Fifteen Lanes - S.J. Laidlaw Page 0,56
English was excellent and I’d made her laugh. My spirits rose higher.
Together, we watched the adults for a few minutes. Their discussion wasn’t showing any signs of calming down. The angry woman was practically spitting she was so mad, and several of her friends were throwing in their own comments. I was worried for Miss Chanda.
“What did you really do?” I asked.
“My ma is a sex worker.”
“I figured that.”
She looked offended.
“Only because you’re here,” I said quickly.
She nodded. “The school found out about my ma.”
“So?”
“They do not want the daughter of a sex worker in their school.”
“Too bad. Just refuse to leave.”
“It is not like that. They can make trouble. My ma does not have an identity card. She does not have a birth certificate. And my birth certificate is fake. I have no right to be in the school.”
“That’s crazy.”
She shrugged.
“Well, then the rules need to change,” I said stoutly.
She gave me a look like I’d just suggested we should throw up a high-rise across the road to solve homelessness.
“Hello,” said VJ, suddenly materializing beside us. He extended his hand to the girl. “I’m VJ Patel. Yes, that VJ Patel. And who might you be?” He gave her his best magazine-cover smile.
I thought, even in her current circumstances, her heart must have skipped just a little. If so, she hid it well. In fact, she looked at his hand as if it were a dead rat. After a delay that would have embarrassed most people, though it did nothing to shake VJ’s confidence, she took it for about a second.
“Noor,” she said. She added her surname after an extended deliberation. “Benkatti.”
“Noor Benkatti,” said VJ warmly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you!”
“So why have you come to Sisters Helping Sisters?” I asked when it was clear that Noor wasn’t going to respond to VJ. “Are you a member?”
She cut a look at VJ and crossed her arms. I wished he’d leave us alone. Instead, he shot her another winning smile. She glowered back but finally answered.
“I am not a member, but sometimes the NGOs can stop the schools from making us leave.”
“Her school’s going to kick her out,” I explained to VJ.
“Really?” exclaimed VJ cheerfully. “I go for years not meeting a single interesting person and then I meet two rebels in one week. Isn’t life unexpected?”
“So, if the NGO speaks to the school they’ll let you stay?” I asked, elbowing VJ in the ribs.
“I said sometimes.”
“We don’t need the NGO,” said VJ. “Just tell me who to pay off.”
“My ma does not know I am here,” said Noor.
I could tell by the way she said this that it was significant information. I’d actually forgotten that the woman with her wasn’t her mom.
“Is your mom sick?” I asked hesitantly.
“I could pay the medical bills as well,” said VJ.
“My ma hates the NGOs,” said Noor.
“Oh.” I didn’t really understand. Even if her mom didn’t like NGOs, surely she’d make use of them under the circumstances. “So …?” I prompted.
“The NGO lady says they cannot help me because I am not in their program.”
“Can’t you join?”
“My ma would never allow it. Prita-Auntie, the lady who brought me, wants the NGO to talk to my school anyway.”
“Do you want to be in the program?” asked VJ. I could tell he was hatching something.
“I want to be in school. If I have to be in a program for them to talk to my school …” She trailed off. “Ma will never agree. She will take me out of school before she will allow me to come here. Ma says the NGOs think they are better than us. They waste our time teaching useless things like sewing and Mehndi.”
“Mehndi?” I asked.
“Henna design,” said VJ. “Noor, if you take Mehndi, can I sign up with you?” he added.
I glared at him, while Noor looked at him curiously. Even I knew that only girls did Mehndi.
“Ma is proud,” Noor continued, as if she was explaining to herself as much as me. “She comes from a tradition where sex work was part of a religious duty.”
I tried not to let the shock show on my face but that had to be one of the strangest things I’d ever heard. “Religious?”
“Devadasi,” said VJ. “I’ll explain it to you later. It’s positively medieval.”
Noor scowled at VJ. “It goes back a long time to when women like my ma were given to the temple to serve the priest. At that time, it was not only for sex. Devadasi women had many