Rosha

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Welcome to the New World

A multi-axle trailer had turned turtle, tearing the tanker open. Crude oil had spattered the moonlit silver asphalt with dark stains randomly. When I learned the reason of our unscheduled halt, I knew it was going to be a while before we could get going again. As I dropped my cigarette to extinguish it, I noticed the thick black layer of oil seeping down slope towards us. Slow but steady it was edging its way towards our car. For a moment, it reminded me of the vicious Arab owner of Rosha. He dug oil for a living and here it was, that very same oil slithering like a monster, moving closer by the minute to devour Rosha. Like a shooting star, a thought crossed my mind in a flash – Was this a sign of sorts to sense? Was I going to be responsible in turning Rosha’s life into hell once again? I knew the answer to my questions, but conscience and law do not seem to complement each other always. I had a job to do, rest I could deal with as a professional hazard. Rosha had stepped out of the car and was enjoying the midnight chill. “Just look at her,” I said to me, “Why can’t you do something for her? If you wish, you could stop her from being doomed.” Only if I had known her a few weeks before, I would have been able to, but now it was too late. My helplessness angered me so much that I shot a question at Rosha, “Why did you have to come here at all when Edward had taken you to England?” “That does not matter. Now that I have tried my best to achieve all that I wanted to and having failed at it, I won’t hold you responsible for it, officer. You are not a villain; in fact, I think you would be the last humane person that would remain in my memory from now until the time I am put to rest,” answered Rosha calmly, settling on a rock nearby. The calm on her face, her surrender to the unknown, haunted me. I wanted to find a way out for her while she remained unperturbed by all that was happening around her. I wondered where she learnt to remain calm in situations that were a matter of life and death. Rosha’s calm in those circumstances was a quality worth learning from her, while it disturbed my thoughts that were skimming through various possibilities that could help me come up with a valid reason to delay her deportation for now. The question nagging me was how I was going to do that. The possible solutions reeling in my mind needed to match with a perfect situation or incidence from Rosha’s life. Therefore, I asked Rosha, “Tell me what life has offered you after you left Afghanistan,” and lit another cigarette. “Why do you want to know?” she questioned back. “One, because probably it would help me find some miraculous clue that could prove helpful, valid enough and you could be saved from the misery of deportation, and two, because it’s a better way to kill time,” I replied taking a drag. Rosha smiled faintly as she nudged a question at me, “Oh! In that case, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself, officer? That could kill time too.” “I can’t do that, I am on duty,” I said almost immediately. I knew it was a clumsy reply and we both burst into a laugh. “Seriously, Rosha, tell me what happened, what England was like? Why did Edward leave you? What went wrong?” “Officer, it is in fact the other way round. Before anything could go wrong, I decided to leave, besides I had other reasons too. You know when we left Kabul, I was completely shattered. I had lost everything that I once belonged to, all that was left to me was Edward, who kept supporting me throughout our flight to London. ‘Life tests the mighty by throwing them into severe circumstances,’ Edward had said to me on that plane. ‘You have survived so far; that proves that you are meant to go on in life and make it worthwhile.’ “His words encouraged me and gave me the feeling of security that I needed at that time. I wondered how his family was going to react towards me, would they accept me, would his father be aware of my past, was I walking into another trap already. All sorts of questions ran through my mind on that flight and all Edward kept telling me was that he had arranged everything for me. I did not need to worry or feel scared of anything. ‘Why are you doing this, Edward?’ ‘Simple, I love you; I want you to have what you deserve.’ ‘You know who I was and yet…’ ‘That was not a life you chose; it was brought upon you. Therefore, you do not need to feel guilty about it. Leave it behind and think about what you wish to do with the life that awaits you.’ “On that flight, Edward comforted me to no end, we hardly slept and as time passed by and the sky began to turn crimson, I knew we were close. Sunrise was going to bring in a new life for me from that day on. We landed at Heathrow early morning and I had taken my first steps on the land that was going to transform me for ever. “Officer, when I had first travelled with my Arab master to his land, I knew I had surrendered myself to slavery even though he projected me to be his lawful wife. On the other hand, Edward had somewhat charted out a blueprint of a life that would be mine – being an aristocrat has its own benefits; therefore my purpose of stay in England was going to be as a foreign student. “I could not believe it myself for a few moments. After all, it was quite a big leap from being a sex-slave to a student. Being freed from the shackles of bondage does not make one jubilant at once. It takes time for that person to gather himself. It is not easy to start thinking about yourself because as a slave you have to put your mind to accomplish your master’s command. I had become a mere instrument that had stopped considering its own plight. Then all of a sudden, I had to come to terms with freedom, take charge of myself and once again ask myself what I desired in life, from life. “That morning when we drove out of the airport, I confessed to Edward that I needed some time to decide how I was going to move forward from now on as I had lost touch with myself for quite some time. He was amused at my statement. ‘Did you think that I was driving you to the university already?’ he said. “Officer, life was no more a mirage of hope for me; it had turned into a beautiful reality wherein I could foresee myself bloom into a fresh, beautiful rose and spread its sweet fragrance all around.” Rosha turned silent to look at the heavy-duty cranes that were put into force to clear the overturned tanker. Two tall arms of those mighty cranes raised the mammoth tanker from the ground and turned synchronously to place it away and out of the driving lanes of the highway. It was a sight to be seen. I was watching it and wondering what if one of the ropes coiled around the trailer were to snap. How many people would lose their lives just for being impatient and moving so close to the accident area? While Rosha on the other hand related the scene by saying, “I was just like that immobile trailer, when two arms of fate lifted me and shunted me to an area where no one would cause any disturbance and neither would I to anyone else.” It seemed quite symbolic indeed, I thought to myself. Rosha had transformed herself into a machine like object while serving her rightful owner. Just like machines, she was devoid of her will, aspirations, and emotions. Her sole purpose of existence was to serve her master selflessly and as long as he wanted. Just like the trailer on the road, destiny had turned her over probably to shake her back to life thus the arms of fate had helped shunt her to an area where she could be repaired, remodelled, and readied to steer her life the way she wanted. Nothing seemed to be an obstacle so far to me. As there were more people anxious to know why Edward had turned head over heels for a girl from Afghanistan, now that she was coming to England with him could well seem like an arena where Rosha would have to fight her first battle. With only one supporter to cheer as against a stadium full to boo, it must have been a daunting task and I was eager to know how she managed that.

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