Client went back to India
Image credit: www.alamy.com
I’m running. There’s a group of people chasing me. I’ve done
something wrong. They want to catch me. I’m holding my dress and running. I’m
female. I stole something. I stole a pewter cup. But I threw it away, because
they are chasing me. So, it’s not with me. I stole it for my boyfriend. He
wants to sell it for money.
We are in a village. I am in India
I’m now at my boyfriend’s eldest sister’s house. She is scolding
us. We are not supposed to be here. We are supposed to be at home. We ran away.
She’s married but her husband has got two wives. She’s not rich. We just want
to stay a few days in her house. She allowed us to stay, but we mustn’t show
ourselves. She asked us to go home tomorrow. My boyfriend says we must stay
here and work here….earn a living here. She doesn’t agree. My boyfriend said he
will look for a job. His sister wants me to go home, that I cannot stay with
him. She will send me home tomorrow. I am 16 years old. I must listen to her. I
must go home. I miss my parents.
I go home in the afternoon. My boyfriend’s sister gets another
woman to walk with me. She is a plump lady, wearing a saree. I bumped into a woman
from the village. I think she is some kind of witch doctor. She does some kind
of ritual ceremony. She says that because I ran off with a guy, I must stay
with her to wash away all the bad things in my body. She says that I shouldn’t
run away with a guy. She says there’s evil in my body, so I must stay with her.
But she looks scary. She has only one eye. She locked me in a room.
I’m hungry but she never offers me food. I ask for food. I shout
for help but no one hears me. I tell her I want to go home but she doesn’t
reply me. She wants to cleanse the evil in my body. If I go home now, I will
bring bad luck to the family.
Next scene: (Back home)
My parents have arranged a marriage for me, with a man I don’t
know. This guy’s family is richer. His
father works for the king. His son has been sick since a little boy. So they
arranged a marriage for him. I’m supposed to marry this boy. They say he’s
dying soon. He’s pale. He’s 18. He’s wearing a turban.
I’m with this person now. I’m in a jungle. There are many elephants
around us. It’s something like parade, very grand. We walk from the forest to
the town. His house is in the forest. I can hear monkeys and birds. There is only
one house there. We are going to a temple.
Me: What illness does he have?
They say his heart has a hole. I think is congenital heart defect.
His fingernails are bluish. His lips are always pale.
The temple is on a hill. It has got a lot of steps. My husband
cannot walk. People had to carry him. Two men carried him up to the temple. We
prayed in the temple. I just follow their instruction. He spent half day in the
temple. The temple is open and very hot, in the jungle.
I have to marry this man to please my parents, because I believed
what the witch doctor said. I don’t want to bring bad luck to my family. We go
to the temple to get some blessings, so that my husband could have longer life.
I prayed for happiness. We prayed on our own. I saw a sculpture. I’m reading
the picture on the wall. I think it’s a Buddhist temple. I can hear people
chanting in Sanskrit. The statue is faded.
Next scene:
I’m with my husband in the bedroom. He’s very ill. It has been 2
years after we got married. He’s dying soon. I’m very sad, because I loved him.
Unfortunately it’s a short life and he passed away. My in-laws don’t like me.
They never bothered about me. They asked me to go. I left the family. I ran to
the jungle. I ran to the temple in the jungle. I stayed at the temple for the
rest of my life.
Connection to current
life:
My husband in that life was my former classmate in my current
life. My boyfriend’s sister in that life is one of my colleagues in the current
life. She is a very helpful colleague. In this life, when I first came across
some prayers and chanting in Sanskrit, I felt that it sounded familiar. I feel
a connection to those prayers.
