Suddenly the lush green canopied boulevard evokes deep fear. This is the very road Tisha much desired to stroll all through her college romantic days and sometimes to beguile the tediousness; a brief halt was added, coupled with tea. In the evening it seemed like a tunnel of trees, huge and gigantic enough to enshroud the purple hues. But early mornings were the most pleasant, with clear bright light and glittering rays stealing through the fabric of leaves, the road seemed the threshold to heaven. It could be a poet’s perfect imagination or an artist’s etched canvas, but to Tisha it was the perfect beginning to combat the day’s monotony. But last Saturday evening has changed it all. While the scene and shade remains the same but now draws a different landscape of it within her, a picture of horror, petrifying memory, memory of being helpless, of realizing her limitations as a woman that any moment can turn against her.
On her homewards journey from office, she had chosen to slow down her scooter on that road to hear the shrill cries of the evening birds. Dark clouds had enveloped the horizon hinting impending rain. Pluviophilic Tisha loved the smell of the wet soil, dripping birds sitting under the branches, the sound of the downpour, all appealed to the aesthetic senses of the otherwise software engineer. She felt that she is probably not the only silent admirer of this road when she noticed two men in a two wheeler who come and park their vehicle right next to her. It doesn’t take her long to realise that the road is not safe anymore. Taking advantage of the dark, suddenly they grope her; drag her to a shady corner while trying to strip her.
Wriggling to break free, Tisha manages to bite one of the intruder’s wrists and run away. With great fortune she starts her scooter and escapes through the dim lonely street which mesmerized her earlier, while the men kept stalking her. After a heart pouncing chase she managed to reach the busy main road while the stalkers disappear in the crowd. Not looking back, she speeds perilously fast and reaches home, locks herself inside and begins to sob breathlessly. Realizing home as the only safe abode, she takes a deep breath, trying to wipe off the thoughts. But the dark glimpses of those strong hands trying to strip her, drag her forcibly, kept disturbing her mind. For a moment she feels she should avoid the road but an alternative route would cost her an extra hour. In no time her road of pleasing moment turned nightmarish.
This Monday morning she starts off for her office in her usual hour. Perhaps the deadline of the assignments has kept her away from recalling anything hideous. But then the right turning introduces to her favourite road, no more preferred now. She rides through it, nervous and frightful, riding as fast as she could although the pepper spray she purchased yesterday was intact in her bag. She passed through it with numerous thoughts on how a moment’s experience could tarnish her happiness, her denied right to solitude which is a confined man’s space. The road is as fresh as before, perhaps with an additional shade of jade. But Tisha realises her attachment with the road will never be the same again rather some dark blotches are embedded on it now.
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