The Foreign Service Journal, June 2005

home to coconut curries and comfortable beds. How will she get back to Vadipatti tonight? She has no money for bus fare and it is too far to walk, especially given her weari- ness from today’s work. Her mother must be getting wor- ried, and Meena will surely be fussing without her there to tuck her into the soft quilt. She is startled from her thoughts by the sound of a single-stroke engine rattling up behind her. Sitting astride a red Maruti scooter is a hand- some young man. He asks her if she needs help. He lives nearby, on the other side of the river Vaigai, he says. He knows of a place she can stay for the night and maybe tomorrow she can meet up again with the work crew. She sits sidesaddle on the back of the cycle, careful not to touch this helpful stranger. Sunil’s bike takes many turns, leaving the paved and gravel roads and entering the darkened dirt paths lined with forests. She is too tired to follow the route, thinking now only of a place to rest her aching body. Sunil cuts his engine in front of a dimly lit hostel and greets the night guard with a familiarity borne of frequent encounters. Sunil explains that a cousin owns the place. Madhura is settled into a sparsely furnished room, just two aging charpoys and a thin reed mat on the floor. Shallow breathing heard from the other bed informs Madhura that she is not alone. Another young woman is curled up with a threadbare sheet covering her partly exposed legs. Sunil promises to return in the morn- ing. As he departs, he smiles: the price he paid to Mr. Das for this pretty girl was worth it after all. F O C U S 44 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 0 5 Darkness approaches and Madhura squats beside the road, pulling the free end of her frayed sari over her head.