Creeping

[NaNoWriMo Day 4]

[Warning: This is poorly written and completely unedited. I just want to get a novel written soon.]

"Aamai, are you having a trouble sitting down well? Are you too old to to sit in a jeep," the soldier said to the middle-aged woman next to him, smirking.

"I wouldn't be your mother, you must have girls like me, you're a soldier. No, I was just thinking. Now even the soldiers are not the same as they used to. In those days, people of the army used to take initiatives and be tall and sleep. These days the soldiers are not manly, and have a big belly," she said, patting his belly, "Don't they have running in the army anymore?"

"It must have been you. You were probably a taruni too, so everyone looked like you. Now you are old, everyone looks fat and lazy. They make us run up the mountain with 25 kilos of bricks every morning, so the army hasn't changed. In those days, most of the Army's job involved wiping the King's family's butts, now we are all over the world, and foreigners appreciate how we are saving everyone. We are making you proud in the world," he said, with a hint of anger.

The woman moved her hand from his belly to his knees.

"You even have strong legs, but you don't act like like a real man,"  she said, squeezing his legs slightly, as if she was feeling a goat to buy in Dashain. "How did the army take such a cowardly person, even," she said, with a hint of mock in her voice.

"The army doesn't take people, people apply and get in," he said, irritably, removing her hands from his knees. "Aren't you husband and children around? What do they do, where do they live," he asked.

"Aaaa, what do you care for my husband. My old man sends money from the Gulf, and we have send our kids to boarding school in Kathmandu," she said.

"Ohh, it's been very long since he was in Nepal then. Or did he bring in a younger woman," he said.

"What is this, bhai, what is this," she said, loudly, "yeahh, it has been many years since I met my husband, but he still sends me money, and we send our children to good schools, and we eat well and live well. It is good for us, we have brought our kids well and we live a good life," she said, quickly, in a voice that suggested that she was not very comfortable with the conversation.

The soldier laughed out loudly. The woman squeezed his biceps tightly with her hands.  

"Some people don't just talk straight, and talk circles. They are cowards who are not brave enough to tell people what's in their minds," she said, loudly, while still clutching his arms.

"But some people have a hard time understanding what others are trying to say. Even if others are saying things in a quite straight and clear manner, they still don't want to hear those things, and shut their ears till they hear what they want to hear," the soldier said.

"Some people shouldn't tease if they are too afraid of what it would lead too. They are too afraid to go all the way with their teases, why do they even bother, " she said, putting her other hand on his knee. "Soldiers used to impress women, whenever the army took them, the women of the village were always happy that powerful men, with gun had come. Now, they are children with weak legs," she said.

"It's not that age anymore. No one has a child with a woman at every station. Nepali Army is a modern army with professional force, and our commanders have clearly told us to act as gentleman professionals, not like the bulls of the olden ages who had to service villagers everywhere they went," he said. "People in heat should either meet their husbands, or divorce them and find boyfriends. Only those without manners bother strangers everywhere in public," he said, forcefully disentangling himself from her hands. "Please sit well by yourself, sister, I am going home, let me go in peace".

She looked dismissive. "This is a strange conversation. I have trouble sitting due to my back, and you blame me for shameful things. Watch your words," she said, with not enough conviction.

"Good, then. Now you can sit down comfortably then. Where are you coming from," he asked her.

"From the temple. Family members are spread all over, both my family and my husband's family. The first few years went by well, but as everyone ages and children get older, it's becoming older. Sometimes there's loneliness. The goddess might do something to help me. My brother had his wife in Israel, and now he has become a christian. It has been a long time since we moved down to the city, but now everything is changing, it's scary. Even without the old man in Gulf, we are doing fine with money, but he doesn't want to come back. Now we have more money than we need, but there's no society like before. Everyone is just out for themselves," she said. Her eyes were moist, her ears and cheeks blushing. She sobbed lightly.

Raul cleared his throat. "Everyone has the same problem these days. Half our village has your exact problem. Shouldn't it be the government's job to provide jobs here so our social cohesion is maintained? Our society is going to be destroyed. The only thing we had remaining was our friendliness -- every foreigner who came to Nepal said Nepalis were the friendliest people in the world. Now who will come for a selfish people who only run for money. It's not your fault, or anyone's fault. The people who should be taking actions don't because the manpowers have bribed them so deep, they won't do anything at all until each and everyone of us is depressed," he said, his voice breaking towards the end. He had made different versions of the speech often, but he still welled up. "Something needs to be done. Something needs to be done. Doing nothing is not an option anymore," he said, looking intently at every face in the face. There was deliberation to his speech. He wanted them to know that he would be the one would help them change things, without telling them.