Speaking Up
Short Story
Santwana Chatterjee
Manasi stood before the mirror studying her reflection. Yes
she was attractive, to be frank, she was beautiful, with a heart shaped face, a straight nose, big dark eyes, a head full of shiny black hair and a dimple on each cheek.
On the other
side of 35 and a mother of two, she still looked young enough to be mistaken
for a college student. She dressed beautifully and had curves in all the
right places. Yes she was very attractive to the other sex. But is that
a crime?
The new manager of their branch was quite attractive and quite young
but a little overbearing and Manasi hated to be dominated. While taking notes Manasi would look up
feeling his eyes on her a little too insistent and she would look back
hard, often she would find him too near behind her back to be comfortable
while helping her take out a file from the closet. But she could not be
sure as otherwise he was very courteous, he had dropped Manasi home on
the few occasions they had to remain at the office late but what happened
the day before today was like a thunderbolt to Manasi.
Manasi went to
bring a file from his chamber and she felt his eyes on her, she looked
up and saw him giving her a slow and deliberate wink. She stood routed
to the ground, not believing her eyes, and then turned back in disgust
almost running out of the room.
Once seated in her place she took some
time to compose herself. What should she do now, she cannot take this
insult lying down, she must protest, how cunning how obnoxious, how
demeaning. Next time she went to his room to take notes he behaved
normal as if nothing has happened making it quite clear that he is a
habitual flirt but why should he pick on her, is she a flirt, is she
cheap?
Manasi brooded over it the whole day and told no one not even Bipin. After two days of mental agony Manasi decided to make a belated protest and went to his chamber. He
looked up from the file that he was studying and looked at her. Manasi
mastered all the courage she had and blurted out "Why did you wink at me the other day?" the next few minutes were a nightmare Manasi wanted to forget. He stood up from the chair, towering
over her and shouted "Winked? How dare you tell lies! I have never done any such thing in
my life. What is wrong with your mind Mrs. Ghosh? Have you gone mad? I warn
you to be very careful in future. I don't take making accusations like that lightly. Get out!"
Manasi came out of his room drenched with humiliation and anger, feeling like an
utter fool. Once outside she realised everybody was looking at her, they
had obviously heard the manager shouting. Manasi looked at them and said "You must have heard what he said, please let me explain. The day before yesterday he winked at me slow and steady like I have never seen before, quite simply like telling me 'I want to have my way with you.' I came to protest, won't you support me and ask him to apologize?" she pleaded but her heart sank as her appeal fell flat, she saw most of them looking down.
Mainak, a relatively new incumbent, said "But Mrs Ghosh, how do we know you are telling the truth? We have seen him dropping you home quite a few times. If he was that type why did
you allow him to take you home? You have never said anything about him. How can we believe
he has become a lecher all on a sudden and how do we know that you have not led him on?"
How typically mean and foolish - Manasi felt like slapping him.
Manasi, said Jibanda "You must have been mistaken."
"How can anyone be mistaken on such a matter Jibanda!" Manasi wailed.
Manasi looked at the others but everyone avoided her eyes. She could not
believe her ears, these men are her colleagues, they have worked
together for almost 7 years now. The manager has only been here for 5 months
and still they will not take her words against his. How can it be
possible! And she even quarreled with her husband for these spineless
creatures. She believed they were her friends. She regretted all her
association with them, all their togetherness and friendship seemed loathsome to
her now. What a fool she was, believing that she and these people were like
minded! What a stupendous error of judgment on her part to have faith in them.
What would she do, where does she stand now that she had been
befooled by the manager, betrayed by her colleagues, should she fight for
justice and make him apologise, if only there had been a hidden camera, she
thought. The manager is a coward and not man enough to be bothered
about and her colleagues were a herd of sheep and Manasi will have to
accept the situation as it is and go on taking notes from this beast and go
on mixing with her colleagues as before but things will never be the same. What a situation to be in but should she have remained silent ? Could she have respected herself if she did? Not all
her humiliation could have made her remain silent, even if it happened twice in her life.
Manasi decided she should write about it.
Speaking Up© COPYRIGHT 2005 Santwana Chatterjee.
Reproduction prohibited without permission from the author.
01/17/05
