Rakshabandhan on Russell Street
Time for mediocrity to go to bed.
Winners, high-performance VP's, drunkards, stay awake.
Some little girl smiles in her sleep, they all do.
1.
The Monk Appears
A monk appears -
On Russell Street.
Mountains behind the church, the Pine woods,
It's cold.
Wind sneaks into the saffron robes of the monk-
And into the hair of the whores of Russell Street
They stand by their doors.
Waiting for a Joe
Often a drunkard,
To get fucked.
2.
The Monk
Shaved head,
Calm brown eyes.
Barefeet.
The Monk walks.
Head up, high.
Chin up.
Straight back.
Definite, smart footsteps.
3.
Amina
The cold air kisses Amina's breasts.
She's barely fourteen
Her menses have started-
Customers pay a hefty price for fresh meat
But raw meat gets preserved, unseasoned.
So she feeds two men only, per night.
The district collector Babu,
And the police hotshot that writes a clean report, everytime, for Russell Street.
Pot-belly fools, both of them, she knows.
Sometimes she gets scared.
When they put a hand on her face when she screams-
She often bleeds.
That's when the Joes stand up.
The policeman grunts
"Looks like I did a good job:"-
Says he, contented.
Amina often falls sick.
Then, she talks to her cat.
4.
Abida
The Monk keeps walking.
Couple buildings off, lives Abida Khatoon.
She's dancing to the tunes of the sarangi,
The beats of the tabla.
Dorks watch her, googly-eyed.
Jaws on the floor.
Stone eyes, gelded souls.
Some distance off, sits a broke poet.
His winters are dreary.
He's searching for a fairy.
Abida's eighteen year old heart loves the kid,
A man among mules, as it appears.
But enough talk, the jeweller is drooling.
And,
He has cash to spend.
5.
Payal
The Monk tightens his grip on his shaft.
Now to your right, there's a kothi.
Payal looks down at the Monk from the first floor.
"Mid-twenties are your best years" said someone;
Like sportspersons, work hard, save money.
She's there for it all.
Six Joe's a day? To a nearby hotel?
A booking for a night?
Payal's seen it all.
Nature gifted her a dead child.
A girl, too, it was.
How ironically beautiful (!?)
She has a body to monger,
Hate to barter.
There's a curious college student to talk to.
He comes just to talk
Free healthcare, sex-worker unions
He'll turn up dead someday.
6.
The Crystal Field, from Russell Street
The Monk walks by a field.
Dogs dig up dead foetuses.
Then eat them higher up in the Pine woods.
Sitting on the wet forest floor in the shivering cold.
7.
Madiha
Madiha is in her thirties
And, she's a bully.
Her dad sold her to a smuggler.
She's been fending for herself for quite some time now.
Tough girl, hard to break
Does not entertain weird, obscene requests.
Everyone respects her as a veteran.
8.
Sandhya Tai
Even all this sin does not penetrate the Monk's saffron overalls.
He walks on.
At the end of Russell Street.
Lives a Marathi lady, Sandhya Tai.
Preventing illicit births,
Burying dead foetuses,
Dragging the sick girls to healthcare
Begging doctors to come to Russell Street,
Shooing off annoying Joe's,
Kicked out by her sons, she does this all.
9.
The Joes of The Hoes
Now all these characters,
And many others,
Including dozens of other whores,
Some street dogs
Couple of tramps
A police informer
An undercover journalist
A tourist
And a maoist in hideout,
Watch in awe-
10.
"Tie me a rakhi, di"
The Monk, now omniscient.
Walks right to the end of Russell Street.
A Goddess waits there for him.
The entirety of Russell Street glows divinely
With a bright, pure light
Shards of innocence pierce sinful hearts
A beggar plays a lute in the distance.
The Goddess waits for him with eager eyes.
A rakhi in her hand.
The Monk extends his right hand.
Says,
"Tie me a rakhi, Di."
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