Kuljeet’s legs buckled as she sat on the cot with a loud thump. Rajjo continued with compassion, ‘I learnt about the bare-skinned truth in the fields, no one else knows or heard. Don’t ask me how it travelled there. What’s important is for you to know that you should not be ashamed. It’s a personal choice and you don’t need anyone’s permission, not even God’s, to exercise it.’

Kuljeet was silent. She had stopped breathing.

Rajjo continued.

‘I want to share something before I go. The day you found me half dead, I had travelled a long path and reached here…’

Rajjo relived the horrors of her life. Kuljeet was on a journey with Rajjo, forgetting her misfortunes for a moment as she was unwillingly drawn to her fears and pains. She wept at the death of her unborn child, she cowered under the whiplash of the minister’s leather belt, she curled her toes in rage as Rajjo’s body was plundered and violated, she tasted blood as Rajjo relived her horrors. Involuntarily her hand moved towards Rajjo’s in a comforting gesture. Kuljeet sat next to her, turned her face towards Rajjo’s and kissed her on the lips.

Rajjo did not shrink or cower back. She did not kiss her back either. She just let it pass, like a wave washing over, waiting for it to retreat. It was the most natural thing in the world, as natural as the green of the grass or blue of the sky. She conveyed that to Kuljeet without flinching or shirking away from her. Kuljeet relaxed and sat next to Rajjo with her shoulders slumped. Her face was as calm as a pearly winter morning after a tempestuous night.

As forenoon wove into afternoon and dusk crept in through the little window in Kuljeet’s room, Rajjo spoke to Kuljeet about her village, her sisters, her mother, Karam, her Totu, her husband, her resolve, her fight with God and then Harsh Vardhan. She moved her hand and showed Kuljeet the bumps she had to prove that even Harsh’s name made her shiver with passion. Rajjo sat disrobed and defenseless in Kuljeet’s room. Her fears and her passions spilt on the cemented tiles – dark mulberry emotion oozing onto the grey parquet. Kuljeet could not decide what to do next. However, she was suddenly in no tearing hurry to see Rajjo leave. Rajjo had drawn Kuljeet in her life and now she was tangled in it.

‘I will leave if you want me to. Quietly.’