by Anosh Irani
satta nervously shakes his head, somewhat distracted. He looks at the cars in the distance, but his mind is clearly somewhere else. The sound gets louder.
This is my home! Don’t come and blow smoke in my face and remind me that I am poor! How will you like it if I come to your home and shit? Hah?
The cars are very near and are moving at great speed. satta looks very disturbed and nervous. He looks skywards. Suddenly, everything goes quiet. Lights only on satta.
satta: Aarti, your mother is calling us . . . we must go to your mother . . .
The sound of the cars is heard once again. satta yanks aarti by the hand and jumps into oncoming traffic. The glare of headlights rises on satta and aarti as the cars are only a foot away.
gantaal: Aarti!
There is a sickening thud and crash of cars.
End of Act One.
ACT TWO
One
The brothel. December 31st. Sunrise. top rani reclines on his swing.
top rani: If you think about it, from the time we are born, we are all prostitutes. From the time we are born. What is the first thing a child learns? To suck. You come from a hole and then you start sucking. It’s the skill you acquire first on this earth. So why stop utilizing it? Why is Chandni so good at her work? She never stopped sucking. Prostitution is what we are meant to do. All these other things: doctors, lawyers, accountants . . . these are inventions that deviate us from our true destiny.
Enter chandni. She has just woken up. She walks with her legs slightly apart.
chandni: I’m so sore.
top rani: It’s a good sign you still get sore. Men don’t want the well too deep.
chandni: No one’s forcing them to fetch water.
Pause.
Why are you smiling?
top rani: Today is a special day.
chandni: I forgot. Raja Kheench. You’ll make lots of money.
top rani: Pull the King isn’t about money.
chandni: What if you do pull a king? You will lose everything you own when people come to collect their winnings.
top rani: By that time, I will not care about money. I will not care . . .
chandni: Why do you always act so strange just before the New Year?
top rani: Aah, Chandni, Chandni. You have come a long way. We have come a long way. Come. Talk to me.
chandni: I have work to do. Otherwise you will remind me that you picked me up from the gutter.
top rani: Not today. Today, I just want my daughter next to me. Come. Press my feet. You’ll feel better.
chandni sits on the floor with his feet in her lap.
You’re a very lucky girl.
chandni: Yes, I’ve been saved from the gutter.
chandni starts pressing his feet too hard.
top rani: With some love. What are feet if they are not pressed with love?
chandni: I cannot make out whether you are happy or sad.
top rani: And people cannot make out if I am man or woman. It is sad that a hijra is made by what he doesn’t have. I have to show people what they can’t see. That is why you are lucky. You can show your breasts because you have them and it is what people want. But people are repelled by what I don’t have. Chandni, you are one country. You take off all your clothes and tell me: “Look, look, I have this terrible nuclear bomb. It will destroy you.” And I am the country that laughs in your face. I simply lift my sari: “Look, look, I have this terrible nothing.” And of the two countries, you will surrender.
chandni: I surrendered a long time ago.
Pause.
Will I ever be free?
top rani: You can’t be free. You have to charge.
chandni: Will I ever be able to say no if I don’t want to press your feet?
top rani: No.
chandni: Even though I’m your first daughter?
top rani: That’s why I hold you so close. You’re my number one prostitute.
chandni: I’m proud, so proud.
top rani: You have my blessing.
chandni: I don’t want your blessing.
top rani: (holding her chin in his hand) Then what do you want, Chandni? You have everything. You have nice breasts, a home, a family. You have me. Don’t you love me?
chandni: With all my heart.
top rani: Sometimes a heart can be the wrong colour. What is the colour of your heart, Chandni?
chandni: The colour of your sari.
top rani: Purple?
chandni: My heart is bruised.
top rani: I love colours. They’re so . . . colourful.
chandni: Can I wear your sari?
top rani: Of course. But you will never leave here with it.
chandni: Then I don’t want it.
top rani: Now don’t sit there with a black face.
chandni: If my future is black, my face will be the same colour.
top rani: And the future is shaped by betrayal.
chandni: What do you mean?
top rani: Trees, fire, mud, and . . .
top rani reaches for a small switch that is connected to a light bulb. He turns it on. Below the light bulb is a small cage. In it is a little girl with her head in her knees. It is aarti.
. . . betrayal. The four constants of this world. Betrayal is a part of nature. We are all betrayed at some point in our lives. You were betrayed by your father, who drank himself to death. In turn, you will betray too.
chandni: I have no intention of doing so.
top rani: Can you understand why her father gambled her away?
chandni: No.
top rani: Trees, fire, mud, and betrayal. Now. Meet your new student.
chandni: I will teach her nothing.
top rani: Why not?
chandni: She’s only ten.
top rani: So she will earn ten times more. (to aarti) You will charge more than Chandni. Indian men believe that if they take a virgin they will be cured of all disease. Do you know how precious you are?
Pause.
Why are you silent?
chandni: She doesn’t speak.
top rani: I forgot. Then how will she make sounds? Men love sounds.
Pause.
What if I record you and play it in the background when she is working? (to aarti) Is dubbing okay with you?
The sound of a phone ringing. It is top rani’s cellphone. He answers it.
Top Rani and Company.
Pause.
Hah, jeweller bhai . . .
There is a pause while he listens to the jeweller’s words. He snaps his fingers and sends chandni away.
Which bookie are you talking about? Give me a name and I will give you his testicles. You can’t just tell me that a bookie told you Matka is fixed. Tell me, how long ago did I start Matka? Ten years. Not one illegal incident. There’s no cheating going on. Now give me the name of the bookie that said this. Why are you not revealing the name? I think you are unhappy about something . . .
The jeweller hangs up on him.
A bookie would not dare make this accusation. Our jeweller friend is unhappy. I will have to research why.
He puts the phone down. Enter chandni. She looks shaken.
chandni: Sudha is dead.
top rani: Oh. Are you sure?
chandni: She’s not breathing.
top rani: My daughter is dead. May she be happy in the ever after. May she never open her legs again.
Pause.
Is that jeweller your customer?
chandni: Sudha is dead. Is that all you can . . .
top rani: Is the jeweller your customer or not?
chandni: Yes . . .
top rani: He’s a very unhappy man.
chandni: About what? He goes mad every time I
touch him. He brings me a gift every time he comes. Last time he got me a necklace the thickness of a dog leash. So there is no problem.
top rani: He’s already paying you. Why the necklace?
chandni: Ask him.
top rani: Something tells me the answer is right here.
chandni: But he’s very happy with me.
top rani: Then the problem lies in his happiness. What words of wisdom have you been whispering to him?
chandni: I don’t have any wisdom to give.
top rani goes to his wooden cupboard and removes a pack of cards. He walks back to chandni.
top rani: Are you sure you did not disclose anything to the jeweller?
chandni: I’m sure.
top rani: (chucking cards towards her) I would like you to use the very subtle clues I am throwing your way. Are you sure there is nothing you have revealed?
chandni tries to leave. top rani throws her to the floor. He puts his foot on her chest.
Think hard. I’m not afraid to lose one more daughter. (pointing to the cage) Replacements are not that hard to find.
chandni: I just told him . . . you do not pick cards . . . from the matka for the last bet of the year.
top rani: What makes you think that?
chandni: I made it up.
top rani: What else did you tell him?
chandni: Nothing.
He puts on more pressure with his foot.
top rani: What else did you tell him?
chandni: I told him that I knew how you called the closing number on that day.
top rani: Why in the name of prostitution did you say that?
chandni: He thought that I knew something and kept offering me the necklace if I gave him a tip. So I lied. I told him that this year you would decide the closing number based on which daughter earns the most money.
He lifts his foot off her.
top rani: And that idiot believed you? The jeweller must have placed a huge bet with a bookie. Now he’s calling me up to talk ill of the bookie because he doesn’t want to pay up. If I intervene, then no money to pay. But his plan flopped double time. And you got a necklace on top of that. Go fetch it.
Exit chandni.
(to aarti) Now, dear one. It’s time we have a little talk. Do you know what we do here? This is a kotha where girls rent their bodies to older men. Your own father tried to kill you. A speck of dust on his shirt sleeve that he flicked away straight into traffic. It’s a small miracle that he died and you are alive, so take it that you’re meant to be here. You start work tonight. It will distract you from your father’s death. Chandni!
Enter chandni with the chain.
I will keep the chain. As punishment, you will not step out of this brothel without my permission.
chandni: I’m leaving for good.
top rani digs in his ear as if he did not hear correctly.
I’m buying my freedom.
top rani: My dear, even gold cannot take your place.
chandni: You have Aarti now. She will grow into a beautiful woman.
top rani: I will watch you die in this brothel, but you will never leave.
chandni: What if you die first?
top rani holds his heart. He staggers back and forth, slowly moving towards chandni.
top rani: My own daughter . . . ooh it breaks my heart in two . . . no . . . three . . . no . . . twenty-three . . .
He suddenly grabs hold of chandni’s hair and pulls her to the floor. He pushes her face very close to the floor.
What do you see down there?
chandni: I . . . don’t know . . .
top rani: Look closely and you will see the roots of your prostitution. If you leave this brothel, you will die without roots. You cannot read, you cannot write. What will you do? Hah? Maybe you can get married. Indian men love virgins. You are my daughter. Now stay at home and act like one.
He lets her go. She stays on the ground. He pats her hair lovingly as he looks at aarti.
(to aarti) See? Our family is very close. I just can’t let her go.
chandni gets up. top rani looks at aarti.
Chandni. That foreign tourist who came last night. He’s staying at Hotel Baaz, round the corner. Go tell him that I have an opportunity for him—a new girl, very young, needs breaking in. But if he mentions a word to anyone, tell him that even though he came from his country in a plane, he will go back in a box.
He violently kicks the cage bars.
Even smaller than this cage!
Two
Grant Road. December 31st. Eight p.m. gantaal is asleep. The white sheet covers him. The full moon shines on him. Enter satta. He is covered in blood. Shards of glass are stuck in his face.
satta: I have a tip for you.
gantaal wakes up and looks at satta.
Are you listening? I have a tip.
gantaal: You are dead.
satta: That is why my tip is dead accurate.
gantaal: What are you talking about?
satta: I failed her, Gantaal. I failed my own child.
gantaal: Why did you have to kill yourself?
satta: It was either the car or Khalil Bhai’s knife. I wish Aarti were dead too. Why did she have to live?
gantaal: It’s too late now. Nothing can be done.
satta: They will turn my Aarti into a prostitute . . . my Aarti . . . you must do something.
gantaal: This has nothing to do with me.
satta: Here is my tip. Do something. Otherwise you will have to come home with me. (pointing to the moon) All bad people stay there. You know that.
The moon moves towards satta. satta runs from it.
It’s coming for me. I have to go.
satta exits. A soft wind starts to blow and the white sheet flutters. The wind picks up momentum. gantaal gets up and the sheet slowly comes off of him. It floats high in the air. He looks at the sheet and deliberates.
gantaal: (to Aroramanyu) Aroramanyu, this is your wing. Now take it to her and protect her from harm.
The wind rises to a crescendo and the sheet sails away across the stage, rising higher and higher.
Three
The brothel. Eight p.m. A wind blows through the brothel. chandni is at a clothesline. She is putting clothes into a dirty plastic bucket. There is a bedsheet on the line. It looks exactly like gantaal’s sheet.
chandni: (to aarti) Years ago, I was in that same cage. I was just as stubborn as you are. Until Top Rani had a man sent in.
The wind picks up momentum. The sheet rises high. aarti watches it.
But you are luckier than I was. I went to Hotel Baaz, but the foreign man has left.
The sheet floats high in the air. Enter top rani. He watches as the sheet lands over the cage. aarti pulls the sheet through the cage and covers herself.
top rani: Don’t get too used to covering yourself. If God had intended for us to wear clothes, we would be born with them. We only wear skin, little one. Do you understand?
Pause.
Chandni, explain the rules to her.
chandni turns to leave.
I want you to explain the rules to her.
chandni: You will be given two meals a day. You will never be allowed to leave this place for the rest of your life. This is your new home. Get used to it. If you cry, you will be beaten with a cricket bat. There will be no marks on your body. But your stomach will hurt. A constant thumping of the stomach will stop babies. We do not want babies.
chandni is unable to go on. She exits.
top rani: She left out the best part. Once in a while, you can listen to the radio. Did you understand everything that was just said?
aarti does not look his way. top rani fetches the cricket bat and bangs it hard against the cage. aarti sits up, petrified. Her hands s
haking, she indicates that she would like to write something.
What—you want to write?
She nods. He gets her a pencil and some scraps of paper. He gives it to her. She starts writing.
I hope it’s not a letter to your father. Postage will be expensive.
She hands him the paper. He reads from it.
“My mother’s sister will give money.” I did not know this. Chandni is slacking in research. Where was this woman when I came to the hospital to take you? Hah? You were alone there. Your father was inside dying. No one will help you now. What does she do?
aarti starts writing again. She gives him the paper. He reads.
“Sweeper. Jeweller’s shop. Grant Road.”
(reading again) Jeweller’s shop. At Grant Road.
top rani smiles as though his mind has just solved an equation.
(shouting) Chandni!
Enter chandni.
Ask her where her mother’s sister works. Ask her. You will understand why.
chandni: Where does your mother’s sister work?
top rani: In a jeweller’s shop at Grant Road.
chandni: The same jeweller who . . .
top rani: Word of mouth is wonderful, isn’t it? I was wondering why that stupid father of hers was so sure that he would win. From prostitute to jeweller to sweeper to gambler. The Matka tip chain! And who pays in the end? A ten-year-old girl!
chandni: What have I done?
top rani: It is destiny. God willing, I will help her fulfill it tonight.
chandni: But the foreign man has left.
top rani: Are you sure?
chandni: He’s gone.
He studies chandni’s face for a brief moment.
top rani: (to aarti) Sorry. No foreign university for you. But Indian education is also good. (to chandni) Don’t be upset. What you have done is most natural.
chandni: How?
top rani: One prostitute died. So you gave birth to another.
chandni turns around to leave.
Where are you going?
chandni: To make preparations for Sudha’s cremation.
top rani: Be careful that you don’t get burned.
She exits.
