WOMEN

I winked  at her and ran away into my school ground.

Next day i winked at her again and tried to run but unfortunately her boy friend caught me.

I punched him in his ear but he felt nothing.

Her boyfriend lifted me  and took me to my principal’s room.

My Principal was embarrassed that a class 6 student was bent upon ruining the reputation of the school known for its discipline.

Principal slapped me in front of  everyone in the staff room . It was the most embarrassing moment for me. I was glad that none of my classmates were present.

I went into my class as if nothing happened. I was the class leader and tried my best to maintain dignity in front of my classmates.

Latha was staring at my cheek which became  slightly red because of  the tight slap by my principal.

Latha was the gossip girl of our class. She was quite nosy .

I know she had a thing for me but as you know i am not interested in  girls of my age.

LATHA:   Prasad..what’s wrong with your cheek?

Me:  It was the consequence of an emotional outburst.

LATHA:  Emotional outburst? please elaborate…

Me : SHUT UP AND MIND UR OWN BUSINESS…

LATHA: LIKE I CARE…

Me: If you say ‘like i care’ again i will make sure u will get into trouble.

Latha became silent and started doing her class work.

I returned home thinking about the woman of my dreams.

 

That woman on the scooty  was my first crush .

She gave me a lift once while i was going to school.

She pinched my cheek and said bye .That day on wards i started liking her .

I was always attracted to women of double my age.

I liked everything about her.Her tender lips..beautiful eyes. I even started shaving to impress her.

Her name is MEENA. They have recently shifted to our neighbourhood.

 

Next day morning i was still in bed feeling slightly drowsy and heard someone shouting..”KAMEENA ..KAMEENA come out ..”

I thought somebody came to beat me for what i did in school.

I slapped myself to get rid of the drowsiness.

“MEENA ..MEENA COME OUT”  I can hear clearly now. It was meena’s mother calling her to come out quickly.

I think meena was going somewhere with her mom. I was wondering where they were going because it was Sunday morning.

After few days meena along with her parents came to my home to invite my mom and dad for her marriage.

Meena noticed me but she did not say anything about my winking to my parents. She saved my day.

Meena called me outside and advised me not to do such naughty things again. She was telling me something but i did not pay attention as i was busy watching her face.

I felt sad for a moment that she was getting married .

I thought her boyfriend was lucky to have her.

After few days  i heard a commotion at her house while i was returning from school. I knew something went wrong in their house but i wasn’t sure about what really happened .

I thought there was some burglary in their house and i went home.

Later my mom told me  meena’s  marriage was cancelled because  somebody had thrown acid on her and she was badly injured.

I was sad and angry at the same time.I was angry at the culprits who did such an unforgivable crime.

We went to hospital to see her. She was in bed and there were bandages all over but i could see her face..i think she had a narrow escape .

Her eyebrows were slightly damaged.

Apart from that she suffered some burns on her hand.

After sometime she woke up and saw us. I know pretty well that she was scared to  death and was still in a shock.

I was a kid but i was old enough to know what people feel inside by seeing their expressions.

Her parents were  outside and were shocked  by the  fate that stuck a cruel blow at her only daughter and that too when she was about to  get married.

I heard my parents talking that  Meena’s future  in-laws had cancelled the marriage as soon as they heard the news about the incident and they didn’t even come to see her.

How mean people have become these days – i said to myself.

I couldn’t sleep properly that night.

I began thinking.

Is beauty the only thing that matters when it comes to women? Why would anyone want to hurt a woman like meena?

There  were so many questions in my mind. I thought i was not old enough to know the answers.

Next day it came to my notice that the culprits were arrested and meena’s boyfriend was one of them.

He confessed in the court that he attacked meena because she did not agree to marry him.

Few days later meena recovered and she came back home. I went to see her.

She said that the guy who came to my school was not her boyfriend and she did not even know him . She said he was stalking her and was harrasing her to love him.

I had seen him with meena but i had no idea that he was pestering her all that time when i was winking around without actually noticing what was going on between the two.

I felt ashamed for being such an idiot.

Whether he is her boyfriend or not he has no right to do such thing.

I began to realize how vulnerable girls are right from the beginning of their life till their last breath in this patriarchal society.

“Woman tasted the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden and has been paying for it ever since could be a mythological justification for position of  women in society.  Women take care of men but dominated by men.” quoted my sociology teacher in the class the next day.

I understood what she meant. But my classmates did not understand and began asking stupid questions.

LATHA : Did Adam gave her the apple?

TEACHER:  No,it was on the tree.

LATHA: Did God gave her that apple? Is GOD a man?

TEACHER:  Shut up .

I could hear Latha mumbling “like i care”  looking at the teacher.

I smiled at latha gently. Latha winked at me. I winked at her in return.

After my school was over i was returning home.

Meena offered me a lift to my home. I am glad she is safe . I said  sorry for winking at her. She rubbed my hair and left.

Now i know how to behave with women and how much respect they deserve and i vowed myself not to annoy them.

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