JIBON : A Story in Two Parts

Part l weaves Seuti's journey from being a submissive wife to a defensive mother who had to finally lose her child to the brewing plague of superstition in the village of Raumari.

Part l

'He must be mutilated, he must be mutilated',the agitated mob shouted in unison. The entire village of Raumari was shrouded in an air of disbelief at Seuti' s blasphemy. They believed in destroying a cursed child; a child bearing the scars of an evil spirit. Seuti ran towards her hut and crouched under the wooden bed with her son, Jibon. Her arms suddenly transformed into a protective shield with which she was now holding her only child. Seuti had lost her own flesh and blood once to this plague, which she believed, was responsible for the death of her first child. Jibon was born in a winter morning. He came no less than a blessing to Seuti. For nearly a decade, she remained barren losing her child. Jibon impregnated his mother's long lost hope while still in the womb. Raumari, a small village in the Morigaon district of Assam, has been unable to meet with the progress of the times. People here still holds the belief that girls should be married off early, failure of which would not yield her a prospective match. Seuti was married off at a tender age of fourteen to Umesh, a man twice her age. Umesh was a farmer and lived a moderate life. He was no match for the flawless beauty Seuti possessed. What he wanted to conquer was her body rather than her heart. It was the firmness of her breasts and the unexplored vigour of her age that excited Umesh's attention. Seuti never fully experienced her own childhood. It was lost in the antiquities of culture and tradition. Hailing from a family of eight children, she had to shoulder the responsibilities of an adult , while herself being a child. Marriage, for Seuti was always a child's play. She was taught how a grown up man would come and rescue her from the evils of the society. She would no longer have to fetch water, wash dishes, or to put it better, be freed from her household drudgery. She was expected to remain submissive. To mark the words of her husband as an end to everything . Seuti did the way she was taught. She was trained and tamed for two long years on how to please her man, on how to raise children and be a good mother. Her innocence was teared apart each time Umesh entered her. She felt his burden on her naked body. But she preferred remaining dormant everytime by fulfilling her husband's physical wants till he was satisfied . She was leading her life without complaining for anything. She needed food and a roof above her head. Seuti was happy she had it all, unlike many of her friends who had neither. However, her abode of happiness was soon shattered when she was unable to conceive within a year. A sterile woman is neither considered a good match for any man nor a life worth living. In a place like Raumari, science has little to do with issues of human health. If a woman fails to conceive, it is seen entirely as a fault of her own. The man in the relation is neither blamed nor taken into consideration. 'Look at her, she is a sterile, she hasn't conceived yet,' the women in village would often remark on Seuti. Even Umesh started ignoring her as she was unable to meet him with his heir. The days for Seuti soon turned sour. She learnt in her childhood that marriage is a game; that she was meant to be protected. She didn't had the slightest idea that her own husband, she considered her saviour, would push her towards oblivion. It was difficult for her to convince her husband for he wouldn't agree to listen even a word or two. After almost a year later, Seuti experienced her early signs of pregnancy. When Umesh learnt of it, he distributed sweet rice among the children of his village. The watchful night soon came in when Seuti was going to deliver her first child. The wait was finally over with her delivering a girl. Umesh and Seuti took utmost care of their daughter. She was the world to them, the knot which tied their strings stronger. It was on the day of naming ceremony of their daughter where they invited the entire village folk. The merriment and gossips occupied each corner of their celebrations. People running in an out, host of dancers, the village priest performing rituals were the common sights around. However, things were destined to turn nasty. While Umesh and Seuti were engrossed in the preparations, the village priest secretly made his way down the alley to the village headman' s house. He informed him of the scars that were clearly visible on the child's body. Umesh and Seuti were caught unaware about the entire affair. They suddenly saw a congregation gathering around their daughter's cradle, demanding the village headman to take responsibility for her mutilation. 'We want you to supervise this', 'It has to be done at the earliest as it can be dangerous for our village,' the village elders justifiably asserted. It took quite a moment for Seuti to understand whatever was being talked about. Sensing the danger that awaits their daughter she asked Umesh with fear in her eyes, ' What are they saying about our daughter?'. ' Nothing, absolutely nothing,' comforting her. Umesh was driven to a corner by few other villagers. They explained him that the priest has diagnosed their daughter possessing the spirit of an evil. Umesh felt a sudden jerk of his body. Shiver ran down his spine at the very thought of his daughter for he was aware of the consequences. This was not the first time that a child was cursed with such scars. It was a customary ritual to destroy a cursed child in Raumari. Seuti had no idea of the catastrophe that was going to befall on them soon. The village headman arrived at Umesh's place with a group of men. Seuti became utterly sceptical seeing the men armed with machetes and spears. ' Bring the cursed child for its mutilation, let it go back from where it had come ', declared the village headman. Seuti ran to her daughter risking her own life for she had no idea that a capital punishment was given to those who tried to save such cursed child. She knew her husband would run to her aid. 'They are taking away our daughter, tell them she isn't cursed, tell them she is our daughter,' she shouted to her husband, crying. But to her utter dismay, Umesh didn't moved an inch. She was hit terribly hard when she saw her husband remaining passive, while the village men were arranging for the funeral pyre of their daughter. Umesh preferred passivity over action, fearing the consequences he and Seuti would later have to face. While on the other hand, his wife continued with incessant efforts to somehow save their daughter. 'Snatch that devil from her', ' Kill her', ' Cut her into pieces', ' It has come to destroy our village again', the gathered crowd shouted in revengeful tone. It was not the first time that an evil spirit had arrived in the form of an infant. The veil of superstition on the people of Raumari indicated the brutality with which many other children were killed few days after they were born. Seuti ran with her child towards the wilderness, when she felt it was no use pleading. She grabbed her daughter firmly to her chest. She would have supported her wife had she been Umesh. But no help came from him that day. She was ready to fight her own battle . A battle to save her child, a battle to save her essence of motherhood and a battle to save her faith on humanity. She could hear the crowd following her and shouting, 'Give us that evil and we will spare you'. But she was determined to save her child. She ran as fast as she could. It was a matter of life and death for her today. She wanted to win this race against all odds. The village crowd desperately followed her like a pack of stray dogs. The darkness of the forest provided her the much needed space to hid herself. She found a safe place beneath a rock to hide. She could still hear the lurking voices of the crowd searching for her and her daughter. Neither the forest nor the village was a safe harbor for them anymore. But she preferred staying in the forest until the dawn breaks for it is safer to face a lion than a hungry tiger. Seuti didn't wink even for a moment. Her daughter was the only asset she had so far. 'I cannot afford to lose you,' she murmured to herself,looking at her child. A sea of emotion surged within her heart and she kept wondering about what Umesh did. It was not expected of him. She never imagined the situation she was now in even in her weirdest of dreams. She kept herself alert until the dawn finally arrived and penetrated the dense forest. When she was about to move out of her hiding place she saw a figure approaching from a distance. Seuti was scared. Her heart pounded beneath her loose breasts, which no longer retained their firmness. It was Umesh. The figure she saw approaching towards her was no other than him. For a few moments she felt her burden shared because it was her husband, her savior, whom she believed would protect her. ' I have come to take you back to the village ', stretching his hand to Seuti. ' I pleaded them, I explained them our daughter is not cursed and they agreed', he tried sounding convincing.' How do I believe you?', 'You left me, you left our daughter to those hungry filth?', she cried aloud to Umesh. It was difficult for her to confirm her faith in him now. She declined to go back with him. ' If only you loved me', ' If only you love your child, you will trust me on this,' bowing on his knees. Seuti had to make a decision either to move ahead or to go back. She knew it wasn't possible on her part to survive without a penny. Had it been only a matter her survival, she would have struggled anywhere on the planet. But she had to think of her daughter. Restoring her faith in Umesh she decides to go back to their village. On arriving Seuti found that the crowd has not yet dispersed. They had been waiting for her return to the village. She realized Umesh's betrayal the moment she reached back home. She regretted her decision of having believed her husband once again. Unarmed, Seuti gives away the final hopes of saving her child for she knew she was slayed on the threshold of treachery. She saw the crowd carrying her naked child upside down, tied on a bamboo. Her heart rented apart with feelings of disgust and guilt for being unable to save her child. For the first time she felt the burden of motherhood. The feeling which nourished her identity, now made her feel weak and fragile. ' Take the cursed child from her, ' Hang it', 'Mutilate it all', the sounds could still be heard from a distance. Soon Seuti's child was gone. It came bearing the scars of an evil spirit (as the village people believed it to be true) and was killed within no time. They hanged it by a pole and threw stones at it until the child has stopped crying. During this time Seuti pleaded from one man of the village to the other for the dead body of her child. It was dead by then but the ceremony of mutilating a cursed child was not over yet. It was stabbed a thousand times. It had spears all over its tiny body. The gruesome sight appalled many of the village folk but none had courage to speak against it. It was a ritual and thus justified.

Reviews

[Solar]

Very harrowing story about the brutality as a result of ignorance and superstition. You bring out the bravery and despair of the mother against the betrayal of the husband and the blood-thirsty mob very vividly.

Sadly even the well-educated who have become jihadis commit such horrible crimes and even the communists who pride themselves on being rationalists have been responsible for terrible brutalities.

[Jyoti Konwar]

Appreciate it. Thank you Solar.
There are ample evidences of such brutalities that we often come across but little did we attempt to pay heed. This story is an endeavor to bring alive those experiences which are sidelined to the edges, most of the time.