Destiny’s Salute- Epilogue p10 - Page 3

The morning sun rays shine on my face, awaking me from my restless sleep. Today my life would begin, this new journey would begin in which I would learn to become stronger, not feeble as how others suspect me to be, but happy and fighting for the betterment of my country. With a smile on my face, I head out of bed and rush towards the bathrooms, takie a shower quickly and run towards the corridors dressed in my uniform.

Looking across the taller people, I find Gul waving at me, Madam Heer and General Shashank walking towards us, Rupa smiling at me, Akash glaring at me and Om frowning. I feel my cheeks get hot as General Shashank walks towards me, glaring at me with such fury, that my eyes refused to leave his deadly gaze. Seconds pass by and he finally lets his gaze off me and walks towards the others with a smile on his face, with a sense of pride was it?

Madam Heer watches me in silence, her eyes flickering from me to Shashank sir every few moments. That's when I realized I would be forced to work harder, pushed beyond my limit for what I had done yesterday, not only would I have to prove myself but stand as a feeling of pride and power for women. I raise my head in honor and glance towards the sky, thanking God for giving me this opportunity to prove myself.

General Shashank walks back and forth continuously, his eyes wandering every now and then towards the course designed especially for the new cadets in training. I feel his gaze, yet this time with an unleashed fury and a smug, realizing his intentions, I walk forward and salute Madam Heer. Taking her permission I run towards the course, and smiled thinking 'good thing I took physical education, otherwise I'd be dead.' The course consisted of tires lined horizontally with one another, a track that started after the tires, and heading through the jungle, around the base, towards the bedrooms and back, nearly 20 miles, followed by a set of hurdles and shooting drills.

I glance back at General Shashank, and challenge him with my eyes, he leans back with blank expressions, yet never leaving his gaze on me. I turn around, look at the sky and ask the Lord for help, and begin this trek. One at a time, my feet glide through the tires as rapidly as possible, yet not so fast so I would not be tired for my next 20 mile run. I hear the other cadets follow closely behind me, jumping quickly I start the running, heading at a gradual pace through the jungle, around the base, towards the bedrooms and back. Out of breath, definitely, but then again I was in for a challenge as well as Shashank sir. Taking a deep breath, I jump through all hurdles, loosing my balance on the fourth to last and almost knocking it over, but never once giving up.

My feet come to a stop, as I stand before the sacks. I put on my safety goggles and ear plugs, pick up my gun, placing my index finger near the trigger, and begin the countdown. 5-4-3-2-1! BOOM! The bullet ripped right through the sack and shot the one behind in through the top right corner, nearly missing the edge. I frown but feel a sense of satisfaction as I turn around and see Madam Heer smiling at me, while the others applauded me.

Training lasted another seven hours, continuously practicing shooting, cardiovascular workouts along with weight training. I sighed, took deep breaths and smiled thinking who I was doing this for to bring pride to the family name as well as mine and those woman who were trying to support their country. The day went by and finally I walked into my hostel, almost knocking myself out on my bed, but instead I grabbed my towel and clothes and headed towards the bathrooms, jumping in for a warm soothing shower to help relax the tensed up muscles.

Minutes later, I head out of the shower dressed in my sweats and a white tee, and walk towards my bedroom, but stop shortly on the way after hearing Om and Akash chatter away. I hide behind the post listening carefully to everything they said….

"Manya, hmmm, she is a tough one, she has the guts but have you seen her, and plus she is a woman, a woman is a good for nothing lady, whether she be tall and strong like me or weak and short like her."

"that's true, but you have to agree she was pretty strong out there today, she finished all the drills, although she was tired she kept going, all the other woman almost fell to the ground but manya kept going. What makes you think she is weak?"

"I said naa, a woman can NEVER complete the roles of a man in society, in the household or for representing their country!"

Akash opens his mouth to say something, but before he can respond I snap my mouth open, "Look here Mr. Om whatever the hell your name is, if you think a woman is weak, than I am sorry I don't think your mother taught you right, if you think woman are weak than im surprised how you men always come running to us when your emotionally weak, if woman are weak than how come it's the men crying about us all the time, if we are weak then how come I easily defeated you in the drills, and proved not only your *** wrong but that GOOD FOR NOTHING SIR of yours! Before you open your dang mouth make sure you think about your mother, your sisters, your friends and most importantly your wife in a few years, I mean I don't expect you to marry a man of course you can but then again most decide to marry 'us woman' oh and do learn now so that if you have a daughter she will have some RESPECT FOR HER FATHER!"

I walk away glaring at him with all my might, refusing to glance back or saying anything else otherwise things would have gotten out of control. I open the door of my dorm and jump on my bed, lying there thinking about all the discrimination against women. I decide to do something about it and finally make myself strong, looking towards the moon I smile, and find myself in a deep sleep…..

Getting out of my bed, I rush towards the bathroom to take yet another shower, to relax my tensed muscles. Goodness, that workout yesterday really had done it, a little sore here and there but everything had worked out perfect, maybe today the 'men' would learn to respect us women equally, and understand that God created all equal. Meaning women as well…but then again that pleasant thought was completely ignored. Of course, that is what everyone would think at first glance, when I walked out of the bathroom and heard General Shashank yell at Rupa for crying.

I stood there, with my arms crossed why was Rupa crying? And then it hit me like a boulder, her feet were bleeding, covered in blood. I rushed towards her, worrying that no serious damage had been caused. General Shashank turned around and opened his mouth to speak, but I shut him up! "listen man, I don't have time to listen to your bull, her foot is bleeding, now will you back off, I don't care if you're a general or whatever, you're a human being first and if you can't feel pain for rupa's bleeding foot covered in shards of glass, then I have no clue how the hell you got to this position!"

"rupa, are you okay, is it really bad?" I asked rupa concerned. Rupa nods her head, while General Shashank, glares at me and mutters under his breath for my rustication. I smirk he couldn't do anything about me and neither would I let him.

"rupa, put your hand on my shoulder, and take all your weight off your bleeding foot, okay! Just relax you'll be fine!" I say. Rupa fiddles with her fingers and slightly puts her weight on me as I help her walk towards our room.

"that is it Heer, I can't take no more of that little girl! She thinks she can talk to me like that not once but twice and get away with it, I will have her dealt with, no one gets away with insulting me twice!" General Shashanks yells in anger.

Madam Heer turns around and smirks, "your just saying that shashank because you know she is right, if you learned to respect women then you would not be in this position today, humiliated and degraded. It was time you were taught a lesson, that you never learned in years of service, when you yourself now, how strong women have become today, and you should have known by now, or at least thought about me, I wouldn't be standing next to you like this just for bullshit, I worked hard until the end and I continue doing so, what you never could do I do for you…and its about time you learned to respect us women, and your wife, me!"

Shashank slumped into his seat, and fiddled with his fingers. This was one reason why heer never respected him much. He spoke in response, "im sorry Heer, I am terribly sorry!"

Heer rolled her eyes and wiped the tears trickling down her face, "its too late now shashank, too late!"

"Ouch, Manya please just leave it!" Rupa screams as I pulled out the shards from her foot. I looked up and smiled at her, "it's just two pieces left Rupa, be a strong girl, you can deal with it, I know you can! And just think right after this you can rest your foot!" rupa pouts. "fine."

Rupa looks around the room, trying to find something that would distract her from the pain. Finally it clicked, as I pulled out the long shard from her foot, rupa spoke. "Manya, how do you do it?"

I glance at her "do what?" rupa pretends she didn't hear it "I mean, how do you confront all those who discriminate against us?" I smile at her.

"some things do not need one to unleash their anger, I just find it hard to believe someone would disrespect a woman, because of her gender, I mean, men should be thankful to women, if it weren't for their mother they would not be alive. A mother, has the right to decide the fate of her child. If she had wished she could have let her baby just die before birth, but a mother is so attached to her child whether it be a girl or a boy she loves the child until her death and beyond, so why and how does a man not understand the love a women can give to a man, and that if it weren't for us men would be wiped out of existence. But I guess, some things are harder for a man to understand, and that's another reason why im not leaving this camp, not unless I force the others to understand how important we are"

Rupa nodded "you know your one of a kind, I'm glad to have such a good friend like you, first for yelling at Shashank sir because he wouldn't let me pull out the shards and forced me to listen to him and second because your such a sweet person" Rupa smiled affectionately.

I glance around in surprise, General Shashank was not here with us today, apparently he had left camp for some other personal business back home. Hmmm. I sighed there was more to that than anything else. Was it because of me, he left?

My thoughts were interrupted with a sharp whistle from behind me. I twirled around and found Madam Heer smiling at me affectionately. I smiled back and listened carefully. "as all of you know, Shashank sir is not here today, he left earlier for some unfinished business just about 5 kilometers away, now he has given me charge for today, and as per routine we will start this business. All of you are expected to finish this route in half an hour, go through the tires, climb your way through the mud path, through the tunnel, jump over those boxes and finally across the monkey bars in military position. Now are all of you ready?"

"yes ma'am" all shouted. I glanced at the track this appeared easier than yesterday, but there was one thing I worried about and those were the boxes, my height 5'2" could not jump over a box that was higher than me. I sighed and stood in line.

One by one all disappeared running through the course, sweating there selves apart, while I stared in amazement at akash. His body sculpt, his even breathing, his facial expressions as he went through the course, never leaving that look of pride and stern, proving he was one of a kind. I smiled to myself, but turned crimson red when I found Madam Heer gazing at me thoughtfully.

That's when I knew it, I was in for it, instead I found her winking at me. I blushed hard and glanced down at my thick and ugly black military boots. Whoever had designed those had one horrible taste in shoes, I would surely give them a piece of my mind sooner or later.

Finally, the whistle blew again, it was time for me to run the track now. Taking a deep breath I rush forward pacing myself to not stop short of breath and forget to live up to the expectations I had created for myself. The day would be long but something that I would not forget to accomplish with all my might.

Sulking I walked into my room, yet never forgetting to keep my head held high, it was a significance of my pride for myself. Sighing, I stop outside my room and hear someone walk behind me. I turn around alarmed and a bit scared inside but never would I let that feeling ever appear on my face. I take a deep breath and relax myself, it was only akash.

"hi akash!"

"hi manya. How are you?" I nodded positively and wait to hear why he was outside my dorm "is there anything you needed or wanted?"

"ummm no…and yes…I mean how is rupa? Is she okay? I heard about her little accident, I hope its not bad or anything?" I smile slightly, "she's fine, just needs to stop straining her foot and she'll be up and about in a few days" an awkward silence filled the air, trying to remove it I finally spoke.

It's quite late I think you should go now, you know don't want anyone thinking something else and plus its past our 'bedtime' cya tomorrow, bye."

"yeah, take care bye." he smiles slightly and walks away

Next Part: Camp out...

@cutemini: im sorry dear its an mk fan fiction...i already have a few parts typed up...im sorry...hope you dont mind..but i'll add something after Karan comes in if i can do anything😳