Gulabiya

by Abha Purbey

Genres: Feminist

Synopsis

From the heartland of India, a tale of love and freedom for the ages On the hot floodplains of the Kosi River, Gulabiya is a young farmhand in love with Balesar, the manager of a nearby farm's fieldhands. When Balesar decides to till his own land, he is joined in this enterprise by his Gulabo.

Their dreams, most moderate, attract the wrath of Balesar's landlord. Gulabiya is betrayed by her own family, leading to a heartbreaking separation from her lover.

Meanwhile, the village's wealthy power brokers scheme to sabotage Balesar's success. The powerful believe they have suppressed yet another attempt at resistance, but they couldn't be more wrong.

What follows is a tale that shocked and scandalized readers when it was first published in 2008, a story that breaks down the realities of farm labour and life in twenty-first-century India. In this caste- and class-ridden society, Gulabiya and Balesar's audacious escape from servitude will shake the very earth they till for others.

Release date: May 19, 2026

Publisher: Hachette India

Print pages: 128

Sample

1

Summer is here, and it is brutal. But not yet so bad that a few minutes in the sun will scorch you. Labourers are hard at work, their bodies weary from the heat. Near the farmhands, Gulabiya is digging. Whether or not the shovel makes its way through the earth doesn’t seem to concern her.

Gulabiya is in the fields, but her mind is elsewhere; Balesar is not here yet. He knows that she’s waiting for him. He has to come today. Yesterday, he had promised that he would definitely come see me today. As the sun gathers its rays, a worry rises in her heart. Her hands go numb, as if no strength remains in them. Shivers run through her body.

Gulabiya’s heart isn’t in the work. With every passing minute, the question tugs at her: why isn’t Balesar here yet? Did his boss keep him back on purpose, giving him more work? Could it be that he has found out about the love blossoming between her and Balesar? Come to think of it, Patel Singh, the boss, was monitoring her very closely that day. She didn’t understand why. It’s possible that one of the labourers has said something. Men and snakes are kindred spirits. They can switch loyalties any minute. They’ll be sweet to your face but gossip behind your back.

All this worrying is futile. But until Balesar himself arrives and explains, she can think of nothing else. Balesar has never been this late. He always arrives when he says he will, usually with time to spare. His tardiness today fills her with a strange kind of despair. She isn’t spending time, she’s bleeding time. She makes up her mind: while he isn’t here, she’ll keep working, even if it means working late into the night. If she goes home today, it will be with Balesar, and for that, she will wait as long as it takes.

Some of the workers start packing up their things, preparing to leave. Gulabiya is so deep in her thoughts that she doesn’t register what’s happening around her – who’s looking at her, who’s talking about her. Nothing. But her closest friend, Paro, takes notice. She sees the perverse curiosity on the labourers’ faces and admonishes them.

‘Why are you people staring at Gulabiya? She comes to work every day. You see her every day. Why stare at her like this? Is there something new today? Go, go home. Go to the market.’ Her temper rises as she speaks.

When has a man ever silently accepted a woman’s anger? The only men who stay silent in response are either scared of women or don’t care about them. A few of the workers who aren’t particularly interested in the unfolding scene pick up their bags and leave, but Somen, who knows Gulabiya well, glares at Paro with his large, round eyes, stroking his moustache.

‘Why? Do we not have the right to use our god-given eyes to see? We didn’t say anything unseemly to her. We just looked with our eyes. Why are you so bothered? It’s a man’s job to feast his eyes on a woman. We work together. How long are we supposed to just shut our eyes? And then, your friend is so beautiful. It’s hard to look at anything else when she’s around. It’s not like Gulabiya is a grand thakurain that a common man daren’t meet her gaze.’ After saying this, had he not got up and left quietly, Paro would have given him an earful, the kind he’d never heard, not even from his masters.

But what can she do? What will she get out of fighting these workers? She and Gulabo will have to come back to these very fields to work.

She is angry with Gulabiya now. What has happened to this girl? She looks at her, sitting there with a shovel in her hand. So lost in thought that she doesn’t realize that her saree is beginning to slip off. Her hair is dishevelled from working. Seeing her in this state deflates Paro.

She thinks of what Somen said: ‘Your friend is really beautiful. She’d catch anyone’s eye.’ Her gaze falls on Gulabiya, like a chakor looks at the moon. But would the chakor have looked at the moon if it had seen Gulabiya first? Paro looks at her intently. Gulabiya does look especially beautiful today, truly striking, in her pink saree and blue blouse. It seems she came to work dressed up to meet someone.



But Gulabiya is beautiful even when she doesn’t dress up. Honestly, she is the very picture of beauty. Fair as a dove, a full, round face on a full body. Big eyes and a proud, prominent nose. If I am so taken by this beauty, then is it really surprising if a man is beside himself for her?

But underneath the admiration, Paro is still seething. What has happened to this girl? Her head is in the clouds, completely unaware of herself, not a worry in the world. God knows if she’s going home or not. None of her things are in order yet. She can’t be left here by herself. Not in this state. Paro shakes her violently to bring her back to her senses.

‘Ae, Gulabiya, Gulabo, Gulabo’ – but Gulabiya doesn’t respond. It isn’t that she is unconscious. She is wide awake, and yet she isn’t. Paro shakes her once again. ‘Gulabo!’

Gulabiya’s body is still. As motionless as a stone idol.

Paro holds Gulabiya’s face in her hands and makes their gazes meet. ‘Gulabo, Gulabo, look, the evening is upon us. You and I are the only people left in this field. Come home with me, Gulabo. What is this love rubbish you’re caught up in? You’ve ruined your health for love. Everyone knows how to fall in love, you know, and yet, only a few know how to fulfil love’s duties. Even fewer amongst men.’

Gulabiya is still. Her face has a glimmer of hope. She only speaks when Paro shakes her relentlessly. She takes Paro’s hands in her own and says, ‘Balesar will come. He really loves me.’

Paro doesn’t believe this at all. Her heart refuses to believe it after seeing her friend’s state. But who will tell Gulabo? Paro begs her to understand. ‘Gulabo, what is this sickness you’ve brought upon yourself?’

Tears well up in Gulabiya’s eyes. Holding onto Paro’s hands, she says, ‘You won’t understand, Paro. I’ve chosen a lifelong sickness by falling in love. Do you know Radha? The one who loved Krishna? For a bit of love, she devoted her life to him. Little did she know her love would take this shape. Today, there’s but one name on every lover’s lips. ‘Radhe–Krishna… Radhe–Krishna… ’

‘Gulabo, forget all this love nonsense and let’s go home. Even the rays of the sun have hidden their faces.’ Paro tries to pull her up by the arm.

But Gulabiya seems to have sunk further into the. . .