The sun peeped out and the darkness of the horrible last night hid somewhere with a lurch. She slowly got down from the bed. She was still in a trance. She went down to her office, with her husband, by car, to seek leave for a week as she was unable to concentrate in anything. They managed to meet her manager and her husband spoke to him for almost an hour. Finally, holding out the leave letter, she could only say, “Sir, the copy of the FIR is attached to this”.

Previous night Niharika, my dearest friend could not sleep. Whenever she tried to relax, she could only see those greedy violent eyes staring at her. The darkness of the night made her mind travel through all the horror stations. The polite but bold lady with brown hair and magnificent look, kept on crying like an innocent child in the arms of her love incessantly for hours together.

She was deputed to a rural branch of an esteemed Bank in a remote village on office duty for a week and it was the third day. Like the previous two days she had to travel long distance by bus through undulated half broken roads of the village filled with potholes, far away from her residence. It was a very tiresome day. Usually after getting down from the bus, she returns home by an auto rickshaw. She looked out of the bus before getting down. Bewildered by the sweet twilight, unlike the other days, she suddenly planned not to return home by an auto rickshaw. Thus, she planned to cover those two Kilometers towards her home by a walk. When the churidar clad lady in her late twenties after a walk of more than a Kilometer through the busy Indian street reached the open road of the Housing premises, the winter evening turned dark. Before reaching the gate of the Apartments campus, she had to stroll through the Housing Board common road for more than half a kilometer. The streetlights at greater intervals hardly brightened up the entire street. There was barely anybody she could see (as far as her vision covers) on her way in that winter evening. She walked down the road for a minute or two when suddenly a truck coming from the opposite direction heading out of the Housing Board stopped in front of her. She was passing by the truck, when suddenly, she heard somebody from inside the truck calling her.

“Madam… Excuse me Madam!”, yelled the truck driver.

She usually dares not to speak to anyone unknown in any odd place for the purpose of self-security. However, realizing that she is quite near to her flat she stopped and looked at the driver.

“Madam, I am trying to locate an address, please help me.”  said the driver. “Where is the second main first cross here in this Housing Board?”, he continued in Kannada in a native dialect.

Niharika is from a different state. She struggles speaking the local language spoken in Karnataka.

“Gottilla (meaning ‘I don’t know’ in Kannada). This address is not here.” she said in broken Kannada.

Usually the roads of Bangalore are marked as cross and mains but in the Housing Board campus it is not so.

The driver turned the pages of a notebook, and forwarded it to her saying, “What language do you speak? Tamil or Kannada? The address is correct, please see in this notebook Madam.”

She saw the page is empty. Sensing something fishy, giving back the notebook, replied, “You ask someone else.”

The driver scribbled something on the notebook and stretched it towards her again, saying, “Oh I turned the wrong page. Please check this, I wrote it clearly.”

It contained only few scratched lines. She felt something suspicious is going on. She did not speak again and started moving forward on her way. Suddenly, she felt somebody pulling her strongly from the back. She with all her might nudged the driver away and started walking faster. The driver then adamantly tried to force her into the truck. God was with her. She elbowed him and once again managed to free herself. This time she started running as fast as she could towards her home along the empty road. After running continuously for a certain distance, she stopped and looked around. She screamed out something in the open darkness to reach every individual. However, she felt her voice could not reach anybody. There was no one nearby. Her heart beating fast signaled her to run again faster. A car from somewhere suddenly came near her. The person inside approached her saying, “I saw the incident from a distance while driving. Please come inside,I will drop you.”

She did not trust him. She somehow said, “Thanks. I will manage to go.”

The car moved forward. She started walking very fast. The man in the car, came back to her once again saying, “The truck is near the gate.  You run inside the campus. I will be here following you. Don’t be afraid. Run in. Soon…”

As she neared the campus gate, she probably saw the truck. The gate appeared to be still very far.

She kept on running constantly until she crossed the other two Blocks and reached the third Block. She hit the switch of the lift. She was unable to wait for the door to open. As she reached her flat, she found that the door is not locked from outside. “Then has he not gone to the office today?” her mind spoke.

She pressed the doorbell. Her husband opened the door.

With a smile in his face he said, “I did not go to the office today, working from home.”

She suddenly got angry and said, “Then why did you not tell me when we spoke over the phone? You could drive me home from the bus stop by car.”

“I did not tell you because I thought of giving you a pleasant surprise”, he explained.

“But why dear are you crying?”

Realizing that she is safe now, her eyes busted into tears. Now she felt that she had become weak and beyond self-control. She narrated in a feeble voice the entire incident to her husband while her eyes were over flooded. The sufficiently lighted room appeared hazy as she tried to look through the water brimmed eyes.

“Oh …! How bravely you managed to save yourself! I would not have got you back safe and sound if that notorious being could somehow abduct you. Or I don’t even can imagine what he could have done. May be teared …. Thank God! You are safe.” he exclaimed as he touched her head with care.

Her husband’s words touched her deeply. “Oh my God! I could escape!”

She realized deeply that till then only her brain was working. She was just responding to her stimuli! The adrenalin in her blood once again made her breath heavily. Now realizing what could have happened to her, the heart spoke, “I could also be tortured, abused and finally murdered like many ill-starred women around the country and in fact globally.”

She broke down.

They went straight to the police station and lodged a FIR.  Their neighbors supported them.

She could not eat properly at night. Her calm, patient and supportive husband was with her all the time.

He praised her, tried to pacify her and tried to divert her into all possible ways.

“Don’t get upset. You are brave. See, how boldly you tackled. Cheer up. Tell me, anything special that you want for dinner tonight. Please dear…”

She tried to inform a senior colleague over phone, but it was late night, so could not reach out. They did not let anybody else of their family know about the incident as they would panic from their hometown.

The next day morning she was still in a shock and took leave from her office for a week.

The police told them to step into the police station the next day to identify the culprit. However, they did not go back to the police station anymore. They were concerned that if they face those nasty people, she might perhaps become a target. They wanted to be safe. Moreover, she felt that her brain was unable to process things anymore. She could hardly remember the beast’s face. Only those cruel dirty eyes kept on flashing upon her inner eye.

Even years after this incident whenever a lady from any corner of the globe suffers from terrible experiences, she recollects that day. She realizes that she is just a commoner who along with her family could have suffered severely like those unlucky girls if by chance she could not have managed to escape. The safety of the common people in this so called developed modern civilization is at a stake. If she and her husband would have spoken out or if she would recognize and would point the nasty guy out, or at least if they would present themselves in front of those crime suspects ,they would be a target and would suffer extremes.

She still thinks that the man in the car was God in disguise.

Unlike many others she could escape the ill fate. She now has developed a sense of disbelief on all truck drivers she sees on her way. Whenever she sees a truck, she tries to walk away from it. The incident mentally tormented her. She is now a mother of two. She is scared to let her little daughter speak to any unknown person. She never likes any unknown person trying to mix with the innocent flower.

Who is responsible for the sense of insecurity she is suffering from? Is that the car driver or the society to be blamed? She has forgotten to believe in anybody all through her life’s experiences. Is this not a big loss for her? Why shall the other good truck drivers be distrusted? Who is to be blamed?

Most ladies in the modern days, experience unpleasant approaches to several extents ( if not a very severe attack) at some or the other times . If something untoward happens then the lady gets blamed – sometimes the way she was dressed comes up as a reason of the happening while sometimes her character is questioned, or she is taunted the way she mixed with people.

 Then obviously, why Niharika was attacked?

The day she reported back to office (when no more on deputation), a senior colleague after asking as to what had really happened exclaimed, “These all happened because the way you were dressed insisted him to do so.” Many others supported him and said, “Yeah he is correct.” One young guy, exclaimed “he might have noticed you and your dressing pattern the last few days and finally plunged on you.” Even some of the lady staffs supported them.

Niharika could not reply, her lips quivered as she mumbled something. She was still in a trance. Moreover, she was surprised at their behavior and remarks based on baseless imaginations. She was shocked and now she felt weaker and more uncertain than the last few days.

She tried to remember her husband’s words to cool herself. Moved out of the room silently when others were busy building stories. Kept on speaking to herself.

“Were they present at the spot to find out what dress am I wearing?

What would have they discussed if something more serious would happen to me?

This is just a section of the mass, what would the remaining world have imagined and spoke about me if something more serious and severe would have happened?

Oh! I would suffer till my last breadth and my family would be the loser in all respect.”

Splashed water on her face, cleaned the glasses (hazy due to those incessant flow from both her eyes) with her dupatta. Could not stop her thoughts. It was difficult to face the harsh reality.

Who will protect the women? How will their respect be preserved? If the person would carry any weapon, could I be able to survive? What would happen if I would fail to escape that day?” Niharika is still in search of the answers. 

Niharika, the sweet, bold, smart and determined friend of mine is now suffering from immense mental agony and pressure and looking for a solution.  Many others are finding it hard to get a perfect reply from the … (don’t know who?).

She is not someone to give up. She has a spirit to bounce back and do something for the women. She has slowly started her new journey towards social awareness regarding women and child abuses through her writing and through campaigns supported by some social groups.

“I dream of a blessed society which will protect its women like a father, a brother, a husband, a friend and above all like a responsible citizen and a well-wisher.” Niharika expressed on our last meet.