Confusion
1154 Words
Ramya looked here and there trying to find a way out of the long never ending bunker. She was stunned by the developments. She couldn’t believe that they would be imprisoned in the bunkers just when the protest had taken off. Was there no male in this empire they could trust? Had she made a mistake in trusting the male staff and the male principal? She looked back at the girls who had turned to her with accusing eyes when they couldn’t find anything worth finding. The only solace was that the bunkers were well lit.
“How could you do this to us Ramya?”
“You said we were changing the world. Why are we locked up then?”
“Did you sell out the women to the government?”
“Is that why you were made leader?”
“Was all this a farce?”
“How do we get out?”
“Did you bring the government on our school?”
Ramya was flooded with questions from all sides. She wanted to grab her hair and shriek that she was innocent and that she had no idea what was happening. But she decided to speak rather than scream. She felt that the girls were waiting for some sort of explanation or confession. She raised her hand indicating that she wanted to speak. The bunker fell silent as all the girls sat waiting for Ramya to speak.
“I have no idea why I was chosen to lead you. I did not ask for leadership. It was thrust on my shoulders and I tried my best to do what I was asked to do. I told you everything I knew about the revolt. If I had any idea that we will be locked here, I would have told. I trusted our Principal sir and our male teachers. You all know what I went through before coming to this school, so I would never give up a chance to support this revolt for equality, dignity and justice for women and girls. You have seen good men but the only good men I ever saw before coming here was my father and brother. All the rest were horny, s******c, morons who only wanted to see girls n***d and to insult, shame and embarrass them. I really wish someone had taken the leadership. May be they would have done better. As far as I know, I shared everything with you. I know you are as confused as me but trust me, I am trying to think of a way out here. I don’t wish to command your obedience but let me request you to have a little more patience because we might be able to find a way if we can think with a clear unbiased mind. Let’s face it, accusing me is not going to open the door of this place. So it is up to us to decide how we try and get out. As far as i am concerned, I am no longer in charge, since I relinquish command and I leave it to you to decide who the leader is. From this moment I am just a normal school girl like you and I will happily follow anyone who comes up with a solution and a way out of this place.”
“If you resign who will be the leader then?”
“Do we even need a leader now?”
“Well it is just a formality. Anyway the point is to go out. How do we do that?”
“So, what do we do now?”
“Let us sit and think first. We will decide things later.”
“But we might be of no use if we can’t get out!”
“Maybe, we Are already late! Maybe they put us here to show us that the revolt is failure.”
“Don’t be so depressing! Can’t you ever speak something positive? You are jinxing the protest!”
“Stop fighting and think how we are getting out of here!”
“Have anyone of you come here before?”
“Well, it used to happen when we were in 2nd class(grade). There used to be a lot of attacks on our school because Principal sir refused to change our school to a co-ed school. So every time there was an attack they used to send us here and the staff used to fight and defend the school with Royal Shakteya Army Volunteer Corps.”
“Perhaps, the school is under attack again? Maybe that is why we were sent here?”
“Yes. It sounds possible. Besides, all the male teachers have been working here for more than 20 years.”
“Is there a TV or something that we can watch?”
“We don’t know. We were too small and too frightened to think of entertainment.”
“Please think. There must be something that you remember. Maybe something your captains said?”
“No!”
“We don’t remember anything. We were too small.”
Ramya sat thinking hard ignoring the discussion going on around her. She was missing something. They had been walking towards their hostel when all of a sudden a staircase had appeared that seemed to be leading into the ground. A sign had said ‘Subway To Hostel’ and they had followed the steps into a long corridor. They had kept walking for a long time and still they couldn’t find their hostel. After walking for hours they had finally stopped and had found walls on all sides. This had led to the confusion. She raised her hand again to gain attention. Slowly the babble of noises grew quiet.
“Did anyone notice that there were no walls in front of us and behind us when we were walking?”
“Now that we think of it, it may have. So what are you trying to say?”
“That if we keep walking there will be no walls before us. So if we keep walking we will find the exit. Because if there is an entrance, there is an exit. So if we keep moving we can find the entrance.”
“What if we keep on walking forever and there is no exit?”
“Well, there is only one way to find out. But the question is, do we move forward or go back?”
The girls debated this point for a minutes before deciding that going back would be the best option. So they turned back and reached the wall behind them which suddenly disappeared. So they kept walking till they found the stairs again. They climbed up to find the gate to their hostel on their left, which they took. A few more minutes and they were in their rooms. They gathered in the Hostel AV Room to watch the news.
- Writer
