Hope Lies Within You!

The sun was rising, she was still wide awake lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. The sun rays slowly started falling on her face through her lavish balcony attached to her beautiful bedroom. The horror nightmare of her life had kept her awake for the past 2 months. Rashi was raped 2 months ago by 2 men who were yet to be traced. They were drunk and she had no memories of their appearance. It was all blur to her. She was raped at that unlucky night of her life when she was heading back to her home from an office party late night. Since then she was in depression.

The only child of her parents, who was so pampered and brought up like a princess was now all pale and losing her up-to-date figure to a skinny body. But today there was something that she was going to do that would not only surprise her soul but also everyone in her life. Since a week, she was going through all her previous pictures, certificates from her college and her work, her results, and her personal diary where she had noted down her dreams, her wishlists. And then her heart whispered, “don’t do this to yourself Rashi,  don’t give your self this punishment. You did not do anything wrong, it was not your fault to get punished.”

“While there’s life, there’s hope.”- Marcus Tullius Cicero

“Wake up Rashi, go get on your track again, work, sleep, eat, re-start your life, help someone out there who needs you, who is also going through something just like you, you are not a coward, you are a lioness, you are no more a victim, be a survivor.”

This is what brought back the energy in her soul, in her body. This is what made her stood by her self from that harsh fall she had. Today the sun did shine on her because she took the initiative to be strong and go back to her life which she left 2 months back. Her boss was ready and happy to have her back because of her marvelous performance as an employee. But what about people, what about the society is what her mother reaction was to her decision when she informed her parents about her joining back the office. To which after she replied to her mother and it felt like she is opening her mouth after 2 months…

“Yes mom, the society will speak, they will whisper as I pass by them, they will look down upon me as if I had invited them to rape me. Yes, I am a woman, but society and people have no idea what I went through, they only will talk behind my back, give me sympathy and feel sorry for me always. They will expect me to either stay behind the closed doors, between these walls or die. I cannot let them decide how I should live my life, how to walk, what to wear when to leave. They are no one to rule my life. God had sent me here so that I can live my life in a better way, not to follow what people say. I will live my life the way I want to, and I will fight all the hurdles that come my way. I will try my best to find those culprits and fight for my right, but that does not mean I will stop living my life. I want to go out there and help many innocent girls and women like me who have been through the same and are living like they have committed a sin when the truth is, they did nothing wrong, it was not their fault. It is not easy, it was not easy for me to stand here and say all this, let alone even think about all this. But to help someone out there, I need to be hell strong, I need to be the one who should prove to them that life does not stop here.

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” Desmond Tutu

I won’t be a victim anymore and look out for sympathies, I will be a survivor and break the stigma that after…. she paused… took a deep breath closing her eyes, (it was not easy for her, tears were rolling down her eyes…), that afterrape girls or women should die, they should stop living.  No, we won’t stop living rather we will live with equal respect and dignity like all others live.”

Her mother, with tears and pride in her eyes, hugged her brave daughter and kissed her forehead. Her parents were proud of their daughter who was fighting like a brave warrior. She got ready for her office hugged her parents, and told them “let’s start a new life maa and paa, your daughter is…(pause), is fine ( she kind of stammered) and she will be fine.” They all smiled and thier lives went on…. Though they all knew it’s not going to be easy, but they still had hope.

It won’t be easy for her to move on, to forget her dark past, to fight back, it was a long way to go, but deep inside she knew she will get through this. We often try to find hope in others, wait for someone to come and pull us back, give us light while we are wandering in darkness, but the truth is, we always end up being our own superhero, we are the ones who somehow find hope and step back to life and fight back. Hope lies within you…