Mothers in Bol

While we’ve compared Meena to the various prostitutes of Manto and seen similarities between the visual depiction and Manto’s written descriptions of the brothel and the way it operates, there is one very strong difference between the two. In Manto’s stories, the prostitute’s role is restricted to the services she offers to her clients or in some cases the loneliness she experiences in the confined space. However, in Bol we see a transformation of the brothel into a maternity home and a case where the prostitute enjoys motherhood, something not necessarily associated with them. Therefore, the domestic space of women in the Hakim’s house and the brothel of the prostitute seem to have parallels in that they both become places where violence is inflicted on women and their role as mothers is exploited.

Initially we sympathise with the Hakim’s wife for being reduced to her utilitarian purpose of giving birth to children only later do we realize that Meena is in the position. For both these women, the men in their lives impose roles of producing children and they get no say in the matter. The women therefore suffer through the process of childbirth and the men expect them to continue doing so. In case of the Hakim’s wife, the trial and error process goes on in hope that she will produce a son. There is never any gratitude on his part and he only keeps count of the number of daughters he has not realizing that there has been violence committed against his wife the same number of times. On the other hand, Saaqa gets into an agreement with the Hakim for producing a child and during the negotiations of the deal and its consequences, we never see Meena in the picture. Later, when the first girl is born, Saaqa is ready to put Meena through the same process as he tells the Hakim, “Aap bachiyaan paida karte jaein, mein aik aik laakh barhata jaun ga”. Both men attach a numerical value to the women, even if it is different contexts. They are ignorant of the violence inflicted on mothers and are ready to put the women through the same process again.