BORN OF THE SEA

Central Mumbai India in the mayor's residence, havoc arose during the midmorning hour you would think there was a coup. Father fuming with fury, towering over his only daughter who in his eyes was a rebel. Nothing but a disappointment to the family. The wife stood back while the guards cowered behind the display of masculinity in fear. None of them had ever seen him like this, not even when his biggest business deal had gone south. What made him like this, was something he couldn't get out of his mouth without appearing like a man experiencing a heart attack. His eyes now bulged as if they had been inflated and danced around in their sockets, his fist raised above his head. He growled, a growl loud enough to shake the entire building as he brought his fist down towards the young woman who knelt at his feet as if begging for mercy.

Except that she wasn't. Maybe yeah, she was a rebel and she wasn't about to apologize for that. Gone were the days when everything was all about culture. Maybe it was a bad idea to stand up to this man but still, she was determined not to give up. At least not yet. What was the worst he could do? Beat her up in front of everyone as a lesson so that no one else would go against him? That she could handle even if her fathers beatings would leave her covered in bruises which were likely to last a lifetime. She tried to look at her mother who being subjected to oppression and being a slave in her own house wasn't in a position to do anything even if she wanted to. Their eyes met for a moment. She could see pity in her eyes but that was not what she wanted. Even though her mother couldn't fight for her, she could at least try to fight for herself and escape from the poisonous fangs of her husband. Instead she stood back and watched while her husband did everything despicable to her, following him around like a dog on the leash. He didn't love her and she too didn't love him. They all knew that. She had been given to him moons ago and in what you could say was bondage not marriage. She pitied this woman and wished she could find a way to get out before she could be doomed to total darkness.

Her mother's sudden cry of fright and hands flying to her mouth indicated the arrival of what she had been expecting. She was about to receive the blow of a lifetime.

"Munich no!" her mother cried out loud this time. "She is your child!"

Samiya closed her eyes tightly bracing herself because she didn't need to be told that her mother's pleas would fall on deaf ears. Actually, they trying only made him much more angry. Instead of what she was expecting, she felt his muscular hand grip her hair tightly then pull her along the floor still growling. The pain wouldn't let her open her eyes so she had no idea where he was taking her.

"Have mercy on her, I apologize on her behalf. Please let this go and I promise you it won't happen again." She heard her mother still begging. Clearly she was following them. The pain in her voice was enough for her to give up and fall at his mercy, apologize and promise something she knew was impossible but did she want that? She had chosen her path, she was not about to betray herself. He turned around a corner where she hit a wall and winced as even more pain covered her whole body. This time she opened her eyes slightly and saw her mother behind them struggling with the guards. "Samiya, please tell him that you are sorry. It isn't who you are. Tell him that you are going to change if he gives you another chance."

"No mama, you are wrong. That is exactly who I am and I am not going to change because of this animal!" she replied without giving her statement a singe thought. "No one should have to change. Not me and not you." Now she had a clear view of where they were headed. After the wide hallway that led to their living room was another narrower leading to the basement. He turned again at the entrance of the basement towards another room that looked like a vault. No way out once you are in and no ventilation. Twelve hours with no air and she would be dead. That however didn't shake her. Death seemed like a welcome flight instead of being a slave of her own living, harassed by the person she was supposed to look up to.

"Come on Samiya, I need you. If you go in there you are going to die," she said in a low defeated voice. "I can't lose you."

"I need you to be better mother, I need you to open your eyes and see what has been right in front of you all along. I need you to see the kind of person he is and do better." He grabbed the door by the other hand and opened then shoved her inside. "Do better mother, get out before it is too late." She was determined not to show any weakness but she couldn't prevent the tears that rolled out of her eyes and trickled down her face. Somehow, it was beginning to dawn on her that her end was coming.

She turned to him, "And you," she stared back at him in as equal contempt as he showed in his face. "Your seed might have been involved for me to be born, but I will NEVER acknowledge you as my father. You are a filthy pig. May you rot in hell!" She had hardly finished the statement when a fiery slap landed on her face then another. Her sight blurred and she fell back clutching her face in her hands. She heard her mother sob quietly behind her father.

"Samiya!" Then, "Munich, what have you done? She's going to die in there." She finally managed to get to him and fell on her knees with a tear covered face. "Please, I'm begging you. Let me talk to her. You don't have to do this, she is our baby." He looked down at her and snarled pulling back from her.

"Get up you stupid woman! I can see that you did a very good job talking to her ten years ago when the same thing happened." he pulled her up on her feet by her arms and turned her around towards the vault. "Do you want to join her?" Her mother sobbed. "No child of mine could be such a despicable thing. Do you even hear how she speaks to me? She deserves to die in there all alone." He then scoffed, "Be glad that instead of that I'm going to sell her off and she will be out of our faces soon enough." He looked at her with a warning then back at the guards, "Lock her up. No one opens that door until I say so, otherwise you are going to be subject to my anger!"

And with that,he walked away pulling her mother with him. The guards banged the door closed in her face with such a force that made her cower back in fright. The last thing she heard was their footsteps receding back the way they had come and then total silence. She pulled herself up to a corner and winced as she tried to find a position to settle in. Her whole body ached from the beating she had received from her father prior to the lock up. Here she was, at twenty six years of age thinking that her life was in her hands. That she could do and decide everything she wanted in life including her love life which she strongly believed shouldn't be dictated by anybody. She had forgotten just one tiny detail. Her father wasn't going to have any of it. Was it really forgetting? No, how could she forget how the exact same thing had happened ten years ago? She had only hoped that the man would be changed, that he would not still be stuck in the old ways. She had been wrong. A simple and innocent act had landed her in the dragon's nest and had awakened him. Now she was burning in his wrath.

★★★

It is true no one chooses where to be born or what kind of parents to have. Some were born with a shining star embedded on their faces and those are called lucky while others like Samiya Munich believed that their lucky star must have been thrown away with their after births or swallowed in a black hole on their way to meet their destined. Or how else could it be explained? Here she was all alone in a vault, locked away by her own parents while other people her age regardless of their gender were elsewhere in the world having a family day, watching TV or whatever they considered a family 'thing'. Thinking of that only doubled her loneliness in the empty hole sucking air out of her. Slowly she was losing her grip onto life but she considered that it was better than knowing that she was waiting upon another man like her father who had been chosen to be her husband; not for love but for what he could give to her parents in terms of wealth and to ensure the continuity of another long line of men like him and her father. For her,

she didn't wish she was born in a different culture, she just wished she had parents who could listen to her, who could respect her choices and let her live the life she chose for herself and was happy in. Being Indian was not an issue. In fact she loved her roots dearly. She just wished that her parents especially her father were open minded as other Indian parents were. At twenty six, she was supposed to be out there living out her own life, practicing her career as she had learned in college. Instead, her father had chosen to confine her within his walls with a strict no dating policy employing two guards to watch her every step and to report anything that happened behind his back. Her life was no different from those serving years of a lifetime in prison.

Her time alone in there and seeing her life coming to an end clearly gave her the opportunity to reflect on what had happened. She had discovered at an early age that there was something called love; pure and divine if you met the right person and that was when her fantasies began. She would always find herself thinking where people went to look for the right 'person' whenever she was alone playing with her toys. The fact that she knew finding the right person wasn't possible in her culture due to customs and beliefs, she never stopped hoping. One of her dolls was a gallant looking young man who she loved most of all and always took extra care of him. Each night she would kiss the doll and whisper, "I will find you my prince charming," then go to sleep satisfied. She didn't want to wait along to be found like most of the princesses she had grown up watching. She smiled as she remembered that and even more as she compared her childhood beliefs and how life had turned out to be. Life had surprised her with something she never would have thought. At thirteen, she discovered something about her that changed everything. And she fell in love. Only that she had no idea that that was the beginning of her trouble. Still, she looked back and smiled because even though she had lost her closeness with her father, she had found herself. There was no regret in that. At least she would die knowing that she had lived her truth, or she had at least tried to unlike her mother. And right then, she swore to herself that now that she was about to be handed to a gangster even worse than her father, she would die trying to fight for her freedom. She had no one but herself to look out for her. Her mother maybe could, but she was too afraid to go against her father.

A sudden bang on the door interrupted her thoughts. She shot up suddenly preparing for anyone who was about to come through the door. She feared the worst which was either her father or the so called husband to be coming to drag her to the home she would soon be a slave like her mother. She was however surprised by the person who appeared at the door. She looked ahead with her eyes wide open.

"How did you know... how did you get in here?" she asked in disbelief.

"Your mother... It was all your mother. She told me everything that happened."

"But you put yourself in danger. You know my father... you know what he is going to do to you if he sees you."

"Come on Samiya, you should know by now that risking is one of the things I'm made of. And I know that you like to be the rescuer not the damsel in distress but not this time. Your father is not here but he will be any time from now. We need to move!" It was more of a command.

She smiled then rushed forward and embraced her fiercely and tightly. "Thank you for coming."

"For you, always," her rescuer replied and kissed her fiercely then handed her a bag. "We will need this. Now, let's go."

She didn't want to let go of the rescuer that fast but she had to. At least her mother had come through and done something special for her for once. She clutched her bag in one hand while she held on to he