CHAPTER 1 It was one of those rare wet and yet pleasantly cool Calcutta June mornings when Anumita set out of her home with her father, walking the short distance to the Tollygunge metro station. They walked a little fast since they were running late and Anumita was feeling nervous about missing the train. There wouldn’t be another for a long time and she would miss reaching in time for the written entrance test at Presidency College. It wasn’t very early in the morning, but the sun was feeling reluctant to show his face and it seemed as if most people had decided to simply curl under their sheets and prolong the lazing. When her alarm rang, it had seemed too dark to be time to wake up, and so Anumita had continued sleeping till her mother shook her awake. The scalding tea helped her wake up to the reality of the situation; that she was running late, and had to rush through everything if she were to be able to catch the metro. The metro was undoubtedly the fastest way to travel and she didn’t even want to contemplate if, like her father suggested, a cab would be faster.  Watching her nervousness, Anumita’s father insisted on coming along, even though she was used to commuting alone since the last two years, after she finished her Class X and had to go to a college in Park Circus for her Plus Two levels. Anumita was not only nervous because she was late, but because she had always dreamt of studying English Literature in Calcutta’s best college. She knew she could easily get a seat in any of the other colleges, but she had to first try for her dream. Anumita told her father that she was not a child and could travel alone, but finally agreed to let him come along, perhaps because she was so nervous. She just laid one condition; that he leave after dropping her off at the venue, instead of waiting outside for two hours!  It was drizzling a bit and father and daughter walked in companionable silence, hands tucked inside their raincoat pockets. Once in a while, Tamal Kanti Lahiri would tease his daughter about her level of anxiety. Anumita would laugh nervously, trying to appear much more in control than she felt. They walked over broken pavements where smoke rose from ovens that were being lit by roadside tea vendors. Lahiri-babu loved drinking tea from such stalls, but he had to banish such thoughts from his mind for now. Perhaps after dropping Anu, he would have a cup. Maybe he would even cross the road and climb the stairs to the Coffee House, browse through some books at Rupa & Co. and surprise Anu when she came out of the hall.   Bad idea, he thought to himself, shaking his head. She would be so furious that she’d probably storm off and not come home for hours. She had turned eighteen last December and didn’t let go of a single chance to remind them that she was capable of doing things herself. Unless… unless he tempted her.  Do you want to come for a movie afterwards?  Baba, I am going for an exam!  I know… I said afterwards-   Baba, I am nervous!  Ah well, I’ll watch ‘No Man’s Land’ alone then. After dropping you.  Baba, you’re not going to office today!  No, of course not. My daughter’s exam!  He smiled at her, a little naughtily. Tamal Kanti Lahiri hated his mundane bank job and his reluctance to go to office and ability to find excuses for not going was well Known amongst his family members.   You know I’ll not let you watch that film without me. Meet me afterwards then-  Now walk fast, don’t forget we’re running late!  The platform was almost empty when they reached, with a couple of minutes to spare before the train came. In fact, it was so deserted that apart from them, there was just a bunch of young guys standing chatting loudly. They gradually sauntered up to where Anumita and her father stood, deliberately brushing past Anumita in a very offensive manner. Anumita’s retaliation was without much thought, as her hand went up in retort and a slap landed on the chap’s face. Even as her fingertips made contact with the man’s face, and before the group surrounded her, she knew had made a mistake. She felt frightened as they surrounded her, circling around their prey, hurling abuses that made her go red in the face.  Why did you slap me?  Why did you fall over me?  Why should I fall over you? You think you are hot! You think men fall all over you-  There is so much space-  I didn’t fall over you deliberately. Say sorry.  She kept quiet, looking beyond the crowd, at her father, and trying to draw strength.   Say sorry bitch!  If you didn’t fall deliberately, I’m sorry-  You don’t believe me.  The man who had pawed her and whom Anumita had slapped was clearly the leader. He put his index finger on her cheek and stroked it slowly. Her father cut through the crowd and said sorry on his daughter’s behalf. They pushed him aside, the laughter getting louder. The group had tasted blood and they wanted more. They jeered as the leader fiddled with her top button.  Let’s see what she has to make a man fall over her-  Yeah, let’s-  Anumita no longer knew what was happening. Her father was trying to push the men away and she was crying for help. She and her father were hopelessly outnumbered but she could see him trying to plead, bargain, push them away. Her clothes were being ripped, her father was screaming, she was screaming, she was trying to push them away. And then she heard the train, into which these men jumped and vanished. It was uncannily silent after the train receded. Her father lay on the platform, life ebbing out.                                                              ….to be continued