The obtrusive noise of a key being scraped against the rusty metal lock snapped Seema awake from her sleep. Each shred of her sleep-paralysed body, unhesitatingly shook itself from that blissful state of peace, for that day cracked open with an undeniable promise that was freedom. A smile painted itself at the corner of her blistered lips as the refreshing rays of the amber sun shrouded itself over every inch of her. Sitting upright, she realised, to her awe, that the nightmare which usually haunted her in her sleep never bothered her the last night. 

The slight motion of her friend Rekha, folding her shuffled bedspread onto a neat stack, revived her thoughts back to the present. They shared a silent moment as their eyes caught each other, a moment that was implicit, yet resounding. As if in a trance, Seema yanked herself from her mat and having hurried through her bedspread, almost scampered herself down the stairs to take a bath. Held firmly in her arms was a saffron-coloured saree which she had kept apart so very yearningly for this day. 

Returning to her room, Seema brushed back her locks without checking herself on the mirror. Collecting her things, she stood facing her cell mate, the one person who had been her strength and support for the past one year. 

“You are brave and you will always be, I know,” Rekha muttered in her breath while they shared a strong reassuring hug.

As Seema walked down the corridor, its floor ice cold, she gazed her warm-brown eyes over the small charming patch of garden outside, packed with bright yellow blossoms that stood swaying gracefully in the morning breeze. Every peaceful hour of her past one year, she remembered spending with those flowers, and looking with admiration at her garden that day, she felt as though her favourite flowers too were bidding her farewell in their own simple way.   

Looking around, Seema felt a flash of the past year almost threatening to blind her with its sheer coldness. The formidable walls around, without fail, threw hints of the lackadaisical and lustreless world that was endlessly being painted inside, to any person who caught a glance of it from outside. The earth was parched; the water was drab; the food was repulsive, the nights were lonely and the days were monotonous to say the least. The sole sign of life there, one would assume, was the garden, which flourished in shades of green and yellow, the result of the hard labour which the inmates were paraded through mechanically every single day. 

Harking back, a revelation dawned on her that nursing the plants was in fact the only cherishable memory she had of the past year. She had loved the way she used to look forward to a new bud blossoming itself into the world in all its liveliness, pregnant with the dreams and hopes of flourishing, oblivious to the many hazards it might encounter in its way. She had loved the way the early morning dew would settle softly on the flower, cloaking it in a velvety blanket, as if to protect the delicate petals from the harshness of the sun. Seema remembered jotting down on her diary one day how the dew would melt away in due course only to leave the delicate petal with no choice but to face the real world all by itself.

                                                         ***************

Reaching the office room functioning in the next building, she scribbled her signature on the ledger as instructed. She sighed in disbelief as she felt a sudden numbness overpowering her from nowhere as the reality that she was being freed hit her. 

“You look great in this saree, Seema," the sergeant lady behind the desk said admiringly.

Seema smiled. Knowingly or unknowingly, a mellowness seemed to govern her emotions that day, nonetheless, preserving that demureness that had always been part of her innateness.

“And here, take this too, Seema. You earned this,” the Sergeant handed her a few folded hundred rupee notes and held her hands for a second longer before letting her go. Seema looked down at the amount and then back at the sergeant in thankfulness. 

Making sure she had no official procedures left, she started walking in short brisk steps to the gate. The loud alarming shrill by which the gate opened, unfailingly sent a ruffle of emotions inside her every time, but not that day. At the sight of the huge iron gate, which stood challengingly in front of her, she found herself trying hard to suppress her urge to yank open it in all its fervour, for she knew that no amount of shrillness could disturb the serene state of mind she was in that day .

Shadows of nervousness started playing inside the depths of her eyes as she stepped out into the sunny air. Anxiously, in swift motions, she started scanning the surrounding for a familiar figure.

“Seema!”

She glanced back in the opposite direction and her eyes fell on a face which she had been seeing every month for the past one year.

“Where is she? Didn’t you promise me that you would let me see her when I was released from prison?”

“Don’t feel sad, Seema. Come, let me take you to her.”

                                                   **************

The journey by car to see her seemed the longest Seema had travelled in her whole life. As if to sketch to life the cocktail of emotions gurgling inside her depth, the sky started transforming into an inky shade. Fresh drops of rain erupted from the muddled sky to settle on her cheek, to finally dissolve into a wet stain. It took little effort for her thoughts to slid back into that black recess of dark memories one time more.

******************

Around two years back, one rainy day, Seema, as usual, was immersed neck deep in her chores at her workplace – her landlord’s house. Worried and dismayed she was  pondering on a means to buy text books for her sister for the 8th standard classes commencing the coming week. Little apprehension, if at all any, fleeted through her mind, when someone called out to her from inside requesting a glass of water. Caught in the middle of chopping down the logs, she had asked her little sister to carry the glass inside. After around half an hour of seeing no sign of her sister, she had rushed inside frantically only to be welcomed by the sickening sight of the drunk landlord trampling her half naked, barely conscious sister. Before she could encourage a second thought, before she could come back to her normal sense, she had chopped the man’s arm to bloody gore with her axe.

                                                        **************

Cringing,  as the torturing events that followed flashed across her eyes, Seema sank back on her seat. People did stand by her at the start of the trial, but as the procedure started heading the much feared way, her neighbours too started shunning her. And then there were none, not even the law to prove her right. Her relentless pleas that the landlord used to misbehave to her as well fell not only on deaf years, but also turned stones against her as the lawyer started churning up stories linking her to the landlord.

For months she had been bogged down by a drilling question as to whether her assaulting the landlord should have been averted. Didn't her sister's agony deserve justice? The man would even have strangled her sister to death in his barbarous act if she hadn't stumbled upon them. During those hours of crying softly at night in the darkness of the dingy cell, there wasn't a moment when she hadn't cursed herself for letting her sister be with her while she worked, for pushing her life down that horrifying abyss. If it wasn't for the kind representatives of a Mahila Mandir who promised to take care of her sister while she was in prison, Seema would have found herself trudging an even rougher path, wondering what would become of her sister during her punishment years. 

No counselling could make Seema forget intentionally the words her sister had whispered, sobbingly in her ears, the moment she had hugged her close on that cursed day. 

‘It is not the first time, didi’

                                                    *******************

As the car came to a halt, the lady guided Seema inside the Mahila Mandir to a room at the far end of the corridor. Seema noticed that place housed an alarming number of women who, unfortunately must have ended up homeless, mostly due to no fault of their own. A girl, around 10 years of age, sat studying at a chair facing the window while another girl, older by a few years was engaged in cleaning small bits of cobwebs from the window pane. The place seemed to throw at her a vibe of peace and contentment. The rooms were dark, but the people who harboured those seemed happy, probably because they might have been through places darker and stingier than those. 

Seema looked around for the lady who had brought her there and that was when her eyes fell on the lady walking slowly towards where she stood. Looking intently, she realised that the lady wasn't alone. Her wide opened eyes welled up in tears as Seema watched the lady bringing along with her, the one person whom she had been yearning to see for the past one year. Folding her arms, now trembling, Seema slowly accepted her sister’s baby onto her arms and drew her close to her. 

*******************
 

“Your sister’s last words were to tell you to love her baby just as you loved her.”
Tears started rolling down Seema’s eyes as the lady narrated to her, her sister’s days in the Mahila Mandir. 

Her sister Shikha was brave and amazingly determined. Being a thirteen year old, no one had an inkling how she would move on with her life after the harrowing judgement following the trial befell on them. Left high and dry in the world, no one expected her to maintain her composure, let alone come up with the decision of keeping her baby. But to everyone’s surprise, she not only stuck to her decision, but also was transforming to an epitome of resilience and courage. According to the inmates at the Mahila Mandir, she was amiable; her words suited that of a warrior and her actions befitting her words. She used to take care of the little ones who were new to the house, pacifying them and alleviating them of their fears so that they would open their minds to their fate, to eventually discard the past and to embrace the future. It was as if suddenly she was blessed with the sparks of an unprecedented energy; an energy, as remarkable as it could be, named as fortitude. 

Seema wiped away the tears from her face. Her thoughts brimmed with pride as she stood listening to the lady sketching Shikha's strength of character, a fervour ruling her words. The tremour inside the lady was evident as she neared the details about her sister’s unexpected demise while giving birth. At her words Seema winced, a painful hailstorm weighing her down. 
 She looked down at the little bundle, the fruit of a mad man’s mindless act, resting peacefully in her arms and felt a surge of hope tugging at her heartstrings.  
"I will keep her safe, no matter what." A determined decision took form in her mind.

 But the very next second, she felt the dark silhouette of fear over shadowing her hopes as a harrowing thought pierced through her mind. 

                                                   *******************

Seema’s heart was pounding loud and fast, but her steps weren't faltering. She held the baby close to her bosom, their heartbeats synergising into one strong hum of solidarity. Alighting the stairs to the building which stood as a monument of her sister’s acrimonious fate, she walked boldly to the porch. 

The landlord was lying on the armchair, a piece of silk cloth masking the remains of his left hand. He looked emaciated and much weaker than the last picture she had of him in her mind. But then, that was when he stood against her in the court a year back, jeering, his head held high, as the judge sentenced her to one long hard year in prison.

One of the landlord’s servants came rushing to them, a log in his hand, his face flushed with angst and anger. He nudged awake the landlord who opened his eyes to the sight of Seema standing next to him carrying a baby in her arms. 

Seema watched as he sprang up startled, his eyes dilating in shock, a gasp inevitably escaping his mouth. 

“Seema!”

Seema stood rooted to the place, not moving a bit, her muscles taut and her eyes cold. 

The landlord stared at her arms and back at her face, before hustling inside the house as if he remembered an unattended call then and there. He came back in no time with a weathered black purse, which he held preciously in his hand.

“Seema, I have the vigour to take you down a second time if I intend to, you know that, I am aware. But I would like to recall everything that happened as a cruel play of fate. I am tired of all the hustle-bustle! Moreover, I am sick of having to answer the silly nit bits that people throw at me in the disguise of curiosity. Here, take this money and leave this place. Let us forget the darkest chapter of our lives for good, girl.” 

Seema watched as the landlord blurted out, beads of sweat gathering on his temple. His servants stared coldly at her, confused by the sudden turn of events. They had expected the landlord to order them to attack her so that he could have his much yearned revenge! 

They stared at each other for minutes at a stretch and then Seema, in a calm, unwavering voice uttered, “Funny that I too came here to pay you something! Not as a bribe to have you leave me alone, but to let you have a glimpse of the fruit of your nefarious deed, the fruit which remains the only living sign of the awful person you are or had been. If my sister was alive, I would have brought her too, to remind you of every nasty thing you are. I would have made her shout out to your daughter so that she too would know about your true being and stay away from you for her own good!” 

Crystal clear drops collected in Seema’s eyes as she finished. She closed tight her eyes letting the tears flow down onto the baby’s unblemished skin while she grunted uneasily at the sudden commotion. 

                                                            *****************

Seema walked, her steps hurried, her feet aching. She didn't know where she was headed to, nonetheless she kept walking. She didn't look back nor was she scared of being followed, for she believed her words to have crippled the landlord, draining him of his wickedness at least for the day.

The tattered bits of her heart seemed remoulded and her thoughts were clear for once. She had a delicate life to look after and she promised herself that she would do that at any cost. She would search for a job and live secluded with her baby in a far place, a place far away from the land which witnessed her debacle.

However it wasn’t long before doubts started creeping into her mind, spreading its tentacles wide and deep. Could she promise a safe haven for the baby in a world where abandoned souls were trampled upon regardless of place or time? Wouldn't there be more such rabid beings running around in this world unleashed, feeding on innocent lives, tearing them apart and scaring them to bits?

Seema sighed as a million vagaries came swarming towards her in cascades. Each one wound up in a different question which threatened to pull her deeper and deeper into the whirlpool of dilemmas. 

She looked around perplexed. Silver cottony ribbons of cloud sailed through the seamless blue ocean that was sky. A light breeze brushed past her, grazing her skin with its warm, humid breath.

The baby, probably sensing Seema's attention drift from her, started to stretch, snuggling herself closer to her pacifier. Seema watched her with utmost affection, slightly caressing her smooth rosy skin while doing so and that was when the grueling memories of her past came tumbling to her in one swift motion.

'How could she ever forget everything she had been through?! Was the answer to her problems as simple as letting it go? No. It wasn't, for what she had been through was not just another hurdle in her life journey, Seema knew it then, but a disease which had been burrowing into the soft molten core of the society, gnawing at it, deeper,stronger and faster, since time immemorial. The revelation hit her like an avalanche, swiping clean the remnants of a dubious heart forever. She knew she owned the grit to fight against more of such degraded souls as her landlord and indeed nurtured the tenacity to stay rooted to such a revolutionary cause, imbibing up to the crux its gravity and direness. But she needed help; help from people who were equally jostled, help from people who were equally tortured, equally distraught. As that thought crossed her mind, the multitude of queries that were welling up inside her seemed to dissolve into nothingness, leaving her with a solution, a solution which beckoned her, sans hesitation, but with a hope that was resurgent. 

Planting a kiss on the baby’s cheek, Seema retraced her steps. Undeterred, she walked in quick strides to the Mahila Mandir, the blazing flames of an invigorating will burning inside her.