The next day had dawned. The sun’s rays were shining brightly
through the windows of Anandita’s hospital room. Anandita slowly opened her
eyes, the sun rays directly falling on her eyes. The nurse noticed movements in
Anandita and hurried to get Dr. Awasthi. Within seconds, Dr. Awasthi was
standing right next to her, checking her vitals.
“Everything is ok,” she said, “You’ll be fine with passage of
time. You’ve be careful with your movements because your bones haven’t healed
yet.” “Who are you?” Anandita asked in a croaked voice. “Sorry, I forgot to
introduce myself,” she said, “I am Dr. Awasthi and I will be treating you till
you are hail and hearty.” A slight smile was about to appear on Anandita’s face.
But it dropped as soon as it had come. Dr. Awasthi quickly instructed the nurse
to give her the medicines. When she heard Anandita groaning in pain she asked
the nurse to give her pain killer too.
“M.. My par… parents?” Anandita asked in a hoarse voice. “They’ll
be delighted,” Dr. Awasthi said with a pleasant smile, “I’ll send them in.” She
turns to the nurse and instructs, “Make sure that they are not creating chaos and
leave after a while. She needs her rest.” Dr. Awasthi leaves as the nurse nods.
As she came out of the room, she was surrounded by Anandita’s parents
and Tanya. Sameer stood at a distance and tried to listen in. “Mr. Ram, you and
your wife can go and meet Anandita. But please do not bombard her with
questions about her attack. She needs your love and support to become fully
well.” “Ok, doctor,” Anandita’s father, Mr. Ram said. Just as she was about to leave she turned
around and said, “I will have to involve the police in this sir. I am going to
call them right now. I will ask them to come only tomorrow as Anandita needs
the rest.” Mr. Ram simply nodded and proceeded towards his daughter with his
wife and her sister followed suit.
Dr. Awasthi hurried back to her cabin and called up the police.
She informed everything to the Inspector and asked them to arrive the next day.
“I am sorry ma’am,” the Inspector said, “If the victim is awake, we’ll have to
speak to her immediately and take her statement so that we can take action as
soon as possible.” “Oh,” Dr. Awasthi said, “I don’t have much of a say in this,
do I?? After a pause, she continued, “But, Inspector, she’s in a very delicate
state, both emotionally and physically. IF she does not wish to answer the questions
you ask, please do not coax her.” “Sure Mo..,” the inspector answered, “I mean,
sure doctor.”
With a slight smile, Dr. Awasthi disconnected the call and her
eyes pondered towards her bag. She pulled out both the pieces of paper and was
wondering which one to read first. She first read the one that Sameer gave her.
It said:
Who’s
to blame?
You’re fat
You’re quiet
You wear glasses
Who’s to blame?
You don’t raise your voice
No one wants to talk to you
You are nowhere in the social food chain
Who’s to blame?
You’re scared
You’re nervous
You’re anxious
Who’s to blame?
You’re to blame
Girl,
You’re to blame.
A lone tear dropped on the paper as she finished reading it. ‘What
is this child going through?’ Dr, Awasthi thought out loud, ‘Something needs to
be done about this and soon.’
Sucking in a deep breath, she opened the next piece of paper. She
had mixed emotions. The fact that it was normal for every girl to have such a
thought made a smile. But, the last line saddened her a lot.
The paper said:
He looks at her as if she is the reason for
his existence
He looks at her because she is the only one,
he wants
He looks at her as if she has the power over
him that no one else has
He looks at her as if the rest of the world
does not exist for him
He looks at her thinking of how they were
meant to be
He looks into her eyes and can see his world
in them
And I,
I am helpless
I can’t do anything about this
He is so much head over heels for her
That he can’t see,
He can’t see me,
Who looks at him just the way he looks at her.
But then again,
Why will he?
I am the fat, ugly girl, after all.
