Story of the Fifth Day
found Asha
We found Asha
She lives there in a hut
Somebody pointed to it from afar, and we started walking towards her.
Coming to the beach every day,
we knew by now that while walking towards Little Beach from Seaview,
two sites are passed by on the way that resemble the righteous bridge of the afterlife,
and which duly test your patience.
These two bridges are sewage channels:
one belonging to McDonald’s, and the other a pain given by Dolmen Centre Mall.
A little apart from each other, these sewage lines with the most stubborn shamelessness
hold their heads high,
shamelessness
as they go meet the sea.
We look at them with a grumble of protest
while they taunt us, flowing past our feet as if daring us,
“what are you looking at?
If you dare— try to block our path.”
The Indus River, an ancient, true love of the sea,
is stopped before it reaches its beloved.
Meanwhile, these mortal enemies of the sea
have been gushing into it with their full might and pride.
Even crossing them is a difficult undertaking.
We hold our breaths
to traverse these bridges every day.
Looking for Asha, we had come here again to find that
there were two huts erected directly in between the streams of sewage:
one of them was Asha’s.
We came closer to one of the huts and called out, “Asha, Asha!”
She was lying down with her eyes closed
but did not startle at the sound of her name being called.
We understood that she had not given us her real name.
We had learned from experience,
that people who leave their homes to make relations with the strange world outside
tend to leave their truths behind,
at the thresholds of their doors.
It may be that some hold on to their truths for a while,
but in these throngs of people,
they learn quickly that revealing truths
is not a custom of this world.
It’s then that they throw away the truths they had brought with them.
Although, sometimes they are unable
to scrape away the memories of their past relations, they are unable to forget.
Asha was showing another face of her life today:
“I was forced to leave my house.
I didn’t have a place to go to after the death of my husband.
I have a daughter who married by choice.
Her in-laws’ house only has one room.
Her husband, daughter, and mother-in-law live there together.
One day, I took my stuff and went to her house.
In a few days, her mother-in-law threw my belongings out
and I came here to the sea...
because I’m in love with the sea.”
“My adopted brother lives in that hut,”
she said, pointing towards the other sewage line.
“He takes care of me. If I fall sick, he asks after me.
Sometimes he brings me a little food also.”
Asha also sung film songs to us.
“come, oh come to the support of my ruined love,"
"is there anyone who can help me thrive my broken luck?”
Maybe she was yearning for the love she got from her own for a long time,
and that is why she was hugging us with fervour and a certain force.
Two adopted siblings also live in huts on the sewage channels.
For them, living here does not impede anyone’s work
or entertainment.
On the contrary, nobody even thinks to stop here for a moment.
People just hold their breaths and pass by here as quickly as they can.
This is the reason why their abode is peaceful here.
We were surprised that she could keep gazing at the sea while lying here,
in this foul-smelling place,
and still feel the sea’s beauty.
for us to stay there for Asha’s happiness
and breathe in the foul air,
It was difficult
The people who come here to earn their living, arrive in the morning
and return to their homes in the evening,
but Asha lives in this environment day and night.
She cleans and bathes in this sea water.
It’s surprising that even after tasting the bitterness of the sea,
she’s still bound in love with it.
Asha’s adopted brother was picking small fish out
of the nets that he had spread out.
He told us that usually nobody buys fish like this to eat.
Occasionally, when they do,
he makes a bit of money.
It certainly wasn’t his profession; because professional fishermen
don’t come here to fish.
They take their strong boats far away from here, into the deep sea.