Girls for Sale: Kanyasulkam, a Play from Colonial India

5. Act Five

SCENE ONE. Lubdha Avadhanlu’s bedroom. (Lubdha Avadhanlu is asleep in bed. He screams in his sleep and his hands and feet shake. He sits up in bed and shivers.) lubdha avadhanlu: Asiri, Ammi, I am dead; this fellow has killed me. God help me, help me, god. (Chants:) rama-nama-tarakam rama-nama-tarakam rama-nama-tarakam This slut was certainly married before. Her husband has turned into a spirit. He’ll wring my neck and kill me. What do I do now?! rama-nama-tarakam rama-nama-tarakam asiri: (From the other side of the door:) Sir, what’s wrong? (Knocks at the door.) (Enter Minakshi and the Disciple in woman’s clothes.) minakshi: What happened, Father? Open the door. lubdha avadhanlu: (To himself:) I can’t get up, and my hands are shaking . (Opens the door.) (To Asiri:) You bastard, don’t enter the room.1 asiri: You called me; that’s why I came. lubdha avadhanlu: (To Minakshi:) Don’t let that slut enter my room. minakshi: (To Disciple:) You go to our room, dear. (Disciple steps out of the room.) What’s the matter, Father? lubdha avadhanlu: My life is in danger. I’m dying. minakshi: What’s the problem? You have a headache or a foot-ache or what? lubdha avadhanlu: My head is all right and so is my foot. But my life is in danger. I am the idiot who married a widow. minakshi: What ugly words. Who put this suspicion in your head? lubdha avadhanlu: It’s not my suspicion. The entire village is talking. Act Five 96 Girls for Sale minakshi: It must be Ramap-Pantulu’s doing. He starts these rumors. He gossips with everyone he meets, they tell others, and soon the entire village is buzzing. Don’t scare the girl. She’s a darling. She is sad that her father left; she cries for him day and night. lubdha avadhanlu: That bastard of a father. That son of a bitch hung this once-married slut around my neck and ruined me. I’m dead, I’ll die. minakshi: You keep calling her a once-married slut as if you are blessing her. If you sing that song, the village will surely sing along. Just keep quiet. lubdha avadhanlu: How can I keep quiet? She doesn’t belong to our village or our area. If she weren’t a once-married slut, why would that bastard of a father have run away without giving his name? minakshi: He told Siddhanti. lubdha avadhanlu: Who knows what he said? That Siddhanti gives a new name every time you ask. minakshi: It’s a new name, all right. We can’t expect Siddhanti to remember names easily. Anyway, we have the girl in our house; what do we need her father’s name for? lubdha avadhanlu: If this slut of a wife lives with me, that’s death to me. I’ll die. minakshi: Don’t be crazy. Shut up and stay quiet. The neighbors will laugh. Your father-in-law is a great scholar and a respectable man. Don’t hold stupid suspicions. That young girl will be confused. lubdha avadhanlu: You rotten woman, did he bribe you? Why are you defending him? You want me to die too? minakshi: You must have lost your senses, Father. He’ll be back today or tomorrow. You’ll have to eat your words. lubdha avadhanlu: Who is he anyway, Jack in the Jungle? Why would he come back? My death is ready and waiting. minakshi: What the hell is wrong with you? Suppose she has been married. Hush it up. Don’t make a scene of it. Aren’t many people happy these days marrying a woman who was married before? She is an intelligent and well-behaved girl. You are lucky to have her for a wife. Keep quiet. lubdha avadhanlu: Lucky, my foot. What devil has possessed you? Are you part of this conspiracy to get your father to marry a widow? (Addressing himself:) You Lubdha! You nincompoop who married a widow! What were you thinking? Where was your learning and where was your Veda? You’re finished. (Minakshi laughs.) Why are you laughing, you ugly slut? You and your stepmother will kill me and escape to Rajahmundry and remarry.2 What Girisam said was Act Five, Scene One 97 right. I am a moron, I didn’t...