Fiction: Gulabiya and Balesar’s escape from servitude will shake the very earth they till for others

He didn’t like having to work long after the other labourers had gone home, but Singh always found some excuse to keep him back. So that day, he had just got up and left. He’d decided that he wasn’t going to work for him anymore. The other labourers tried to reason with him, saying that he was being unreasonable and foolish – What will you do if not this? If the boss fires us, what will we do? It had fallen on deaf ears. Balesar knew that having two hands was enough for a working man in this world.

He quit the farm and decided to sit at home for a few days, but the very next day, the maalik came, imploring him to return. He said, “You know that you’re the most honest and hardworking labourer I have. You also know that all my farms depend on you. You manage the farms from now on. You look after them.” From then on, he was the manager.

He wouldn’t have accepted that position if it weren’t for the fact that quitting the farm meant he wouldn’t see Gulabiya as often. Nobody understood what happened to him when he couldn’t see her. This...

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