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.
