The Other Half

2. Bhiwandi

"Why are you looking so tensed, Viraj?" Vijay asked his best friend. Viraj sighed and replied, "The man who had attacked Mahamaya was from a gang of another state of India, Kerala. They want Kamathipura because of the security the place gives, because even the police is afraid of entering the place and this place is also near the sea."

Vijay sighed, mumbling, "Yes, they are religious fanatics who trap innocent women and then traffic them. These women are then sold to Pakistan, Afghanistan or anywhere they are needed. If they are fortunate enough, a Talibani or a terrorist marries them but if they are not, well, let's not talk about that but these people are beasts."

Viraj sighed, nodding and rubbing his temples. The danger was much bigger than what he had thought. He had decided that he would use the prostitutes for a better use, maybe for industries or labour and that he would reform their Mafia but the external threats seemed far too dangerous. What should he do now? 

Vijay continued, "That's not our only problem. The good thing about these Keralites is that they can neither speak Hindi nor Marathi but the bad thing is, they have joined hands with extremists in Bhiwandi and these people are now doing this work in Maharashtra too. Hindu, Christian, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh girls are falling prey to their traps and eloping with them, not knowing that they would later be trafficked or would be made pregnant and then abandoned. Indian Government allows them to marry three women and they use their other wives to harass these women who think they eloped for love. These people were stopped in recent decades by a regional Maharashtrian party but they are re-emerging now."

Viraj's eyes widened as he heard the news. His knees buckled and he fell on his knees, muttering in grief, "Hey Shiva Shambhuva! Tula hai ataach karaycha hota ka?"
(hey Shiva (destroyer deity)! Did you find have to do this now only?) 

Vijay took sat besides him, kind of lost, wondering how they would protect their women and mainly other women from this problem. This must have happened after knowing that Viraj's father, Vardhabhai was killed. They must have expected some instability after the older Don's death.

"I will go and meet Mahamaya," Viraj mumbled, standing up from his position and then walking straight to his room, without even waiting for Vijay's reply. Viraj knew Vijay needed time. Hell, even Viraj needed time, and mostly advise from his wife on how to tread after this. 

Mahamaya was in the room and not in Tara's, which he found weird. She was always in Tara's room till she was called to theirs. Mahamaya was hugging her knees and her eyes and nose were looking red. In fact, her whole face looked flushed because of her pale skin, looking like she had cried a lot. Viraj was surprised with the scene. He had almost expected that he would have to go to Tara's room to get her but seeing his wife this disturbed brew a storm of worry in his heart. He rushed forward, kneeling in front of her, holding her knees, trying to get her attention.

She was wearing a cotton saree with all her ornaments while Viraj was wearing a normal cotton shirt, pants and office shoes. Viraj felt heartbroken with this state of hers. It pulled at his heartstrings. Without even knowing why she was upset, he was already crying as he pulled her head closer, making her kneel too as he pressed her face in his chest, stroking her head, cooing sweet words in her ear. 

After she had calmed down significantly, Viraj wiped his tears and held her chin, pulling it upwards as he wiped her tears too and then asked, "What happened, sweetheart? Why are you crying?"

Mahamaya looked at him, a little upset as she replied, "a j-journalist seems to have exposed our wedding pictures in a newspaper. The hospital friends who visited our wedding confirmed that those are us to the higherups. I was fired and my license would be terminated. The reason they are going to use is medical negligence and they have told me that they are handling this very softly considering that I might be wife of a person who has killed many and destroyed many households. They are going soft on me because they don't want their hospital's reputation and the medical board's reputation to be tarnished."

Viraj felt like the entire world was collapsing. If whatever she said was true, her every relative could be targetted and would be in danger. He knew that she had studied hard to be a doctor but what she failed to realize was, her career loss should be the least of her problems for now. However, he did understand her concerns too. She had spent nearly ten years of her life studying and working in this field. Moreover, if they had decided to take any action, the Government hospital she was working for would certainly would have contacted the authorities. God knows how she was fortunate enough to have avoided that. Just then, an idea entered Viraj's mind.

He held her shoulders, looking at her with a smile as he said, "I will arrange for a big house, equivalent to this one for your all relatives, from far and wide, anyone you could remember because after this, their safety would be endangered. You need to be more worried about them. In return, since you would be free, I need a favour."

Mahamaya had a frown on her face as she nodded, wondering what he wanted, before she thought a little and said, "The house is not needed. They wouldn't come after uprooting their whole lives just because I would ask them to but what favour do you want?" 

She knew he was struggling with the new responsibilities, especially the main one being that if he moved the women from prostitution and stopped human trafficking, how could he make sure that the people won't run and complain about their Mafia? And what would be the alternate source of income for them which would compare even in the slightest with the income they could otherwise earn them as prostitutes or trafficked humans? Because if they did allow this to happen, this trafficking and prostitution had so much business that was difficult to financially recover somewhere else. 

Viraj spoke, "I need you to look after the orphanages and women, prostitutes, maids, cooks, everyone to be honest who don't count as Mafia men. I will give you financial reports and what budget you have to uplift them to the best of your ability. You need to visit these people, come up with plans on how to handle this and then report to me. If I like your ideas and approve them, the budget will be allotted, for marketing, packaging or any kind of thing you are developing, whether it's goods or services. These new institutions will also help us whitewash the hawala (illegal international money) money. I wish we didn't have to do this but we need this one source of income of hawala, Mahamaya. I know how you are worried about how much this impacts India economically but we have no other way. Besides, if we don't, someone else will."

Mahamaya bit her pink lips, thinking about his proposal. Did she want to help him out in his illegal activities? But wouldn't she help people too? That was why she wanted to be a doctor in the first place. She nodded, making Viraj squeal in joy and hug her, making Mahamaya smile too as she leaned against his chest. 

Viraj kissed her forehead and said, "You make me the happiest man in the world, Mahamaya. Thank you for helping me out with this."

Mahamaya nodded shyly, giggling as she joked, "Yes, indeed you are lucky to be my husband, mAjhe priya Patideva (my dear hubby)." 

Viraj didn't deny, just nodded, as he kept gazing at her, agreeing with her that he was the luckiest man indeed to be her husband...