Seven members of a family were hacked to death in Bihar. It was on Eye On Asia. The newsreader's words transported me from my cosy apartment in New York to a cold first-class waiting room in Bombay's Victoria Terminus. It was October 1990. My father, mother and I were travelling from Pune to Kanpur. We were on our way to my grandparents' to spend the Diwali holidays. My parents and I had travelled in the night from Pune and were scheduled to get on the morning train to Kanpur. We woke up to a lot of noise at the doorway of the waiting room. A lady police constable was herding in a little girl, who couldn't have been older than 10 or 11. When the noise subsided, we came to know that two men had brought her to Bombay from her village in Bihar to sell her to a brothel. Her parents were killed in a feud over land. Her name was Pinky and she was an only child. The police had found the behaviour of the two men accompanying her suspicious and questioned her. When her 'uncles' saw constables talking to Pinky, they fled, leaving her on the railway platform. As I heard her story, my eyes welled with tears. My mother took out one of my dresses from the suitcase and gave it to Pinky. Father went over to inquire about her and what lay in store for her. As he started talking to them in English, he was sternly told to converse in Hindi. The police informed my father that Pinky would be taken to a shelter for children, where she could stay till she was 14. After that she would have to fend for herself. The constable hinted that anything could happen to Pinky in the home, and since we were a good and respectable family we could take Pinky away with us, for a small fee. My father, on hearing that, returned to us and said it was time for our train. The look in his eye forbade me to ask him to take Pinky with us. We slowly walked towards our train. It's over a decade since that incident. Pinky must be around 21 now, the same age I was when I met her. I do not know whether she found a respectable life or whether she ended up where her kidnappers intended her to be. But even after all these years, when I close my eyes I can see her innocent face. I wonder if the recent killings in Bihar orphaned another Pinky. I wonder how many lives are destroyed every day in such violence. I wonder what the government is doing to help the unfortunate survivors. I wonder. Soma Chowdhury wishes she had somehow persuaded her father to take Pinky with them. Tell us what you think of this diary Be part of an exciting venture! Write a Diary!
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