From Darkness To Light

SHORT STORY

(Translated from Telugu by Vemaraju Narasimha Rao)

It was around six in the evening and the City of Hyderabad was dazzling with neon and flood lights. Tireless vehicular traffic was streaming past and people were racing on the streets in an apparent hurry. There was a wayside bookstall on the road leading from Errammanzil to Panjagutta Police station, adjoining a compound wall, before which all types of magazines, newspapers and periodicals were gaily hung in arches.

Twenty year old Anita, doing her final year BA Degree Course, visited the shop daily to pick up the mag she wanted. That day also she was there. She liked spending sometime looking at the other girls like her who came there and she lingered a little longer, after she picked up her copy of the FILM FARE, and paid for it. The leaves of the SITARA were enticingly fluttering and she looked into it.

She was disturbed by a low humming
“There was a young thing who wore white,
For two good reasons, you are right!
One was it kept her light and bright,
The other, showed her assets tight”

She abruptly turned round and found two young fellows in their twenties, who immediately turned their heads away and pretended looking at the journals. One of them was short and stubby and the other lean and lanky, and looked very much college ­going. This was not the first time she was accosted and teased. They were at it for the past one week. When the shop-owner noticed them, they dug their heads into the papers and acted respectable and when he was busy, ogled at her, and passed obscene comments. They even followed her upto some distance. Anita was very much irritated at their passes, and controlled herself with an effort. She gave them a contemptuous look and reverted to the mag she was looking into.

“There was a young ...”, the humming started again.

She was very much disturbed that day and inspite of herself began losing her cool.

“Stupids, idiots, rascals…These detestable males: Don’t they have any sense of shame? If there is a woman, they act like real mad, and hang around and make a nuisance of themselves and to others. Pests!” She rattled her teeth in anger. Her friend, Mary had advised her previously.

“Look, Anita! The best thing to do, is not to react. The elephant trudges along with dignity as the street dogs bark. What does it lose? Don’t look at them! Don’t react! They will be tired and go away themselves”.

She agreed that was, of course, the right thing to do in such circumstances. It was getting darker and time to leave. She collected her mag and turned . After some distance, as she turned into the bylane leading to her newly coming up colony, she looked but did not find the youth. She heaved a sigh of relief and started walking briskly. A couple of houses had come up and a few other structures are in various stages of construction. She realised that the street lights were not put on and her house at the end of the lane was still some distance away, and that she was alone.

As she walked across the open land towards her house, the youth descended in front of her as if from nowhere and blocked her way. They were giggling.

“Hi, Anita darling, how long are you going to keep us waiting? Speak a word! Please! We are so much in love with you, don’t you know? You are a real darling!” The short one rattled on as he came near her.

“Hey, Anita, something is moving on your blouse dear! Wait, let me take it out!” He put his hand on her.

She stiffened at the outrage, for a moment.

“Rascals! How dare you do that?” She gave the man a very hard hit.

“My God, I’m finished,” the fellow Screamed as he ed out and tumbled into the pit dug for excavation, which was full of rain water of the previous night.

“What, you’re after all a woman and you dare to play pranks with us, don’t you? Now, look what I’m going to do-we’ll see who’s going to come to your rescue!” The other one prattled as he neared her. For a moment she stood still, and he was emboldened.

“Hey, baby! What are you looking at? Your heart must have dropped down and let’s see how far it had gone down!”

As he approached her, she gave him a mighty hit on the shoulder. He yelled in pain as he felt his joint was dislocated. He turned round in mortal fear and took to his heals without looking .

The fellow who fell in the ditch was still struggling to come out of the mud.

“To Hell with you, you dirty rascals! This is not enough for nasty creatures like you!”. She spat on him contemptuously as she looked at the approaching figure of the old teacher who was a tenant in their house. The man in the ditch managed to get out, and he ran for his life.

“As the old man neared her, he asked anxiously, “What’s wrong, dear? You are lingering in the d1rkness? Why is the man running away from here? I suppose he has not done anything bad?”. He showered questions on her. She narrated the event very briefly; and he exclaimed “Aha!”.

“Uncle, you remember you were advising me time and again that something like this may happen any time?”

He picked up “Yes, yes dear! A woman has little protection in this jungle of men full of jackals, wolves and demonic elements, and that this protection cannot be got by mere asking or slogan-shouting or passing resolutions at the meetings. What protection can these really give you? In this world, every living being fights for survival till the end. But what does a woman do? She panics and craves for help and protection from man and does not do anything to defend herself. This is madness, my child! Every woman must receive training to defend herself in any emergency and there are many ways, if only you care! Karate, Judo and other self defence systems can be very easily mastered.”

Yes, Uncle, because of your advice, today I am bold and I do not know how to thank you enough!”

“No need for thanks dear. I am happy that you had the presence of mind not to panic but put your skills to good use. But, please be on your guard, they may try again!”

“What do you advise?”

“Always keep an eye on what is happening around you. You know such men are arrested and are taken to the court and are punished for the evils they do. Basically good men learn the lesson and reform themselves and do not do that again. But there are hardened men with criminal minds, who are out to take revenge. It is these that you have to guard against. These people have no sense of belonging to the society or sense of right or wrong. They tend to attack again, even to kill if only, to take revenge. They pose a danger to any society and who is to reform them and bring them to senses? It takes a lot of time to educate them and make them civilised and responsible citizens. Unless there is a change in the heart of man, these incidents are bound to happen and a woman has always to be careful”.

“Thank you Uncle, you are quite right”, She agreed.

“That’s a good girl. Girls these days are not only intelligent but are also brave. Let’s move on, it is getting darker.”

He put his arm around her for support and Anita walked along with the teacher from darkness towards light.