by postbox74

Silent Screams

“She looked up at the pale ceiling. A tiny window hung in the front wall. She felt dizzy like she had a bad hangover and her body ached. She looked down to see bruises lining her naked body colouring her pale skin in vibrant shades of black, blue and red. She does not remember much, just that she was on her way back from school. She remembers being grabbed and a hand muffling her instant screams and a sharp pain at the back of her head and then just blackness.”

“He said he loved her and she believed him. She left her home and went with him. But she landed up in a place where all she met were men who were hungry to show their strength and manhood. 

She did not see him again. But although shocked, she hoped that he would return for her, for she still believed that he loved her. She tried to fight the men with all her might but in vain. They were stronger than her. She screamed for hours, out of pain, out of sadness and out of humiliation but there was none who could hear her.”

“They promised her a better home, a job of her wish, a life of content. She left to live up it. Now, she lives in a house called ‘Brothel’, has a job of a prostitute and slavery and a life of desolation and disgust. Is she living? No.”

These are some of the ways how women and girls and children are lied to, manipulated and kidnapped and sent away to far away to work as prostitutes, dancers and other decretory jobs.This is how they fall into the inescapable activity of ‘Human Trafficking’. The horrors of this crime are widespread. Ranking 5th in Human Trafficking cases, Karnataka is highly regarded to be unsafe. 

Bangalore, a metropolitan city famous for its most IT hubs, is the third most populous city in all over India. A place of most internal and external immigrants, Bangalore is a hub for youth population. The existence of ‘relative anonymity’ among the people makes it even more prone to crimes as such.

The ideology of ‘It does not concern my life’ or ‘Why should I care for he/she is nobody I know’ is the most destructing step towards mankind. You are a person just like the victim. He has a life and so do you. On top of that, the populous being dominated by student immigrants, the city is very likely to be unknown to them. Barriers such as language conflicts are common in here which makes them even more easy preys to the traffickers. Is this not a concerning issue to be discussed? Absolutely. 

Women and children are highly victimised for they are considered to be the weaker race. Is it not? Purposes of trafficking can be many starting from sexual exploitation, slavery to organ extraction, all done illegally and without ‘consent’. The inhumane activity of selling humans like some kind of a commodity is what we observe in the present era we live. How terrifying!

These same people when rescued cannot fit into normal society again. People do not want to accept them. Society thinks they are impure and look at such people with disdain. Even these victims are not aware that they will be coming back to such a situation. They cannot fit in. On top of that, they suffer psychological trauma and sometimes even have several bruises. There are rehabilitation centres for such purposes but they can only do so much. People in the society has to do the rest. These are the people who has to ease the transition of such victims into everyday life. 

The lost innocence of those begging children, the gloom in the eyes of those women, the pain felt through those disabled bodies. Do we care to think once, what if ‘we’ were one of them?

A poem depicting the pain that a victim of human trafficking goes through. The physical and mental pain along with humiliation that these victims endure is enormous.

I lie on the bed once again,

Hoping to forget.

But you can only forget so much.

Today, as I lie naked under the sheets,

Counting the bruises on my body,

I wonder, ‘What’s the use?’

Tomorrow there’s going to be more.

My body hurts, hurts in every possible way,

My shoulder, where he had kept his hand to hold me down,

And my right side, where he had kicked me to the ground.

The door snaps shut as he leaves,

Oh, a little peace.

To sleep without the fear of the next assault.

But, he would be back

Back too soon.

Swaying, ever so lightly with cigarette breath,

I wish he fell but he never did.

Instead I heard myself scream as he clutched my hair,

Wanting to escape, but too afraid to,

Because what if I fail?

43 thoughts on “Silent Screams”

  5. The good part is….It’s so easy to understand for every person. Even the pain of the girl is visible. But I wish you had the same depth of words as you always had in your last few blogs. That’s missing….. your words take us deep into thoughts which make us imagine and feel the as the person in it.
    Please do not loose that.

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  9. It’s nice to have a reading on a social issue. One of the many issues in India, it still continues to be prevalent. Only the one who went through such a situation would know how much of a terrifying experience it is. Hope to see more of your content. High Five 🖐️!

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  12. Well narated bolg on girls present situation. Really we need to look into the concerns & do something on our personal level. Keep it up!! Keep spreading good thoughts & vibes.

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  28. You have covered a very sensitive issue which created social unrest amongst the new generation guys specially girls. You alerted the society of the most cruel step taken by the culprits. Very well written which is easily understandable and it will create an impact in the mind of the reader, which is fundamental of writing. Keep it up!!

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  31. Really the pain and sufferings of the girl is intolerable. Let’s work together to demolish the bad things which spoils the life of the girls and encourage them to live in society with love and respect.
    You have highlighted clearly in the story.
    Congrats.

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