Celebrating Diwali's Silence

With absolutely nothing to do at my home, I decided to walk through the most restricted street of the town, the ‘Sarai Road’ . For all those not belonging to the town of Gaya, this street is famous for its prostitutes and brothels.  Yes, the  land of Buddha and Vishnu, known for peace and moksha, also has one of the biggest brothels of the state.

I remember that as a child I was strictly told not to wander around the road. Even if I had to go to a place just next to that street I was advised to take the long route. The reason my grandfather gave was that “ It is a bad place”. As a child I always avoided that bad place but today the journalist inside me forced me to enter the lion’s den.

The streets in the town, especially at this time of the year with the festivals approaching, is usually cluttered. You can see hundreds of ‘Thela Gadis’ selling crackers, sweets and idols of Gods and Goddesses, people yelling at the top of their voices, some to sell their goods, and the others at each other. Some young boys could be seen just staring at the girls, sporting black sun glasses even at the night.

But the situation of ‘Sarai road’ seemed to be just the opposite. There was a suttle silence in the environment, something this place is not known for.

On usual days you can see hundreds of men from 18 to 80 roaming around, bike riders gradually slowing the speed to stare at the first floor with a hope of getting to see ‘at least something’. The doors of the houses wide open for anybody and everybody to enter and an old woman sitting on the front door with a bundle of notes with an expression deadly enough to scare you before you get in to see what according to her is ‘heaven’.

But nothing of this sort was evident today. With barely any doors open and hardly anyone on the street, it seemed as if the people have suddenly attained the  ‘Buddha’s enlightenment’ and  have started avoiding this place.

I asked an old person sitting at a cigarette stall, “Kya hua aaj yahan itni shanty kyun hai?”

He replied’ “ Kuch nahi sahab mandi ka tym hai, parv ka season hai na, log pooja krenge ki ladki ch****”

“ bhagwan ka naam lene k tym pe ye sab krenge to paap nahi chadega?”   

In this part of thecountry, where cutting your hair and nails on Tuesdays ,Thursdays and Saturdays is regarded as a sin, indulging in a sex business in the month of ‘kartik’ can no doubt be a severe crime. But what hurts me the most is that this same crime will turn into an ‘enjoyment’ as soon as Diwali or Chath ends!

While the bosses of the place complain about no business, I look at the positive side of it. Atleast in the name of GOD, those girls get some time to spend with their own self. Atleast for one month in the year they can have a good sleep (not to mention alone). Atleast for one month they can live their lives with no one intruding their privacy. Atleast for one month there’s silence in the brothel, in their lives.

If such is the effect of Diwali, I pray that we have a diwali, or a dusseehra or an Eid on every calendar day of the year.

So this Diwali, I do not want to burn the noisy crackers, do not want to lighten my house but I want to celebrate the silence hidden in the darkest corner of the hearts of those girls ,the silence  that would return not before the next Diwali!

What’s your plan for this year????