(Inspired from a post on Facebook)

“Tring, Tring…Tring, Tring ” her cell phone had been constantly ringing since the past ten minutes but she wasn’t able to take the call. She knew her mother was calling to know her whereabouts but she was in a team meeting.

Finally, the meeting got over and she quickly came out of the conference room, and dialed back.

“Yes, Maa. I am leaving office in 5 minutes.” She told her mother in a hurry while holding her phone in one hand and packing her bag with the other.

“You are late today, Rita. I was worried. Can’t you just drop me a sms. You know I get so worried when you don’t pick up the phone,” her mother told her in a worrying tone.

“It is not that late, Maa”, Rita replied while looking at her watch. She frowned as she realized it was a bit late. Her watch showed 8 PM and this was the time when she usually got back home.

The frequent news of rapes and molestations had scared all parents and they always wanted their daughters to be back as early as possible.

Sometimes, Rita wondered whether there was any independence for women. She often fought with her mother and she would be found saying, “Why all these restrictions are are for women only?” Her mother wouldn’t really reply to this but she would just tell her that prevention is always better than regret.

“Hello, Rita, are you there?”, her mother asked her while Rita was engrossed in her thoughts.

“Yes, Maa…I am now moving out. I will see you at home. Ok bye,” she replied.

She quickly came out of her office and then to the lift area. She saw her colleague, Shyam coming out from the office.

“Hi Rita! You are working late?” Shyam asked  her looking at his watch.

“Hey Shyam! Yes, I needed to complete one assignment so I had to work late.” Rita replied.

“Oh!” Shyam exclaimed. “Do you want me to drop you somewhere?” he asked.

“No, I am fine. I will take the metro and go.” Rita replied as she entered the lift. She knew it was late but didn’t want to take any help. It sounded silly to her. She knew it was risky and with too many incidents happening, it was wise to get dropped, but she still lied that she will take a metro, though she knew that the metro doesn’t really go to where she lived.

Rita stepped out of her office and went across the road to catch an auto-rickshaw. But she couldn’t find any. She decided to walk for a while to the bus stand where she expected some auto rickshaws to be standing. It was pitch dark, the street lights were, as usual, not working. The street had a deserted look, though it was not that late, but due to certain incidents that had happened, people generally preferred staying indoor at this hour, and her office was also in a very secluded place.

She held her bag to herself. Her mother had kept a pepper spray in her bag for her defense.

She felt someone was following her but she continued to walk straight without turning back. She clutched the pepper spray even more tightly in her bag. She even had a stick in her bag.

She knew that she was being followed by a stranger, and as it was dark so she couldn’t even see the face. The bus stand was not far away from the office but even a short distance appeared to be such a long one at that moment.  She decided to charge back, and pulled out the pepper spray of her bag and turned.

The stranger shouted, “No, stop, Rita. It is me, Akshay.”

She was trembling. A sigh of relief flew past her face and she placed the pepper spray back to her bag.

“You scared me,” she told him. “What made you to follow me? What would have happened if I had actually used the pepper spray?” she asked.

“I was just following you to ensure that you are safe. I heard your mother was really worried about you. And, I didn’t want to leave you alone but didn’t even want you to feel that you can’t manage alone. But,  now I feel that you would have managed all you alone.”

They both laughed and then started to walk together towards the bus stand.

When they reached, they saw that even the bus stop wore a deserted look as there was no one at the bus stop.

“Why are all the streets deserted today?” Rita exclaimed.

“People are afraid that the Jhansi ki Rani is out on the road today,” Akshay giggled.

“Stop it, Akshay. Stop making fun of me,” she replied.

And, then Akshay noticed an auto-rickshaw approaching the bus stop and he came forward and waved at it. The auto-rickshaw came to a halt and the driver peeped out and asked Akshay, “Where do you want to go?”

“Kendriya Vihar. How much”, he told him.

“150.” The auto rickshaw driver replied.

“150 for just 5 kms, Thats too much!” Akshay told him.

After much negotiation they settled at 120. As Rita was about to get in, Akshay said, “I will also go.”

“No, you please go home. It is already late. I will manage. Don’t worry.” She said.

“Arre sahib, don’t worry. She is like a sister to me. I will drop her safely,” he interrupted in between.

The driver started his auto rickshaw as she waved at him. The auto rickshaw driver seemed a little scary to her.  She kept the bag on her lap and clutched the pepper spray. Few minutes later, she realized that the auto rickshaw had taken a wrong turn.

“Wait, this is not the correct way,” she told him.

“Don’t worry madam, you will be safe. There is some construction going on in that area so I am taking this turn,” he replied.

Rita got a little scared as the road looked deserted, there were very few houses and it was dark with no one really to be seen from whom she could seek help, if required. She again put her hand inside the bag and clutched the pepper spray with one hand while holding the cell phone with the other. Throughout the journey, she was praying to reach home safely. The road seemed unknown to her so she wasn’t even sure of getting down there.

“Why did I asked Akshay to leave?” she wondered as a feeling of regret crept up in her mind. She just prayed that nothing should happen. Her mother might just lock her inside the house or get her married to someone immediately.

 “This is what happens with women”, she thought to herself.

 All sorts of thoughts started coming to her mind. “Why does only the woman or a girl have to be blamed if any such thing happens to her? It is always the girl’s fault and its only the girl who has to pay the price but why?” she thought.

As she was lost in her thoughts, she noticed some familiar locations and that gave her a sigh of relief.The auto rickshaw driver was, after all, an honest man but we have such a fear in our minds that we can’t recognize the goodness.

The auto rickshaw came to halt in from of the gate of her apartment complex. “Madamji, here it is. Your destination had arrived,” he told her.

She pulled out the money from her bag and paid him while having a faint smile on her face, her heartbeat coming back to normal. She turned towards the gate of her apartment complex and went inside. Wherever you go, you feel safe when you are in your own territory. She slowly moved towards her apartment while holding the bag in her hands.

But, again, she felt someone was following her. Her heartbeat again gathered pace. She did not turn back and kept on moving towards her apartment.

She noticed a hand on her shoulders.

“Hello Rita, You are quite late,” she heard the voice. Her uncle, who lived next door, smiled at her. She again gave a sigh of relief.

“Yes, uncle. There was a deadline in my project so I had to stay late,” she told him

“Ok, Come, let me drop you to your apartment,” he told her.

”So, how is your work? Are you liking your job?” he asked her

“Yes, it is fine and I am really liking it,” she said.

“Oh that’s great! Even my daughter will be completing her engineering next month. So, is there a scope of any recruitment in your organization,” he asked.

“Sure, uncle. I will speak to the HR and see if there is any,” she told.

“Thank you. That will be really helpful,” he told her in excitement.

“Oh, your apartment has come. Ok, then good bye and do let me know whenever you speak with the HR,” he said.

She nodded at him, waved, and then turned to her apartment. Rita pressed the doorbell and her mother quickly opened the door as if she was standing at the door only.

“You are so late. You know how much worried I was. I had been trying to call you for so long but you weren’t responding,” she told her. Rita saw her cell phone and there were 22 missed calls from her mother. Well, she was so much engrossed in her thoughts that she didn’t realize that she had those missed calls.

Rita quickly hugged her mother tightly and began to cry. Those tears were not of fear but for happiness of reaching home safely.

“What happened?” she asked her a couple of times and then patted on her back to keep calm.

“Nothing,” she replied. “I just missed you so much,” she said.

And, then the alarm bell rang and she woke up. She saw the time in the clock. It was 6 AM.

“It was a dream,” she thought to herself. She gave a faint smile with a hope that this dream would become a reality some day for all women, when people will help girls, just like three people helped her in her dream.