Yamanoor Srihari
2004-02-24 03:23:55 UTC
There are pressures but Ill fight till end
Monday February 23 2004 13:26 IST
MUMBAI: She walks in panting. Fifteen minutes is all she has to spare before she can take the train back home.
Dressed elegantly in a grey and white floral chiffon saree, and sporting a large red bindi, 44-year-old Ashwini Rane (name changed) is outwardly calm. Behind the poise, though, she is dealing with what every woman would call a nightmare.
Rane, an employee of the National Aluminium Company Limited for the past 15 years, recently alleged that its Chairman and Managing Director C Venkataramana had subjected her to sexual harassment.
The incident reportedly occurred in early February at a suburban hotel, when Rane had gone to meet the visiting CMD with her immediate boss from the Mumbai office in Worli.
Rane became one of the scores of women who suffer from sexual harassment at the workplace but she chose not to grin and bear it. Instead, she filed an FIR and has vowed to fight till the end.
It took me two days to decide to go to the police, she says, sipping a chilled lassi. The rush-hour crowd walks in and out of the Dadar restaurant before the last taxing train journey of the week but nothing distracts Rane from whats on her mind.
These are big people I am dealing with. The pressures are mounting. They can go to any extent, she whispers. But now that I have taken this step I will go until the very end. Im ready to face the consequences.Fortunately for Rane, the consequences dont include friends and her middle-class Thane-based family turning hostile or co-workers pointing fingers at her. My mother-in-law, in fact, patted me on my back for going to the police, Rane says.
Her mother-in-law had seen a similar incident in television serial just days before her own daughter-in-law experienced it. In that serial, the victims mother-in-law had encouraged her to fight back. That inspired my mother-in-law and she said if I had kept shut many other women would have fallen prey to such advances, Rane smiles. That felt good.
At work, there is a certain discomfort in the air but her colleagues havent distanced themselves from her. Some of my male colleagues even came up to me and told me that I had done the right thing by going to the police, Rane beams.
This mother of two has even shared her trauma with her school-going daughter. She just looked at me and said Im proud of you mama, the visibly touched mother reveals.
Life has changed, Rane admits. The lows are frequent but her husband helps her out of them. She has continued to go to work because the incident hasnt altered her commitment towards her work and the company.
Today the culprits are trying to defame me saying I was desperate for a promotion. But I know the truth and the truth is with me, Rane says, her voice quivering. I dont care about what people say. Those who are close to me admire my fighting spirit. Sirf tu hi yeh kar sakti hai (only you can do this) they tell me. What am I paying for? Being a woman? Its 6.09 pm, a little over the 15 minutes she had agreed to. Okay then? I hope Ive answered all your questions. I have to catch the 6.12 train back home, she says and breezes out of the restaurant. Leaving behind a strong impression.
La vie..
http://www.stanford.edu/~yamanoor
http://yamanoor.tblog.com
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want.
Monday February 23 2004 13:26 IST
MUMBAI: She walks in panting. Fifteen minutes is all she has to spare before she can take the train back home.
Dressed elegantly in a grey and white floral chiffon saree, and sporting a large red bindi, 44-year-old Ashwini Rane (name changed) is outwardly calm. Behind the poise, though, she is dealing with what every woman would call a nightmare.
Rane, an employee of the National Aluminium Company Limited for the past 15 years, recently alleged that its Chairman and Managing Director C Venkataramana had subjected her to sexual harassment.
The incident reportedly occurred in early February at a suburban hotel, when Rane had gone to meet the visiting CMD with her immediate boss from the Mumbai office in Worli.
Rane became one of the scores of women who suffer from sexual harassment at the workplace but she chose not to grin and bear it. Instead, she filed an FIR and has vowed to fight till the end.
It took me two days to decide to go to the police, she says, sipping a chilled lassi. The rush-hour crowd walks in and out of the Dadar restaurant before the last taxing train journey of the week but nothing distracts Rane from whats on her mind.
These are big people I am dealing with. The pressures are mounting. They can go to any extent, she whispers. But now that I have taken this step I will go until the very end. Im ready to face the consequences.Fortunately for Rane, the consequences dont include friends and her middle-class Thane-based family turning hostile or co-workers pointing fingers at her. My mother-in-law, in fact, patted me on my back for going to the police, Rane says.
Her mother-in-law had seen a similar incident in television serial just days before her own daughter-in-law experienced it. In that serial, the victims mother-in-law had encouraged her to fight back. That inspired my mother-in-law and she said if I had kept shut many other women would have fallen prey to such advances, Rane smiles. That felt good.
At work, there is a certain discomfort in the air but her colleagues havent distanced themselves from her. Some of my male colleagues even came up to me and told me that I had done the right thing by going to the police, Rane beams.
This mother of two has even shared her trauma with her school-going daughter. She just looked at me and said Im proud of you mama, the visibly touched mother reveals.
Life has changed, Rane admits. The lows are frequent but her husband helps her out of them. She has continued to go to work because the incident hasnt altered her commitment towards her work and the company.
Today the culprits are trying to defame me saying I was desperate for a promotion. But I know the truth and the truth is with me, Rane says, her voice quivering. I dont care about what people say. Those who are close to me admire my fighting spirit. Sirf tu hi yeh kar sakti hai (only you can do this) they tell me. What am I paying for? Being a woman? Its 6.09 pm, a little over the 15 minutes she had agreed to. Okay then? I hope Ive answered all your questions. I have to catch the 6.12 train back home, she says and breezes out of the restaurant. Leaving behind a strong impression.
La vie..
http://www.stanford.edu/~yamanoor
http://yamanoor.tblog.com
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want.