From the author's desk : Hello people! here is the next update.. but before that, A big big thanks for all your comments...
I am still short of time and PMs are not coming... But, I try my best to update in two to three weeks time window...
I have tried to give my take on a very sensitive but a very important issue in this update.
Recently I read a quote, which captured the harsh reality of today's status. It goes like this: When it is dark, the men fear the ghosts... The women fear the men !
With, this track, I hope to bring out a positive message to all the women and girls out there and also to the men who are strong enough to let us be!
Hope you enjoy the update! happy reading!
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Chapter 15: Trials of truth
Part 3: Out of control
Khushi saw Anjali turning around to look at some one walking away
Anjali was looking at a man wearing a black leather jacket walking towards the exit. Khushi got a glimpse of him when he turned to give them a fleeting look. He jeered at Anjali and she hurriedly turned back. Khushi felt a chill run through her spine as she saw him sneer at her as well and he took out his goggles and turned the other way.
“Who is he?” she asked as Anjali panicked.
“No one” she stuttered nervously.
“Who?” asked Arnav as he turned just in time to watch him disappear out of the door.
“What did he do to you?”
“Nnnothing”
“Did he threaten you or something?” Arnav asked his sister.
She simply shook her head.
“Did he misbehave with you?” Khushi asked
One look at Anjali’s state, Khushi’s fears were confirmed.
“Oh! Anjali, what happened?” she asked slowly as Anjali started to sob holding her hands against her chest.
“That B**tard, I will kill him” Arnav said, getting up and rushing towards the exit where they saw the man leave.
“Did he pass any snide remarks?”
“Did he grope you or something?”
“Anjali, you don’t have to feel ashamed. He should be. Please don’t cry…” Khushi consoled her “Do you want to talk about it?”
For all her questions, Anjali’s answers were only sobs.
Arnav came back fuming.
“He got away” he said punching the table. “Did you see him?”
“Just a glimpse” Khushi said.
“Anjali, Did he touch you?” Arnav asked his sister again
“Nnothing Bhai, I am fine…”
“Just tell me what happened?”
“Leave it Bhai, I am fine now”
“You are not!” he told her angrily. “It was at the jewelry store right? I will ask them”
“No... no... Anjali said, getting up to clutch Arnav’s hand “It wasn’t at the store, don’t ask anyone, Nobody saw anything”
“Then where was it and what happened?” asked Arnav gritting his teeth
Anjali sat down on her chair resignedly.
“I wasn’t expecting it, this guy must have also been looking for some jewelry in the store. I was coming out, I didn’t see it coming, he suddenly put out his hand in front of me and grabbed me on my front. I was shocked and rooted to spot. He said something, I didn’t hear it properly. It all happened in a flash of a second. I just panicked” she finished and then broke into sobs.
Too shocked to speak, the other two stared at Anjali.
Arnav got up.
“Where are you going?” Anjali asked him.
“It was at the entrance of the store right? I will ask the shop to provide me with a CCTV recording…” told Arnav. “I am going to make sure that he regrets he was born”
“No, no, don’t make it a big deal… I am fine now…” Anjali freaked out “This will become a news. Please don’t”
Arnav patted “I will take care of it Anjali, you don’t worry” and then he was gone.
“Khushi, I don’t want him to probe any further, please stop him”
“That man should learn a lesson Anjali. We shouldn’t go quiet”
Anjali looked like she would start a new stream of tears.
“Anjali are you alright? Do you feel sick or something?” Khushi asked noticing her face again.
“I feel nauseated….Need to use the restroom.” she said as she got up
“I will come with you”
“No I am fine, I will be back”
Arnav was back in a few minutes
“Where is she?”
“Restroom”
“You let her go alone?”
“She said she will manage”
“How long was she gone?”
“Just 5 mins back”
“Do you want to go and check”
Khushi took a deep breath, and pulled out a chair for him
“Sit! And calm yourself down a bit”
Arnav sat down frustrated.
“I am going to make sure that he rots in jail… How dare he… right in front of my nose… How dare he…”
“Did you get the CCTV footage?”
“They aren’t sharing. I may need help from Abhi” he said skimming his hand through his hair.
Arnav tried calling Abhimanyu
“Not picking up my call” he muttered
“May be he is busy” Khushi offered an explanation.
“How dare he touch my sister...Wait till I catch hold of him, he will make his life hell”
Khushi watched him as he liberally used some of the profane words to describe the man
“There she is” Khushi said as they saw Anjali walking towards them.
“Are you Ok now?”
Anjali nodded
“water?”
Anjali shook her head
“If you guys don’t mind, I want to leave, I don’t want to eat here”
“I was thinking of the same too, we will go somewhere else” Arnav said getting up
“I want to go home” Anjali begged Arnav
“Ok, we will go home, I will make something lighter” Khushi said getting up as well.
The three walked out and stood waiting for the Valet to bring them the car.
Khushi tugged at Arnav gesturing quickly towards Anjali still who looked upset and lost.
“Actually I wasn’t really looking forward to this dinner.” Khushi commented as Arnav raised his eyebrows at her
She elbowed him, gesturing him to respond, in hopes of bringing back Anjali’s mood.
“Oh really?” Arnav asked picking her queue
“Yeah, all the 7 star hotels are the same, specialists in serving bland and half-baked stuff, who would like it?”
“Were you only looking forward to the dinner part Khushi?”
“What else was there other than food? Right Anjali?”
Anjali was lost and was not even listening to them. Usually, if she was her own self, she would have jumped in with such an innuendo coming in from Arnav or Khushi.
Khushi bit her lips, realizing her plan was not working.
Arnav put a hand around his sister.
“Kiddo! You alright?”
Anjali nodded.
“Why me bhai?”
“It was not your fault”
“You don’t know bhai, I…”
“shhh…Cheer up and trust me, I will make sure that you take your revenge!”
As their car came up, the three got in.
“Bhai, do you mind if I sit in the back seat along with Khushi?”
“feel free”
After a few minutes of silence, Khushi attempted again to strike a conversation with Anjali.
“Anjali, do you want to eat ice creams?”
She nodded a no.
“Ok, How about chocolates?”
“I don’t want”
“Pastry?”
“Khushi, I don’t feel like eating at all…”
“There is an outlet near Palika Bazar which sells ice creams and cola, they are usually open until midnight, we will go there”
“No” a louder and outrageous reply came from Arnav “Khushi what do you think you are asking for?”
“Please Arnav ji!” she said “For Anjali’s sake”
“Don’t do anything for my sake, I just feel… so… I told you I feel nauseated.” she broke down again.
“Do you want to see a doctor?”
“No, it is just…Why did he do that to me? What mistake did I do?”
As she started to cry again khushi held her close “It wasn’t your mistake and you didn’t deserve this. Please don’t cry! ”
“I feel so dirty!”
“You are not Anjali, he is a slimy scum, not you!”
“Why me khushi?”
“I know Anjali, this shouldn’t have happened to you nor to any other girl”
The girls jerked forward as the car stopped.
Arnav had pulled up on the side of the road.
“What happened?” Khushi asked looking around. They had come to the India gate.
“Not the place you asked for, but we get Golgappes here” Arnav said gesturing across the street
“Golgappes?”
“yeah, Come on, get down. We need to walk a bit” he said getting out of the car himself.
As the girls joined him, Khushi looked awestruck at the revelation.
“What happened, Don’t you like golgappes?” Arnav asked her.
“No not that, I can’t believe that Arnav Singh Raizada knows about street joints that sell Golgappes!” she said
“I used to go to the school opposite this street, this used to be our favorite joint back then. We used to come here as kids”
“You amaze me” she said nodding her head at him
“In fact it was Anjali’s all-time favorite once” he told her as Anjali too smiled for the first time that evening. “there was once a time when all my pocket money was spent on buying Golgappes for Anjali”
“Really?” Khushi asked her
Anjali nodded as Khushi turned to her for her affirmation.
“thanks bhai for stopping here, so many good memories at this place”
“good job!” she mouthed to Arnav, sighing in relief.
“Oh no!” Anjali said as they turned the corner. “He is not there”
“Must have closed for today” Arnav said looking at his watch.
“We should have gone to the red fort area; you would have got ice creams at Chandi chowk.” Khushi commented.
“No that’s alright, let’s go home” Anjali said turning back.
“Hey, But there are other vendors… Churmuri and jelebis….Come”
“Khushi, no that's alright…”
“Come Anjali!” she said pulling Anjali along. Arnav followed them hoping Anjali would feel better soon.
He flipped his phone to try reaching to Abhimanyu again.
Khushi placed order for 3 plates of churmuri – 1 spicy and other two medium ones and came back to the other two
“How I wish this day never happened”
“Anjali, you know what, I will teach you something very important” Khushi said turning to Arnav who was just putting his phone back after yet another unsuccessful attempt at reaching Abhimanyu.
“Can you put your hand on my hip?” she asked him flummoxing him to a great extent
“Sorry, come again?”
“Your hand on my hip” she said again
“WHAT?”
To the great amusement of Anjali, and discomposure of Arnav, Khushi made Arnav stand behind her and grabbed his hand and placed it on her hip.
“You imagine Anjali, that someone is trying to touch you inappropriately like this from behind, you have a simple technique to stop them. This is called the bear hug attack… Ok…Just focus on getting low and creating space to free yourself. Bend forward from the waist and shift your weight forward… Ok? Now, turn towards the attacker with one of your elbows and continue to aim a strike on his face… Once he backs off – turn and run!... got it?“
Anjali nodded, trying hard not to laugh. Khushi was so seriously explaining the nitty-gritties of the technique as Arnav was still flabbergasted and wasn’t expecting what came next.
“Sometimes, the attacker may be so close that you won’t be able to do this technique. You don’t have that space to turn around…” She said as she turned to Arnav “Can you come closer?”
“Khushi!” he said exasperatedly.
“You are helping me teach her” she said pointedly pulling him closer. “You can just go down, use the space between his legs to either flip him like this… and make him loose his balance… The moment he goes down, Aim for his groin!”
“Khushi stop!”
“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you”
“What the…” he said getting up and dusting himself.
“Enough Khushi! I am not doing this anymore”
Khushi scowled at him.
Anjali burst out laughing so hard finally
“Madam ji, your churmuri” called out the vendor…
Anjali offered to go get it for them.
“What was that?” Arnav asked taking advantage of their momentary privacy
“She laughed”
“at my expense?”
“you can do this for your sister”
He raised his eyebrows at her
“I will get you back for this” he said jovially.
“Best of luck!” came back a witty reply.
Anjali came back holding 3 cones of churmuri…
“here…” she said handing over one each to both Arnav and Khushi “By the way Khushi, where did you learn these interesting ways of self-defense?”
“Aman taught me” Khushi told without missing a beat “Oh, Bhaiyya, I told you to make mine a little spicy! Wait I will come”
“Who is Aman now?” Anjali asked Arnav
“God knows! My goodness… this is so spicy!”
“Oh no, I gave yours to her and hers to you…I think”
“Ask her to eat this as well… I don’t want it” he said handing it over back to Anjali as his phone started ringing… noticing it was Abhi, Arnav stepped a little away to take the call.
When Khushi came back, spicing up her churmuri, Anjali was standing alone holding the two cones.
“What happened? Where is he?”
“Phone call… she said gesturing a little further away where Arnav was speaking over phone.
“Why he didn’t want this?”
“By mistake, I gave him the spicy one and he cannot handle spicy stuff”
“I will order one more for him”
“No, that’s Ok, I will give him mine… I can eat a spicy churmuri” Anjali said “By the way who is Aman?”
Khushi smirked at Anjali
“Why? Did your brother ask you to ask me this question?”
“No, I was curious… why?”
“No nothing”
“Why so secretive? Tell me who he is”
Khushi smiled at Anjali.
“Are you going to tell me or not? Is he your boyfriend?”
“I wish he was” she said
“Wish he was? That means he is not!” Anjali said happily.
“I will go get a plate of Jelebis” Khushi said changing the topic.
“But wait… what does that mean, you wish?” Anjali called after Khushi “Is it a one sided love or something?”
“whose is a one sided love?” Arnav was back
“Nothing, I was blabbering to myself… here your churmuri”
“I cannot eat this spicy stuff”
“No, this one is medium one”
Khushi was soon back with a plate piping hot jelebis and the trio walked back to the car. Normalcy seemed to peep into Anjali’s mood and the other two trod beside her, careful not to touch any nerve of hers.
***
With Dadi already gone to bed, the trio didn’t have any hassles or unpleasant questions to answer.
After tugging Anjali to bed and bidding her good night, the two came out of her room.
“Thank God, she is Ok” Khushi said
“Thank you as well for making her laugh” Arnav told her
“At your expense?”
“I haven’t forgotten that”
“It was fun to watch you”
“oh really, Allow me to return the favour”
“How? Becoming my demonstrator again?”
“Nah, I can teach you better skills” he raised his eyebrows suggestively.
“No thanks” she said
" That was rude Khushi"
She chuckled.
" Jokes apart, Anjali needs to know how to defend herself... You know, you can't be there all the time to protect her"
"Point taken Khushi, I will enroll Anjali in some self-defense course."
"Why I wasn't good enough?"
"Oh you were so good..." He said with a poker face "I am not a keen model"
She chuckled at him knowingly.
" I was only trying to lighten the situation. Those moves weren't even legitimate, I think"
" I know...Aman didn't teach you well"
" Don't drag Aman into this, I was just joking around"
" I know, I really appreciate your help on that"
“Ok, Good night!”
“That soon?”
“It’s crossed 10 already”
“feeling sleepy?”
“hmm, no tired. May do some reading and then retire”
“Ok, good night.”
“Good night”
“Don’t message me, eh!”
“As if…” she said rolling her eyes as he smiled at her waving her a bye as she climbed down the stairs
***
Arnav was asleep when the message beeped.
He half opened his eyes and checked the time on his night stand.
11.50 pm.
“Khushi!” he muttered as he reached out to the mobile. It was then he realized that his mobile wasn’t at the night stand.
Lazily pulling away his sheets, he got up to search where he had left it… It took him five minutes to realize that he had left it near the dressing table. Before he could take it, the phone started ringing. It was Khushi again
He smiled to himself as he accepted her call…
“Hi, I told you not to message me…” he started to say teasingly…
“Arnav Ji” came Khushi’s voice in quick gasps… “Anjali…. Come to her room…”
***
When Arnav dashed to Anjali’s room, The scene in front of him was devastating enough.
Anjali was unconscious on the floor. Khushi was beside her, holding on a cloth to Anjali’s wrist. The cloth and the floor beside Anjali’s right hand was pooled in blood. There was a penknife beside Anjali’s left hand.
Khushi was crying as she confirmed him his worst nightmare…. “She slashed herself…she lost a lot of blood… We need to take her to the hospital quickly”
To be continued
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The trauma of such incidents can run so deep. Stay strong, be brave...are all mere words for those who have gone through such experiences - it takes immense courage to get through the trauma of going through such incident and put up a brave face to fight their battle and speak about the episode to the world- which takes the situation to totally another level of problems that they might face... Ridicule, character assassination to name a few.
I encourage all of you to feel free and leave your thoughts on this in the comments section. And of course, coming to the plot, I know, the story at this point is getting more serious. Do let me know your thoughts on this as well...
Take care, cheers!
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