Sourabha Rajyam- The Land Where Women Don't Matter

A Report and A Revolt

Srivastava stood in front of Raja Ugra Ganapathi Raya. He was a bit nervous as he did not know what the king was thinking. He had made his report to the king. He could sense that the AVMGHS Principal, Mr. Parasuram was incensed after hearing the kind of t*****e the family of the Late Legal Adviser for the Royal Trust Institutions, Sri AVSSNVRPSL Narayana was being subjected to. Extraction had been impossible due to the chips in their necks.

“Is there no way to nullify those chips, Srivastava?”

“Unfortunately, none Your Highness! Surgical removal of the control-locate-t*****e chips is the only way.”

“What do you think Parasuram?” the 60 year old royal asked.

“Flatten the bar and rescue them or let them die, Your Highness.”

“General Suresh, will the operation be a success?”

“Yes, your highness. But at a very high cost of men and material, not to mention m******e of civilians.”

“That is unacceptable. Prime Minister Manoj, what do you suggest?”

“A sacrifice, your highness, however disgusting and helpless it sounds.”

“Indeed! We wish it had been different and we had been able to rescue those unfortunate women. We are ashamed that we are unable to help them. We feel unworthy to be the great grandson of the legendary hero that our great-grandfather was!” the king expressed his anguish referring to his great-grandfather and himself in the plural as royals did. “We shall survive on two glasses of water and two apples a day for the next 15 days to atone for our helplessness!” he vowed raising anxious glances from the others. They knew how the members of the royal Shakteya Dynasty always stood up for honour rather than their lives. They preferred to die rather than sit when someone was in danger. Raja Ganapati Deva himself had saved thousands of women from getting molested; but not everyone could be as powerful as him nor could he be everywhere at the same time. With a strong government opposing his views, he only had the constitutional immunity granted to members and institutions managed by his dynasty to bring solace to the tormented women in the empire. Despite his best efforts there was only so much he could do. Everyone left the conference room feeling unhappy and ashamed that they couldn’t save the brave lawyer’s family.

Two days later the government came up with a special news bulletin where they showed two horribly mutilated bodies of two women – one older and the other one, younger. Their faces had not been mutilated so that they could be identified easily. It was obvious that the two women had been brutally tortured before they were finally killed. The government announced their names – Sakuntala Devi, 40 yrs and Sarvani, 22 yrs, the wife and daughter of the exiled advocate Narayana. People were warned of a similar fate if they turned traitors.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!” Soukhya was outraged and striken with grief at the tragic death of her teacher’s family. The man Narayana had taught her to stand up for herself and for others who couldn’t stand up for themselves. He had been her mentor taking her under his wing. He had always considered her his son for her fearlessness and resourcefulness. She had been devastated when he had been exiled but had pulled herself together for his sake and for the sake of his family. It was she who had appealed to the Shakteya Trust to trace his family. At least till then she had hoped that his family would be found. Her heart was shattered to see those b****y mutilated bodies that were left to rot in the capital city of the empire.

She was inconsolable with grief, her courage obliterated by the image on the screen. It was not something for the weak hearted – the blood and gore and the terror striking way the corpses were being eaten by the carrion creatures – dogs, rats, crows and vultures- would curdle the blood of the most seasoned warrior.

Mounika’s face was flushed with anger. She had never felt like this before. Her blood was on fire. She wanted to tear the murderers apart with her bare hands. She wanted to avenge the deaths of those two noble, innocent souls who had died painfully just because the man of the house had dared to oppose the barbaric laws and had actually got them scrapped! The time for thought and passive, meek submission was over. It was time to teach the world the power of the woman. It was time to bring out the Kalika with all her fury. Let those misguided men feel the wrath of an enraged and wronged woman! It was time for revolt.

Mounika spent the next few days talking with the parents of the students and neighbours. She quickly organised a meeting of 5000 women who then gathered a huge crowd of 10 lakh women. Mounika was chosen the de facto leader of the revolt. She spent days meeting, discussing and planning the revolt. As the D-Day grew closer spirits were high, excited faces could be seen everywhere. The school girls had been entrusted with designing the banners and posters for the revolt so that they could feel involved and a part of the protest.

Ramya was chosen as the student co-ordinator for this protest. She took active role in planning, designing and allocating roles to the best girls. She did not let any girl miss a chance to contribute to the cause. She marshalled the resources available with such alacrity that the teachers marvelled at her leadership skills and the aura of confidence she spread around her. She was obviously a born leader.

While Ramya had surprised everyone with her unexpected transformation, elsewhere her friends Pravallika and Anusha were also very busy meeting and talking with the neighbours. The women were organising themselves into groups and arming themselves with whatever they could lay their hands on. To prevent innocent children and teenagers from being harmed, they had assigned support roles to anyone under 18. Pravallika and Anusha were leading two such support groups. The usually belligerent Soukhya was in mourning and too shocked to be of much use. So they had made sure she was safe and secure and was away from the turmoil.

Pravallika’s troop had been given the task of stockpiling stones and bricks at key areas. She showed her mettle by gathering a lot more than was required. Her troop had even thought of unexpected setbacks during the revolt and had amassed backup piles of stones and bricks at undesignated places as well. It all seemed as if these were being piled randomly without any purpose, thus covering any traces of revolt. Having only ladies for doing the scavenging work also helped.

Anusha’s troop had been assigned the task of having plenty of water ready. Her troop did their job to perfection. They had come up with innovative ways to store water in places no one would even think of. They even managed to identify some safe houses which could be used by the fighters to fall back to and renew their attack again. The determination and skill with with Pravallika, Anusha and many such teenage leaders led their troops in completing their assigned tasks was worth watching. 

Soukhya woke up to loud shouts of slogans and revolutionary songs. She peeped through the window of her room and saw hundreds of women marching with banners over their heads. The revolt had begun. She was thrilled to see women carrying sticks and shouting slogans. She got dressed and ran out to join the procession. No one noticed the young 15 year old as she simply marched with the crowd staying on the sidelines so people would think she was there to cheer them up.

Pravallika and Anusha were at the designated areas with their troops to ensure nothing went wrong. The women had mixed sleeping powder in the men’s food so they would sleep and not disturb them. The problem was the army and police who had their own male cooks in the barracks. So they were the real problem. Thousands of untrained civilian women were marching together to storm the police and army barracks and take them into their control. They were actually counting on the unwillingness of professional soldiers to kill women. They had come up with makeshift shields against water cannons and rubber bullets. They had also kept all females under 25 years away from the protest in support roles.

No one paid much attention to Soukhya who had somehow managed to smear her face with black ash and had somehow changed into a saree. She marched with the main attack party fearlessly, determination and revenge written on her face. She was leading the first batch of protestors who had attacked the police barracks. She ran, ducked and sped forward somehow avoiding the water cannons and the rubber bullets the police force defending the barracks was using on them.

She was one of the few females who had managed to reach almost the skirmish line the police had set up blocking the entrance gates. She managed to dodge the bullets as she ran towards the police line. She was panting with the effort of having run almost 1.5 kilometers, but she kept running because stopping now meant death. As she reached the line she was suddenly hit by something hard and strong and she fell flat on the ground, the wind knocked out of her lungs. She was immediately surrounded by a few policemen who dragged her behind the line, handcuffing her and loading her in a police van.