Undocumented by Rejimon Kuttappan

Author:Rejimon Kuttappan [Kuttappan, Rejimon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789354922534
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2020-11-10T00:00:00+00:00

Women for Sale

All we knew about the house where Sushmitha was working was that it was opposite a white mosque. To the left side of the house, there was a green garbage bin.

She sent her location through WhatsApp, so we knew that it would not be a hassle to find her. However, if she had just given the location as ‘near a white mosque and a green garbage bin in Sohar’, we wouldn’t have been able to find her.

In an Arab country, a white mosque is a common sight. There are mosques everywhere. The green garbage bin is common too. The Arab governments give a lot of priority to cleanliness. Littering is a punishable crime, too.

When we started from Ruwi, it was around 3 a.m. Our goal was to reach Sohar before 5 a.m., so we had to rush. We had a regular halting point at a Keralite-run cafeteria near Muscat International Airport. There is a fuel station nearby, too. We could fill the tank and then stop for a black coffee at that cafeteria. At the fuel station stop, we could buy a packet of blue Dunhill cigarettes. It was our preferred brand at that time. Even though it was early in the morning, the Keralite-run cafeteria would be open.

Almost all the cafeterias in the Arab Gulf are run by Keralites, mostly by people from Nadapuram, a northern Kerala village. Every cafeteria is sure to have a tea-maker named Shameer! Interestingly, there is a saying among Keralites in the Arab Gulf. It goes like this: a cafeteria discontinued by a person from Nadapuram or a vehicle abandoned by a Pakistani are of no use.

For rescue operations, Binil would usually bring his 5.6L Nissan Armada. In fact, on the high-speed roads in Oman where 160 kmph and above is allowed, the Armada is the perfect vehicle. It would take about two-and-a-half hours to reach Sohar. When Binil added the location shared by Sushmitha in the GPS, it showed that we had to drive two hours and fifty minutes to get there.

‘It is on Sohar–Buraimi road,’ Binil said, adding that we would reach by 5 a.m.

This trip happened just three months after I had gone to Sohar without Binil on a sting operation to expose how Omani manpower supply agencies were selling Asian domestic workers.

With the experience of talking to trafficked women, I knew how women were sold in Oman. I must clarify, even when I say they are sold, according to the Oman government, it is just ‘supplying’.

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