Smirking
at one of my friend who sarcastically questioned me on leaving early from
office, I picked up my handbag and left to the door to swipe my access card. My
day had ended and I was happy to have taken my eyes off from the insane
man made thing called a computer which unfortunately was my livelihood.
“Akka, Please don’t forget to buy the charger pin from
Anna Nagar” I was reminded of my cousin’s request before I left from
home earlier that day.
A
scarf tied around my head and with a handbag, I got into a bus from my office
bus stop and travelled for half an hour to reach Anna Nagar. Thanks to the
traffic that moves in inches.
Roundtana
bus stop was crowded as always and what more can you expect at the most peak
hours of the day. A huge board read Mercy Electronics and that was my
destination. It took me 10 minutes to juggle between the crowds and buy the
charger pin. The needles in my watch showed 6.45 PM which meant that I had 25
minutes left to catch my local train to Perungalathur and I could do so only if
I reached Nungambakam station on time.
A
black and yellow share auto came and stood beside me; I climbed into it and sat
at the last row. Barely had I sat that I realized that I was the only female inside
with 6 men around me along with the driver.
And what do you
think I would have started thinking about?????
Without
any guesses, images of the Delhi gangrape case haunted me. 6 men alongwith the driver in a bus!!!!The only
difference was that I was in a smaller vehicle and I had no male friend
accompanying me too. The scenario was even more worst here. After having
scrutinized on the chances of my escape from the share auto unharmed, I kept
one leg of mine almost out in a position to be able to jump out at any
instance.
My
heart kept pounding as the auto sped. And unusually this driver didn’t stop at
lot to load passengers which was exactly adverse to what the other drivers too.
He passed by a number of people who kept waving their hand to stop him. A cold
chill ran through my veins as I held my handbag tight almost pressing my
stomach. My fingers started to feel cold which seemed to be anomalous in the
month of March.
Reminded
of face reading, I started reading the faces of the men who sat inside. There
was a stout and rotund guy who had a huge moustache which almost covered half
of her face. He sat exactly in front of me and kept turning to look at me. Every
time he turned I had this urgent desire to fold my fingers and punch him
across.
I realized that all these men were in between the age group of 25 to 30. (Which
was another coincidence with the Nirbhaya case) On shifting my focus to the
next man who was short and had these holes in his face which made him look even
scarier, my chances to escape seemed to be meager.
There
were two artificial red roses that stood on a plastic pot near the front
mirror. It reminded me of the movie called Red
Roses(called SigappuRojakal in Tamil). Earlier during the day I had read
the plot of this movie and enjoyed the thrill it had portrayed. In a few
minutes time would I be in the same situation as the victim in the movie? Such
questions started luring me and making me even more petrified.
Lost
in the thoughts of the movie, I failed to hear one of the men call out to me.
He was sitting exactly opposite to me and staring at me with red eyes (Seemed to be drunk).“Time enna?”He asked me in a hoarse voice.
I looked at my watch and stammered to answer him.
He murmured something into the ears of the guy sitting next
to him and both of them started laughing. (Where they waiting for the right time to execute the plan??)I
kept looking at the road to check how far I was from the destination. I still
had to travel for ten minutes. Praying to God all along and trying to stop
thinking negatively I continued my journey amongst 6 men.
With just half a kilometer left to reach
my destination my BP level started to minimize and I somehow hoped that I would
be safe in no time.
But the God’s had left me that day as exactly five minutes
to reach my destination, the driver took a left turn which was no way leading
to where I wanted to go.
“Anna, yen
inga thirumbuninga?”(Why did u take a turn here?) I questioned the
driver. Almost screaming at him and startling the others, the driver turned
back in surprise.
“Traffic naala”,(because of traffic) he replied and sped.
He took another left turn and reached the destination.
Hardly did he stop that I jumped out of the share auto and paid him the cash
and walked briskly to the railway station.
The 7.10 local was on time and I caught the window seat
thanking God that I could catch some fresh air.
A silent breeze swept across my face and ears and calmed the
hallucinations that had tortured me for the past half an hour. It took me
sometime to realize that I was actually safe, sound and unharmed. On looking
back at what had happened that evening, it has become clear that every woman in
India feels unsafe to travel alone.
I fear that in a few years’ time, we may succumb to heart
attacks caused by such gory imaginations. It may have been that the men
travelling alongside me in the auto were not those rapist kind of men, but the
image that has been created because of the recent incidents increases the
agony.
It would take an entire cultural change to stop this entire
racket, which in turn would defy our ethics and moral values.
If you are a woman
reading this post, I am sure you would be haunted by such scary hallucinations.
So do let me know if you had any?