Summary of the play
Raktakta Jharokha
(The War Zone Is My Bed)
First Scene
Sarajevo, Winter 1994
A dark room, inside which there’s a window painted completely black, and on the four walls, there are many bullet holes engraved. Dahlia and Peter reside in this room during the war. Dahlia is a Croatian prostitute and Peter is an American journalist.
In order to document the pains and sufferings of the people stuck during the Sarajevo war, Peter has been hiding inside this room along with Dahlia for almost one week. Amidst the war, after getting to know one another more closely, unknown to them, Peter and Dahlia fell in love with each other.
When Dahlia learnt that it was time for Peter to go back to his wife, Susan, and leave her, she couldn’t help but wanted to hold him back. However, Peter left Dahlia, even after the begs and protests of the woman whom he had loved somewhere. As a result, Dahlia felt betrayed by the one whom she had not only given her body but also her heart. She felt that Peter only stayed with her all these days just to gain knowledge about the war and document his work, and after completing his work, he didn’t hesitate to leave her behind. She felt that now she knew how to gain knowledge from sources like a journalist. And that is when Dahlia decided that she too would become a writer, which would be her way of taking revenge on Peter.
At the end, when Peter leaves her, Dahlia opens the closed black window, as if it was a happiness of freedom like a free bird.
Second Scene
Kabul, 2001
In the second floor of a broken three-storeyed building, there’s also a window painted black. Ash and Laila hid in this room. Ash is a Taliban police, and Laila is an Afghani prostitute.
In order to save her daughter, Laila had once rushed towards a male doctor madly, without wearing a burqa. As a punishment, the Taliban wanted to hang Laila at a football stadium. Right at that time, Ash noticed her, and at the first glance felt something towards her; and that is why he managed to rescue Laila and bring her in the broken apartment. Both of them from that time hid in the apartment in fear of the American army as well as the Taliban soldiers for quite a few times.
Even after being ten years older than Ash, Laila too fell in love with not only by the means of sex but also with his soul. In the middle of their hiding session, Laila suggested Ash to marry her and build a family together. However, Ash rejected her proposal. Laila understood that she wouldn’t be able to hold back Ash. Therefore, to escape this closed place and embrace freedom, Laila opens the window. Ash couldn’t stop Laila. Ash tries to protect her until the end, with the help of his gun, from the Taliban.
Third Scene
Kabul, 2005
In a bombed, abandoned apartment, Ash and Dahlia sat facing each other. Dahlia came to take Ash’s interview in that apartment. Ash believed that Dahlia was not an interrogator, and that is why he had agreed to share his past and heartfelt thoughts related with Laila to Dahlia.
Dahlia, on the other hand, wanted to know about Laila’s reason of becoming a prostitute, the black room, meeting with Laila, his love with the woman, and why did Laila die even after Ash had managed to rescue her. Ash answered that after opening the window, the Taliban had made him kill Laila, even if he didn’t want to, else Ash would have had died himself by the hands of the Taliban.
In that moment, Ash realised that he had done wrong by trusting Dahlia. He was actually her source, and Dahlia was going to write a story about him and Laila which would later be published. As a result, Ash disagreed to enclose any more information and informed that he wanted to commit suicide.
At the end, it is shown that Dahlia remains totally unfazed by Ash’s words. In fact, she had agreed with him, and had told him that she would write about his suicide too, if that was possible.
Fourth Scene
Dubrovnik (Croatia), 2006
In a luxurious hotel, beside the swimming pool, Tony and Dahlia were sitting. Tony is a very popular commercial writer.
In the meantime, Dahlia has become a writer with the publication of her book about Ash and Laila. When Dahlia was a women enforcement leader in Bosnia and used to attend a lot of seminars where she spoke for the women, since that time Tony had grown interest towards her. One day after listening to a lecture on Dahlia’s book, which was a documentary about the trauma and pain of a war, and also after reading Laila and Ash’s story, he couldn’t help but approached her. And that led to countless meetings which furthermore led to them now spending a short vacation at a hotel for one week, and staying together as something which could be termed friends with benefits.
After reading the story, a suspicion of the reality started growing inside Tony. As a result, Tony continuously mocked Dahlia and tried to provoke her by saying that Ash and Laila had no existence, instead they were hung at the football stadium like the others.
Dahlia obliged fully and stood on her ground by saying that it was the truth, whether he believed it or not. Meanwhile, Tony thinks that Dahlia painted her pains and sufferings through Laila in the story, which was his way of telling that Dahlia was Laila herself. However, she tries to change the topic many a time. Getting frustrated, Tony didn’t hesitate before putting the label of liar upon Dahlia and leaving her.
Fifth Scene
New York City, 2007
It can be seen that Dahlia is reading her book on the Kabul war at her book-reading session and Peter is listening to it. Nowadays, Peter has also grown into an established writer. Dahlia gets surprised but not shocked after meeting Peter, almost thirteen years later, and somewhere she became happy when she got to know that Peter had read her story.
Just like Tony, Peter also felt as if Laila of Dahlia’s story was Dahlia herself and even went to the extent of poking her by saying how much money had she got after selling the book. Dahlia then reminds Peter that once he had suggested her to write a story, and she even thanked him because she had finally written a successful real story.
At the end, Dahlia informs Peter that she is now one of New York’s bestselling authors, and Peter just stared in awe as he watched her leaving.
