If tomorrow comes.. (Short Story)

“Why didn’t you just kill him? “ I asked Swetha furiously.

Without expecting a reaction like this, Swetha was even more embarassed. She hushed me to keep quiet but I couldn’t. I was sensing the rage growing inside me.

“Please… Talk slowly“ begged Swetha trying to make sure Geetha akka* doesn’t hear our conversation.

Swetha is my 14 year old neighbour and despite our age difference we were best buddies. Most of our weekends are spent together and we share all the stories. I used to tell her about our team treats, funny posts in BB, forwards and all the general things that she would understand.

She in turn would tell all her school stories, the nicknames for teachers, the create reasons by students for not completing homework, the non ending fight and clash between girls and guys, the boring classes, the jokes cracked by students, how they sleep in history classes and always she will be having some new story about someone and would narrate them very animated that I would just realize I was also a school student.

But today when she shared the incident with me, I really wished I didn’t narrate the things as it happened.

“As every other day, I just completed my tuition classes and was returing in 49A. Then I saw this guy, who kept staring at me. Had a weird smell from him and I think he was totally drunk that time. He was little away from me and I turned away from him. But you know what, in some time, he was just behind me. When there was a sudden break he kept his hands on me. I thought it was just my mistake. But then his hands crept on me. He pinched me here and here.. “

Swetha stopped. She was totally embarassed. Blaming her narrative skills, I just felt how she would have felt. After sometime, she continued,

“I felt so bad so I just moved away. The bus was so crowded so I was left with less space. I turned to see if he was gone but he kept smiling at me and even winked at me. Next time when I saw he was giving flying kisses to me. Silly people, no one noticed his actions also. When he was about to get down he just slapped my back and got down. This is happening often. I think that guy is following me.”

That was the moment I lost my control. I asked myself, why these kinds of worms live in this world. That was the time I started shouting filled with rage. Our conversation came to an abrupt end when Swetha mom entered her room to give us some snacks. Feeling very upset, I had to leave. I told her to come to my room after sometime.

Like all other parents, Swetha parents wanted her to score good marks in her board examination and enrolled in one of the best tuition center which was quiet far away from her house. Her classes would last till 8 o clock in the night and she would have to catch public transport to reach her house. I couldn’t stop noticing about the irony where all these education systems claim to give the bestest of best education but still don’t inculcate any courage in these kids to face these kind of complex situations. While they keep insisting on how to be successful in education and life, they don’t teach how to overcome small and simple failure in life.

In a way, I felt what happened to Swetha is nothing new. Almost all girls and ladies, travelling through the public transport come across these kinds of worms every now and then. I have never been an exception. I was able to relate myself to the situation easily.

I started thinking of solution to the problem faced by Swetha. She never asked for it. She just wanted to share what has happened to her. She thought she will just keep within herself and not trouble her parents about it. What she did not know was that her parents already observed that she is facing some issue in tuition. They thought it would be something related to classes and asked me to find it out. It turned out to be this. I thought am I taking this issue too seriously. Though I acted to be bold in front of her, I knew inside the countless time, I have played the same mute role.

I was agonized a lot owing to the fact that Swetha is too young to face notorious guys like him. While I see the kid in her, that worm has seen the woman inside her. Like some philosophers say, if you travel in Madras public transport, these kinds of incidents are bound to happen. If you don’t want anyone to touch you, buy your own Vehicle. These philosophers mostly turn out to be the ‘conduct’ors.

Lost in thoughts, I didn’t realize I slept the whole afternoon. Evening when Swetha came, I recollected all the conversation. As we sipped a cup of coffee we discussed what do we do about it. Swetha was trying to run away from the problem. She didn’t want to blow this up. She got promise from me that this is not going to the ears of her parents. I was planning to tell to her parents but to gain her confidence I promised the same.

I started lecturing about how to be brave. Advising was lot easier than following the same. I repeated most of the words I heard from a self defence session. I told her to be brave and face the situtaion. Nothing will help running away from the problem because one day when you return back, the problem would be still there.

After lot of brainstorming including complaint to police, slapping the guy in slipper, change the bus, stop going to tuition, asking Geetha akka* to accompany her to classes, poking the guy back in safety pin, we finally settled in something feasible for Swetha to do without any trouble. As per our plan, I handed over my old mobile to her. It contained my old prepaid simcard with zero balance.

Our plan was quiet simple. Monday night, Swetha would be taking the mobile to her tuition classes and while returning she would not run away from the guy. She would be standing just beside him and exactly at 8.15 I would be giving her a call. She will be asking the guy to talk over the phone. I promised her that I will ask any of my male friends to talk like a police official and threaten him. If he still doesn’t stop his wormish acts, I promised to accompany her to tuition till things get resolved. Swetha agreed to it after considering other options.

Monday as the first task, I asked karthik to help me with this work. His coarse voice would definitely give the police feeling I thought. He happily agreed to it. At around 8 o clock in the night, I was even more tensed. I called up Swetha. She was not reachable. I sensed something is going to be wrong. Just then karthik pinged me.

“Hey, I had a small fight with my girlfriend ya. She is very upset with me. I need to rush now to pacify her. Please ask someone to help you out. I am really sorry. If we can call your friend tomorrow, I am definitely in”

Before I couldn’t read his message, he went offline and his phone line was busy. Now that started increasing my heart beat rate. I didn’t want anyone to include in this. I tried asking couple of friends and they just laughed at me and went away. They weren’t sure how they would be sounding like a police man. I tried to keep myself cool but it was pretty tough.

I decided to call Swetha to stay away from the guy. We can work out the plan some other day. Till then use the same old technique of hiding from monster I thought of saying her. She wasn’t reachable even then.

I realized we should have worked on the logistics better. Atleast recharged my card so that she could have updated me what was happening. It was like one way communication and that wasn’t happening too. I left office immediately and took a cab to home. I was expecting to see Swetha in embarassed or angry face. I have let her down completely when she totally believed me.

I reached her home at 9.15 and entered her room. She just got refreshed and winked at me. All my pressure signals got relaxed and my breathing was turning to normal. She gave my mobile back. It had no power. She had not charged it before taking it to tuition. Before I could ask more, Swetha has started her narration.

“You know what happened today? I didn’t charge the mobile. Anyways for some safety I took it. I was waiting in bus stop. That fellow was also there in the stopping. Whenever I skipped the buses, he too skipped it. I thought there is no escape so I got into the bus. He too got into it. He was standing just behind me. The bus was not so crowded that time so I moved easily away from him. But he didn’t stop. He too came near me. Then in next few stops, bus was again full. He was with all smiles. He smells like a pig you know. I remembered your words. So I didn’t run away from him. I turned back to him and stared at him. He didn’t stop smiling. Then one idea flashed me. I took the phone and acted as if I am calling a police officer. I told “Hello is this police officer Ganesh. I am Balu’s daughter uncle. Remember I told you about a guy. He is here. Can you talk to him? “ and I turned to give the phone to him. You know what, after hearing the first word itself he started running away from me. I started searching for him but he started hiding from me. You won’t believe me. He got down from the bus in next stopping. What he didn’t know was that I was using a phone with no power.. ha ha ha “

Swetha was laughing loud. I too joined her happiness and hugged her. She thanked for giving the confidence. I winked back. She didn’t know that she was the one who gave me the confidence. She gave back the mobile to me. She showed a big safety pin and told me

“Tomorrow if he comes near me, I am going to give him accupuncture treatment” ..