Victim - Her story



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She came to the city after consecutive years of draught that had left the agricultural land useless. Useless – unfit to grow anything. She was a victim of the nature’s fury. Some said that she was a victim of fate.

New to the city life. With less than 500 bucks in pocket, her husband went in search of job and food to feed the hungry kid. Finally got a job as a construction worker. They lived in a bus-stop for some days. Then moved in to the building where the construction was on.

They were happy. They had enough to feed. It was better than the village life.

Probably the crane operator was drunk. Probably the crane was not working well. She could not decide. Or even think about the reason. Who could, in her situation? She was sitting in front of the crushed bodies of her husband and kid. The concrete block of the crane had snapped and crushed them to death. Murder? Accident? These never crossed her mind. She became a victim of accident. Or fate again.

Her only thought was – What next? Suicide? Probably yes. But she was not alone. She had a 3 month fetus within her waiting to come to earth. She decided to live.

She went back to the native village. Govt had decided to acquire the land in her village for a dam construction nearby. The village would no longer be a residential colony after this dam. She was not sure if it was good or bad. On one hand, she would lose the land and on the other, she would get compensation. But there was actually no choice. Government paid the compensation and a piece of land in nearby town to build a house.

As she got a small house built for herself in the relief money, the baby was born. Town gave her enough opportunities for employment. She started working as a maid in a big house. Life was back to normal.

Near her native village, the dam construction was in full swing. Earth shook near the town at times due to the blasts. One (not so) fine day, the earth shook more than usually did. The richter scale later showed it as 7.0. Buildings collapsed. People died. Her baby was sleeping in her saree converted into a bed when the earthquake struck. Roof collapsed on it. She managed to survive. She was again a victim of nature’s fury or fate…it was not relevant again.

With no hope to survive, she started her walk to native village. 20 kms she walked and jumped into the gushing river which she blamed for her changed life.

Inspired from a real story.