Escaping Havelock

Escaping Havelock

Maitie was as beautiful as the Havelock Island of India, her face was as calm as the cool sea-breeze and her eyes were shiny like the scorching sun, her skin was like the tanned sand of Havelock and her hair swayed swiftly like the lofty palm trees which she used to tie up with the joined petiole of the leaves, She was very young about sixteen years old. Maitie and her clan used to inhabit the south-west region of the archipelagoes which was away from tourists as they thought that they were very threatening to their livelihood.

One day Maitie was making trinkets with her grandmother and asked her “Can’t we escape from these Islands and live a life of our own?”

“How dare you say about escaping from here God will curse you and will send you on an exile” exclaimed her grandmother

“Even the exile will be Havelock Island, you don’t understand the fact that I am bored making trinkets of seashells and eating crab soup there is more that I can do with my life and I am not going to waste my life like yours” stated Maitie in such a tone that it was difficult for her grandmother to coax her

“Fine then wait till I tell the clan that you are going to escape,” said her grandmother in a tone to blackmail her

“I am not scared, you shout to the world but I will escape” claimed Maitie

“Maitie is escaping Swaraj Deep” shouted Maitie’s grandmother banging the earthen pots and everyone came out of their shacks and lowered at Maitie

“What a disgrace you are Maitie, it’s great that your parents aren’t alive to see this treachery of yours ” shouted a lean woman from outside her shack

“You are a disgrace to our tribe you shall be thrown into the water or its best to burn you” declared a Burly man 

“Yes, Yes it is the best thing to do” shouted the crowd

“Amma, Should we burn her or throw her into the water?” asked the burly man to Maitie’s grandmother

“If we throw her in the water then the crabs won’t come on our side as they will get scared and also the water will get impure as the sharks will eat her and there would be blood everywhere so its best to burn her ” stated Maitie’s Grandmother and stared Maitie and she whispered to Maitie

“Everyone jumps on my wish, even an ape

These are the consequences if you think to escape” 

Maitie smirked and replied

“Your mouth is going to gape

When I will escape”.

The indistinct chattering among the people kept on increasing and Maitie knew that it was best to run as everyone was busy gossiping about the diabolic deeds of her and she moved to the shacks so nobody could spot her and started to run as fast as she could and the burly man shouted  

“She Escaped” and everyone started to run as fast as they could but most of them were gluttons so they stopped a lot to catch their breath and by that time Maitie had entered the zone where there were tourists and saw people from different ethnicity roaming everywhere and saw that they were using a tool which they were pointing at themselves and making funny faces and looking at the funny faces she laughed and everyone started to stare her and after an abrupt pause they started to click her pictures and she got frightened and said

 “Leave me alone” but nobody seemed to understand her as the language she spoke was different but a man who was in his middle age  walked from the crowd and said, “she says Leave her alone she is seeing a camera for the first  time don’t frighten her” and he looked at Maitie and said in a rather friendly voice, “Myself Prashendra, I am from Mumbai from the Bustling city of India, what’s your name?”

“Maitie”

“That’s a charming name, are you lost somewhere Maitie ”

“I can never be lost as my passion for living my life to the fullest will lead the road to my success ”

“That’s beautiful Maitie, so where does your road lead to?”

“It isn’t clear but it is for sure that I will have to leave Havelock Islands”

“You can come with me to Mumbai it is  truly an exceptional place” 

“Give me one good reason to trust you and come with you,” inquired Maitie

“I stopped these people from staring at you and talked to you” replied Prashendra 

“Good point, just a quick question how do you know my language none of these people knew it,” asked maitie

“Hey man what are you guys chatting about” shouted a tall, thin man from the behind

“Yeah wait, I am just comforting her,” said Prashendra

“Okay” replied the thin man

“Yes, I am a polyglot” continued Prashendra

“What does that mean?” asked Maitie

“It means I can speak many languages,” said Prashendra

“Impressive” Maitie said

“Many people find it so, Now do tell me would you come with me?” asked Prashendra

“You don’t look that diabolic you are rather a friendly one, but I do hope it isn’t a ploy,” said Maitie

“Trust me,” said Prashendra

“I hope it is not a blunder,” said Maitie

Prashendra reached the cruise and the guard asked for his and Maiti’s pass he showed his pass and said 

“This girl has lost her pass she is with me”

“So she won’t be able to go then” stated the guard

“What about some negotiable price at which we can have a mutual agreement,” asked Prashendra

“₹70000 only,” said the guard

“ I always have my chequebook ready,”  said Prashendra

 After Prashendra had filled his cheque he turned to Maitie and said “A bribe brings us a jibe”

“It sure does,” said Maitie

“Now let’s go before somebody else catches us,” said Prashendra

While they seated, the people stared at Maitie because her dress was peculiar then to cover up  Prashendra said: “She tried to copy the tribal dress for a photoshoot” and after that people stopped staring at Maitie but at that time Maitie was fast asleep. After a long tiresome journey, they reached Mumbai and Maitie rushed to exit and Prashendra also tried to catch up Maitie danced on the streets of Mumbai while everyone again started to stare at her she didn’t care and roamed on the streets like a free bird in the sky and Prashendra said “I have no problem that you dance on the streets but we need to get you slippers and some good clothes”

“Okay,” said Maitie stopping her graceful and chirpy dance then she continued walking and Prashendra said pointing at a large house “Welcome to my humble abode”

“Wow,” Maitie said in amazement

“Now we are going to learn Hindi and English because nobody understands your language,” said Prashendra

“Today? Wait le me enjoy these luxuries which I am seeing for the first time ” said the amused Maitie

“The luxuries are waste in front of education,” said Prashendra in a very convincing manner

“Fine!” cried Maitie

“So let’s begin,” said Prashendra filled with excitement and like this Two Years passed by in Prashendra and Maitie’s Lives rapidly like the burning of a paper and since Maitie was so beautiful she decided to give the audition for Miss Universe on the persuading of Prashendra she cleared the stages and was in the final round and the panellists knew her history one of them asked her 

“Why did you leave your hometown in Havelock and came here to Mumbai, While all your relatives persuaded you to stop in the isles of Havelock. Why did you sacrifice your family?”

Maitie smirked and said:

“Nothing great was ever accomplished without making sacrifices” 

-Tanvi Jeph

India