New Dawn

 Part 1

Divya trembles in fear as another girl of her class, Solanki, has been punished. Divya sits in her seat, her hands shaking, trying to concentrate on the math problem she was supposed to solve.

Divya cannot bear to watch the punished Solanki, who was standing right beside the teacher’s desk, as this only increases her terror. But from time to time her eyes wandered at the corner to an equally terrifying sight. There lay the clothes of Solanki. Her white shalwar kameez and on top of that her underwear. Solanki was standing completely naked in a 10 standard coed class.

Every day when Divya reaches home, her mother has only one question to ask her, ”What punishments did you receive today?” And Divya tells her that she hasn’t seen the worst yet, meaning she hasn’t recived the naked punishment yet.

At the dinner table, her family usually discusses the things going on in India. The discussion starting from Divya telling the punishments she and other girls had received in school that day. Then her younger brother, who was in class 8 tells how many girls he observed naked and in other punishments. Then the discussion goes into politics, where her father tells them the conditions of India and for how long all this will continue.

Divya: today Solanki was made to take off clothes in class. Her pen’s ink finished and she did not have an extra. Her whole body was trembling because of fear and humiliation.

Suresh (Divya’s father): what punishment did you receive today?

Divya: I got 100 uthak baithak in hindi class for not shaking head when teacher asked if everyone understood. Then I got murga punishment in maths class because I looked away from the blackboard for a while. I was just thinking how to solve. Then I received about 3 slaps from my drawing teacher. I mean they just look for reasons to punish.

Sanjana (Divya’s mother): but thank God you haven’t received the naked punishment as yet.

Divya: it is only a matter of time Mom, before I get it. Sayani has received it twice for what? She was late by one minute after break, and one day she had a stain on her uniform. Nobody can avoid these situations. One day I will have to also stand without clothes in front of boys my own age. May God curse the President for regulating such punishments against girls.

Divya’s brother Sonu always loved hearing Divya’s punishments. He wished he could see her sister in all the punishments she described. Before all this had happened in India, Divya was very bossy. She was a strict elder sister, who took pride in the fact that her younger brother was in her control. She scolded him, pulled him by the ear, slapped him and gave him punishments she desired. Now when things had changed, Divya had gone from being a tigress to a pussy cat. She is no longer bossy and feels vulnerable.

Sonu: today, 2 girls in my class were stripped naked and made to stand on the bench.  They had solved the sum wrong. Although I had too, but I just received a scolding.

Sonu made a serious look, although he enjoyed seeing girls like this, every boy did. But one day he said all this while laughing and was given a good beating by Sanjana for laughing at girls who received such punishments. Sanjana scolded him that he should be ashamed as one day his sister might have to face the same the situation. From then on Sonu always spoke with a serious tone about the punishments girls are facing in his school, but deep down he still enjoys watching girls getting punished. He craved to look at Divya’s face when she would be given the naked punishment and telling about it on the dinner table.

Divya: the P.E. class has just become murga class for us. They just take us to the ground to make us murga for 45 minutes. The boys play football, while all the girls have to remain in murga for the whole period. They punish us for a reason like not making a straight line to leave the class. How can someone make a perfectly straight line?

Sanjana: beta, I know what you are going through, there no use complaining, we have to wait until all this is over, this can’t go on forever.

Suresh: surely, other countries will intervene and the laws will be revoked.

Divya ate in silence from then on, wondering how many uthak baihaks she will do tomorrow, for how long she will have to remain in murga and whether tomorrow will be the day she takes off her clothes in a place other than her bathroom.

India had been facing many separatists movements within its borders. The movements became more violent and aggressive. Then the army had to be called upon to conduct intelligence based operations within its cities. The army men started living in the cities to eliminate any separatist people they come across. Soon the army men started thinking the people of India are their property. They thought everything the people had was at their disposal too. They started beating people who refused to give them food or anything they asked for. Going into homes of people and eating anything they found. Soon they started raping women on the streets and also by entering their homes.

This led to massive anti-army campaigns. Women started protesting against the army. In many cities women protested completely naked in order to bring the attention of the foreign media. The separatist movements gained momentum because of these campaigns. In 2020, a fully fledged civil war started in India. It took the Indian army a full one year to take control of India once again. India did not lose any part but a great loss economically was bared. The army overthrew the civilian government and imposed martial law. Then the army took its revenge on the people. It hung all those men that were involved in the war. It took into custody the women who were involved in protests and speeches against the army, and God knows what was happening to them now.

Since women were actively involved in anti-army campaigns, the new President (Dictator) vowed to show women their right place. He regulated extreme punishments on girls in school. He said that women really love being naked in public (referring to the naked protests), so regulated stripping girls in school as punishments. Other harsh punishments like murga, uthak baithak were regulated as well, and teachers were given instructions to give these punishments on the slightest of offence. All girls school were made coed so that it would be extra humiliating. It was made a crime to not send a girl to school. If a family was found not sending their girl to school, their father would be jailed for life, mother would be paraded naked in the streets and then jailed, and the girl will be taken into government custody and then sent to school.

Atrocities outside the school were also carried out. Whenever a woman would be found to be doing anything bad, she would be made to strip there and then. Many women were found standing naked on the streets, or in naked murga position, for petty things like talking on the phone while driving, not wearing seatbelt etc.

Everyone believed this was all temporary as sooner than later other countries would put pressure on India to stop all this non-sense.

to be continued.................