THE LAST DAY!!

Durga saw the idol of Maa Durga at the pandal!! She felt proud to be named after the Goddess!! She saw a depiction of demon on whom the Goddess was standing with her Trishul piercing his body!! Yes!! such should be the punishment that needs to be given to the assaulters she felt!! If only the laws were stricter for such crimes!! Some might feel.. isn't such kind of punishment too harsh??...but only if it were them instead of the woman's place when such crimes took place.. they would have known!! Some touches can never be forgotten!! Some eyes haunt for the rest of the lives!! Living becomes no less than a nightmare... she felt!! She knew good always surpasses the evil...and for the women of Mrutyulok... eventually it will too!! If someone tends to forget that a woman is a living being with feelings too...rather.. thinks that she is just an object of pleasure or a machine to reproduce...then such people should be taught a lesson in their own way!! Treating women equal in this Mrutyulok was like a mirage to some.. they just hoped for people to see them as an individual first!! But respect needs to be earned.. and if someone tries to demean one's self respect or modesty.. that someone.. needs to be condemned. Durga remembered her incarnation as 'Siddhi'. Siddhi had to switch two trains to commute between her college and home. From her earlier experience she always kept her college bag in front of the chest to avoid getting touched by the miscreants. It was a tiring day and Siddhi as usual onboarded her first train to reach the junction. The junction was crowded as usual. Siddhi got down from the train and started walking towards the bridge. As she walked.. she felt a sharp pinch to her butt cheek. Siddhi was shocked.. She was wearing a long kurti and leggings and the assaulter had taken advantage of the crowd and because of her long kurti, people besides her could not see the act. Siddhi was stunned. She looked back to see the assaulter. It was a young man in his early 20s and he immediately looked the other way. He was still in the luggage compartment and faced the other way!! Siddhi understood this man was the assaulter as there was no other man besides him and Siddhi was surrounded by women only on the platform at that moment. The assaulter acted as if he didn't do anything. Siddhi was so enraged... she slapped on his back with all her might. The sound was loud enough for people to notice.

Women and men looked at her... Siddhi asked the man.. "Why did you pinch my butt cheek?" To her horror.. the man replied.. "Who walks so closer to the train compartment door??..you should have moved away as soon as you had got down on the platform." Siddhi understood the man intentionally pinched her and now blamed her for walking on the platform close to the train door that too when the train had halted. She saw the smirk on his face while he talked. All those years of assault that Durga had faced throughout her life...came right in front of her eyes and her anger knew no bounds then... She grabbed the man's collar and pulled him down onto the platform from the compartment door he had been leaning on... She asked him.." If I am walking on the platform what problem do you have?" The man noticed people now watching them and said "Who walks like this...if you walk near the compartment door you will obviously get pinched my men na..." Siddhi was furious... With one hand grabbed on his collar...she slapped him hard... By now the assaulter realized he had messed up pretty badly and his mischievous face turned into a grin! He looked at her in anger.. but Siddhi didn't get frightened.. instead her anger had taken over and she wanted to punish him bad.. make him feel what she had felt.. she slapped him a second time.. this time harder...his cheek grew red and by now he was trying to run away from her.. but Siddhi didn't let him go...her college bag fell off from her shoulder.. but she didn't care.. she caught his shirt again and punched his face.. people surrounded them and it got so crowded that he could not simply escape. Siddhi wanted to let her frustration of being groped.. touched.. assaulted...stared at.. all of this out because it had been accumulated inside her heart for so long. The assaulter now covered his face with his palms coz he saw an incoming blow to his face again... but it didn't matter...her knuckles bruised.. Siddhi still punched him again... this time on his nose.. he fell backwards on the platform.. had not expected such a surprise from his so called victim!! Siddhi kicked his groin area and asked him.. "How do you feel being touched? You liked it na...so you molest women right? Take this then..." She kicked him hard again in the stomach.. It was as if Kali had possessed her.. Her eyes were red and filled with tears and rage at the same time... One more blow to his face and he went unconscious.. People stood, watched the commotion and didn't do anything as always!! But Siddhi didn't care about people.. nobody.. she just wanted justice for herself.. something that unfortunately she knew... other people cannot deliver for her!! She had to take matter in her own hands.. she couldn't wait for some prince charming or a man or a woman to come and save her from the disgusting act... She Had To Be Her Own Savior!! She looked at his swollen face and though her energy had drained.. kicked him one last time.. She looked at people and calmed herself down!! Finally she could be at peace.. finally an assaulter had been punished... She adjusted her kurti properly.. wiped the sweat on her face with her arms and searched for her college bag.. it was lying at the same place where it had fallen off!! She picked her college bag.. and walked towards the bridge.. The crowd gave her way.. they understood what had happened!! It was their own way to show her that they supported her act.. No one stopped her or asked her anything!! She climbed the stairs and crossed the bridge to switch trains!! On this platform people had no idea what she had been through.. all of the chaos was the same.. Siddhi finally felt like an equal.. like an individual whose unsaid voice had reached the masses!! To tell them that No one should tolerate such acts!! Siddhi went home and cried her heart out. It was like his filthy hands had touched her soul and she couldn't remove it. She went into the bathroom and stood under the shower crying....trying to remove his disgusting touch from her body with soap.. But then she saw her bleeding knuckles and felt a relief!! Coming back to the present, Durga looked at her knuckles and the scar was still slightly visible.. she smiled looking at it and then again looked at Maa Durga...and this time Maa Durga had a smile on her face too!!