The Fertile Earth by Ruthvika Rao

Author:Ruthvika Rao [Rao, Ruthvika]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Flatiron Books

* * *

“Serves you right,” Asha said.

They were standing on the side of the road.

“Leave it be,” she replied.

“The labor class is the labor class,” Asha continued. “Give them a drop of power—even as a lowly bus conductor—and they will dance on your head. They think the world owes them simply because they don’t have.”

Vijaya didn’t want to argue. Their stop was two kilometers away. Not a single taxi passed them by. She wasn’t wearing shoes meant for walking.

“Did you look at his face? Must be Koy or Gond or some other chillar hill tribe—”

“Asha!”

“What? These are the same people who would be too afraid to meet our eyes, not even be allowed to cross us on the street back home. Who’d wash the clothes in our houses for a seru of grain. Put them in a big city, they join some union and think they are all big shots. They think they are our equals. Fucking communists.”

A taxi was coming up the street. Vijaya waved. The taxi did not stop.

By now, she knew Asha well enough, she had to let her talk herself down. She looked up and down the street. Traffic was light but the roads were terrible on this route: tar roads sporadically missing large sections, drain holes missing covers, cement speed breakers so high they seemed to scrape the undersides of passing vehicles. Aging city buses groaned and whined up and down the street. None would stop for them. The street had a stink, of drains and dogs.

“Let’s just take a taxi back to the hostel,” Asha said.

“There are no taxis.”

They began walking.

The hot sun was prickling Vijaya’s back, and sweat was beading down her face. She felt the dust and black smoke from passing vehicles in her eyes. “Forget about that conductor Asha,” she said. “We’ll be there in no time.”

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