To begin the story, read Sanjeevani - Humble Beginnings

Sanjeevani was in school. School life was easy for the focused kid. She had a determination about her that was unnerving. There was talk in the neighborhood, about the ‘Sanjeevani’ brand. Elders adored her and wanted their children to be like her. There was also a certain coldness of heart about her; while others found an extremely sensitive and empathetic spirit in her. She was a conglomeration of paradoxes.

Grandfather once called her to his study and showed her a chapter in an encyclopedia. The remarkable story of Amelia Earhart, the lady aviator, the first woman to complete a trans-atlantic flight. Amelia, the freckled smiling girl, with tousled hair and wearing long mannish trousers. “Make her your role model, child. Fly high! There should be an Amelia in every girl child, dear! Our family is always there for you.” She had hugged Grandfather then.

While other youngsters got frazzled about exams and home assignments, Sanjeevani was cool about school issues. Preeta had obesity problems since childhood; Suniti had congenital asthma. Then there were the plump Martin twins and Yukta, who had some feminine issues at a very young age. Sanjeevani was exempt from all these ailments. Like a slender reed, vivacious and energetic, she knew not pain. It was as if she had paid her dues in full, in her infant years.

Little surprise then, that jealousy was rampant amongst her peers. They tried to attribute their shortcomings to her indirect influence. “Well, Sanjeevani told me if I tried this, it would work…..!”; “Ask Sanjeevani! She is the pet of you old people!” ; “Even Sanju got only 85% so my 77% is not too bad, Mom!” The whining never stopped. Anita stole a five-colored pen from the Lele boys next door and made it look like Sanjeevani was the culprit, by planting the evidence in her house. Unaffected by these petty incidents around her, Sanju never looked back.

There were the lads, who were quick to spot a crony when they saw one. Sanju was invited to cricket matches in the neighborhood, carrom and card games, bicycling and tramping expeditions. Some boys made fun of the baby-doll types, but Sanju was a comrade for them. Sometimes, she would try to correct the boys but gave that up soon. The boys were right in their observations. She liked to think of the boys as her equal, in the eyes of people. How wrong she was.

Sanju was in college, when that troublesome issue surfaced in all it’s ugliness. College campus was haunted by Ricky, a twenty-something guy who had never made it to graduate level but somehow still had an affinity for the college halls. Ricky, who looked like a character straight out of a Hindi movie, a loafer.

Ricky started accosting her in the corridors and library. “I want you to go out with me – for a movie or at the restaurant!” It was not a request, rather more of a demand. Sanju, not used to such bullying habits, looked at him as if he was an idiot and walked away to class.

It was exam-time. Sanju was waiting outside the classroom, with the other students, chatting with Vinay about some theoretical concepts. Ricky and his toady gang showed up around the corner. Ricky had a card in his hand. Sanju wondered what his intentions were. The bell rang and the students were admitted into the classroom to take their seats for the examination. Ricky waited for the invigilator to leave the room to get the stationery and exam-sheets and then he walked in, the gang close behind him.

Taking a seat opposite Sanju’s, he held the card before her. “To my dearest Sanju! I love you and want you to be mine. Please meet me outside the classroom after the exams!” Ricky was almost seven years her senior, with his lewd, bawdy looks. There was nothing boyish, decent or propitious about him. She looked at the card and threw it on the floor. A dangerous gleam in Ricky’s eyes as he threatened, “if you do not agree to this, I will have to take extreme measures!”

“Just try doing so!” she challenged him, calmly.

Before he could say anything more, the supervisor arrived and asked him to leave the room. For the first time in her life, Sanju was worried sick about matters and had a hard time focusing on the exam-paper. Usually she would submit the completed paper half an hour ahead of closing time and walk out but that day she was not finding it hard to concentrate. Her head throbbed and she could feel the adrenaline in her system as she thought about Ricky and his rowdy gang.

After the class was let go, she took her bag and walked outside, fearful that Ricky would still be there. She was still thinking about the exam paper – she had realized that she had goofed up one problem in her anxiety about Ricky and his damned bullying. As Sanju, Vinita and Archana walked to the railway platform to take the train home, they did not notice Ricky a few yards behind them.

“Sanju? You have not answered my question yet and you do not know how bad the consequences would be!”

Ricky was too close by now and looked at her in a menacing way.

The train arrived just in time, and Sanju and her friends got into the ladies compartment. Safe for the moment, but Sanju felt vulnerable and sick for the first time in her life.

Ricky trouble started manifesting itself in her academic performance and college attendance. She would skip the afternoon classes when Ricky would mostly be loitering on the campus. Finally, one day she could take it no longer, when Mr. Ghaisas, her favorite math professor asked her if anything was wrong.

Out came all the details and she felt miserable and cowardly while telling him all that.

“Oh, Ricky! The guy is a loser and has been warned several times to not show up on the campus. Many girls have complained about him. He even tried entering the ladies room once, to pursue a girl. Why don’t you spend your spare time in the ladies room, like the other girls until I bring up this matter with the head? He is known to be dangerous.”

Yeah, right! So there she was, in the ladies sitting room, along with older, tired-looking girls and women who would take refuge of that room. Some were clad in burqas; others spent their time there because they were too shy to walk about on campus and now there was Sanju, hiding there like a mouse from the college bully, while the boys roamed about outside, claiming the beautiful college grounds as their own.

This would not do! The ‘LR’ was a suffocating, claustrophobic place and not for Sanju! Luckily for her, the next time Ricky came by to pester her, Mr. Ghaisas showed up as if by premonition and rebuked Ricky with quite strong words. The whole incident was terribly embarrassing for Sanju. Never had she had to rely on someone else for protection from a bully.

Sanju learnt a new painful lesson from all this. Girls and boys were not alike. There was no ‘gents room’ like the ‘Ladies room’, in college. Girls were meant to be quiet, timid and inconspicuous in college, trying to stay out of trouble. No girl ever troubled a boy or threatened to pursue him or humiliate him for not reciprocating her desires. The head, principal and other leads of the college were not afraid of girls.