Interlude 13
Chameli's farmhouse was a collection of four small constructs - a four room hut, a bathhouse, a cattle shed, and a store. The twenty yards approach way, from the road connecting the village square to the highway, entered the compound through a steel gate with the store on the approacher's left and the cattle shed to the right. There was an open hard space to be crossed to reach the main entrance of the hut. The compound was surrounded on all three sides by the fields belonging to Chameli.
The store had an extension which housed the tractor. The cattle shed was divided into two parts- one had a cow with its calf, and the other had chickens. The hut had a central hall, with one room of equal size on both sides, and a cook house towards the rear. The rooms were available for sleeping based on the strength of the residents. The rear door gave access to the cook house and to the bathhouse ten yards away. With the completion of the government funded latrine-cum-bathroom, which was connected to one of the rooms, the bathhouse was now being used for heating water only.
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Chameli had gone to great lengths to honour Mansoor. In preparation for the arrival of Joohi's future husband, Chameli had vacated the room with attached bathroom. The women would be sleeping in the other room and using the bathhouse.
After breakfast, Chameli had instructed Joohi to take the guest around the farm. Within her meagre resources, she had laid out a royal spread for lunch, to impress her future son-in-law and farm owner by exhibiting the classic Indian hospitality. In the afternoon, while the others rested, she played with her granddaughter, who had started to feel neglected. In the evening, when she had given up on trying to get her granddaughter to sleep, she took her along to the kitchen, where Joohi was preparing tea.
Shama went to the guest room and hugged her alpha male. Their lips met and their tongues swirled. Joohi walked in with a tray of tea and snacks, and froze on seeing the intimate scene. Her eyes locked with Mansoor's, like a prey hypnotised by a cobra. She remained rooted as he broke the kiss, embraced her sister, cupped and squeezed Shama's buttocks, staring at Joohi the whole time. Suddenly roused and aroused, she turned around and rushed out. Unbalanced mentally by what she had seen and its wider implications on her proposed marriage, she blurted out the episode to her mother.
Shama was unaware that her secret was out. When Mansoor went out of the hut with Kusum, she was confronted by Chameli and Joohi.
C: You ungrateful sow, first you break your wedding vows by giving your body to another man, and then you have the audacity to propose him for your own sister?
S: What do you mean, Amma?
C: Joohi saw you and him together, kissing..... and.....and....
J: Jiji (elder sister), when I had gone to get your luggage out of the car, I found your bra and panties in the car.
C: Was that the reason why you were so late?
J: Why do you want me to marry him? What is wrong with you Jiji?
C: You have a successful husband, who has never troubled us for dowry. Yet you disrespected your father's memory and our family name! And what about your daughter? Is this the example you have set for her to follow?
S: Stop it, you two. Calm down. Amma, Joohi, sit down. Listen to me, ok? I'm not happy with that businessman. He is neither good in business nor is he capable as a man. I didn't know love, life or happiness till Mani came. Look how happy Kusum is, with him. He is a complete man. And about sex, yes, he has had me so many times, he has given boundless pleasure.
C: Shame on you, Shama. A woman's body is only for giving birth to her husband's children, and her life is to be dedicated to her children. Her family is the reason for her existence. Look at cows, mares, elephants. The duty of a female is to reproduce. There is no pleasure in the act of reproduction. I am disappointed, saddened and shocked.
Shama stared at her mother and sister silently for some time, then turned around and walked away. She walked out of the farmhouse. She needed time to work out a damage control strategy.
Mansoor had guessed the reason for Shama's abrupt departure. In fact he had overheard the latter part of the conversation. He entered the hut and saw Joohi making way to the cook house and Chameli heading out the rear door. He followed Chameli to the bath house. As she bent down to put wood under the water tank, he grabbed her and spun her around.
M: You shouldn't have said anything to Shama. Now I have to punish you.
Mansoor grabbed the loose end of Chameli's saree and pulled, making her twirl. She lost balance and fell onto him. He grabbed her blouse with both hands and ripped it off. She gasped and crossed her hands across her chest. He opened her bra and tossed it off.
M: By the time I finish with you today, you will be begging for more. Although you are so sexy, you have never experienced sex unless you are fucked by Mansoor. I'm going to show you how pleasant, how lovely sex is. You will know what Shama knows now, that a woman's life is meaningless without sex.
She watched helplessly as he disrobed. She had nowhere to run, as he blocked the only exit. She looked at the erect phallus pointing at her face. It appeared huge. It was definitely larger than her husband's. She got reminded of the village bull that had mounted the cow she owned the previous year.
M: I don't want to hurt you. Just take off your clothes and lie down.
Wise women say - when rape is inevitable, don't resist. Chameli did as she was told. Screaming would only bring shame to her family. As she lay down with her eyes shut, her arms across her chest, her legs closed and her knees bent, she told herself that he would leave the house when he is done, and that no one would believe that an old woman as she would be a target of rape.
Mansoor looked down at Chameli's prone body. In the approaching twilight, he could make out that she had no hair on her pubic mound and her armpits. He knelt on her side and removed her resisting arms from her chest. Then he bent down on her breasts and started to suck her nipples. He moved his right hand down her stomach and covered her cunt with his palm through tightly closed muscular thighs. As he continued sucking he tried to get more space between her thighs. When he couldn't get her legs to part, he rose up.
M: Do you know how sexy you are. Your eyes are so deep and expressive, I could drown in them. Your lips are so inviting that I have to control my desire to lick them. Even without any makeup, you shine like the full moon. You are a heavenly nymph, your look can launch ships and missiles. Words from that lovely tongue of yours will stop fighting bulls. You have a beautiful mind in a pretty face. The intoxicating fragrance of your long thick hair is enough to put a rose garden to shame.
Mansoor kept up his torrent of flattering words, and slowly the passive resistance from the muscles of the prone female began to subside. Mansoor bent down over her lips and started nibbling them lightly, continuing with repetitive praises. As the pressure on his hand reduced, he started to rub her cunt, steadily increasing the pressure. After a few minutes of the nibble-rub, he placed his lips fully on hers and probed her mouth with his tongue. When he felt her lips clamp up, he inserted a finger into her lower orifice. The sudden invasion caused her to clamp her legs close again. But her eyes flew open and her involuntary gasp opened her mouth to his tongue. He worked his tongue against her oral cavity, while his finger moved about her vagina, for almost ten minutes.
Chameli became aware of the increasing wetness in her, and her brain started registering strange feelings running all along her nervous system. She had briefly loosened her legs and her assailant had used that opportunity to place two fingers into her. Her sensitive spot was now the target of his assault.
It was dark and Joohi was anxious about her mother's unexplained absence. She sent her niece to the bathhouse to check. Kusum called from outside.
K: Grandma? (Silence) Grandma, are you inside?
