Every day, a rough estimation of the sighting population of approximately 3000 people, including both foreigners and native couples can be seen near ‘THE Connaught place’, commonly known as Rajeev Chowk, CP, etc. by the Delhiites. This was the best place for friends hovering over burgers, couples sipping out the blue lagoon krushers, noises of loud music on the terrace of each building in the inner circle, and some hungry eyes just swallowing saliva while seeing the gola sizzlers, but hearing no jingling of coins in their empty pockets, they had to drop their idea there. Amidst all, nobody bothered to notice (probably Miss) Aarti Basu, looked upon so meagerly by some illiterate lads who maybe wanted to chase her.
I was in a habit to travel a lot, and notice things which were yet to be noticed and yet to be explored. Today I chose Rajeev Chowk as my destination. As the escalator moved up, one could make out the crowd and the noise of Janpath market. There were few kiosk selling water for Rs. 2, some jobless school going boys buying their new crush a handful packet of lays which was sold for Rs. 10 in almost every store on the roadside. But since this may be their first time that they had come out with them, and because CP is one of the most posh areas, they were even ready to pay Rs. 18 per packet for them.
Noticing all these things as I moved along, I saw a lady pleading to a couple to give her some money. The lady asked for help from almost every pedestrian she could. Some gave her a few coins, some raised brows to see her, some in a way tried to abuse her, but then I could not wait more to see all these things and thus I proceeded further, thinking that one may help the poor but not poverty. I had actually come to meet a friend over there. Thus, in order to wait for him, I just sat in a place alone between gate #6 & #7, where I was told to wait. I hardly sat there for a couple of minutes when a hand patted on my back. The moment I felt the touch, I managed to find around 4 dirty black nails attached to their four respective fingers which were touching me. She was a lady and probably I knew her and suddenly I got to recognize her.
As she approached, I could see her wrinkles even more clear, her skin color salwar kameez were no longer the same, somehow it was rather stained in blood, no wonder what hasn’t had she faced faced till then. She was stinking like a rotten rat maybe, but her eyes were so pure, so true that I could clearly feel that it had all hopes to be helped by a human being of her own sex, but she just looked into my eyes and without even uttering a word, she approached a boy sitting past me and asked him for some help. Those lines are still echoing in my ears:
Aee bhhaiya, kuch paisa de do, mera beta bahut bimar hai, hizro ko to kavi mana nahi karte, hum bhi kapre utar k dikkhaye kya, hum to fir bhi ladki hain
These two lines made me tremble like anything. I wish I could do something to help her. I just stared at her dropping my jaw and rushed to know what made her sell herself to any tom dick and harry who passed by. She had tears in her eyes when she said to me that she belonged to a village Bakura, Kolkata. Her son was having a passage in his heart who was just 5 years old and is her only reason to live as her husband died in a road accident 6 months ago. She came with her husband to Delhi to give their son the best treatment they could, but since the open heart surgery was so costly, she had to beg from all available sources. She was able to arrange some money, but in this context, I was even more pained to know that she has been raped multiple times while staying here. She was raped 5 times until she was thrown unconscious by her last rapist.
Every day we may not even have any idea that so many girls like Mrs. Aarti Basu are being raped just for no other reason except that they are needy and poor. Why does only Nirbhaya get reimbursements from the government? Why do only rich people get the privilege to be cured? Feeling almost heartbroken, I left as I knew I couldn’t help Aarti. Although I left her all alone, I couldn’t leave her away from my thoughts till now.
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