Leela looked around nervously, then at Sajjan who looked at her, calm, cool and confident.
“Don’t know how to start, where to start,” Leela started in a low voice. Amar and Lajjo sat straight, their complete attention to what Leela was about to tell them. Their curiosity was now growing. Leela fiddled at the edge of her dress and looked at Sajjan for support and shifted closer to Sajjan.
“It’s a longish story”, she continued in a low voice, “I belong to a tribe which stays near the edge of the jungle. My father is the head of our tribe. I was happy and all was good since I was a child.”
Leela shifted absolutely close to Sajjan who could feel her nervous shivering all the more. He extended his supportive palm and held her palm in his. She immediately held it tight and felt better. Lajjo was quick to notice it.
“All the time, since my childhood, my father used to tell me that when I grow up and be of marriageable age, he will check with heads of other tribes and marry me off to the best of deserving grooms so that I could retain the status of belonging to a family which heads a tribe.”
“I can understand,” Lajjo said now getting involved in Leela’s story, “every father wants his princess to rule like a queen after she marries.”
Leela felt a bit comfortable, now that everyone seemed to be involved in her narration and wanted to believe every word she spoke. “Everything was good and even I had started to build up my dreams accordingly. But – then…” she stopped feeling nervous again.
Sajjan patted her to go on. He could see that Lajjo was now feeling comfortable and wanted to believe Leela.
“About a couple of years ago trouble started brewing. There was a lack of trust between tribes. Animosity grew.” Sajjan looked at Leela, a bit confused and disbelief … This was not what he had asked her to speak.
“What happened?” Lajjo couldn’t stop wondering about the disaster.
“The animosity then started developing into hatred. The sporadic incidences of one tribe attacking members of other tribe started to grow. Then started attacks for revenge. And the jungle lost its peace. Every day, at least one person was attacked, in a month at least one person died of attacks.” Leela’s face was grim as she continued her narration.
‘She is a fantastic actor and a story teller’ – Sajjan thought.
“Then what happened?” Amar asked. His curiosity was now growing.
“One day, the heads of all tribes decided to meet up and draw a plan for peace. They met with respective priests of every tribe accompanying them.”
“Oh! Good. This means there’s peace in the jungle now.” Amar interrupted her in his enthusiasm of her story.
“I don’t know that for sure,” she said truthfully, “The priests concluded that this was a curse to the jungle and needed a Human Sacrifice for it to be taken off.”
All the three of them looked at Leela in horror of the thought.
“Does Human Sacrifice still exist?’ Amar asked indignantly.
Leela nodded in acknowledgement and continued, “The tribal heads believed in what the priests told them. They were asked to prepare the altar for the sacrifice. They all took solemn oath that they will hand the person selected by the priests, no matter who they selected. The priests wanted a girl who would just be about marriageable age, still a virgin with special qualities. The priests decided to travel to each tribe and shortlist girls they wanted before choosing the correct one.”
They were all looking at her wide eyed – nobody wanted to disturb her flow of words.
“It took them about 4-5 months as they went to all tribes, selecting girls who they would offer as a sacrifice to the GOD. Mine was the last tribe they visited. They already had shortlisted about 20 odd girls. They were all around my age.”
“What a shame.” Amar was furious at the thought.
“All girls including me and my elder sister were asked to line up in front of them. We knew why we had to line up. Each of us was terrified but we lined up, each hoping that they would select someone else. Those already shortlisted hoped that the chosen one would be from our tribe. We were 6 of us in the tribe. The priests came close to us and started chanting their holy hymns. Few of them even touched us menacingly on our shoulders, backs and our head – directly looking horribly into our eyes.”
“Oh! My God” Lajjo blurted out feeling the horror of the moment.
“Every girl they did this, cried out in fear, some even started to run off but were caught and brought back. I was absolutely scared and my mind refused to work. I wanted to cry but could do nothing.”
Leela’s flow was fluent now as if she was narrating her own experience. Even Sajjan thought of believing her for a moment. He was aware of the inter-tribal hate and attacks which had grown recently. He was with one of the tribes at last week and was offered to witness such a sacrifice which he had refused. ‘Perhaps – she’s speaking truth’ he thought.