Sithara is a Malayalam short story writer and translator of repute. She has won Kendra Sahitya Academy Golden Jubilee Award and also Kerala Sahitya Award for her short stories. Sithara’s characters are rebels with a difference. They just pass over shameful situations and laugh at the stereotypification of gender roles. Her heroines search for their genuine individualities. Her ‘Agni’ is the story of a rape survivor who declines either to be prosecuted or to be destroyed with disappointment or disrespect. She resolves to penalize the wrongdoers on her own way of vengeance.
When Priya finished typing in her office, it was dark. She
had to ride her cycle for ten minutes along a narrow lane with undergrowth
lining its sides to reach her house. On
seeing three men standing on the road, she stopped her bike in shock. One of them was Sanjeev, a burly fellow who
ran a telephone booth near her office.
The other one was Ravi, a spoiled rich boy whom once Priya had slapped
for his taking an obscene liberty with her in a bus. The third one was a stripling who had barely
sprouted a moustache. One picked her off
and the other clamped her mouth shut.
The third hesitated slightly on seeing a sanitary pad, but that didn’t
stop him. All her struggles had no any
use. All the three raped her
brutally. After raping, Ravi slapped her
and shouted that she should learn how it would be if she played with men. Priya slipped into a semi-conscious state as
the third one moved away from her.
When she came to her
senses, Priya dragged herself to her feet with great effort. Her body was full of unfamiliar aches. She got into her clothes that were lying
scattered somewhere, took her bicycle and reached home. Her mother was in the kitchen, her sister
before the television and father was not at home from work. Priya went into her room and closed the door. She washed her body twice. She decided not to cry. The next day Priya went to the office as
usual. On seeing her Sanjeev asked her
how she felt the previous day. Priya
said that he wouldn’t be able to satisfy a woman. Then she turned to Ravi and said that he was
a real man. On her way home from work in the evening, she stopped her bike, ignored Sanjeev but smiled at
Ravi. When she got home, the stripling
was waiting for her. He sobbed and
begged to forgive him. Priya patted his
hair and asked him to go. Priya went to
Sanjeev’s booth every day and called up all her friends and watched the feeling
of inferiority creeping over his face every time, with the spirit of
vengeance. Similarly, whenever she saw
Ravi, smiled at him. However, that
created uneasiness in Ravi. Actually, these small triumphs gave great satisfaction to Priya.
When Ravi asked Priya
one day why she smiled at him, she said that she liked him. For the next two days Priya did not go to the
office. Priya felt she hated herself. Ravi came to her house, when she was alone
and said that he has realized his love towards her. Then Priya asked Ravi whether that love began
the day that she had slapped him. The confused Ravi asked whether she was
taking revenge on him and then buried his face in his hands and started to
cry. Priya too started crying and said
that his love was her revenge. Raising
his face, Ravi then touched her tear-stained cheeks as if to console her with
retreating fingers. Thus ‘Agni’ presents
sexuality and man-woman relationship from a totally different perspective.
----Thulasidharan V
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