April 21, 2018
“When I was six, father gave me away to a man for two rupees in return. This man took me to his farm in the mountains where he lived alone and raised his cattle. He told me that from then onwards, I was to stay with him and obey his orders. He told me how he has spent money on me and if I tried anything foolish, he would feed me to the pigs. He told me never to question what he asked of me and in return, he would give me food and a corner to sleep. Many nights to come after that, I remember hiding and crying, fearing if this man saw me with my tears he would punish me. I missed my mother and my brothers and sisters and I could barely sleep. I would dream that mother had come looking for me and found me but it was just a child’s dream. As days turned into nights and nights turned to dawns, I slowly started to accept my fate and my crying stopped. Although there was still some hope left in me that mother would eventually, one day, come looking for me and find me. I thought of running away in the early hours of many mornings but I was afraid of the forests and I did not know the way to the village father and mother lived. My struggle had begun. I was only given leftover of what the man ate while I toiled from darkness to darkness, in the fields, in the kitchen, and with the animals. Days left me and so did the nights and I had already turned ten. I remember, one night I came out to watch the full moon and a sudden realisation gripped me. Many years had already passed. The faces of my mother, my brother and sister flashed in front of my eyes. I sank to the floor and sat there with the moon, hopeless, like a dying cow while tears rolled down my cheeks. I knew that my wait was futile. I knew that no one was coming for me.”