Sunday, June 28, 2009

When nightmares see the light of day

It was 3:15 pm. Five of us came out of the school and walked down to the circle. A police chowki touches it on the left. We heard shouts. A man was abusing a woman and thrashing her - right there, in the middle of the road, for everyone to see. He kept punching her on the face. The skin near her right eyebrow tore and she started bleeding profusely. He kicked her and then he punched her on the stomach. Then he walked away. She sat up slowly. With an effort. She was from the north-east and well past her middle age. She touched her wound. The blood flowed into her palm and trickled down on to the road. Suddenly he came back and kicked her on her face. His feet were stained with her blood. Then he crossed the road and walked away.
We were rooted and speechless. The nature of the violence was extremely clinical, sadistic, remorseless. Have you felt so nauseated that all you can see in front of you is a white sheet. And all you can feel is your head whirling. That's how i felt. He came back. We decided that if he touched her again we are going to bash him up. But he came back, held her head in his hands and wiped off the blood. I don't know what else he did because by then I had walked off.
All this in front of a police chowki - WHICH WAS LOCKED- and in broad daylight. Well, we are going to do about the police chowki being locked. But you might ask, what about the woman? Why won't we do anything for her? The answer to this is - we have tried to intervene in the past. But the women have lashed out at us and asked us to mind our own business. That was between them and their 'aadmis'. Despite this we took the decision to bash him if he hit her again.
EVERY SINGLE WOMAN that I have seen here has some or the other indication of violence on her body. At times it is self-inflicted too. I am confused about the way these women define a relationship. I mean they take utter crap from men whom they are eventually going to leave. It makes them so damn vulnerable. I know, i know - pot calling kettle black, blah, blah... but, hell!!!

11 comments:

Sparkling said...

You should have bashed him while he was bashing her! Whatever she said, she shouldn't have been allowed to have that moment with you guys around.

Sorry. Guess I said that aloud!

Anonymous said...

You can't do anything about it except not let it happen to yourself.

And why point out these women, I'm sure a little courageous peep into our own lives would tell us how often we put ourselves in such situations...on a different plane though.
Simple logic says - Men want to feel important, but they don't get to fight and win wars now.
Women need to be loved, but there is no purity in that emotion now.
I guess neither of the two are getting what they want.
So men rule their women to feel important and women let themselves be ruled in the hope of love.
If you continue using this logic...you will come to one conclusion - it's the death of trust.
I am too lazy with words to go on with the logic. And I trust your intelligence anyways.

rainboy said...

women should kick asses of these guys...they don't need them.

respect is always imp. ...

no respect no relationship.

Zlaek said...

I'm in total agreement with copy rioter. This thing looks outrageous only because it happens at a very shallow level.

Frankly, I'd have walked away even without pausing for a moment, or would have gotten myself in some sort of mess within seconds by having tried to intervene impulsively.

Zubin said...

I don't know what to say, really I just don't.

I don't understand domestic violence, I never could. Maybe a little insight of their lives would single out the reason for such behavior. The way you say he came back and held her head goes on to suggest that he regretted what he did. Maybe just a little bit, but he did. Maybe it was an impulse-a harsh, strong, violent impulse-nothing but rush of blood really. Still not justified though.

Have to agree with copywriter though...these incidents are so common you can't single out a single strata of society.

Also, its not just men beating women up. I have seen guys bashing up guys on mundane issues like jumping ticket queues or getting their cars scratched.

The level of tolerance in general has gone way down.

Zubin said...

Oh and don't get me started on Police. They are no more a comforting, security instilling agency.

Whenever I think of police, I think about bribes, rude behavior, harassing of innocent victims.. At least that's how it works here.

Preeti said...

STILL...

you know...to be honest with you...we just froze, man, it was horrible. and i almost fainted. really. blood makes me daaamn queasy. but we did decide that if he hit her again we would bash him up. so yeah.

Preeti said...

RIOTER...

hmmnnn... yeah...thats one aspect of it i guess... and im damned if i will let it happen to me.

Preeti said...

VICKU...

:-)

adorable person!!

Preeti said...

ZLAEK...

yeah...as humans we at times do tend to exhibit such impulsive reactions. and regret it in leisure. :-/

Preeti said...

ZUBIN...
darling...violence will always remain a mystery. i mean...peep into the recesses of your own mind. at times you are consumed with so much hatred for someone that you just reach out and hit. so just imagine a human being who has unlimited control over another human being. the slightest of provocation is enough.
and the police in this area although mostly absent are not bad man...they cooperate with us and help us too.