It was a long, hot, simmering summer ahead. Vacation was announced in college after semester examinations. All students had departed with jolly mood to their homes and why wouldn't they, it was summer vacation which was two and half month long time of doing whatever they liked. It was euphoric moment for everyone except Sophia, Prity, Rukhsana and Harpreet. They all had their own reasons for not liking summer vacations.
Sophia, the only child of working parents. She had prior experiences of her gloomy vacations. Sitting whole day alone in front of TV switching channels, no one around to talk to and not permitted to go out in absence of her parents. Prity, hated attending marriages putting lot of makeups and always following lot of family rules and getting second preference over her brother. Rukhsana was frustrated with her marriage talks even after her repetitive denial and wearing Burqa whenever going out with her Ammi and Harpreet disliked meeting her never ending family tree.
They all looked into each other's eyes and a same thought flashed, We have adult franchise, we can choose the government for a country, why can't we choose what interests us? Is it always necessary for a girl to bandage her thoughts within the wrappers of society conviction? The answer was definitely NO in their eyes. Sometime insurgency eludes cognizance.
They planned to go on camping and hiking, arranged all accoutrement and went on to pursue their adventures dream. They were very excited because they were about to see the world through their own eye and not through the eye of the male members of their family.
On first day the tour guide instructed everyone to always remain in groups and return to camp one hour before dusk because the forest was not safe and recently it was in news for tourists assaults. This instruction was against the sole motive of the trip of all those four girls, so on one fine morning they decided to desert their hiking group members and tour guide, and went inside the jungle. The jungle was enriched with flora and fauna, taking pictures of wildlife, fountains, birds, they went too far. Now they had to return and it was already late afternoon, they looked into each other's eyes and thought what if we couldn't return to camp before dusk?
The crumbling sound of leaves interrupted their temporary calmness, they pressed each others hands tightly as if no blow can throw them apart. Rukhsana said "I guess something is coming toward us". Prity was almost crying. Harpreet explored the area near her with her another hand and got a branch. She said "okay, you girls sit closely I am going to see what is it". she modified that branch into stick and stood up to go. Every one's heart was throbbing very hard. Sophia pulled Harpreet by her hand and said "You don't go alone let it come whatever it is, if we will be together we can face it effectively". Prity affirmed and took out her mobile torch. The crumbling sound became more intense, Prity flashed her light in the direction of sound, they were all sweating with fear and praying their gods. Suddenly Rukhsana shouted, "look there is something", mobile torchlight was getting reflected from the eye of an animal, they all threw whatever was in their hands and chased that animal away. They again looked into each other's eyes, their eyes were looking vividly in torchlight , they inhaled deeply, exhaled, smiled and said unanimously "Thank god it was wolf, we thought it's men ".
[It's a work of fiction and any resemblance with anyone is mere a coincidence.]
Sophia, the only child of working parents. She had prior experiences of her gloomy vacations. Sitting whole day alone in front of TV switching channels, no one around to talk to and not permitted to go out in absence of her parents. Prity, hated attending marriages putting lot of makeups and always following lot of family rules and getting second preference over her brother. Rukhsana was frustrated with her marriage talks even after her repetitive denial and wearing Burqa whenever going out with her Ammi and Harpreet disliked meeting her never ending family tree.
They all looked into each other's eyes and a same thought flashed, We have adult franchise, we can choose the government for a country, why can't we choose what interests us? Is it always necessary for a girl to bandage her thoughts within the wrappers of society conviction? The answer was definitely NO in their eyes. Sometime insurgency eludes cognizance.
They planned to go on camping and hiking, arranged all accoutrement and went on to pursue their adventures dream. They were very excited because they were about to see the world through their own eye and not through the eye of the male members of their family.
On first day the tour guide instructed everyone to always remain in groups and return to camp one hour before dusk because the forest was not safe and recently it was in news for tourists assaults. This instruction was against the sole motive of the trip of all those four girls, so on one fine morning they decided to desert their hiking group members and tour guide, and went inside the jungle. The jungle was enriched with flora and fauna, taking pictures of wildlife, fountains, birds, they went too far. Now they had to return and it was already late afternoon, they looked into each other's eyes and thought what if we couldn't return to camp before dusk?
According to Murphy's Law "Any thing that can go wrong will go wrong"But Murphy can't be wrong. A storm hit the forest uprooting many trees, they protected themselves inside a stone cave kind of structure. when the storm subsided all routes in the forest were completely changed and it was dark too. They again tried to look into the eyes of each other but it was too dark to see the solution but dismay was obvious. Now the atmosphere was so calm as if nothing happened there, the storm was sucked up into heart and mind of girls. They were sitting closely holding each others hand without making any sound, though there was lot of roaring going on in every one's mind. They dozed off because of whole day tiresome hiking.
The crumbling sound of leaves interrupted their temporary calmness, they pressed each others hands tightly as if no blow can throw them apart. Rukhsana said "I guess something is coming toward us". Prity was almost crying. Harpreet explored the area near her with her another hand and got a branch. She said "okay, you girls sit closely I am going to see what is it". she modified that branch into stick and stood up to go. Every one's heart was throbbing very hard. Sophia pulled Harpreet by her hand and said "You don't go alone let it come whatever it is, if we will be together we can face it effectively". Prity affirmed and took out her mobile torch. The crumbling sound became more intense, Prity flashed her light in the direction of sound, they were all sweating with fear and praying their gods. Suddenly Rukhsana shouted, "look there is something", mobile torchlight was getting reflected from the eye of an animal, they all threw whatever was in their hands and chased that animal away. They again looked into each other's eyes, their eyes were looking vividly in torchlight , they inhaled deeply, exhaled, smiled and said unanimously "Thank god it was wolf, we thought it's men ".
[It's a work of fiction and any resemblance with anyone is mere a coincidence.]
Harpreet! sounds punjabi, was the bravest.lol
ReplyDeleteTo me it seemed by the story that the dominance of society by men has been innately rooted in the mind of women. Majority of the girls hated to go to home because of some factor that included men. Even in the dark forest women take a sigh of relief on realizing that the creature was not a man. Its certainly a satirical lash on the Indian ideology.