Chapter 01: A Thakur Challenges Her Womanhood
The marriage preparations were abruptly stopped. As usual, there was no provocation for it beyond a sharp exchange of words, and egos were bruised on all sides. The boy's father, Thakur Hari Singh, flew into a rage when his plans for the young couple's future were challenged by the girl in front of her father and other family elders.
But what really set the stage for what happened next was the way in which the disagreement became a war of words. In the typical swaggering style of a feudal lord, the Thakur had pronounced that he would wait for exactly 9 months to become a grandfather and that his newly married son should set about propagating the clan forthwith.
This announcement was made at a gathering of the two extended families. Binita, the bride-to-be was expected to sit in on the proceedings only to know what was expected of her and not to respond, react or offer comment. But her father had not brought her up in that manner, even though socially they were from a family that would be expected to be subservient to the Thakur. To her father, the escape from the social inferiority lay in higher education. He sent his daughter Binita to the best of schools in the town and later to a larger city in a hostel. Now, at the age of twenty, she was among the best educated from the village.
Her reaction to being treated as a commodity in marriage was predictable. She stood up as the Thakur concluded his desire to become a grandfather, and with eyes blazing with anger, she proclaimed loudly, "I have no intention of motherhood for the first five years. I am going to work and so is Pritam. We are going to build our own base before we build a family."
As she said this, her tension rose and her breathing became pronounced and ragged. Her face flushed red and her head was turned up in defiance. Now she slowly realized that the deafening silence that enveloped the gathering was shock at her defiance of the ultimate authority in their village. Yet, she held her head high, glaring at her father-in-law to-be.
"Hey, girl!" the Thakur bellowed, "How dare you refer to your fiancé by name? And who are you to decide what will happen and what will not in my household?"
"Ask your son," she replied acidly. "When he was chasing me around to marry him, it was he who said I should call him by name and think and do as I please!"
Binita's father could see the situation slipping out of control and rose with folded hands and bowed head to try mediating the two extreme positions. "Thakur sahib, the girl wishes to work for a few years and it would not be possible if she were to get pregnant. However, once she marries into your family it is your choice and you can discuss it amongst yourselves," he suggested.
"I do not see the need to discuss!" raged the Thakur. "In our family we do not discuss the obvious. Is there anything you are hiding from me about this girl of yours that you are supporting her? Is she capable of bearing children or not? Or are the women in your family not complete women?"
The reference to the womanhood of his clan brought Binita's father's entire family to its feet. And from there it was downhill all the way. Heated words were exchanged, things which were not meant were said, and in about half an hour, just after sunset, when preliminary celebrations should have started, Binita and her family were back in their modest home, pondering next moves.
At the Thakur residence, Hari Singh was taking his son to task for going around publicly with a girl he was not yet betrothed to. Undoubtedly that was what had given the girl the courage to stand up to him.
And Binita, sitting on the roof of her home, was indignant over the aspersion cast on her womanhood. That man needed to be taught a lesson. As she reflected on her choices she realized that there was nothing any one would dare do against the Thakur. Whatever needed to be done would have to be done by her. And what better lesson to teach him than to make him accept the superiority of her womanhood.
Under the cover of darkness, Binita made her way to the Thakur's mansion. She was let in by the guards who recognised her and she found her way through the maze of corridors and rooms, through to the back yard. There, under the mango trees, near the cowsheds, sat the Thakur, surrounded by a few of his cronies, smoking a hookah.
The animated conversation fell to a hush as the men saw Binita make her way towards them. She stood there, looking at Hari Singh, her chest heaving from the exertion of her walk and the tension of the moment. By the light of the lamps, her curves were accentuated and her tight choli (blouse) showed her breasts to her advantage. Her ghagra (skirt) with its mirror work glinted by the light of the lamps. Those dark angry eyes flashed at him, and it took the Thakur a while to realize he was looking at his prospective daughter-in-law and not just any woman for him to lust after.
He signaled his men to leave them alone.
"What have you come for now?" he asked, thinking that she might possibly want to apologize for her behavior earlier in the evening.
"I have come here to tell you that having a moustache as large as yours does not guarantee the masculinity of your clan. So you should watch it before you talk about our womanhood," she said with a taunting smile.
The woman he had chosen to be his son's wife looked bewitching with that saucy, taunting smile. The warm glow of lamps, the hide and seek of shadow and light, just made her seem all the more haunting. The challenge was not only in her words but also in her body language. He felt aroused and his male chauvinist instinct was to respond with a demonstration of his manhood.
He covered up his loss of control with a show of anger. He got up from the low slung cot made of rope, and strode forward towards Binita, his arm outstretched as if to strike her across the face.
For the first time, Binita took note of his tall stride, his muscular arms, his broad shoulders and sinewy body as the man overshadowed her. She felt panic inside her, but was not about to show it and continued to play her game of nerves.
"Violence? Is that what you use to hide your impotence?" she asked laughingly, knowing the relaxed smile on her face would infuriate him.
