Sheena, a girl with mediocre expectations and no family at all, stayed alone in one of the old houses of Krishna Nagar, Delhi. People didn’t know her well, and no one had seen her much in the locality. She would go to college with her head bowed, without making any eye contact with anyone in the locality. There were bets if anyone had seen Sheena in her eyes as she hardly looked at people. The boys her age and the ones younger to her were getting a little curious about her.

She had lost her parents when she was a child and had struggled to live her life since then. Her uncle got her legal custody who would molest her when her aunt wasn’t at home. She protected herself by hiding at different places in the house or even complaining to her aunt who wouldn’t believe her and beat her for complaining. She had seen the worse happening to her when her cousins, once under the influence of drugs, tore her clothes and left her out of the house for more than 6 hours. This happened when she was 18 and she was numb for the next 7 days until she was revived with the help of medicines and a lot of emotional support by a few women in the neighbourhood. It was that day when she planned to leave that house and start building her life without ever thinking of what had gone by.

Sheena had no skill which she could have utilised to earn a living. She was still a student and didn’t want to leave her studies for any reason. She planned to join a call centre so that she could study in the daytime and work at night. This is when she shifted to Krishna Nagar in Delhi. She was doing well until a high tide took her off the path she had desired.

During her office hours in the night, one of her good friends Shivam told her about a better paying job where she would have to work lesser and would be paid double the amount she was paid at the call centre. Sheena decided to meet the manager as soon as she could. She didn’t have anyone to guide her or tell her that people mislead. Shivam took Sheena to meet the manager the next day. The place was dingy and dull and in an area where people don’t generally prefer to live or build an office. There wasn’t any market nearby or anything that could have called it a place known to many.

Sheena wanted to get away but Shivam said that it’s the company’s factory and they manufacture in such areas to make it cost effective. Shivam took the car inside a gate and the security guard smirked in a strange fashion. Sheena wasn’t convinced but she wanted a better paying job. Shivam parked the car and they went inside. It didn’t look like a typical office or even a factory. There was no reception or labour to be seen. There were rooms which seemed bolted from inside. In some time, 3 men came out of nowhere and asked Shivam to leave. Shivam saw them with disgust and held his hand forward. They handed over a big packet to him and Shivam moved back. Sheena was wondering what is happening. She still thought that Shivam won’t leave. But Shivam started to walk out. Sheena shouted and said, “Where are you going? I don’t know the way back? Who am I supposed to meet?” Shivam looked back and replied, “My work is done.” Pointing at those 3 men he said, “Now they will tell you everything and will take care of you.” Sheena understood that she was sold. She knew she had entered the world of prostitution and she was quiet. She didn’t know what to say. She asked those men in a subtle way, “Is there a way out?” and the reply was “No!”

Sheena was calm and she knew anger or rage won’t help. It might make it even worse. She was taken to a room and was asked to freshen up. She was told that she would cater to the elite class as an escort and not as a common prostitute. Sheena gathered all her courage and got ready for it as there was no other option she had. She had no choice but to live this life as well.

She washed herself and sat on the bed in the room thinking about “what would it be like to give one’s body to a man she hadn’t met before. Will it feel like love or will it be forced? Would I be beaten in the process.” There was a knock at the door and she was given a beautiful red gown to dress up in. She was told that there in an Arab Sheikh who is coming to pick her up and she would have to be with him for the next 3 days. They said that the payment has already been made and she shouldn’t ask for anything unless he himself willingly gives her a tip or anything else. She listened to it quietly and sat there thinking again.

She wasn’t ready yet and was still draping the gown when one of the three men who had received her came in haste. He said that the client was there and was eager to take her. She hurried and came out to see a lot of security around a huge car she hadn’t ever seen before. The gate was opened for her and she was made to sit with a man who was almost her father’s age. He took her hand and said in a strange English accent “My dear, this doesn’t seem like a bad deal at all. You are so pretty.” Sheena was quiet and she smiled to look a little friendly. The life was treating her hard and she was learning a lot of lessons without complaining. She had no one to complain to. She had remained alone and was always surrounded by troubles.

3 days flew by and she had lost a lot in these 3 days. She was used like a commodity repeatedly and was given an unnatural treatment she hadn’t thought could happen to her biologically. She felt pain everywhere below her abdomen and her lower back and couldn’t walk without limping a little. She was given a million Rupees in the tip which was equivalent to 10 Lacs in Indian currency. She wanted to take that money and get away. She asked her client if he ever plans to come back to India. He laughed and said “I don’t think in this lifetime, my love. Do you desire something more than this money that I can do for you.” She said, she would be sold to someone else in a few days and she wants to be out of it. She asked him to drop her a little far from Delhi and let her flee somewhere. He came closer to her and whispered “you know they are mafia. They won’t leave anyone who does this to them.” He laughed strangely and continued “But they can’t do anything to me. There is hardly anyone in this country or in this world, who can do anything wrong to me. You know I can buy people and resources with the ample money I have.” Sheena turned to see him and he said: “Tell me where should I drive you to?”

Sheena took him to the Delhi-Jaipur highway and asked him to leave her there. She was dropped and she took a cab to Jaipur and then a bus to Jaisalmer and found herself away from Delhi and all her reasons to worry.

Sheena meets Vatsan:

Sheena didn’t want to waste the money she had received on an extravagant lifestyle or a business she could not have understood. She decided to sell toiletries to the women she knew in her neighbourhood. There was always a demand for soaps, cosmetics, etc. in the village she was residing. She bought it from a small distributor in the main city and sold it at marginal profits to make her both ends meet. She knew Mrs Sharma and Mrs Kaur well, who helped her get new customers. Mrs Sharma was a rich woman and had rental income from the apartments her husband owned. She had asked Sheena to expand her business and partner her, but Sheena wasn’t very ambitious. All Sheena wanted was a calm life where she would do her daily chores, earn a little, eat well and be at peace. She loved to read and would, therefore, spend a part of her earnings on books.

Sheena bought her groceries in evening from a small village shop nearby. She would walk to the shop and take a longer route back to her house. It was 6.00 in the evening and she reached the shop. She found a man shouting at the shopkeeper and he seemed agitated. He was very angry and Sheena wanted to ask him to relax but she couldn’t do it. It seemed as if she had seen him somewhere. He looked familiar and she felt like talking to him but he was so furious at the shopkeeper that he wasn’t listening to anyone. Sheena brought a loaf of bread and moved out. Coincidently the gentleman also moved out and took the same path that Sheena took. She slowed down and the man passed across her and started moving ahead of her. She called “Sir, why were you so angry?” He turned and said, “The shopkeeper was very rude and I hate people who are rude.”

 He stopped and came to Sheena to know if she was new in the village. Sheena said she is a few months old in the place and hadn’t seen him before. The man introduced himself as Vatsan. He said, “I was born here and if you haven’t seen me then you are new for sure.” Sheena introduced herself and told him about the cosmetics business she had in the village. They started talking as they walked. Vatsan told her about the small academy he runs in the city and he was there in the village only to see his family.

During the walk, Sheena realised that Vatsan was different from others. He didn’t lure her into anything. He was plain and short tempered, which didn’t bother Sheena much.  Sheena got to know about his broken relationships and affairs with girls who got really sick of his conservative ideology. He was an educated and cultured man who would neither take impolite behaviour nor anything against his principles. Sheena felt fine with everything as she had seen so much in life that people like Vatsan gave a sense of relief to her. There was nothing corrupt about him and he sounded over protective and possessive towards the ones he thought were his.

As days passed and Vatsan met Sheena almost every day on her way back to her home, Vatsan started to have a sense of affinity towards her. Vatsan saw a sense of sincerity in Sheena and therefore wanted to know if she could be with him forever. He knew he was caring but staying with him was a bit of a task. Vatsan confessed before Sheena that unlike the kind of liberal lifestyle city men allowed to their spouses, he would want a wife who serves him and was a traditionalist. He said he would need Sheena to be with him always and not even leave him for a day. He wanted her to be with him like her shadow which could have been binding on Sheena, had she accepted Vatsan’s proposal.

 Vatsan was insecure but it never made Sheena want Vatsan any less.  She had no one and even if she did, she could have been with Vatsan on his terms. She was not demanding, had no dreams and was only living to serve herself until the end.  She found him a firm wall she could lean against and a master she could serve with all her love and integrity.

It has been 20 years to their marriage and they have done justice to this relation. Vatsan still remains rigid and Sheena still serves him with all she has got. She can’t imagine a day without him and has taken Vatsan’s happiness and growth as the purpose of her life. Sheena, as promised hasn’t left Vatsan for a single day and they spend each day together. They have neither got bored of each other nor do they have any regret. Sheena told Vatsan about her past only after 15 years of their marriage. Vatsan was upset to what Sheena had been through and wondered if he could do anything to save her had he been there in Delhi. Sheena got a reason to live again and prays for such a calm life for all those women who couldn’t find their way out of prostitution.