Sati...
She sat there like an unblemished effigy. Her thick mane darker then the colour of the smog created around her. The unveiled glances still trying to capture her voluptuous beauty. She looked like a Devi unperturbed by the chaos & din around her as she sat on the funeral pyre with her master’s head on her lap. Soon she was going to be set ablaze & her existence will be brought down to mere ashes which will be blown by the breeze, soon she will be proclaimed as a Devi a Sati devi, even the chowk named at her honor was decided, it was the same one which Hira the maid servant was mentioning the other day about a hippie girl being molested by a panda.
Suddenly a smile emerged on Roma’s lips as she remembered how she & Hira had tried to hide her father-in-law’s specs & got caught & everyone suddenly hailed at Sati Mata’s name seeing the smile on her face. Roma was now feeling dizzy looking at the man on her lap somehow she could not relate to the unresponsive, lifeless body neither she could recollect about the relation that she shared with the deceased. But somehow she could relate being a Sati. She remembered Rohini they used to call each other twin souls, inseparable….Roma & Rohini under the amla tree trying to savor the beauty of the month of Kathik…..Rohini was send to Belur as she married the man with hundred maidservants at his badi (villa). Soon Rohini was sent back as the man with hundred servants (that’s how Roma recalls him), died. But Rohini came with different tags attached to her, the women at the ghat used to call her a witch devouring her husband & refusing to walk up the pyre, some also called her a loose woman as she refused to shave her head. Roma remembered Rohini’s tear filled eyes when Roma refused to meet a blasphemed woman like her. Rohini was burning everyday not with the scorn of people around her but the discomfort of her dear ones. She remembered Sudhansu whose writings could cause upheaval in the society & who was one of the active members of the Brahmo. His thoughts made Rohini free from the grief that pricked her bosom & with lots of courage she confessed her feelings to him & Rohini became a Sati that very moment as she was burnt breathing by Sudhansu’s poison tipped words for her & the whole Brahmo Samaj was set ablaze in front of her. No one heard of Rohini thereafter.
Roma knew the taste that lingered on her lips it was pure ghee, thamma used to give a lot of it when young, another pot of ghee was splashed on her. Roma realized what was happening, she screamed for help but her voice subdued in the din & she was hit by something hard on her head might be with the holy fruit- coconut. Roma could see Sudhansu smiling at her & even Rohini had accompanied her on the pyre & then she saw all the hundred maid servants of Rohini’s badi jumping one by one in the pyre. Soon the sound faded & Roma knew she will be unlike Rohini & she smiled & became unconscious.
The author’s note: Roma & Rohini are close to me & so are the maid servants, I feel that the pratha of Sati still exists. A Joan of Arc was declared as a witch as she used to dress like a man, Speak to God, get revelations & hence burnt alive, she was proclaimed a saint after 500 hundred years of her death. Sati is an immediate title of Godhood given by a man. This blog is for us to think how many times are we made a Sati & burnt alive!!!!
She sat there like an unblemished effigy. Her thick mane darker then the colour of the smog created around her. The unveiled glances still trying to capture her voluptuous beauty. She looked like a Devi unperturbed by the chaos & din around her as she sat on the funeral pyre with her master’s head on her lap. Soon she was going to be set ablaze & her existence will be brought down to mere ashes which will be blown by the breeze, soon she will be proclaimed as a Devi a Sati devi, even the chowk named at her honor was decided, it was the same one which Hira the maid servant was mentioning the other day about a hippie girl being molested by a panda.
Suddenly a smile emerged on Roma’s lips as she remembered how she & Hira had tried to hide her father-in-law’s specs & got caught & everyone suddenly hailed at Sati Mata’s name seeing the smile on her face. Roma was now feeling dizzy looking at the man on her lap somehow she could not relate to the unresponsive, lifeless body neither she could recollect about the relation that she shared with the deceased. But somehow she could relate being a Sati. She remembered Rohini they used to call each other twin souls, inseparable….Roma & Rohini under the amla tree trying to savor the beauty of the month of Kathik…..Rohini was send to Belur as she married the man with hundred maidservants at his badi (villa). Soon Rohini was sent back as the man with hundred servants (that’s how Roma recalls him), died. But Rohini came with different tags attached to her, the women at the ghat used to call her a witch devouring her husband & refusing to walk up the pyre, some also called her a loose woman as she refused to shave her head. Roma remembered Rohini’s tear filled eyes when Roma refused to meet a blasphemed woman like her. Rohini was burning everyday not with the scorn of people around her but the discomfort of her dear ones. She remembered Sudhansu whose writings could cause upheaval in the society & who was one of the active members of the Brahmo. His thoughts made Rohini free from the grief that pricked her bosom & with lots of courage she confessed her feelings to him & Rohini became a Sati that very moment as she was burnt breathing by Sudhansu’s poison tipped words for her & the whole Brahmo Samaj was set ablaze in front of her. No one heard of Rohini thereafter.
Roma knew the taste that lingered on her lips it was pure ghee, thamma used to give a lot of it when young, another pot of ghee was splashed on her. Roma realized what was happening, she screamed for help but her voice subdued in the din & she was hit by something hard on her head might be with the holy fruit- coconut. Roma could see Sudhansu smiling at her & even Rohini had accompanied her on the pyre & then she saw all the hundred maid servants of Rohini’s badi jumping one by one in the pyre. Soon the sound faded & Roma knew she will be unlike Rohini & she smiled & became unconscious.
The author’s note: Roma & Rohini are close to me & so are the maid servants, I feel that the pratha of Sati still exists. A Joan of Arc was declared as a witch as she used to dress like a man, Speak to God, get revelations & hence burnt alive, she was proclaimed a saint after 500 hundred years of her death. Sati is an immediate title of Godhood given by a man. This blog is for us to think how many times are we made a Sati & burnt alive!!!!
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