Salim and Kayal #Watty's 2016 # YourStoryIndia #ProjectWomanUp

First fight and making up

Kayal's POV

As soon as we reached home I closed our door. My Amma (Mother) was waiting for us. When she saw that we returned safely, she went to sleep. I thought of saying everything else to her in the morning because she was extremely tired. I first yelled at Vidhu, "Vidhu, that is no way to talk to a stranger. How can you use swear words like that? What happened to you?"

"Life happened to me. Now you tell me who is that guy? What right does he have to yell at me?"

"Vidhu, he is Salim Ali. He is my classmate from Delhi. Feroz bro zoned him. So he is talking to Feroz as well. By nature he is a super over protective person. Today while leaving one of my friends in our WhatsApp group had asked me about my birthday plan. I told her that I am leaving with you people to Napier Bridge. He must have read that message and worried for my safety. That is why he must have come. Don't you think we would have done the same thing to Reshma, if she tells us that she wants to go alone in the night? Even if she insists that she wants to go alone, you and I will definitely sneak and follow her because both of us are over protective about people we care for."

"A woman caring for another woman is different from a man caring for a woman. If a man cares for a woman, it means he wants her to know he is the one capable of caring and she isn't capable to take care of herself. It is a subtle way of domination. "

"Vidhu, you are judging without knowing him. It's not fair."

"It is fair Kayal. Doesn't he know 'Siraikaakkum Kaappevan Seyyum Makalir
Niraikaakkum Kaappe Thalai' (To dominate a woman who knows to take care of herself and lives with good principles is ignorance)."

"Thiruvalluvar said that. Prophet (PBUH) didn't say that."

"What?"

"Vidhu, you are quoting Thirukkural. If at all Prophet (PBUH) had said that he would have definitely followed that. Salim is a religious guy and he practices only what his religion preaches him. "

Reshma threw a pillow at me. "Islam respects women. It holds women in high positions. It says Jannah is in the feet of a mother."

Vidhu said, "What if a woman can't get pregnant?"

I yelled at Vidhu, "Vidhu, you are diverting from the topic. You can't blame a guy for following his religious principles. His religion, his society everything has taught him to protect women. Just because we don't follow religion doesn't mean that we have any right to judge religious people."

"Why are you supporting him and not me? Tell me."

"That is because I feel guilty that he had to listen all those dirty words from you because of me. Once I was talking about something and out of nowhere I confessed my insecurities to him. I told him about that Gujarat incident. I think he is trying to be over protective about me after that."

"You and Nisha didn't tell us about that incident till we threatened to complaint to our parents. How did you end up telling it to him? You knew him for few months only."

"I actually have no idea how I ended up telling him that. We were speaking about sexual harassment that's when I told him about that incident and confessed that I always feel insecure. I thought he wouldn't judge me."

"Kayal, he judged you as a coward. That's why he is stalking you."

I was feeling bad for myself. That's when Reshma got a call from Feroz asking whether we have reached safely. When Reshma told him about Salim, he had told her about their phone conversation. When Reshma told me about it, I was angry at my own self. Salim didn't deserve it.