...ignited soul

She stared at the email message on her computer, her mind racing so fast that the words blurred together and no longer made any sense. Just three lines, but enough to make her life--the life she’d worked so hard and sacrificed so much to build--begin to crumble around her.

"We work in a company which values hard-work and dedication. A company which values talent. Going by the tradition, today Board of Directors appointed the India Sales Head, Avinash as the CEO of the company. Please welcome, Avinash as our new CEO..."

She couldn't read more than this as her eyes were filled with tears and everything became blurred. She never imagined something like this could happen. "Avinash" - the name she can't bear. She can't imagine seeing something like this. There were no thoughts, just a blank, in her mind. As if, someone has lost his/her ability to think. And the more she was trying to think, the number she was feeling. The feeling as if she was walking down the lonely road and she can't see anything ahead. The feeling as if the earth was taking everything inside it and the more she was trying to come out of it the more she was pulled inside." Why God is punishing me this much hard"- finally a thought came to her mind after an era of numbness.

That was the day exactly one month ago. She was given the Award of the "Next Big Thing" in the company. It was a rumor that she may be the next India Sale's Head. And no one could have denied it, for her division achieved the sales target of this year again with the highest numbers in all over India. A growth of almost 150% consecutively for the last 5 years. It was said to be her charismatic leadership and good-looking enigma. And no one could deny that this IIM graduate lady was counted as one of the most talented employees in the company. It was said that her persuasion was so strong that she could even persuade death God to let her live additional years, had death God come to take her away. She was one of the most promising employees of the company. And it was her Boss, Avinash, who nurtures her throughout the years of her career. Some used to say, it was her proximity to Avinash, which helped her going places. But, people can say many things, and the truth always remains the truth.

How can she forget that night? It was the company's Annual Award function. She was all set to receive the "Next Big Thing" and she was present there along with her husband Himanshu. Himanshu, a young professional was working with P&G as their Maharashtra Sales Head. Both met in college during MBA and fell in love. Love is such a magic. It was also a coincidence that when Nikita got selected to this company, Avinash was one of the panelists. Well, no one knew that Saket had a soft corner for Nikita since that interview. Avinash saw a young, dynamic, persuasive, talent and gorgeous girl. He hand-picked her to work as the Sales Executive under her. Nikita never failed Avinash in his beliefs and always performed beyond measures. But, today was a day of celebration. She was going to be declared as the "Next Big Thing", an honor, which is given to someone who has the skills to be one of the Heads of the company. She was on cloud nine. But fate had something different in its kiosks.

Himanshu had to catch a flight to go to New York for a week of meetings and she will be all alone throughout the time. Avinash was aware of all the plans and he had already asked to drop Himanshu to the Airport. Nikita can't decline as it would be rude to her Boss. And a boss who had always helped her and had been instrumental in her large career. It was 10 when they reached Airport and dropped Himanshu. All plan was that Avinash will drop Nikita back to her Apartment after that. But, Avinash had some other plans. He asked Nikita to go to Bar for a party, which She owed because She just won the Award. How can someone suppress his/her happiness when something truly happened just now. Nikita couldn't decline and agree to go to the bar. That was the most terrible decisions she had taken, and she realized it soon.

After around three to four rounds of Scotch, Avinash started touching her. Initially, she thought he is just drunk and lost control, but she was terribly wrong. Avinash was in no mood for control and started abusing her for being so rude to him. He told her something when she resisted that she can never ever forget in this lifetime. He told her that she was in the current position in the company because he favored her. Because he helped her to achieve the targets every quarter and year. She was just a moron and without him, she was nothing. That moment she spanked him and stormed out of the Bar. She was molested, and she started feeling terribly weak. She didn't know what to do and where to go. Somehow, she reached home but she couldn’t sleep the whole night. Next morning, she went to HR manager and formally lodged the sexual abuse case against Avinash. She didn’t know that Avinash was very powerful. In the evening HR manager called her and suggest her to drop the complaint.  HR manager told her that not dropping charges may cost her job and it will be difficult to find a job after that. Under tremendous pressure, she dropped the charges against Avinash.

That was the day, and she didn't tell anyone of the incident. After that, she was transferred to the operations team and she opted to shift to Gurgaon. That day was so inside her that she started feeling the same terrible feelings which she had faced then. Life was like a hell for the last one month for she didn’t even tell all these to her husband. "Why, she kept quiet?"; "Is this not let people like Avinash molest women and still sit on top of them?" ;"Was that a terrible mistake to keep quiet at that time?"; "Why she didn't tell anyone?"; "Is it more painful than seeing her molester grabbing the top post of the company?"; "Is she the only one molested by Avinash?"; "Was not speaking then put other women too in the similar situation?"; "Is Avinash the only one doing this?"; "Are there many people like Avinash who abuse women and still manage to get to the top?"; "Why don't speak now?" "Is it too late to speak up?". Thoughts were going through her mind reel-by-reel.

"No", she said to herself and stood up. She opened her laptop and wrote a blog about the whole incident. She wrote how people like Avinash molest women and still go on to become the head of the company. How people like Avinash use the power and position by side-tracking women after molesting them. How people like Avinash harass women in the Organization and still nothing happens to them. How people like Avinash uses power to suppress women who don't fall in the trap. A sexual offender must be punished and all she wanted to tell the world that women are not weak, and they will not allow such crimes against them. The more she wrote the better she started feeling. She promised herself to fight this till she gets the justice. Those three lines ignited her and pushed her to believe that she is not weak. She will fight and stand against the crimes on women. She will work for educating women on sexual abuse and educate women not to keep quiet.  She took her cell phone and type “Sexual Abuse” – “Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is usually undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or (often pejoratively) molester”. She read it again and again. Suddenly, she decided to take Avinash head on. She though merely writing blogs won’t solve the purpose and it is now time to make people like Avinash shame in front of the world.

That evening when Himanshu came, she narrated the whole incident to him. She told him that she wants to lodge a police complaint against Avinash. Himanshu also suggested the same. With Himanshu at her side, she started from home and landed to the nearest Police station. She lodged an FIR against Avinash. She knew she will be in news for a longer time, but she had no fear for her soul was already ignited.

A crime is not a crime if it is protected and not lodged. People who abuse power should be brought under the law and must be punished.