A BET- on a girl's respect

A Story by anagrana

We argued about women security and respect in India, and then she came into sight- the perfect test subject.

A storm had been raging for the last half hour over cups of cinnamon tea and hot aloo paranthas. It was the stubbornly debated topic of 'how insecure India-especially NCR (Delhi,gurgaon,noida) has become for women'. Today, as my chief opponent sat a handsome looking nerd (that sounds contradicting...ya well) -well, in my defense, he did appeared cute with just the right amount of muscles which were currently cradling some menacing looking engineering books- he had snooped over my 'justified' , slightly loud feminist groaning about everything that's wrong under the sun along with my friends and just couldn't resist when got to the 'country' part.

Well, he did look the part of the 'young revolutionary' filled with nationalist, intellectual blood. I was tempted to overlook his action of barging into my monologue. But then, I ain't that kind. And so, the debate started. I rambled on, in all my eloquence and vocabulary, all that i had heard in the foreign media, internet opinions, 'India's daughter', NBC, CNN- well, i am an intellectual after all. All the while he sat with a smug smile and then admonished me as a psuedo intellectual (how dare he!) - and then thundered on about how great and women honouring our culture is, how gender equality is taken for granted in our country, what actual statistics are(did you know that the rape capital of the world is the US?!), how foreign propaganda is maligning the country and how psuedo intellectuals like me are helping them, how our outrage at even one rape was being seen as desperation, etc. Well, i'll admit that he did make some really relevant points but then i wasn't giving in that easy and them she came into sight- the perfect test subject. A deal was struck between the smart nerd and me and we sat to see how it played out.

Our college has security measures matching that of Rahul Gandhi's- very tight and highly unnecessary. Every entry gate is manned with multiple guards and electronic doors-operable only by particular I-cards, issued to every student and faculty- exclusive to each. This girl, who had like us had stepped out for a snack happened to loose her I-card and had spent the last hour in futile search attempts. Now, as she started looking really uncomfortable- i recognized the 'loo look'.The nearest toilet happened to be inside the campus, with other being at least 2 km away. No way was she getting home that way. So she started pleading with the guard- and understandably the lady guard denied- many a devious souls had used the same ploy in the past for not so innocent motives. Students around her were just rushing on- well, it was exam time after all. I was just starting to smirk at my apparent victory when suddenly a guy who had been rushing in, suddenly stopped and stared at her as if gauging the situation, then went upto the guard, said something, handed over his I-card to the guard who then allowed the girl inside. The guy then waited whole 15 minutes till the girl my came back, then took his I-card, acknowledged the girl's thanks, smiled and moved on to an apparent friend who had just arrived.

"Well, they might be classmates.", i was still not accepting defeat. My handsome nerd smiled, said nothing and just hailed our guy protagonists' friend. "Was that girl whom you friend helped-a friend?". "NO! a complete stranger! he risked his I-card for a complete stranger, such a fool he is". "Fool? but he did a good thing i guess", nerd countered. "Yeah, well it was, but then he had himself lost his I- card and was bluffing in for his exam on a friend's I-card when he stopped to help her- not knowing her name or anything." "Thank you." I stood there shocked and slightly ashamed. That guy risked so much helping somebody- a girl- he didn't knew and didn't expect anything back and walked away smiling. I know that this incident changed my train of thoughts- a country with such men can't be what we others are projecting it to be. why? because that guy isn't alone- he is what almost every man in country is.Respect.