Birey first saw Sumnima at mathlo gaw. She had her head covered with a piece of cloth, the rough coconut rope, namlo, was dangling from her head like another organ, her cane basket, doko, was filled with dry bamboo wood. It was a dastoor to help the wedding house with anything possible. Some villagers contributed sugar while some gave away their wood logs and dry bamboo for the fuel. Fourteen-year old Sumnima had never been to this part of village. Her miteani,Sushila’s cousin was getting married. These teenagers attracted quite a gathering with their giggling and flushed cheeks. Sushila liked the attention she was getting but Sumnima was a quiet, meek bird who disliked the stares of strange men. Perhaps this was the reason, Bir Bahadur Rana, aka Birey kancha of Tallo gaw couldn’t take his eyes off her. Sumnima wasn’t extraordinarily beautiful but she was different, a face worth a second glance. She was a bud in a garden that had yet to bloom. It was well known that any flower that’s differently beautiful and rare attracted bees and thieves.

The wedding feast lasted for five days, after all it was the wedding of the richest man of the village, Tek Bahadur Rai, aka Tekhey who was a self-made man. At age 21 he had vowed to be a Bramhacharya and everyone called him a miser because of this decision of his. He could not deny his heart when he saw his future wife, Manjari at a wedding. She lost her heart to him and accepted her defeat in Juhaari.

Manjari and Sushila were first cousins who grew up together in he household. When the time for their parting approached, Manjari begged her sister Sushila to stay after the wedding ceremony. Sushila complied with the request and stayed, so did Sumnima. It was truth accepted by all that wherever Sushila was, one could find Sumnima there. These two girls were inseparable as toddlers and the parents decided to traditionally bind their friendship; they called it Miteani Saino, friends for life.

Birey’s infatuation grew stronger day by day, so much so that he was often seen around Tekhey’s house. There was a misunderstanding as the girls thought Birey’s beloved was Sushila. He was eighteen and strong. His only hamartia was that he lived his life like a tramp. He was the only child of a village priest and his mother did everything to ruin him. When he opened his heart to his mother, she told him to win Sumnima over. He decided to abduct her as it was socially acceptable during those days. It was called “Salee/Soltini Cheknu”

Birey’s communication skill was as bad as a Mangar’s Maths. His uncle, Dhaney who was a misogynist had warned him about Limbu girls. His own wife who was a Limbu had run off with somebody else.

Ten years ago, Dhaney’s wife Lela eloped with her childhood sweetheart leaving poor Dhaney mortified. He developed a drinking habit which he had to quit because of jaundice. He was the youngest brother of Birey’s father and was also a neighbour and confidant. The local illicit affected his system such that his face was saggy and pensive. His face looked like a painted portrait of a man with many regrets. Though it was his fifth year of sobriety, his hands still trembled while doing some chores.

Dhaney warned Birey again. He considered women the most underrated weapon on this planet that God created to tempt a man. His warning served no purpose, so he went with Birey to wait for his bride.

It was a winter evening and the days were shorter. Sumnima had already overstayed at the Mathlo gaw where she was adored by the household for her meekness. That very evening, while filling the gagri from an obscure Dhunge Dhara (water fountain) she decided to leave for home, she knew not her destiny was taking a different turn.

The water ran over the mouth of the brass gagri, Sushila had already left for home.

The evening grew darker blinding her vision. She placed the vessel on her delicate hip which was prone to the weight. While returning she saw Birey’s silhouette at Amliso Ghari. Her hips carried a heavy brass gagri of water. She was an Ajanta sculpture and an apsara from heaven for him. When she came near, she saw his face grinning wide “Ah Bhena po raicha” (ah it’s the brother-in-law) she thought. She and Sushila had a private joke about Birey. Sushila had already accepted him as her husband so Sumnima had accepted him as Bhena (Brother-in-law). There was a tall man beside him who had a ghastly face, she read hate all over Dhaney, yet she moved with grace.

The two men circled around her. She knew not what to say, she knew not what to do. They moved forward, she moved backwards. The brass gagri was growing heavier with every delay. They moved forward again, and she moved backwards. That was the game. They didn’t touch her. However, their presence was unpleasant and unwelcomed. She was confused and frustrated. Twenty more steps to the back she had crossed the fountain where she had filled the water. She was in a different village now, his village.

She saw the fire burning at the furnace; an old woman was squatted beside the Chula of an open kitchen. The mud hut was the first house of the village. She placed the gagri on the floor and ran towards the woman and wept.

“You are home” the lady told Sumnima. It then dawned on her, it was a planned abduction.

Three days later Birey’s father, his uncle Dhaney and few of the members of their community went for Chor ko Sor to ask for Sumnima’s hand in marriage. There was no question for denial. Everyone knew the answer. As custom and tradition they spoke in words not less than poetry. They told how a bee had entered the garden to pluck out the flower, when it was indeed a plea of the thief.

Sumnima understood then the nature of men and the value of women in her society. She felt slaughtered and sold like property, colonised like a piece of land. She could say nothing for she knew there was no turning back, her hope was lost. Her father did cry when he came to know about his daughter’s disappearance. He was delighted to know that she was married and not mauled by wild beasts.

The news was not well received by Sushila, who drank kerosene to end her life but survived. She felt betrayed. She didn’t attend the wedding ceremony and spat when the janti crossed her house. It was a wedding to remember. Sumnima who was the youngest and dearest daughter of her father cried in the parting ceremony, such that the groom had to pull his wife away harshly.

Contemplating on his crimes Dhaney realised late about his sins that he had committed years ago. His wife who was almost the same age as Sumnima had pleaded him many times not to drink. He was abusive verbally and physically towards her. As the days passed he saw his nephew on the same path and he knew where it would lead. He knew not then that the Limbu girl his nephew had married was made of another earth. She was feisty and demanding unlike his wife. Sumnima fought with her mother-in-law. She didn’t cry when Birey struck her. She threw the casserole out of her window when he complained about the food. She bit his hand when he yanked her hair in rage. She put up a good fight. Yes, Dhaney had warned Birey of Limbu girls.

It was a miracle Sumnima survived a year with Birey whose infatuation had drained away by then. She was not a flower bud anymore. She had thorns now. The marriage took its toll on her. Her misery was written on her freckled face that had forgotten how to smile. She grew darker like a true Mangar, thus the woman was no longer her father’s daughter but solely her husband’s organ. A year after her abduction, Sumnima’s belly swell up; some said it was twins in her belly, some thought a son. For Sumnima it didn’t matter, the child was a parasite living inside her body and how she wanted it out of her system.

Her miscarriage was not a sudden accident. Puffed and pregnant, she worked hard for her house, mentally tortured by her mother-in-law’s verbal insults and physically by her husband. It was meant to happen. It was only Dhaney who pitied her. He’d help her chop the wood and fill water. There was a camaraderie that both of them shared. His evening tea was always prepared at her chula. Sumnima was initially scared of Dhaney, whose exterior was that of a dangerous predator. This impression had guarded him of unwanted interaction and relationships for many years, but she realised it soon that the man wasn’t a devil; he was just a lone giant. They spent their evenings in silence sipping tea.

The baby was still born. It was a girl. Although Sumnima despised the unborn baby, she was the only one to weep for her child. She understood quite late that death was indeed a blessing for her daughter. The world where she lived was not meant for women. It took a week for her to mourn. She wasn’t a woman to dwell in her grief for too long. After the second week, things went back to normal. The mother-in-law enrolled her in the plantation where she was taught to pluck tea leaves. Her salary she received every week was not hers, her husband spent in groundnuts and Soltini’s cleavage.

She had another miscarriage that year; Dhaney found her bleeding one evening. She asked him to keep this secret. Who knew it was the beginning of the end? By now the whole village was aware of Birey’s infidelity. Sushila was an obstinate woman. It didn’t take long for Birey to notice that. Sumnima felt nothing when she came know about it. She just wanted to return back to her father’s home, which was now traditionally impossible.

• 

• 

When the Sahib decided to give bonus that year for Dasai, in the month Asoj (October), Sumnima decided to take action. She dug up the earth and hid her money. That evening, her husband didn’t plead with words. Birey had no communication skills, he only knew violence. That evening, her body was covered with bruises, her eyes were purple and blue. Yet she didn’t cry.

Dhaney’s pity towards Sumnima grew into an infatuation and in this realisation, he forgave his first wife, Lela. It took Sumnima another week to recover. On their meeting that week Dhaney gave her red glass bangles and proposed a plan for her salvation. Her eyes were teary. She had never received gifts in her life. This act of kindness melted her heart and it gave Dhaney courage and hope for a new beginning.

The following evening, the Chula wasn’t lit, darkness and silence engulfed the kitchen. Old mother-in-law didn’t find her daughter-in-law in the house. When she found Sumnima’s clothes missing she understood. Birey gathered a search party that evening with khukuri in one hand and a burning torch in another. When he saw a lock around Dhaney’s house, it didn’t take him two seconds to add the two together.

On Pailo Baisakh, the following year, they returned. Sumnima had gained a massive weight. Her face was now milky fair, the tan long gone; few freckles on her nose had stayed. Her cheeks were like peach pink and soft flour dough. Dhaney himself had put on a healthy weight, his salt and pepper hair had begun to show the signs.

Sumnima’s father welcomed her with open arms. Dhaney called the Samaj Mukhia and placed the amount that was meant to be paid as per custom, the Jari kar (tax) which was an amount of money paid to the first husband by the second. Here too, Sumnima stood in silence on how the woman was bought and sold among men.

Birey accepted the money happily. Fortune smiled on Dhaney. He had saved enough to pay away the wedding tax. Now Sumnima was officially his wife, and Birey and the society had no rights over her. This was the test of his love. He returned back to his ancestral house once again with his new wife. They bought cows and goats with the remaining money they had earned in Illam, Nepal.

Birey had a son with his new wife Sushila. He was no more a vagrant drunkard. He had become a sensible family man. It took him another month but he decided to call Sumnima his aunt. Sushila and Sumnima buried the hatchet. 

Sumnima began to help her friend in her household, while helping her new husband in the field. Dhaney was never violent with her. He would not even argue. They both grew vegetables in the garden while their dairy farming made them one of the richest people in village. However, their happiness was short lived, Dhaney died in the month of Mangsir that year. Finally, jaundice took him away.

• 

With her husband dead, Sumnima was yet again another property that many wanted to acquire. Birey paid tax as custom to the Mukhia which the villagers called Hushu Danda, an amount of money paid by the first husband should the wife return back. It was to ensure the propriety that Sumnima was entitled to. This time too, they didn’t ask her view. It was an old tradition nobody wanted to bend or break. Money was paid and received among men. She returned back to the household of Birey though he called her aunt even after her return. Sushila had no objection to this. As it was truth accepted by all that wherever Sushila was, one could find Sumnima there.

Kate Sarah

18.04.2020