Bangles in Rajastan

It is the silver bangle I am drawn to.

I am sitting in the shadows, waiting for the bus.  She is selling single cigarettes and asking tourists for their empty water bottles.  She is wearing an orange dress three sizes too big and her Mini-Mouse flip-flops are broken and too small for her feet.  She is wearing a silver bangle around her delicate left wrist and she touches it from time to time with her right index finger.

I finish the water from my bottle and she runs up to me and points at the plastic.  I give it to her and I buy two cigarettes.  I light one but the heat from the day and the nicotine make me feel nauseous, so put it out almost immediately.  She laughs, picks it up from the ground and puts it back into her packet to re-sell later.

She sits down next to me and wipes the hair from her forehead slowly.

I point at her bangle and I say “very beautiful”.  She repeats the words carefully “very beautiful, very beautiful”.

She is very beautiful.  Sitting there in the sun of the day, her eyes are shinning and she resembles dancing.

A man approaches.  She stands-up and offers him cigarettes.  He is busy and in a rush.  He hands her some rupees and she tries to sell him the cigarette I had out earlier.  He sees that it is second-hand and he hits her.  She laughs.  She apologises and she sells him a new one.   He is happy now and he walks away.

A young boy comes up to her.  He is about the same age and in the same trade.  He is selling cigarettes and collecting water bottles too, but he is also selling single pieces of chewing gum.  He offers me his wares, but I shake my head.  He is angry with her and there is a dispute.  He pushes her to the ground.  She gets up and walks away from the shade towards the buses and the heat and the fumes from the engines.

I had a silver bangle.  I bought it in a cut price factory in Deli two weeks ago, but I lost it on the way.  I don’t know where I left it, perhaps in one of the hotels, the restaurants, the taxis or on the beach.  Now I wonder.

My bus is ready so I stand up and walk past the little girl with the tiny shoulders who is dressed in orange.  I buy the rest of the packet of cigarettes from her.  There are five left, but I pay for ten.  She says to me “very beautiful” and then I leave.