Her name was Nanda. She’d come to Gujarat to be with her family after her in-laws abused her violently and she could take it no more. Even though she had expected her family to support her at her time of need, fate had other plans. Nanda’s return to her poverty stricken family only meant one thing- an extra mouth to feed. It was true that nanda was young enough to work. But she was four months pregnant, which made it difficult to be of much help. Still, her family forced her to work until the time it became physically impossible for her. At first they started verbally abusing her. But soon they resorted to beatings.  It became a usual occurrence for nanda.

But today was different. They were on the streets and her mother began to hit her like a woman possessed. Nanda fled for her life, with her mother close on her trail. Without thinking or looking, nanda ran into the busy street and was met with a barrage of screeching brakes…

His name was Anshul. A dedicated student of law, a basketball freak and a talented guitarist- he was the perfect candidate for the next PEPSI Youngistan commercial. It was almost evening when anshul took his bike and sped off to the basketball court to meet his friend. All of a sudden he had to slam on his brakes to avoid colliding into the car in front of him which had stopped unexpectedly. He craned his neck to see what had caused the traffic jam and saw a middle aged woman and a few men beating up a young girl. He simply glanced at the scene and made his way through the traffic, without giving it much thought. But suddenly something inside him tugged at his heart and his conscience, telling him that what he was doing was wrong.

And he immediately took a U-turn.

When he reached the scene of commotion, the girl was still being beaten up and a crowd of onlookers had gathered around them. Without losing any time, anshul got off his bike, made his way towards the group and stood in between the girl and her assaulters. The girl was Nanda, and she was crying uncontrollably.

Following Anshul’s lead, a security guard, along with a few other people gathered around to stop the onslaught. By then, anshul had asked nanda what the matter was and she’d told him the whole story.

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