulend, had
quite a hard time getting his eyes look as cold as Ms. Asha said they must.
“If the police
dares to interfere, I know how to deal with them. I don’t want any of you
opening your mouths. Now, leave.”
The timid
servants all started moving out.
“Oh, and fetch
me their orphan,” barked Mr. Bulend
Bani never saw
Nina again.
A few weeks
later, Bani lay outside her verandah, looking up at the clouds. They no longer
scribbled stories for her to read, and yet, she kept looking for them.
Her efforts
finally paid off. The clouds seemed to be speaking to her again. But, this
time, they only conveyed a single message-
‘Bani, it’s time to tell our story now.’
The applause in
the auditorium sounded too loud for Sam’s ears. The actors were all lined up on
stage, bowing. The battle still raged in her head. Was she brave enough to do this? Her eyes
drifted towards the cardboard cloud props they had used in the play, and for
one heart stopping moment, she thought she saw the face of a little girl
stamped on them. She looked back at the
crowd and spotter her father. He was the only one who hadn’t stood up to
applaud. Instead, his face was alight with fury as he looked at his daughter.
Sam looked at him and smiled.
She glanced at
the Chief Guest for the event, the Commissioner of Police.
She stepped
forward.
Nina seemed to
smile at her. Yes. It was time to tell their story.
No comments:
Post a Comment