He
was alone that night with her, it was raining and he was shivering, she took
off her dupatta and gave it to him, he covered himself and was grateful to her.
It was a chilly December night and at 11:30 pm on the streets on Delhi, some
say it’s a nightmare; some call it the rape capital of India. One could hardly
see anything in the fog and the drizzle. As he walked a lot of emotions were
running in his mind. Then he chuckled “he was a man”, what can possibly go
wrong. She was walking audaciously, smiling, eating an ice cream and chatting.
She had a beautiful smile. He looked at her and said, don’t you think it’s
late, it’s not safe! She said – “I am there, you need not worry”! They had
known each other since quite some time so he could blindly trust her. But the
1% fear is always there.
His
parents lived in another city and were always worried about his safety. The day
he was born, the entire clan was disenchanted. His grandmother gave the
sorrowful news to all, in a rather very gloomy tone, that a baby boy was born.
She was so ill-fated that she did not talk to her daughter in law for months.
Every time he came near her, she thought of him as a good for nothing adult who
would make his parents ashamed of him. They did not have that kind of money to
be spent when he would get married. They, like everybody wanted to have a girl!
As he grew up his little sister was always given the first preference and
supreme attention. Most of the times, he felt that he was mistreated and his
sisters were nurtured and pampered like a princess. He never complained. He
studied on his own and came to Delhi University for higher studies. He was
always scared of the raucous city and especially those notorious girls, some of
them were even daughters of politicians and some, criminals on the loose.
The
weather was perfect and he liked her a lot. Over the months they would
sometimes bunk classes, find excuses and meet every evening to spend time with
each other. She was quite admired by her professors and was popular in college
and a lot of guys were after her, he always wondered why she chose him. He also
feared that she might be having an affair or might leave him someday but she
never gave him a chance to make his worst feelings come true. She was the most
loyal, caring and loving girlfriend one could ever have. He felt safe when he
was around her. She was bright, good looking, smart, was in her college
football team, funny and she could cook too! He was an average student at
school, somehow completed his engineering and got a placement through reference
because he did not want to sit at home with his parents who would always
compare him with the apple of their eye, his sister. He feared if he did not
work, he would be forcibly married to one of those successful women
entrepreneurs and he would be caged forever, taking care of their kids and just
socialising with other house husbands.
As
they walked through the broad uninhabited roads of the capital with some street
light flickering, a group of girls approached him, they looked raucous and he
was petrified. One of them even had a weapon in her hands. She did not realise
that they were surrounding him and was busy chit chatting and finishing her ice
cream. Then a hefty girl started dragging him in the car. She looked up and
bellowed, if anyone even tries to hurt him, I will not spare even one of you.
She put the ice cream stick in the eyes of the lady who was pulling him through
the window. They tried to escape, she picked a rod from the road and started
hitting their van. They finally escaped but he had bruises all over his face.
She reassured him and told him that everything will be alright. He was angry
that she did not listen to him earlier and was now a little scared of her when
he saw her in full rage, hitting the van like a beast and running behind it.
Later,
he asked her a question – “Darling, when we get married and have kids and if we
fight sometime, will you get angry and hit me or the kids, the same way you hit
those girls the other day?”, she just smiled and comforted him.
#this
is a true story based on the following assumptions -
-
Female foeticide happened because of men
-
Females were respected more than men
-
India became a female dominating society
-
Dowry had to be given by men and not women
-
Houses can be run with women as “head of the family” and men supporting them
- Domestic violence was carried out by
women
-
The word “male-ego” did not exist
-
Women were not scared of anything
-
Men were raped every year and were scared to go out
-
Women were so strong that they could protect themselves and men
-
The streets of Delhi were just about women after 11pm
-
Men were not given as much credit as women in offices or at home.
