Deal Poem by Ratnakar Rout

</>The negotiation ended within a few minutes
Everything was settled except the price
That took them a little more time to reconcile
At the end of the formal discussion
the mother swear in the name of god
to sale her daughter to the intending buyer
and she will accompany the bidder
after the final payment is made.
The daughter who was peeping at the door
had no option but to fulfil the wishes
of her mother. The history was repeating itself
only after twenty five years duration. This has
now become their family tradition. The mother
was sold by her sister-in-law twenty five years back
to a blind man for a consideration of a few hundred rupees.
That was the breaking news across the country
A lot of water has flown in the river in the mean while
Many changes have occurred over the years. Human civilization
has witnessed remarkable transformations and gone
a leap forward. But nothing has changed as it appears
for the under privileged. They are still languishing
in abject poverty, ignorance and illiteracy as such.
The mother, a commodity of yester years is unable
to come out from the striking economic compulsion.
Her impoverished condition has pushed her into a situation
where she is in a fix and a point of no return. She has no
alternative but to take the uncanny decision. Four children
and the blind husband constitute her family. No land,
no cultivation and the livelihood is managed on daily wages.
The family solely lives on the meagre income, quite insufficient
She has to give the eldest daughter marriage. How could she arrange
the minimum amount requires for the purpose of marriage?
She has no other way out but to sale her second
daughter for some consideration. The expenditure towards
the marriage of the eldest one would be met out of the
sale proceeds of the second daughter next in queue.
Do you want to purchase any one of her daughters?
If yes, kindly contact with her
in the following address for your convenience.

Bilasini Majhi
c/o-Raghu Majhi
AT/PO-Godandapur
Dist. Madhabapur