Dhani - The Punching Bag (Story)

Dhani, the youngest of the eight daughters of Runi and Haria was a frail girl, who was thirteen years old. Like all her elder sisters, her mother, Runi, who had given birth to eight daughters desiring for a son, used to dress her up as a boy and all her elder sisters and the children from the neighbouring houses in the village used to tease and bully her, calling her a 'hijra' (a eunuch), because, she was always dressed up like a boy wearing close cropped hair. Her hair could not grow long because, whenever Dhani would cry out, tormented by her elder siblings and other children her mother, in her fit of rage, would often cut off her hair locks; giving her sisters and the other children the chance to continue teasing her. Dhani was the butt of the joke, even torrid practical jokes of her sisters and her friends. Timid Dhani would remain silent and not object to it, for she feared her sisters would complain about her to their mother, who would invariably beat her up. If Runi would quarrel with Haria or would have to bear the brunt of Haria’s anger, she would let her steam off on poor Dhani. So did her sisters.

When Dhani was nine years old, her fifth sister Jhimi got married to a farmer from a nearby village. Runi then instructed her other two daughters, Mani, who was thirteen and Rama, who was twelve, to concentrate on grooming themselves up so that they could get a good groom too like their elder sisters. She made Dhani do all the household chores and none of the family members helped her. Dhani was always held responsible for all the wrong doings, mistakes and damages done by anyone in the household. She then would be subjected to a barrage of curses and seething lecture from Runi along with beating with a stick of getting singed with a hot tong. Then her sisters would continue tormenting her with their sarcasm and scathing remarks. Dhani did not dare ask them to forgive her even for the mistake she had not committed, because that would give them all the more reason to continue tormenting her verbally.

Dhani used to wake up before other members of the household and get busy with daily routine of chores. By the time she would complete all the work for the day, the rest of the household members would have already retired to bed for the night’s rest. In case Runi would wake up before Dhani in the morning, then all hell would break loose and Dhani would be subjected to wake up punch and kick. She would not inform anyone if she was sick, because she would be held responsible for her illness and she still would have to do all the work. Often she would  cut her fingers or arm while cutting hay using the cutter while preparing fodder for the cows. She would hide her wounds, so that her mother and sisters would not deliberately touch her wound to cause more pain to her. Rarely anyone had seen Dhani laugh or smile. At times, while tending to the cows or working in the field she would hum a tune and smile to herself. If her mother or any of her sisters found her singing or smiling to herself, they would suspect that she was having an affair with a boy in the village and would torment her to disclose her romantic secret.  All this reduced Dhani into a silent,  timid, sad and depressed girl, who kept herself busy with work  and her head hanging down to hide the sorrow and emptiness of her heart from the rest of the world.

Runi woke up in the morning, when the bright sunlight touched her eye lids. Rubbing the sleep off her eyes, she trained her ears to hear Dhani working in the kitchen. All she could hear was the birds chirping in the yard and the calf shuffling in the cowshed to be released for his morning feed of milk.  Grumbling and cursing Dhani out loud, Runi shook Haria, who was fast asleep. She got up and headed towards the cowshed, where Dhani used to sleep along with the cattle. When raging and ranting Runi entered the cowshed, Haria and her daughters were not far behind her. They found Dhani sleeping on the floor in a corner of the cowshed. Runi, as usual, yelled at Dhani to wake her up, but Dhani did not respond.  This angered Runi and she kicked Dhani with all her might. Chill ran down Runi’s spine when the force of Runi’s kick slumped sleeping Dhani towards Runi and her ice cold hand and head touched Runi’s feet….

Pen sketch of silhouette by Sunipa Sen.