Meena Patel walked up and down the dreary street between her house and her children's school twice every day, just part of her stifling routine of domestic duties. In the morning she left the kids, aged 5 and 7, and returned home to cleaning, shopping and cooking the evening meal. In the afternoon, she trudged back to the school gates and collected them, the bright little lights in her life. In the evening her husband returned from work, ate his meal and played with his children for an hour before their bedtime. Then the two of them watched TV largely in silence, until it was time for bed. In the morning, the whole thing started again.
Weekends were little better, mostly involving visits to and from her husband's family, whom she detested, as they treated her as a servant. Her own family were in India, and she saw them rarely. In fact she had seen them only twice since she came to this country to marry eight years ago, at the age of 19. On a Saturday night sometimes there was brief frantic lovemaking, which she saw only as another of her duties. Her husband's needs were not great, though, and he was not given to displays of affection.
She felt she could not complain about her life -- many had worse. She had two lovely children, her husband was in work and their standard of living was quite good, and he didn't drink or beat her. None of the other mothers at the school gates paid much attention to her, but she didn't feel much need to socialize with them -- she could not understand their lives and their interests.
Today Meena looked at herself in the mirror in the hallway before setting out once again to the school, and wondered why she felt so empty. Perhaps it was just the distance between her and her family. She may have been bored and unhappy, but always took great care of her appearance. She was always immaculately turned out in traditional sari, her hair tied back and her face radiant with just a hint of make-up to enhance her lovely brown eyes. Her features were delicate, and she wore a stud on one side of her nose. She was only just over 5 feet tall, and her tiny slim figure had not suffered from two pregnancies.
As she walked along the street she noticed workmen had begun to clear a patch of waste ground near the school, and wondered why. Anything different was welcome to change the routine. It was spring now and the weather was good. The workmen were stripped to the waist, and she stood and watched them work for a minute before walking on, then stood alone amongst the chatting mothers at the school gate, listening to their gossip and their coarse laughter. She couldn't chase the image of those broad chests and strong arms from her mind, until her children ran up and greeted her and broke the spell. She walked home, listening to them chatter, but stole another glance at the workmen as she passed.
The next week as she passed again, she noticed a temporary building being lowered onto the site. There was heavy machinery now, digging out foundations, and different workmen. As the week wore on it became a routine that when the young mums walked past the site, often dressed in skimpy summer clothing, the workmen would whistle at them, and sometimes shout suggestive remarks. Meena watched disapprovingly, but something in her wondered why they didn't shout at her.
On the Friday morning, she trailed home in the morning having dropped off her kids once more. She was lost in thought as the passed the site, when she heard a whistle. She looked around to see the object of their attention today. There was no-one else in the street.
"Get your tits out!" came a shout. "Come over here and we'll show you something!"
Meena stopped in her tracks and turned to look for the speaker. She saw a group of four workmen, amongst whom there seemed to be some sort of a dispute going on. She did not know what possessed her, but she set off across the uneven ground in her sandals toward the men. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and she had no notion of what she was going to do when she reached them. When she did so, they looked distinctly uncomfortable, looking at each other or the ground. One of the men, a shortish guy in his thirties, spoke first.