The Fifth Lash and Other Stories by Anis Shivani

Author:Anis Shivani [Shivani, Anis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781936196111
Publisher: BN Publishing

One of the servant girls is pregnant, that’s why we have to let her go.

That’s how my mother introduces the subject at breakfast on Friday. My father looks up from the newspaper and, without comment, goes back to it. My grandfather never joins us for meals. He always eats in his study, sometimes as early as six in the morning. A servant girl is what I called her now, but my mother refers to her by her first name, Zainab. She’s been with us since my mother was pregnant with me, Zainab herself not much more than a child then. “She has good manners,” my mother often says about Zainab. Seventeen years of employment, and she looks none the worse for wear since she came from upcountry, with a strong recommendation from her aunt, who used to be in my mother’s family’s service.

“Everyone gets corrupted in the big city,” my mother addresses me.

“Hunh. Look at grandfather. He’s uncorrupted.”

“He’s also inexperienced,” my mother says. “If you’re not really engaged with the world, there are no temptations.”

“How was Zainab engaged with the world?”

“She was…she was…” my mother sputters, not knowing where to take this question.

She’s aware that I despise the idea of rich people employing servants, especially females, exploiting the best years of their lives, and doing it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“The price of sugar is going up again,” my father mutters. The price of sugar is supposed to affect the well-being of servants. As is that of atta and ghee and chawal, though none of our servants have to buy their own provisions. But this is how my father expresses his compassion.

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