Fallen Leaves - Chapter 6
Adam Ayub
The room across the corridor was ajar. I saw a half naked woman trying to drape a saree. A man was sleeping on the bed in the background.
The woman looked at me and smiled seductively. She was a middle aged dark lady. She had a heavy bulging stomach and sagging breasts. She presented a very pathetic picture. When she saw me staring at her, she dropped her saree and came to the door. She leaned against the half open door and winked at me. I thought I had seen her before. I tried to recollect. Yes! The image flashed before my eyes! I had seen her standing near the lamp post at the bus stop. I used to see her almost everyday while passing that bus stop on my way home from Sharada Studios, Kodambakkam. That was three years back! She was much younger then. I used to observe her when the bus pulled into that stop. Three years had made her a lot older and haggard. She was a prostitute I realized! She had withered red flowers in her hair. The corners of her mouth were white. She looked very ugly. She may be suffering from venereal deceases, I thought.
“Enna?” her voice woke me up from my reverie. I understood why we had such economical rooms in Madras. The regular customers of this lodge must be prostitutes and their clientele.
The drinking revelry of my friends was stupendously noisy!
“Your friends?” She asked me in Tamil. I nodded. “From where?” She asked again.
“Kerala” I replied. Suddenly the door behind me opened and I heard a collective gasp behind me. “Who is she?” Rahman asked in a whisper.
“A prostitute…. can’t you see?” I hissed back. His eyes bulged out of their sockets.
“Haven’t you seen prostitutes before?” I asked angrily.
“Only in films. But I thought they looked beautiful,” he said.
“This one is old and worn out. She looks ugly. She probably has some venereal disease too.”
“Talking among yourselves? Are you not talking to me?” The woman said in Tamil.
“My friends don’t know Tamil,” I told her.
There was a loud chorus from behind me. “We know, we know.”
She laughed. “Shall I come into your room?”
Before I could say “No”, the chorus from inside the room, shouted “yes”.
She came into our room without bothering to wear her saree.
“But that man…” I pointed to the man sleeping in her room.
“He is finished” She said matter of factly. My friends offered her a glass of beer.
“You will get infected, you idiots” I shouted.
“But we are not touching her” Rashid said.
“Then what do you want from her?”
“I want to take her interview and publish it in the college magazine,” he said.
“To hell with you,” I said.
Actually, there was no cause for alarm. None of them wanted to have sex with her. She was that repulsive. Rashid asked questions and she narrated her story. It was the usual pathetic one. I doubted whether she was telling the truth. Anyway, she drank all the remaining beer. When she finished her story, they decided to make a fund collection among ourselves and contribute it to her. When Ravi, the cashier, came to me, I hesitated.
Will it be fair to give money to a prostitute? But this is not for services rendered, I consoled myself. It is for charity. I offered my share. They presented the total amount to her.
“Are you giving me money for nothing?” she asked surprised.
“Yes” said Rashid “this is for talking to us and telling us your story”.
“Oh, who wants to hear a prostitute’s story?” She got up. “Are you sure you don’t want anything from me” she asked.
“You have given us a lot, thanks” said Rashid.
“Ok.” She went out.
I closed the door behind her and announced “Friends! You have done a noble deed today”.
By the time we returned from the excursion, exams were on us. As we had not been attending regular classes, none of us had complete notes. Only the girls were having full notes in all the subjects. I borrowed notes from the girls in my class and copied whatever I thought was important. Fortunately, History and Economics were not tough subjects. I liked History better. The French Revolution was my favorite topic. I liked writing essays. So finally when the exams were over, I felt confident that I would pass. Incidentally, I had got a high second class in Hindi in the second year university exam.
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