Warning: Keeping with the subliminal theme, I’m going to try and open the door on some common scenarios and what they really mean for some people. Be warned, these are not happy clappy or funny. The idea is to counter the often disgusting excesses and commercialism of the current ‘holiday’ period’ with some human stories. These are based on observations from my otherwise mundane life. They are not meant to be preachy, but to perhaps provoke some of us, including the author himself!
Rahim was a tailor in the small Indian village. His father, a wise and considerate man, had spent his life building up a tailoring workshop which now consisted of 4 well-used sewing machines. Besides their own household, it also provided two other employees with a small but adequate means of living. At the age of 22, Rahim got married to his neighborhood sweet-heart Salima and all was well in their lives.
Rahim was a tailor in the small Indian village. His father, a wise and considerate man, had spent his life building up a tailoring workshop which now consisted of 4 well-used sewing machines. Besides their own household, it also provided two other employees with a small but adequate means of living. At the age of 22, Rahim got married to his neighborhood sweet-heart Salima and all was well in their lives.
But then the march went through their town and overnight a mosque was brought down. A handful of Muslims, driven into a frenzy by power hungry local politicians, burnt down two Hindu temples. This almost played perfectly into the hands of the extremist Hindu leaders who used this as an opportunity to attack their biggest threats – anyone who spoke for secularism, progress and the simple living.
One amongst them was Rahim’s father. Rahim was returning from the city when he saw fire billowing from the house and workshop. He ran in and helped Salima out but by the time he could get to his father, the old man had choked and died. He had been trying save the workshop from the angry wrath of the communal flames.
When the fire was finally put out, only the smoldering remains of the workshop and Rahim’s childhood home remained. He arranged to have his father buried the next day. It was a tribute to his sensible up-bringing that Rahim did not join the inevitable ‘revenge’ strikes that some affected families were intending to carry out. Instead, in the hope of casting away his sorrows, Rahim and Salima left the village they had grown up in, for the neighboring town.
There, a friend and fan of Rahim’s father secured him a job in a textile factory. The only place they could afford was in a shabby dwelling amongst the filthy streets of the town. Despite Rahim putting together his meager savings and buying a cycle, the large distance to the factory and his generally failing health meant Rahim was often late and tired at work. This eventually led to his losing the job. Worse yet, their lack of proper nutrition and the squalor all around their house made Rahim very ill. Rahim had not received much formal education as he was always destined to be a tailor and inherit his father’s workshop. This meant that he could not seriously seek any other job and there were no other textile factories around.
In a desperate attempt to afford the rising cost of Rahim’s medication, Salima took to serving as a maid in people’s houses. One of the houses she ended up working at was that of a Hindu police officer. Rumour had it he had risked his life to save some Muslims during the rioting in the town. This made him feel he deserved something and so one day when his wife and children were out of town, he lured Salima into his bedroom and tied, gagged and raped her.
When Rahim found out about it, he blamed his ailing condition and the pressure of buying medicines for what had happened. He took the only option he felt he could and killed himself. Distraught and inconsolable Salima spent out the rest of her days as a maid servant. She grew so disconnected with the world that the officer and later some of his friends thought they could rape her, repeatedly, and she wouldn’t complain. And they were right.
