Taboo!: The Hidden Culture of a Red Light Area by Fouzia Saeed
Author:Fouzia Saeed [Saeed, Fouzia]
Language: eng
Format: azw
Publisher: Made for Success Publishing
Published: 2015-08-11T16:00:00+00:00
18
LAILA'S REAL MOTHER
It took me over a week of hovering around Laila's real mother to piece the whole story together. To do this I had to enter the familyâs private domain, an area typically off limits to outsiders. I had to go there because her mother never came out and anyway it was time for my presence to be accepted in every part of the house.
On the other side of a worn cloth that served as a poor curtain to divide the performance area and living room from the familyâs personal lives was a dark, crowded, smelly and run-down part of the house. Directly behind the curtain was a narrow room with a door that opened onto a long balcony. A bed was against one wall and a charpai along the other. The walls were covered with posters of film actresses, pictures from old calendars and some photographs. A television and video recorder sat in one corner. On the balcony, which rimmed the buildingâs inner courtyard, you could get some fresh air, but inside was quite stuffy and hot.
Kaisera had divided the five-storied building into several sections that she rented out to different people, keeping half of first floor, which faced the road, for her own family. This gave her a big performance room with direct access to the stairs from the front street and three rooms with a small kitchen as the living space.
The kitchen was the main living space for Laila's mother, Jamila. Once I found the opportunity, she easily opened up with me. I hadnât expected this because she seemed very introverted and reserved. When I started talking to her, she quietly said, âYou listen to everyone's life stories and how they feel and what they do. I would like to talk about my pains, things Iâve buried so deep that sometimes I forget them myself ".
According to the story I pieced together, Jamila came from a small village nearby Lahore where she belonged to a very poor family of the occupational castes. Her father died and left her mother nothing but debt. Having trouble surviving, her mother felt the burden of a grown-up daughter of marital age. Since daughters are considered an economic liability, parents traditionally try to marry them off as quickly as possible.
Shamsa approached Jamila's mother at this vulnerable time, having found out about the family through connections in the area. She personally took her sonâs proposal to Jamila's mother. Marrying off a daughter is another burden as the family generally must have a dowry to present to the in-laws along with their daughter. In this case Shamsa said clearly that she did not want any dowry and was sympathetic to the girl's fatherâs death, a great relief for Jamilaâs mother. She considered herself and her daughter fortunate to have such a good proposal from the city with no dowry to be given. Other villagers congratulated her and said that Jamila had brought good luck. No one had a clue about Shamsa's family background.
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