Rape..one of the worst nightmare of any woman..one of the worst thing that any man can do. Writing anything on this topic gives goosebumps to any author but just imagine the condition of those girls ..the mental pressure ..the trauma they have to go through. Many of them die in that incident and the rest who are left to face the world die daily. Today I am writing a story about my friend Mira..about her struggle..her belief...her courage.
Mira, a final year student who stayed in Kolkata for completing her B.tech degree course. Mira was from a small town but her confidence, her strength, her courage was way more than any metro girl. She was a girl full of life, a girl who likes to dance, laugh, enjoy. As, she had to complete her degree course, she stayed away from her family and thus she used to visit them only in vacations. For her, her father is her strength. Her father always tried to make her independent. He treated her as a boy so that she can be strong. But Mira never knew that her father's teaching will be required in such a situation.
It was the second week of march 2016 when she decided to give a surprise visit to her family. She went home ..Everyone was happy to see her..everything was going good and then the day came when she had to leave for kolkata. It was saturday, Mira went to the railway station with her father but due to some strike the train got cancelled and she had to broad a train the next morning. Mira had her exams on monday so it was necessary for her to reach kolkata by sunday. Due to the uncertain cancellation of the trains, Mira was not able to get the seat reserved. So, she decided to go by sitting in the ladies bogie. She woke up at 3 a.m and then left her place by 3:30 a.m. At the station, Mira and her father had to wait for the train and then the train came at 5:30 a.m .She boarded on the train and took a seat in the ladies bogie as was decided earlier. As the train left the station, she asked her co-passengers about their destinations. 2-3 of them said that they would go to kolkata. Since she had waken up so early so she went to sleep on a seat. After some time, when the train had travelled the half distance, she woke up with a phone call. It was her mother..she asked her about whether she is fine or not and after having a conversation of about 2-3 mins, she again went to sleep and covered herself with a blanket. Suddenly she felt that someone is standing in front of her..so she removed the blanket from her face in a hurry and saw that a boy aged 24-26 was staring at her. She got afraid and looked in a surprising manner. The boy asked her about her destination.. Mira said Kolkata in an angry voice. Although she was very afraid but she didn't wanted that person to know about her fear. Then she asked him to maintain a distance... the person stood straight but still had a look at her. She thought that the condition is getting worse and she prayed to God to save her. She took her bag and moved towards the gate and found that the bogie of two compartments is empty and she is all alone with that person in the bogie. Her throat dried.. she wanted to escape but the doors were closed from inside. Suddenly, that person held her hand and pulled her towards him. Mira's bag fell near the gate. She was not able to understand the situation... everything was like a horrible movie...the things that she read daily in the newspaper , saw on tv. She shouted for help but the train was on high speed and thus no one was able to hear her and at the same time, she was trying to escape from that person's grip.
Suddenly, that evil pushed Mira and she fell on the seat and the moment he tried to come upon her, she held his hairs and tried to pull his face up and started scratching his face with her long nails. She didn't want to be the horrible headline of next day's newspaper or a shameful news. She continued scratching his face. The person left her and started shouting. His face was bleeding like hell..there were scratch marks on his whole face. Mira got a chance to escape ..she went to the door and tried to open it. The moment she opened the gate, she thought of jumping from the train..but suddenly her father's face came in front of her and she thought that she has to face the situation. The person was still shouting ..he asked Mira to sit and said that now he will do nothing. Mira had a mixed feeling of anger and helplessness.. she shouted back on the person.. her eyes were red... her voice was at the peak.. that time all she knew was that courage is the only weapon that is left with her. She shouted and said that she will tear his whole body in the same manner as she did with his face. The man was bleeding and was trying to escape.. a moment came when the train slowed down and he ran away... Mira shouted on him and used bad words for him.
The moment she saw that the man is now far away and will not be able to come back she started weeping... the incident taught her a lot of things... firstly that women are not safe anywhere...but at the same time, she understood that a woman needs no man to protect her.. only courage and strength are required for these situations. She was proud of herself that she was able to do what other girls just think of doing in that situation. But she was afraid also..she was not able to trust any guy after that time..a lot of things came to her mind .. the day before that incident she was watching roadies with her mother and a guy came to auditions and said that he wants to be at all those places where there is at least a change of rape so that he can protect that girl despite of any relation ...Mira asked her mother that do these guys really exist and then she said that she doesn't need any man to protect her, she just wants that no man should rape any woman and if something like this will ever happen to her then she will fight the situation.
Today Mira is spending a normal life...trying to enjoy each and every moment.. her friends who know about this incident are supporting her..her father is proud of her..but still she had sleepless nights.. had a fear to travel alone ..time will heal every bad memory but Mira will never forget 13/03/2016.
There are a lot of Mira in this country who face the same situation ,sometimes even worse situation. But not all Mira can show this courage and not all Mira are this much lucky and are not this much strong. This Mira was able to save herself , was able to save her dignity but not all Mira can do so...why.. why..what is the reason.
Do this mean that women are weak? Or do this mean that they are slaves? Who is responsible for all this?? Some will say that the administration is responsible ,some will say that society, boys, upbringing, blah blah blah...
But believe me each of us are responsible for this..we ask women to save themselves from getting raped but we never ask men not to rape. The society needs to change but only when you would like to change yourself. Mira can be any random girl..she can be your friend...your girl friend.. your sister.. your mother ..or any random girl or woman. But you will feel bad only when some girl related to you will face this situation. If you really want a change then stop saying that girls are weak .. they need a man ..rather try to make them strong and confident about there own self so that every girl can be able to save herself.
"Aurat agar Saraswati ya Laxhami hai to samay padne par vo kali ya durga bhi ban sakti hai"- Mira