Sophia's Freedom

Chapter 35 : Memories Christened - 3

Things were really getting on my nerves, I wanted to throw up, but somehow that didn't happen. A part of my mind even wanted me to go back home, but it felt like St. Dwynwen wanted me to stay. The charade continued.

The aroma of the soap Abhinu used that day was really spellbinding. Aunty gave him a new pair of inners to put on. As he was putting them on, my doubts suddenly became clear. He had indeed developed breasts. It felt strange because Mom once told me that young girls don't develop breasts till they reach the age of 10, but in this case, he was not even a girl, It felt as if they might be giving him medications to make him look like a girl.

Aamaya di and Aunty then helped him wear the Lehenga, the blouse, and the Chunari, which was placed on the bed for him to wear earlier in the day.

It was a heavy dress with exquisite Jaipuri embroidery. When Abhinu put it on, he looked extraordinarily beautiful. Abhinu was comparatively taller than most boys of his age, as a result, the dress looked good on him. I remembered helping him strap on the blouse. After he was completely dressed up, Aunty made him sit on a small stool.

It has been about 2 months since he existed as a girl, his hair has grown longer too. They have been training him to maintain like a girl. Apply makeup, take care of his hair, and overall appear beautiful. He has been maintaining his hair well and it was growing beautifully into a curly mane. Aamaya Di helped him in arranging his hair and fixed them properly with clips so that they can be attached to the Chunari.

She applied a red bindi on his forehead and red lipstick on his lips. Abhinu's face looked sad but he was still trying to keep a smile on his face. Occasionally look up towards the ceiling, and then give a broad smile and then look down. Even with the smile on his face, I could still feel he was crying deep inside.

  Normally if someone made me wear such a beautiful dress and try to put extra makeup, I would have been on top of the world but this case is different. Abhinu was forced to participate in his humiliation.

As the entire charade was continuing to take a toll on me, I heard the doorbell ring.

"Abhinu, it must be your friends, why don't you go and open the door." aunty asked.

Abhinu didn't resist even though his face showed clear signs of unwillingness to comply. He was probably terrified by the voice he heard on the other line. He went straight to open the door. I saw him struggling with his dress, however, he managed to reach the door somehow and opened the door. I followed him to see his reaction.

It was Grihamani and Harsh who have come to meet him.

"Wow, look who had come to open the door, it's our favorite faggot." commented Harsh and began to laugh at him.

As Abhinu was about to respond, they both caught hold of Abhinu's hands and pulled him towards them. I saw him lose his balance and fall into Harsh's arms.

Grihamani taunted "It seems she likes you. Why don’t you ask her to be your girlfriend and maybe go on a date." As Abhinu was trying to free himself from Harsh's arms, he kissed him on his neck ensuing Abhinu cry in shame.

I saw a bewildered look on his face, tears rolling down his cheek. I felt a strong urge to beat the hell out of the 2 of them. Abhinu didn't say anything, still weeping, went back to the center of the room with his head bowed down in shame. 

Even though I didn't react at that time, I promised that I was going to teach these 2 assholes a lesson, someday. But somehow a few days later after this incident, a miracle happened, someone actually kidn*pped them and made them realize how it feels to hurt the modesty of someone.

Getting back to Abhinu, Aunty and Aamaya di began putting jewelry on him too. I could see that he was still terrified by what Harsh did. My inner senses made me take a tissue paper and wipe the tears off his eyes. 

First, they placed a Mandora on the parting of his forehead then they replaced his existing nose ring with a new one which was probably made of gold, and placed it on his left nostril. Aamaya di applied kajal over his eyelashes. Aunty then took out a pair of golden earrings and latched them onto his ears. Then they put a necklace, anklet, and toe ring too.

Finally, Aamaya Di asked him to put his hands forward and Aunty started to create a design on his hands using a mehndi pen.

Once they were done with him, aunty asked Abhinu, "This custom requires you to consider someone to be your mentor who is also considered as a Roshi."

Harsh looked towards Abhinu menacingly and threatened him, "if you don't suggest my name, just see what I am going to do to you."

Aunty, herself, came to his rescue with the information, "Only a guardian can be a mentor, so, that would be either me, your uncle, or Abhishek."

Being a prime witness of aunty’s persistent misbehavior with Abhinu, I kept guessing that he would definitely suggest uncle's name, but he choose Aunty instead to be his mentor.

It took about 1 hour for the Mehndi to dry up. She then replaced his regular bangles with red ones and applied red-colored nail care cosmetics to his fingernails and toenails. Once that was over, she took a red Chunari and placed it on his head in a manner that it covers his eyes and nose. He looked like an Indian bride readied for marriage.

This madness continued for more than 2 hours. I wanted to go home but the power of love towards Abhinu, stopped me from leaving the house. I want to find out how Abhinu musters strength and courage to control himself amidst the demeaning situation befalling him.

I still shuddered to think about that disastrous day. It was a situation when Abhinu, himself, was confused about his status as an individual, a male or a female to be precise. It was a question which, I think, aunty would fail to answer. I was surprised that Daniel dada had actually believed when I described to him the madness displayed in the Banerjee residence. The worst part would be to make them believe the taunting of Abhinu’s classmates to disgrace him, which aided in flaring up his humiliation.

Finally, the makeover appeared complete to auntie’s satisfaction. Abhinu was struggling to move around with the dress and heavy jewelry.

"Let's go to our temple, you need to light the Diya(Earthen Lamp) and seek blessings from Bahuchara Mata" Aunty told Abhinu.

“From now on Bahuchara Mata will be your Kuldevi. You should always make sure to light a Diya in front of her, everyday…” She further added and Abhinu agreed to it.

There is a strange thing about this Diya that Abhinu was supposed to light. Ever since Abhinu shifted to Purulia, Abhinu had a separate prayer room for praying and he had requested Aunty to give him a bigger Diya. For some strange reason, the lamp never burnt out. Abhinu once told me that he had seen Aamaya di a couple of times entering the prayer room and pouring oil into the earthen lamp, but he wouldn’t dare to confront her.

He went to the prayer room inside the house, sat on the floor, lit the Diya, and bowed to the god as a mark of respect. After that Aunty told him to turn towards her and repeat the procedure to show his obeisance to her and say "Aishyah Nama Kim?" meaning what do you want to name me.

Abhinu followed her instruction and said "Aishyah Nama Kim?"

Aunty asked him to pick one from the bunch of 4 folded pieces of paper in her hand. Abhinu responded accordingly and hand it over to her.

Aunty opened the folded piece of paper and placing her hands over his head, she declared. "You will be recognized as Sophia for the rest of your life and Abhinu will cease to exist anymore. From today you will be the youngest daughter in our family."

Things felt strange since Darika and Garima were the youngest, but then a few days later I learned the reason why Aunty said that he will be the youngest daughter in the family.

That day they took lot of photographs after the ceremony to reminisce about the event, however, aunty cautioned us that Abhinu should have the veil on, and no one should see his face for the next 4 days. Abhinu is not allowed to meet any member of the family or his friends during this period. He told me later that aunty took really good care of him during those days and treated her like a little princess.

A few years later, while searching for ways to rescue Abhinu from their grasp, I found a newspaper article, which opened my eyes. It became clear to me that the so-called naming ceremony for Abhinu on that occasion was just an eyewash because the procedure followed resembles a ceremony performed by the transgender community of India after they had an emasculation surgery. These people are formally inducted and recognized as someone from the 3rd Gender after the procedure.

                                                TO BE CONTINUED...

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