Forbidden India Ch. 03

Technically, this story is set in Pakistan instead of neighboring India. However, it was written at the same time as the stories in the Forbidden India series and I think it makes a good addition to the overall exotic / forbidden theme.

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Neglected In Pakistan

Melancholy was a good word to describe Anum. The Pakistani woman felt this way often, especially when her husband left town for days on end. He hardly called when he was gone, and as of late, he hardly paid any attention to her when he was home. Anum suspected her husband would sleep with other women when he was on his business trips. She tried to tell herself that she was only being paranoid, but there was that time when she cornered her husband's partner.

"Does my husband have other lovers?" She asked, point blank.

"Oh, of course not." The man had quickly replied. "You're only imagining things."

It was a reasonable response, except Anum had seen the man's eyes shift when he spoke the words. Anum remained quiet about what she had seen, but her husband once had a row with that man.

"He will not look me directly in the eye when he tells a fib." Her husband said that time. "This is how I know he has been lying to me!"

Anum did not like the idea of living in a loveless marriage. Certainly, she owned items that would make her the envy of most women. Her husband had come from humble origins, but through his and his brothers' efforts they had become wealthy men. They employed many local Pakistani to work in their vast wheat and cotton fields. Through careful planning and execution, the brothers had created a supply route to take their harvests from the fields in eastern Pakistan, down the River Indus and all the way to Karachi, the biggest port city in the country.

Her husband bought Anum expensive, showy things such as clothing and jewelry, which were very nice things to have. But then he forbade her to wear them unless she was standing in his presence. Anum felt as if she were merely another one of her husband's expensive trinkets. She felt gaudy, meaningless.

Anum's husband was a full decade older than her twenty-five years. He was a strict man, following the Koran's teachings as closely as most other Pakistani men did. This could be troublesome for Anum. Before she married, she could wear her thigh-length shirts and loose trousers out in public. After they were wed, Anum was forced to don her burka whenever she left their estate, covering her entire form with black fabric except for the thin line around her eyes. Like many Muslim men, her husband grew insanely jealous if another man dared to look upon her.

Anum never understood that. She was an attractive woman, fair of skin and with long black hair. Brown eyes and thick lips were the highlights of her pretty face. Her shape was womanly, with a heavy bosom and a pleasing waist. Her hips were thick but not fat. Wearing a burka to cover her entire body made her feel less of a woman. She could grow jealous as well, whenever she saw female newscasters on the television or women on the street who were permitted to show their faces.

Due to her husband being out of town, Anum was prohibited from leaving their estate. The good thing about this was that the estate was a large enough place for her to forget her problems. They had a house with two floors and many rooms. The electricity and plumbing worked well most days, but there were occasions when the services were interrupted. The irrigation from the nearby fields stretched onto the property, keeping it fresh and grassy for much of the year. Her husband had a stable large enough for six horses, although at present he only owned two.

Early in their marriage, her husband had often taken her sightseeing to places where he and his brothers owned fields, or out to the most expensive restaurants in town. That had all ended when something or other had happened with the wife of one of her husband's brothers. What that woman had done or been accused of was unknown. The result was that her husband started keeping her confined to his house from that point on. Never mind that Anum had been guilty of nothing. The little she had left as consolation was the satellite installed to harness television programs.

"Lady Anum!"

She heard her name being called from downstairs. The caller's voice belonged to the servant named Danial. In all, her husband had four servants working on the grounds, with one tending to the landscape, the cars and the horses, and the two maids who cooked and cleaned. The last of the servants was Danial who ran errands for her and drove her to town on occasion.

"Lady Anum!" Danial repeated, his call coming from another end of the house this time.

If Anum were bored, she might stay silent and let the servant find her. Because she had sent him on an errand and she hoped he had accomplished his task, the woman went to the guardrail of the stairs and announced where she was.

Dutifully, Danial was soon seen trotting up the stairs. Anum grew hopeful when she saw the servant carrying a wide, thin package in his hand.

There was a reason why a husband as jealous as hers would allow a male servant to cater to Anum. This was because Danial was not an attractive young man. He was long-limbed and gangly, with sleepy eyes and ears that were too large for his head. Her husband and the other servants called him 'boy,' but the truth was that Danial was only two years younger than she was.

"What do you have in your hand, Danial?" Anum asked.

He held the skinny package out to her. "They weren't easy to find. They came from the estate of an old British couple."

Intrigued, Anum took the parcel and opened up the end. Inside were three records for phonographs. This excited Anum immensely, as an associate of her husband's had presented him with an old phonograph recently. Having no need for such an item, her husband had passed the strange device over to her. She didn't know what to do with the phonograph either, as it was only a misshapen wooden box with a very large horn coming out of it. When she understood that it was meant to play music, she requested to Danial that he go out and find some for her.

"What sort of music is on these?" Anum asked, gazing onto the cardboard record covers. On the covers were black and white pictures of smiling couples. She saw the lettering on the album covers as well, but while she could speak and understand English, she was not well versed in reading it.

"I was told the music was very old. It was once very popular dancing music."

"Very popular?" She asked. "Put this on the phonograph for me."

Danial was a bit put off to hear this, as he had as much knowledge on how to work an old phonograph as she did. Still, the young man knew his place. He turned and started down the stairs to where the record player was located, with Anum descending close at his heels.

They went into the social room, where her husband and his many friends would sit and talk about current business deals or expensive cars or future business deals. That's all they spoke of, really.

Danial went to study the old record player. "If I remember this correctly, I turn this button to give it current." He saw the record pad starting to turn. "I think it is working. Now, I must set the record down on that spinning circle."

"No, Danial." Anum recalled. "You put the record first and start the spinning after."

Danial shut the player off, waiting until the rotation slowed and slowed to a stop. He pulled the first album from the package and withdrew the black disc from its inside. "Here is the record."

Anum watched him set the record onto the player. Danial turned the phonograph back on, allowing them both to watch it spin.

"It has a needle to it." He recalled. "I must take the cover from the needle for it to work correctly."

Anum studied his movements closely. Danial fumbled with the needle bar once, as he was hardly touching it and let it slip from between his fingers.

"The needle goes on the edge." He said, as he gingerly set it down on the record.

They heard nothing at first, until a few strange crackles were heard. Music started up only seconds later. It was an unusual sound for both their ears, as the music had many instruments they weren't familiar with. The voice they heard accompanying the tune was a man's voice. It sounded bouncy and happy like a cartoon.

"Put the volume higher." Anum said.

When Danial was too slow for her, she did this herself. The grainy pops were still heard, but the same music was blaring out loud enough to fill the room. Anum had never heard such music in her life.

"I was told this was a sort of primitive CD." Danial laughed. "I didn't believe it until now!"

Because Anum was busy listening, she didn't reply. The young woman simply stood there and heard the sounds from the phonograph. At first the music sounded too foreign to her. She could understand the lyrics however, and from them she deduced that the music was meant for lovers. In some long ago year, lovers who spoke English would listen to this music and dance to it.

"What do you think of it, Danial?" She wondered.

Her servant shook his head as if he didn't like it.

Anum turned away from him, taking the album cover to see it again. Fascinated by the sounds coming from the phonograph, she took the other albums from the package as well. For a time, Anum wondered if she could guess what the music would sound like by looking at the covers.

"I will listen to all of them." She decided. "Go find something to do."

Danial and his big ears walked off, leaving Anum alone in the room. The next song she heard had a woman's voice on it.

"I'm just a woman, a lonely woman, one you should be sorry for. Am I blue? Am I blue? He's in Chicago, he's in Chicago, and I'm down here in Birmingham. Trying to get the money, so I can see my honey, I am, indeed I am. There was a time... I was his only, only, only one, but now I'm... a sad and lonely one. Am I blue? Am I blue? Am I blue?"

The voice was like a bird's warble to Anum's ears. The song was nice to hear, but also sad. The words were as if they were meant for only her to hear them. Danial said this music was once popular to listen to, but she couldn't understand why. The song was too sad to listen to. It made Anum feel melancholy all over again.

That night, Anum had a dream that her husband had married twenty women. Each woman he put into a different room of the house. The last room at the end of the house would belong to her. She would be the last woman in the row to be visited. She would become forgotten. It reminded her of another song she'd heard on the phonograph.

"Blackbird, blackbird, singing the blues all day. Blackbird, blackbird, better be on your way. Bye, bye blackbird. Bye, bye blackbird."

Her husband would not like the music; Anum decided this the next morning. She told Danial to carry the phonograph up to the second floor. He set it down in the last room at the end of the hall. It was the same room she'd dreamt of.

The room was sparsely furnished, serving as a guest room. It had a view of the fields behind the house and the large irrigation equipment the workers used. Anum stayed there all morning, looking out the window and listening to the same album she'd heard the previous night.

Eventually, she grew tired of it. The next record had music with more of a happy beat to it. Anum imagined many things while listening to it. She wondered what the lives of the singers were like, back when the music had been popular. She wondered what the dances were like. How did those people dress, how did they look, how did they arrange their hair? Surely, none of those people had to cover their entire bodies with ugly black burkas.

"Lovers depend on moonlight, for a love affair. I can be happy, I can be sad, I can be good or I can be bad, it all depends on you. I can be lonely out in a crowd, I can be humble, I can be proud, it all depends on you."

Anum imagined what their dances were like. She swayed her body gently to the music. Her fascination with this old music grew so much that she called Danial to her side.

"You must take these record covers to the person who sold them to you." Anum instructed. "You must find out what sorts of dances were popular when this music was first played."

Danial never refused her orders. He simply nodded and left.

"I want to be loved by you, just you and nobody else but you. I want to be loved by you alone!"

It took hours before Danial returned. Not only had he found out the names of some of the old dances, but he even pulled up a few videos on his phone to show them to her.

"This is called the Charleston Dance." He said. "Here is the Black Bottom, and here is the Foxtrot."

The dances were ridiculous, Anum thought. Despite this, the antics matched the mood of the music well. She watched the videos with as much interest as she had in listening to the music.

"Leave me, Danial." She said, after viewing each of the videos several times.

Anum didn't like the dances, which were decidedly American and British. She could still dance to the music, however, only at her own pace. It would be her dance, by her and for her, and for no one else.

The next morning, Anum refused to be seen. She walked through the house in her burka, feeling like a bandit woman. The servants wondered what thoughts were going on in her head, but she didn't care what they thought. She felt like a prisoner in her home, and so why shouldn't she look like one as well?

Her mood changed at noon, when she went back to her usual long shirt and trousers. One of the maids helped Anum straighten out her hair. Afterward, she went back into that same room to listen to her music. She wondered what her life would have been like if she'd been born in Britain in the 1920s, when the music was popular.

Anum danced in that room as well. She swayed back and forth in a way that was comfortable to her, and not like the wild bouncing, arm swinging and leg kicking she had seen on Danial's videos. She had her back turned to the door, as she went from one side of the room to the other. When she turned to the door, she saw Danial standing there.

"Lady Anum." He said. "I was calling for you. Your dinner is waiting."

Anum saw the young man turn and stride off, as officiously as ever. She wondered how long Danial watched her dance.

That night, Anum dreamt that her husband was back home. He followed Anum wherever she went. He was leering over her while she slept, standing just outside the door when she showered and counting how many times she lifted her spoon while she ate her stew. When she went into her room to dance, her husband came in to take the record player away from her. In her dream, she was very angry that he'd done this.

"I'm too busy." Anum's husband said the next morning, when Anum asked the man when he was coming home. "Maybe three more days, maybe four. I cannot tell."

The phone conversation was short. It felt truncated, as if the husband and wife didn't have much to say to one another.

"Are you sleeping with another woman?" Anum asked him directly.

There was a pause on the other end, before she heard papers rustling. "I have no time to speak now. There are businessmen waiting for me."

Anum thought she heard a woman's voice in the background. Perhaps it was only a woman on the news show, or perhaps it was a woman in her husband's room. Maybe she had only imagined the voice and there had been no one there at all. What she liked least of all was that her husband had hung up without saying goodbye.

Already, Anum had asked her servant to procure more records for her. Danial had been unable to find any. Apparently the young man had driven all over town while looking.

It made her jealous to think that Danial could drive everywhere without having to cover his face. His face was so different than hers, so ugly. Why could her pretty face not be seen by anyone outside the house, while everyone in the world could see Danial's ugly face?

She heard him laughing in the kitchen. Perhaps the maid had told him a joke, she didn't know. Danial's voice was loud and raucous, like the braying of a donkey. It was his genuine laugh. Just hearing it brought a jealous ardor out of Anum. Not only did she feel her usual melancholy, but there was bitterness in her heart as well.

"Danial!" She called out from the living room.

Right away, he trotted out of the kitchen and over to where she stood. "You called for me, lady Anum?"

"I want you to find more videos for me, showing those same dances you found before. I want to listen to more music than just what is on those three records."

"I can do that right now." He said, casually reaching into a pocket to retrieve his phone.

This made Anum jealous as well. She had her own phone up until a few months prior. When her husband saw that she'd put a man's number into it, he'd taken the phone away from her. Never mind that the man was Anum's cousin, who would soon be going to a university in the States.

"I don't want to wait." She huffed. "You can come to the phonograph room when you are ready."

"It will only take one minute!"

Anum ignored her servant, turning right away and heading for the stairs. She walked up briskly, even as Danial started after her. So she could feel more in control of her life, she hurried through the hall and into the phonograph room. Behind her, Danial trotted up the stairs and followed.

Anum entered the room and waited for him to arrive. When he did, she decided to torment him. "I have changed my mind. Leave me for ten minutes. After that time, you can come back to show me what you've found. Go away, Danial."

As if he weren't put off at all, Danial dismissed himself and stepped away.

"Danial?"

The young man appeared in the doorway again. "Yes?"

"It is nothing. Go away now."

Once again, he left.

It didn't make sense to Anum. Why did the lowly servant have more freedom to his life than the rich lady? Why was his miserable face exposed to all, when her beautiful face was kept hidden away?

She went to the phonograph, setting the third record to play. As the music started, Anum stepped to the window and gazed outside. There before her eyes were the fields, all arranged into rows of greenery alternating with dark soil. The irrigation machines were well over on the far end; so far she couldn't see them from that end of the house.

The music calmed her, because it reminded her that there were worlds other than the one she lived in. Her thoughts went to her husband, but she soon dismissed him from her mind. She thought of Danial also, coming to understand that it wasn't his fault Anum had ended up this way. Surely, Danial with his large, sleepy eyelids and his great big ears went through difficulties of his own.

Because it made her feel free, Anum began to dance. It was a formless movement of her arms, a sway of her body and the soft steps from her feet. Although it was nothing like the antics she'd seen on the videos, it was similar in that her movements were carefree and spontaneous.

This time, she was aware when Danial came to the door. He stood there as patient as a mountain, watching her flutter from one end of the room to the other. The previous time, Danial had come to the door without her knowing. This time, she decided to let him watch her dance. Perhaps he would grow jealous of her dance, as she grew jealous of his freedom. Anum even saw her servant's mouth opening and closing as if Danial's tongue had suddenly gone dry.

It dawned on her that she hadn't danced with her husband in many months, ever since before he stopped taking her into town. Other than that, Anum had not danced with another man since before she was wed. Her servant was getting a glimpse of her in a way that very few men had ever seen.