Nandini

Nandini anxiously fidgeted with her ticket as she waited for the bus to Kolkata, which was delayed by over thirty minutes. Nevertheless the delay seemed like a lifetime’s arduous wait.

Nandini’s mother gently squeezed Nandini’s hand – it was a loving mother’s way of saying, as much as she wanted her darling daughter to start afresh, she also did not want to leave her alone and badly wanted to accompany Nandini. Nandini’s father stood beside her, ignoring the lump in his throat- in all his years of bringing up his daughters, he never let them believe girls are any less and encouraged them to chase their dreams fearlessly. On that day, he felt proud of his daughter’s decision yet there was a kind of helplessness. Nandini’s sister, chose to never let anyone see her cry. She kept moving around as if arranging the luggage. She wanted to be there as a pillar of strong support for the family at this juncture.

Two years ago

Exactly two years ago, Nandini had been attacked by a gang of miscreants on the deserted lane that led up to her marital home. On the way back from work as she walked from the cab drop off point, Nandini realized someone was following her. She did not have the courage to look back and instead walked swiftly so as to reach sooner. 

Few minutes later, someone hit Nandini on the head with a really hard object – something like a rod. She fell unconscious. The next thing she knew was, she was sitting in a car with four masked men around her. Nandini was horrified at what she saw and begged them to leave her. One of the men threw her empty handbag at her, clearly hinting that all the money she had withdrawn at the ATM was gone. At that moment, Nandini cared for nothing but her life. She pleaded to let her go.

For a little while the monsters said nothing. Soon after, one of the men touched her breasts and pulled her shirt up. Nandini pushed him away, only to be sexually harassed by the others. They forcibly kissed her, pulled her hair and laughed at her helpless state. Nandini kept begging to leave her which resulted in nothing but encouraging them to continue their heinous behavior.

As if the almighty finally answered her plea, a few vehicles passed by after sometime. The four men became alert. They opened the car door and pushed her out. By the time, she stood up, they had gone. Nandini started running, hoping to find people somewhere on the way. She was on outskirts.

Luckily about 2 km away, she found a bus stop and an old woman there. The next bus arrived soon.

Nandini pretended as if nothing happened. Once she got home, there was no surprise that her parents, sister, husband, in-laws were all waiting, having failed to connect with her for hours. Her father had lodged a complaint with the Police. A few neighbors had come down since the family looked seriously worried.

Nandini explained everything that happened to her. Her family was speechless hearing the devastating turn of events. They consoled her and tried to feed. Nandini initially refused to even drink water. She vomited anything she ate and had developed high fever . The whole family was seen sobbing uncontrollably even as the neighbors and the Police gave them moral strength.

For several months, Nandini had not coped. One thing she and her parents and sister were sure to pursue was, assisting the Police to catch the perpetrators. They couldn’t be left free for they could come back anytime and do even cruel damage to other women.

Throughout the period of interacting with the Police and letting people know how to be careful, there was a strange behavioral change in Nandini’s husband, in-laws.

Nandini’s husband and his parents disliked the idea of pursuing the police to catch the criminals. They strongly felt that the family’s image was affected. On one occasion, Nandini had a showdown with husband, when he said he felt awkward and ashamed that his wife had been sexually harassed. He especially hated that people knew about it.

Nandini had moved out of the marital home as she did not want to live with a man who saw a sexually harassed woman as a poor victim who had to remain quiet for no fault of hers. If he believed that a woman’s ordeal had to be kept under wraps to save a man’s image, she did not want to live with such a man at all.

The society too had failed Nandini.

Questions of extreme insensitivity had come up demeaning Nandini.

“Why did she have to choose to work so late?”

“Nothing much happened. There was no need at all to blow it out of proportion. “

“You think they raped her? Perhaps, she is hiding it, isn’t it?”

“We must all ask our girls to be home before 6 PM, not wear revealing clothes and talk only to the same gender to be on safer side.”

The four men caused physical, mental and emotional damage to Nandini and her family. Many in the society still blamed women. If anything untoward happened, if the society still thought on the lines of how the woman should accommodate herself so as to not let mistakes happen, then progress was impossible!

If our education system did not train on issues like these and abolish the taboo associated with sharing harassment issues openly and seeking legal help, future is sure at stake.

Nandini’s family rendered her rare support even if it meant Nandini walking out on a coward man; choosing to speak about what she went through and deciding to help other women in the process.

For about a year and a half, the family and Nandini saw challenges but did not give up.

Eventually people forgot about the incident. Nandini’s husband was happy to be divorced from her. Police had succeeded in catching the dangerous culprits.

Nandini found a job in Kolkata. It was a start up with a one of a kind solution. Nandini had always envisioned combining her technical knowledge and business acumen to empower the society. She also intended to live in a new city, and experience new culture.

Thirty minutes later

The bus arrived. It was excruciatingly painful to see off Nandini, but she promised her parents and sister that all was going to be fine. She told them she would make a new home and have them all there.

“Nandini was on the way to living in a beautiful world that she created for herself. She no more heard noises from outside, but in all quietness, one could hear her breath instead– loud, clear, ambitious and happiest.”