Second
Part
By
this time we reached sister Safra's house. It was situated
in a beautiful heart-shaped garden. It was a bungalow with a corrugated iron roof. It was
cooler and nicer than any of our rich buildings. I cannot
describe how neat and how nicely furnished and how tastefully
decorated it was.
We
sat side by side. She brought out of the parlor a piece of embroidery
work and began putting on a fresh design.
"Do
you Know knitting and needle work?"
"Yes"
we do not trust our zenana members with embroidery! She said
Laughing, " as a man has not patience enough to pass
thread trough of needle hole even!
"But
we do not trust our zenana members with embroidery! she said
laughing, " as a man has not patience enough to pass
thread through of needle hole even !"
"Have
you done all this work yourself ? " I asked her pointing
to the various pieces of embroidered teapot cloths.
"Yes
"
"How can you find time to do all these? You have to do the
office work as well? Have you not"
"
Yes. I do not stick to the laboratory all day long. I finish
my work in two hours."
"
In two hours! how do you manage ? In our land the officers,
magistrates, for instance, work seven hours daily."
"
I have seen some of them doing their work . Do you thing
they work all the seven hours?"
"
Certainly they do!"
"
No, dear sultana, they do not. They dawdle away their time in
smoking. Some smoke two or three choroots during the office
time. They talk much about
their work, but do little. Suppose one choroot takes half an
hour to burn off, and a man smokes twelve cheroots daily then
you see , he wastes six hours every day in sheer smoking."
We
talked on various subjects; and I learned that they were
not subject to any kind of epidemic disease, nor did they
suffer from mosquito bites as we do. I was very much
astonished to hear that in Lady Land no one died in youth
except by rare accident.
"
Will you care to see our kitchen?" She asked me.
"With
pleasure," said I, and we went to see it. Of course the
men had been asked to clear off when I was going there. The
kitchen was situated in a beautiful vegetable garden. Every
creeper, every tomato plant was itself an ornament. I found no
smoke, nor any chimney either in the kitchen. It was clean and
bright, the windows were decorated with flower garlands.
There was no sign of coal or fire.
"How
do you cook?" I asked.
"With
solar heat," She said at the same time showing me the pipe,
through
which passed the concentrated sunlight and heat. And she
cooked something then and there to show me the process.
"Let
me tell you a little of our past history then. Thirty years
ago, when our present Queen was thirteen years old, she
inherited the throne. She was Queen in name only, the
Prime-minister was really ruling the country."
"
Our good Queen liked science very much. She circulated an order
that all the women in her country should be educated. Accordingly a number of
girls' schools were founded and supported by the
Government. Education was spread far and wide among women. And
early marriage also was stopped. No woman was to be allowed to
marry before she was twenty-one. I must tell you that, before
this change we had been kept in strict-purdah."
"How
the tables are turned," I interposed with a laugh.
"But
the seclusion is the same," she said. " In a few
years we had separate Universities, where no men were
admitted."
"In
the capital, where our Queen lives, there are two
Universities. One of these
invented a wonderful baloon, to which they attached a number
of pipes. By means of this captive baloon, which they managed
to keep afloat above the cloud-land, they could draw as much
water from the atmosphere as they pleased. As the water was
incessantly being drawn by the University people no cloud gathered
and the ingenious Lady Principal stopped rain and storms
thereby."
"
Really! Now I understand why there is no mud here!" said I. But
I could not understand how it was possible to accumulate water
in the pipes. She explained to me how it was done; but I was
unable to understand her, as my scientific knowledge was very
limited. However, she went on,----
"
When the other University came to know of this they became
exceedingly jealous and tried to do something more extraordinary
still. They invented and instrument by which they could
collect as much sun heat as they wanted. And they kept the
heat stored up to be distributed among other as required."
"When
the women were engaged in scientific researches, the men of
this country were busy increasing their military power. When
they came to know that the female Universities were able
to draw water from the atmosphere and collect heat from
the sun, they only laughed at the members of the Universities
and called the whole thing a sentimental nightmare!"
"Your achievements are very wonderful indeed! But tell me, how
you managed to put the men of your country into the zenana.
Did you entrap them first?"
"No"
"
It is not likely that they would surrender their free and open
air life of their own accord and confine themselves within
the four walls of the zenana! They must have been
overpowered."
"Yes,
they have been!"
"By
Whom?--- by
some lady-warriors, I suppose?
"No,
not by arms."
"Yes, it cannot be so. Men's arms are stronger than
women's"
"Then?"
"By
brain."
"Even
their brains are bigger and heavier than women's.
Are
they not?"
"
Yes, but what of that ? An elephant also has got a bigger and
heavier brain than a man has. Yet man can enchain elephants
and employ them, according to their own wishes."
"
Well said, but tell me please, how it all actually happened.
I
am dying to know it !"
"
Women's brains are somewhat quicker than men's. Ten years ago,
when the military officers called our scientific discoveries
'a sentimental nightmare', some of the young ladies wanted to
say in reply to those
remarks. But both the Lady-Principals restrained them and
said, they should reply, not by word,
but by deed, if ever they got the opportunity. And they had
not long to wait for that opportunity."
"
How marvelous !" I heartily clapped my hands.
"And
now the proud gentlemen are dreaming sentimental dreams
themselves.
more
in next issue....
