parboti and bijuli. two beautiful sisters working as laborers in one of the tea estates i grew up in. i was a child then and knew what was taught to me. that their ancestors were not from our state but another state from which the colonial rulers sourced their labourers (i corrected the spelling of 'labour' from 'labor' - as taught to me as a child). that means it can be a number of states in the country so i do not know exactly where they are from. if i was an adult then i would have known from their surname.
there were so many beautiful women and the only reason why i remember them in particular is because parboti paid us a visit in our new home after we left the previous tea estate. i was pleasantly surprised. i always loved having guests and growing up in the tea estates was never crowded with people. she had her son along, a child maybe a little older than a year. our father wasn't home and i don't know what our mother thought but she was definitely treated cordially. i remember i cooked egg curry for them and the child vomited it at night - and my mother said that was because he was stuffed with food. she ate heartily and fed her child heartily. after spending the night at our place she left the next day. i was happy and is till cherish it. i was always proud of my father's attitude to people and how he made everyone feel welcome.
i wonder where she is now. her son must be a young man - in his twenties in fact. did their lot change? are they still labouring in a tea estate? has the son liberated himself from the cycle?
and i always wondered how the sisters lived harmoniously together. after all she had that son with her elder sister's husband. how did the two sisters manage a marital life with one man in one house? was she seduced? or was she interested in him? or did they just accept their lot?
until i knew it was like that. i don't know what happened next.
there were so many beautiful women and the only reason why i remember them in particular is because parboti paid us a visit in our new home after we left the previous tea estate. i was pleasantly surprised. i always loved having guests and growing up in the tea estates was never crowded with people. she had her son along, a child maybe a little older than a year. our father wasn't home and i don't know what our mother thought but she was definitely treated cordially. i remember i cooked egg curry for them and the child vomited it at night - and my mother said that was because he was stuffed with food. she ate heartily and fed her child heartily. after spending the night at our place she left the next day. i was happy and is till cherish it. i was always proud of my father's attitude to people and how he made everyone feel welcome.
i wonder where she is now. her son must be a young man - in his twenties in fact. did their lot change? are they still labouring in a tea estate? has the son liberated himself from the cycle?
and i always wondered how the sisters lived harmoniously together. after all she had that son with her elder sister's husband. how did the two sisters manage a marital life with one man in one house? was she seduced? or was she interested in him? or did they just accept their lot?
until i knew it was like that. i don't know what happened next.
.JPG)
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