The story of a 71 year old Muslim woman.
“Allah will bless us with good days soon son, apan sab k khairiyat kartai Allah” said 71 years old widow Salma Hussain of Parsa, Mahottari. Like thousands of Madhesis, Salma is facing harsh circumstances since the last 2 months because of Madhes protests. This is the story of this old woman that has been troubling me insanely since yesterday. Hence, I decided to give voice to stories like that of Salma, which are seldom written and read.
We sold half of our land to gather money for our daughter’s marriage and half of the remaining to send our sons to Qatar to work.
Salma is just another woman who lives her normal life like millions of other Madhesis. She is unfamiliar to the Madhesi demands, yet she says “Beta, Bhatija sab kahai hai ta kena biswaas nai kariyai (My sons tell me things, and I trust my family)”. There is grievance, without actual realization of the cause of grievance. Salma suffers high-blood pressure and is supposed to visit the hospital in Janakpur once a month. Her village, Parsa, lies 11 kilometers south of Janakpur; making it impossible for her visit the hospital amidst the protests. She has 3 sons who live in Qatar and a daughter who is married to an Indian from across the border in Benipatti.
“We used to be happy. We had some amount of land which we used for growing crops” said Salma “We sold half of our land to gather money for our daughter’s marriage and half of the remaining to send our sons to Qatar to work”. Not only marriage, even getting a job costs a lot to commoners in Madhes due to unscrupulous agents and lack of proper monitoring from the concerned authorities.
Her sons used to send some money home every month but the protest has paralyzed the banking and has barred her from collecting any money. She is living off money borrowed from neighbors; scared that if the protests last any longer, she is going to end up with nothing! Every morning she wakes up and goes to Heena khatun’s (her neighbor) house to enquire if the strike is over because Heena has a television. She has been disappointed every for 60 mornings now. Otherwise black flags decorate her village and burning tires fill the air. Lamenting waves of sorrow hover upon innocents. Nobody cares!
On the 11th of October, she somehow managed to find a local electronic rickshaw to travel to Janakpur for her monthly follow up at the doctor’s. For her return, the same rickshaw driver promised to take her back at 2:00 PM. She arrived at the Dudhmati Bridge right on the edge of Janakpur at 1:30 only to find the rickshaw driver say “Charge khatam bhe gelai mai, kena janbai (I have run out of battery)”.
Scared, Salma began an impossible walk for a 71 year old towards her village. She was trying to stop motorcyclists passing by without any luck. She gave up and sat beside the road on the dirt, still waving hands. Crying.
Son, please take me to parsa, I can’t walk.
I had run out of food and since stores remain closed, the only option was to get what we need from across the border. I took the risk and took off on my motorbike running on reserve petrol. On my way I saw an old woman waving her hands as if asking me to stop. I moved on. When I got about 50 meters away, I began wondering why she was sitting beside the road alone. I turned back. “Bauwa parsa taik pahucha da, nai chalal hoi haba, Salma Hussain che hum, ghar parse haba (Son, please take me to parsa, I can’t walk. My name is Salma Hussain and my home is parsa)”
I am going to end by quoting Prushottam Shah here “She is a madhesi, not morcha!”
[note] : Salma is safe and sound, and I got to eat an apple she bought in Janakpur.
