When the lights on the railway overbridge came on, some activity began in the hutments below the bridge. Women began to drag themselves out of the occasional hut, getting ready to deck themselves up for the night ahead.
This is how Zaitun spent her nights. She worked as a prostitute to feed two mouths. In the story she recalls her life with Hussain. They were madly in love with each other but when Hussain realised she was pregnant he brought her to Goa and left her there. With a swollen belly she was not fit to work. But men didn’t mind savouring her.
So after days of staying hungry she finally gave up and entered the life of prostitution. She realised it was less painful than hungry stomach. She slowly learnt the language of the surrounding and now was a professional.
Then one fine day she meets a young man. While in the act her maternal instincts kick in and an accident occurs.
It is a ghastly portrayal of the life that Zaitun has to lead and an unintentional accident that may show how human mind is trained to behave. This is a very simple story. A good read.
We are reading one story each day without repeating authors and as diversely as possible. Join us in the fun or just recommend whom we should be reading next!
Go ahead, grab yourself a copy of River of Flesh and Other Stories and tell us what you think about the book! If you are a Kindle person, ensure to select the Kindle edition of the book.
River of Flesh and Other Stories
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The frontlit, high-resolution Kindle Paperwhite seems to be the officially preferred Kindle at Meraki Post; Veena, Gazala and Ram have one each. And while Pooja may claim she is more of the “Love the new book smell” kind of person, she may be secretly deciding between the premium Kindle Oasis and the simple and efficient Good Ol’ Kindle.
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