Archana's POV
———————-
Forty five days... I lived in hell without my appettan. He didn't get bail. Still in jail. Now I know our desertion is uncertain. When will he come back? I just want to hug him , I am not worried about others now. If he comes in front of me now , I will forget everything , everyone. I won't embarrass to hug him. But I know it won't happen. He is going to be in jail for long . Our lawyer argued for him but prosecutor had all evidences against Appettan to deny the bail . Proceedings are going on. But once an allegation , is always an allegation. Even if we prove our innocence, it will be too late. It will take years to prove it. Till then people will see my appettan as a rapist. My children are now suffering alot. They cannot go out. Everybody staring at them. And recognizing them as criminal's children. My eyes are still burning . And my heart is still aching by remembering the sad face of appettan. How he is in jail? Eating properly? Sleeping properly? Police brought him
to the home for taking evidence. House was surrounded by crowd. They were cursing him. Swearing. Threw stones and foot-wears at him. They messed everything . Broke the windows by throwing stones. Clinic and home stay they attacked.It is just an allegation. Nothing proven. Why people acting like this? Why are they not allowing us to prove our innocence . Without any court trial, people declared my appettan as a rapist. Now I understand , all the sex scandals appearing in medias are not real. There may be fabricated too. There is a saying , even if thousand criminals escaped through the loopholes of law, no innocent should get punished by that. But why my appettan suffering? Why my innocent children suffering? Why am I suffering? Nobody have an answer.
Now I am surviving by rewinding the past days of our sweet togetherness.
It was a rainy day , I forgot my umbrella. I had to catch the train . It was a friday. And Onam holidays were starting. So I wanted to go my home. I was staying in college hostel. Today I came with my baggage. I didn't expect a rain. But I couldn't wait to stop it. If I stopped , I would miss my train. I was travelling from
Thiruvanamthapuram( capital of Kerala) to Kannur. It was more than a ten hour journey. If I miss the train , I had to stay in Railway Station. Because ,hostel would close in the evening for Onam vacation ( Kerala's Festival) . So I avoided the rain and ran to the bus stop.Suddenly one umbrella appeared above my head and someone was running along with me. I wondered . A handsome guy. I know him as my senior. But never talked. As a fresher I always scared to face my seniors. He scolded me without any prologues . He sounded like someone who had authority on me.
" Can't you see? It is raining. Why are you running in rain? You will catch a cold. And especially ,If A Girl like you run in rain like these , you will get a lot of spectators in gallery to appreciate your running . I think you got what I meant. Everyone is not good . Understand?"
Even though I nodded obediently and said a sorry , in my mind I asked , "Who the hell is he to scold me ?"
I thought he would leave me in bus stop. But when bus came , he told me to get in the bus first and folded the umbrella and jumped into the bus. Then only I saw he too had a back pack.
He asked me ; "Are you going to railway station?"I nodded .
" Are you dumb? Why are you not speaking?": Again he scolded me.
I got annoyed. But , because of fear , I didn't express it. We were standing inside the bus. Driver put a sudden break. I bumped into him. I said . "Sorry"
" You have to improve your vocabulary. You have only one word in it , that is 'Sorry'." He teased me.
I gave a small smile.
" That's beautiful ". He complimented.
Unknowingly I blushed.
YOU ARE READING
When It Rains
General FictionAnamika( Anu) getting disturbed after reading a news in the newspaper. In Uthar Pradesh ( UP, India) a dalit ( lower caste) woman got raped by her own teenage son. He was forced to do it. Some upper caste men pointed gun to his mother's head and th...