Heer was born in a land where daughters were considered a curse. They were either throttled in the womb or stifled to death if they dared to be born.
However, Heer’s ray of hope was her father, Mahender Singh. Belonging to the farming caste of Haryana, Mahender was a strapping tall Jat who was a lively and happy person. He believed that life was not to be wasted in mean thoughts and small acts of depravity. He had a large heart and a just mind. Unlike most men of his clan, Mahender believed life gives the same opportunities to both men and women and it is upon the individual how he or she uses it. When Heer was born, everybody consoled him for his misfortune. However, he had held her up in his hands and smiled. Apparently, Heer had smiled back too. “That is when we knew what the other wanted” her father would say smiling indulgently at her.
When Heer was 12, Mithi was born. It was a difficult birth which drained their mother of all her strength. She remained weak and could hardly get out of bed. It was Mahender and Heer who ran the household, tended to the newborn and looked after the farm lands.
Their mother died when Mithi was only 2. By that time Heer had grown into an adept householder. She ran the house, managed her studies and looked after her sister with equal expertise.
Heer’s family were traditional farmers who had large farmlands under them. Harsimrat, her father’s elder sister, was married and lived in a different village. She seldom came to visit them and Heer’s father never spoke about her. There was a silent animosity between the siblings as Heer’s father being the only son had received a larger share of the lands which had somehow not gone down too well with his sister’s husband. He would often instigate his wife to demand an equal share of the land if not larger, from her brother. Her aunt would then come down to meet her father and heated arguments would follow between the two.
Two months after her mother passed away, Heer came back from school to find his aunt seated on the charpoy in their courtyard. She was a tall buxom lady and was always heavily decked in gold and expensive clothes. She was married into a family which had a flourishing real estate business and she loved flaunting wealth. Her two sons, Rannvijay and Jagvijay were seated next to her. They looked gawky and odd, clothed in ill-fitting Patiala suits that were much larger than their thin wilted frame. They were not as big built as their mother.
She walked up to stand next to her father.
“Is that your elder one, Mahender?” asked Harsimrat looking at her condescendingly. “Taken after her mother it seems. The same pale look and lanky frame.”
Heer had always thought her mother was a rare beauty. Tall, fair and slim with beautiful almond shaped eyes set in a heart shaped face, a sharp nose and a perfectly shaped mouth, Simran was indeed pretty. Her father would often tell her she had got her mother’s looks and his stubbornness.
“Go inside Heer” said her father grimly.
Heer went inside to find Mithi playing by herself in the house. She picked up her sister and moved towards the kitchen to warm some milk for herself and Mithi. As she lit the stove, she could hear snatches of their conversation. She picked up her ears when she heard her name mentioned.
“So, what do you think brother” her aunt was saying “Do you agree to this proposal for Heer?”
“No” said her father sternly.
“Why? You think you are going to get anything better than this for that daughter of yours?” her aunt said jeeringly.
Her tone stung Heer. Her heart grew cold as she realised her aunt had got a marriage proposal. She had seen her friends dropping off from school and being married off. The thought scared her. She hoped her father would not budge from his decision. She moved closer to the door.
“Don’t I know why you have brought this proposal? It is not for my daughter but for yourself” her father raised his voice.
“What do you mean?” asked Harsimrat narrowing her eyes.
“You want to get my daughter married to that good-for-nothing nephew of yours because that will help you get more reason to claim a larger share of the property. Isn’t that so?” said Mahender.
“Even if I do what is wrong with that. You will anyway give your son-in-law your share of the property, won’t you?”
“I will give whatever I have to my daughter not my son-in-law no matter who that is?” said Mahender stiffly.
“Whoever heard of such a bizarre thing?” asked Harsimrat raising her eyebrows in surprise “What do you mean give your daughter? Does she have the brains to handle property? That is the job of a man.”
“I don’t think so. In any case, I am not interested in getting my daughter married so early” said Mahender with an air of finality.
“Early?” asked Harsimrat shocked “When I was her age, I was already carrying Jaggu here” she said slapping her elder son Jagvijay on the back who almost toppled over at the force of the slap.
Mahender remained silent.
Harsimrat stared at her brother for some time before she realised that it was not going to work.
“Listen Mahender, your property is going to come to me some day. It belongs to my sons and nobody is going to stop me snatching it from you. If you agree to what I say it will be for your good, If not then I know of ways to do it.”
“You cannot lay a finger on my lands, Didi. Till my last breath I will fight for my rights no matter what you do.”
“What after that Brother? Who will stop me from getting to your lands?” said Harsimrat looking at him with an evil sneer. Heer shivered as a chill entered her bones at her aunt’s tone. She wondered what she meant by that. She felt scared for her father.
“My daughters will. I will ensure they know how to fight for their true rights and protect what is theirs” said Mahender firmly.
“Your daughters?” said Harsimrat as she broke into a vicious laughter and her sons sniggered. “Those weaklings? Whoever heard of a woman fighting for her rights? You are seriously losing your mind now brother. Your wife is no more and you do not intend to remarry. So that leaves you without any hopes of having a son any more. I am giving you the last chance to get a son-in-law and all you talk of is turning over your property to a pair of useless minor girls.”
“My daughters are my pride, Didi” said Mahender standing up and looking at her with his arms folded across his chest. “Anyone who insults them are not welcome in my house, not even you.”
“Is that so?” said Harsimrat fuming as she stood up and glared at her brother. “We’ll see about that then.” She said as she stormed out of the house with her sons in tow and got into the waiting SUV slamming the door loudly behind her. Heer rushed out to throw her hands around her father’s waist. She was still shivering as her father wrapped his hands around her reassuringly.
Harsimrat sat fuming as the car sped though the narrow road that snaked ahead bordered with sugarcane and wheat fields on either side. Her brows drawn together in an angry scowl as she reiterated her brother’s last words.
“How dare he”, she thought “How dare he insult me for those puny daughters of his.”
Her evil mind searched for a way to teach her brother a lesson. Her involvement in her husband’s real estate business had helped her forge deep and useful bonds with several criminals. She could easily ask one of them to finish him off. But that would not help to cool the insult that rankled inside her at his words. She wanted to keep him alive and yet finish him off in more ways than one. He must be made to feel her power and must bow down before her forever.
Her lips curled up in a vicious smirk as she realised what she should do. She picked up her phone and punched the number she wanted with her small pudgy fingers. As the voice she wanted to hear answered her call, Harsimrat barked out her instructions and listened to make sure her requirements were properly understood. She disconnected the call and sighed satisfactorily wishing Mahender had not forced her to bring on this misfortune in his life.
Heer was excited. She had been waiting for this day for a long time. Her results were out and her father had promised he would get her a new bicycle if she did well. She stood first in class as always. Her father said they would go out once he was back from the fields. She put on her favourite pink Kurta and draped the dupatta. She looked at herself in the mirror and was happy at what she saw. She got the dinner ready and waited patiently for him.
True to his promise, Mahender arrived on time and looked appreciatively at his daughter. He could always see a reflection of her mother in her and it seemed to become more prominent as she grew older.
The three of them started off for the market. The local village was teeming with people. The shopkeepers were busy attending to customers. Mahender left her at the cycle shop asking her to choose from the models on display as he moved to the next shop to buy some fertilisers for his farm. Mithi was riding on his shoulders happily sucking on an ice lolly.
Ali, the cycle shop owner, knew Heer since she was a toddler when she came with her father to his store. He liked the bright intelligent girl and was happy to hear that she stood first in class. He showed her the newest models that had recently been released. Heer was busy admiring its bright red body that was sparkling in the shop lights and perhaps did not notice the two boys on a motorbike who stood looking at her from the other side of the road. She got up on the cycle and still did not notice when they started approaching her. It was only when she felt the fiery liquid splash across her face that Heer screamed out in agony and fell on the floor writhing in pain. The liquid fire trickled down her face scorching and peeling her skin. Her cries of pain rent the air. The crowd stood looking at her aghast too stunned to react. Ali was the first to rush over and lifted her up in his arms. By the time Mahender reached her, Heer’s skin had started to melt. Her face was just a blob of flesh, scorched, bloody and pulpy.
He howled in desperation to see his daughter in that state. Mithi started crying too seeing her sister. Ali told him to rush to the hospital without further delay. The local village hospital, refused to admit her stating that it was a police case and they would have to lodge an FIR first. Mahender pleaded with them and begged them to admit his daughter but they refused to budge. Heer was shrieking and writhing in pain. He could do nothing to alleviate her suffering. Ali who had accompanied him, suggested that they move to the nearest city hospital without further delay.
It took them 2 hours to reach the city hospital in Sonipat. Heer had become listless by then. She could only emit a deep groaning sound which heightened Mahender’s anguish further. The doctors took one look at her and admitted her immediately. They put on the Saline and injected antibiotics. She was admitted into the burns department and Mahender was asked to wait outside.
Both Ali and Mahender waited. He had left Mithi with Ali’s wife as there was no one else to take care of her. However, he could think of nobody but Heer. All he could think of was whether his daughter would survive this ordeal.
It was around 3 am in the morning when Mahender felt a hand touch his shoulder. He looked up to see a young girl dressed in a doctor’s coat looking at him.
“Are you Heer’s father?” she asked him. She appeared to be in her mid-twenties and had a kind look in her eyes.
Mahender nodded and got up hurriedly.
“Come with me please” said the doctor.
Mahender and Ali followed her as she led them into the Burns Ward. Their hearts were beating loudly as they wondered would she give them good news or bad.
She led them to a doctor’s chamber and asked them to sit down as she sat facing them.
“I am Dr.Sonia Singh and I am attending Heer” she said introducing herself.
“How is she?” asked Mahender not being able to hold the tension anymore.
“Look Mr.Singh, Heer has had an acid attack” she told him gently.
Mahender’s face paled as he felt the blood drain out of him. He asked the only question he could think “Is she alive?”
Sonia sighed as she said “She is alive physically but emotionally and mentally she is terribly traumatised and it is difficult to say how or when she will be able to come out of it, if at all she can.”
“What do you mean?” asked Mahender not being able to understand.
“Mr.Singh, Heer’s face is gone. We have had to operate on her face to give it some sort of a human form. One of her ears are burnt so she will be partially deaf. Fortunately, her eyes are saved probably because she had instinctively put up her hands to save them. Unfortunately, her hands took the brunt and are badly burnt too. They must have used a lot of it as the acid had trickled down her throat burning her skin there too. Luckily, I don’t think it has done any serious internal damage. I am telling you all this because you need to be prepared for what you see. She is no longer the girl you knew once. She has changed drastically, both physically, and emotionally.”
“NO” said Mahender as he slumped back in his chair with shock.
“Mr. Singh” said Sonia gently “I know it is difficult for you as a father to accept all this. We only wish you could have brought her here a bit earlier so that we could have minimised the damage.”
“Can we see her?” he asked his voice almost a half-whisper.
“Yes, you can but you have to be very strong. She should not be able to see your shock or else she will find it even more difficult to cope with her trauma. Mental support from close family is very critical for such patients. She needs to feel accepted. Do you understand?”
“Yes” said Mahender too shocked to fully comprehend what Sonia was telling him.
She looked at him closely before she got up “Come with me then. This way please.”
Mahender and Ali followed her as she led them through a long corridor lined with rooms on either side. Dr.Singh stopped before a room and looked at them carefully with her hand on the knob.
“She has been given a sedative and is sleeping. When she wakes up, she will ask you a lot of question, you will have to be careful of what you say. I hope you understand that. This is for the benefit of your daughter.”
“Yes” said Mahender. They followed Sonia as she entered the room. It was dimly lit and at one corner there was a bed. As they approached, Mahender could make out the slim form of his daughter as she lay limply on the bed. Her face and hands were heavily bandaged. There was a gap left in her face to allow her to see.
Mahender peered closely and relaxed as he heard her laboured breathing. Heer was indeed alive. Then things could not be as bad then.
“Doctor” he said as he found Sonia leaving them “Thank you for everything.”
Sonia shrugged as she pursed her lips “Mine was the easier part. You will not be so lucky.” As she closed the door behind her, Mahender and Ali looked at each other wondering what she meant by that.
It was a week later that they realised what she had meant. They were supposed to take Heer home that day. Before that, Dr.Singh had asked Mahender to remove all mirrors from his house. He was surprised why she said that. He knew why, when they were standing before Heer as they took off her bandage and Ali clutched at his hand in shock. Mahender stood stoic before her, his smiled frozen on his lips. Heer looked at him innocently as she asked, “You could have got Mithi too? I missed her so much.”
Mahender nodded stonily. He saw the disfigured face before him and cried out loudly in his mind “God give me courage!”
When they took her home, they covered her face with a dupatta telling her that the doctor has said so as her wounds are still not healed properly.
Ali left them at their doorstep. Mithi was still at his house and said he would get her. Mahender led Heer into the house and led her to her room. He asked her to take some rest while he made her some lassi.
He was in the kitchen when a shriek and a sound of glass crashing made him realise he had forgotten to remove the small oval mirror in the bathroom.
He rushed over to find Heer sprawled on the floor flaying her hands and tearing at her hair. Mahender was almost in tears as he wrapped his daughter in his arms and rocked her slowly to calm her down. Once she was calm, he carried her to the bed and laid her down carefully and sat beside her stroking her hair carefully.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” asked Heer sobbing miserably.
“Tell you what Heer?” asked Mahender
“What you saw when they opened my bandage?” said Heer sobbing more loudly now.
“What do you think I saw?” asked Mahender.
Heer simply hid her face further inside her pillow as she wept loudly. Every sob lashed at Mahender’s heart making him bleed within. Yet he did not let Heer feel his torment as he continued pacifying her.
“I will tell you what I saw.” He said “I saw a girl who dreams of touching the sky one day, a girl who has never learnt to give up, whose heart is filled with love, and who can smile despite everything.”
“You are lying!” said Heer as she turned away from him and a fresh bout of tears drenched the pillow “There is no such girl!”
“There is and she is here right before me” said Mahender “Heer, did I not teach you that beauty is not about how we look but rather how we feel about ourselves? It is the person that we are that makes us beautiful or ugly.”
Heer looked at him with her tear stained eyes “What will I do with my life, Bapu?”
“You will do what you have always wanted to do Heer. Why should what happened, change any of that?”
“I can’t. I can’t bapu” wailed Heer. Her young body heaved up and down with violent sobs.
“You can and you will” said Mahender “For me, for Mithi. You will have to do it.”
“NO” said Heer suddenly “Don’t let Mithi see me. She will not be able to take it”
“Leave that to me Heer” said Mahender “I will take care of Mitthi.”
The subsequent days proved even more difficult for them. Heer refused to go out of the house she came back crying saying that people stared at her and pointed at her face whispering things about her to each other. At home, Mithi would howl whenever Heer appeared before her.
One day when, Heer came home crying from school telling him that the school children had thrown stones at her shouting names and laughing, Mahender knew he had to do something.
The next morning, he took Heer with him and boarded a bus to Sonepat. Once there, he headed for the nearest martial arts class that he had looked up in the local newspapers. He enrolled her for the Taekwondo class. He had heard it helps to build self-confidence and hoped it would help to improve the situation for Heer.
The classes were held three days a week. He would take her there himself and would sit through the sessions along with Mithhi who had started getting used to Heer and did not cry as much as before when she saw her. That was at least one positive change.
Mahender noticed that Heer was beginning to enjoy the classes but there was still that listlessness about her which he could not drive away completely. There was something eroding her from within and he felt helpless because he could not reach out to her enough to drive that away.
On one of his trips to Sonepat, he met Dr.Sonia Singh. She looked pleasantly surprised to see him and enquired about Heer. Mahender told her about the progress they had made.
“But Doctor, she always keeps to herself. I just hope she does not give up this battle.”
“Why don’t you bring her to the hospital once Mr.Singh” she suggested “Maybe I can show her something that will help”
The next day, after her martial arts class, Mahender took Heer to meet Dr.Singh at the hospital. She met them at the reception and asked them to follow her as she took them to the pediatric ward. Mahender and Heer were amazed to see bed after bed lined with children with diseases. Some had their legs amputated while some had blood transfusions running. Some even had serious diseases like kidney infections and had come there for dialysis. Yet, there was one thing common in them, they all had a smile to greet Dr. Sonia with. They all had dreams and despite their incapacities were determined to achieve what their heart was set on.
“You see Heer” said Dr.Sonia after the round was done “You are not alone in this world. There are millions who share a fate similar or worse than you. So, all you have to do is to keep the courage alive in you. Like they do.”
That night, as Heer lay on her bed thinking of all that she had seen and heard that day, the sound of voices made her look around. She sat up in bed and peered out of her window. It was pitch dark outside which was why it made it easier for her to see the torch lights as tiny yellow blobs flashing in the inky blackness. The lights came from the direction of their fields and so did the voices. She decided to go and find out. Seeing her father sound asleep Heer decided to go alone and come back to wake him up only if required. She crept out of the house silently and moved towards their fields. As she approached the fields, she did not want whoever it was to see her and hence crept closer into the shadows.
As she did so, she recognized the familiar profile of her cousins, Jagvijay and Rannvijay talking to two other people. They all had burning torches in their hands and from what she could make out, it appeared that they were planning to put fields on fire. All her father’s hardwork would be scorched to ashes in one night if that happened and Heer would never allow that. There was no time to go back and warn her father. Whatever had to be done, Heer would have to do herself.
She came up with an idea. She loosened her hair quickly and climbed atop a nearby hay pile lying stacked in one corner. She gave one of her most vicious and blood-curdling laughter as she jumped at them. Startled, the men turned around just in time to see her soaring through the air towards them with her hair flying all around her disfigured face as she bared her teeth at them, scared the life out of the goons whom her cousins had hired. The vision scared them and they dropped their torches and fled.
“Hey wait” shouted Rannvijay as he watched the men run for their lives. He turned to look at Heer furiously.
“You witch” he snarled at her “One lesson wasn’t enough for you. Wait till I…” before he could finish his sentence, he doubled up in pain as a sharp and vicious kick landed in his groin crushing his balls. Heer stood over him watching as he grovelled at her feet whimpering in pain.
Jagvijay, who was hiding in the bushes, now flew at her. Heer moved swiftly and caught him near the throat with her thumb and forefinger. She throttled him with the impact and he crumbled to the ground next to his brother. Heer looked at them coolly and realised they would not bother them anymore for the night. She doused the torches into the water stored in the open basins that her father kept in the fields and left. She slipped in checking to see if her father had woken up. She smiled to herself as she thought of what she had just done.
The next morning a commotion at their door woke her up. She came out to see Harsimrat standing in their courtyard accompanied by a police man. She was rattling off a list of complaints against her father who stood bewildered not knowing what had caused all this.
“Heer, do you know anything about this?” asked her father
“About what Bapu?” she asked innocently.
“That Rannvijay and Jagvijay were found in our fields seriously injured”
“Our fields? Why were they in our fields Bapu” asked Heer with her eyes widened in mock surprise.
“That’s none of your business” said Harsimrat boiling in anger.
“What happens in our fields is definitely our business,” said Heer looking at her aunt her eyes glittering with anger.
“I think she does have a point” said the Inspector “Why were they there in the first place?”
“We can discuss that later” said Harsimrat “Don’t you see this girl is taking her revenge”
“Revenge?” said Heer innocently “For what?”
Harsimrat looked at Heer with venom in her eyes. Knowing her aunt would never be able to answer that, Heer looked away coolly.
“Bapu. I am getting late for school. Ask them to find out why is Bua talking of revenge and what were her sons doing in our fields. Maybe all her questions will be solved.”
Harsimrat muttered something beneath her breath as she stormed out of their house. The inspector followed her looking confused.
“Heer” said her father after they had left “Do you really know nothing about all this?”
Heer stood silently. Her father came up to look at her “You have to promise me that you will never do anything so rash ever again. They have indeed been seriously injured.”
“Why should I promise you anything when you don’t keep your promises” said Heer looking at her father with a mischievous grin.
“Which promise did I not keep?” asked Mahender surprised.
I still don’t have the new bicycle.” She said smiling at him.
Tears filled Mahender’s eyes and his heart filled with pride as he realised his daughter was indeed invincible.
Photo credit: http://images.wellcome.ac.uk/indexplus/obf_images/06/be/c9c466b8dd2eca222a98d0a1e171.jpg
