CONVERSATION WITH 377

 CONVERSATION WITH 377

ROHAN: Hello, myself Rohan Sen, and I am a journalist. It’s my first day in my office and I get an opportunity to take an interview of a prisoner, who has been suffering in the jail for many years. So I have reached in the Central Jail.

 JAILOR (With fun): Haa… please come, there is a woman who is in the cage. But will you want to go inside the cell, actually she is very dirty minded?

 ROHAN: (Feeling awkward but confidently says) No problem sir, I will.

 [ Then he goes near the cell no. 7 of 3rd row and sees an exhausted woman, who looks more dark in this darkness. Constable opens the door and he can see her properly. The woman wore a dirty uniform. Then he sits in front of her. ]

 ROHAN: Hello ma’am, can I start conversation? 

WOMAN (Laugh): How fortunate! Let’s talk.

 ROHAN (Become surprised & says): What’s your name ma’am ?

 WOMAN (Vaguely replies): 377

 ROHAN: What!

 WOMAN (Says with raw voice): Do you know, I have addiction of women. 

ROHAN (Addresses with frown): oho! Lesbian?

 WOMAN: No, a sinner.

 ROHAN: Ma’am, I have come here to know your past. Please say something. 

WOMAN (After leaning lazily): I was the native of Udhna. I came in this city, Surat, for my job. 

ROHAN: What kind of job? 

WOMAN: I was a fashion designer. So, I found my love luckly. 

ROHAN: Who was she? 

WOMAN (Be bored & says): She was my cell-neighbor also. Her name was Shruti.

 ROHAN (Says with curiosity): Oh! Both of you were punished. But why? 

WOMAN (With fiery voice): For society.

 ROHAN: Ma’am you have informed about 377. What’s it?

 WOMAN (Says with no care): I loves her very much. So we hired a house and started to live happily. But happiness didn’t last long. One day we were busy in feeling each other. But lessee watched our relation and banished us. We thought that only court could give us justice. Hmm ( smile )…. ultimately we became caged with the help of judgement. Whatever, we took it easily. But last year I have lost my lover’s soul. Cancer also has betrayed us.

 [Then she burst into tears.] 

ROHAN (Says with sadness): But it’s 2019 and this section has been rejected. 

WOMAN (Raises his head and says): But we have no freedom. We have to stay imprisoned. Because the word, ‘free’ has lost from our life.

 [After the interview]

 ROHAN ( says to me ): I come out from the jail and start to walk with tasteless mind. But, suddenly I become frightened. I can see many lesbians who are creeping nudely around me.

My Heart : That make me unhappy. As if, someone hurt my heart again and again. Hot water that comes out from my eyes, falls near my feet. And I can see rather feel that my sky is changing slowly and the sunlight has came to wake