The Forced Bride

Chapter 1 - Resolve

I DEVAKI I

First she heard the sobs and sniffles and then the voices. There were a lot of them. They were saying something but she didn't understand anything. Her head was foggy and the language sounded coarse coming from that person.

When her eyes opened, she was met with the sight of a stout woman, whose face was inches away from hers. A moment later she registered the fact that the woman was shouting at her in urdu. She knew urdu, in fact she used to speak urdu at home most of the time, yet she failed to understand a single word the woman said.

"Where am I?", she asked the woman in urdu, her voice was coarse, her throat dry.

"Drink this", the woman shoved a glass of water at her face.

She accepted the water, too tired to think. After drinking two more glasses of water much to the woman's annoyance, she looked at her surroundings. There were at least 7 women standing around the room and they were all busy doing something or the other.

There was a girl sitting in a chair in the corner and Devaki realised she was the one who was sobbing and sniffling. Her eyes flitted to Devaki and when their eyes met, she could tell that the girl was terrified, even more so than Devaki. Devaki couldn't look away as the girl looked back down at her feet and continued sobbing quietly.

She was in a small room, barely furnished. Only the small bed she was sitting in and the chair that the girl was sitting on, decorated the room. An earthen pot was placed on the floor to store water. She looked at the woman standing next to her. Her face was wrinkled in a permanent frown, her whole body covered, except for her face.

As if on cue, the woman looked at her, in her cotton salwar with minimal sleeves, and her frown deepened, her hijab barely containing her face as she said, "So shameless! Showing all that skin. These women have no shame, parading their body around like that for everyone to see".

"You are the shameless one. Abducting women from their homes, forcing them into marriage and religion. We have rights too. We have rights to live our life as we wish. As equals to men", Devaki retorted back. She was never someone who held back. Yet, she felt tired right now. She felt like she was in a different planet, there was nothing familiar around her. As much as she tried to be brave and fearless, she was scared and helpless. Completely alone.

The women in the room turned to look at her when they heard her. Some openly glared at her, while some murmured in a voices too low for her to hear.

"Take your pardesi words and keep it to yourself. If they hear you say something like that, you won't have a tongue to talk anymore. Watch your mouth, girl. Now get ready before they come in", she says looking at Devaki haughtily.

It was clear the woman didn't agree with her. Devaki wanted to scream, but that wouldn't help. She has never felt so helpless her whole life. Not even when they had to leave their old home did she feel this helpless. Powerless. Terrified.

She knew what was coming next, they'll find some old muslim man and marry her off to him. And she'll have to spend the rest of her life in his home, slaving away and acting as a human incubator. They'll make her follow Islam and if she refused, she'll be beaten and abused.

She didn't want that. Nobody wanted that. A life of sorrow and misery. She knew pleading with the woman was no use, but she had to try.