A tribute to the journey of the survivors, A story on behalf of Reshma, Sonia, Shabbo, Laxmi, Mohini and many more..
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| Our identity—is it the eyes, or the look it wears? Is it those lips, or the smile it wears? To me, it is both, adding meaning to each other, adding meaning to life. Meet Chitrali #acidattackstory #photostory#thewephoenix |
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| A soul, full of life and colours, like a gush of spring all over the meadow. #acidattackstory #photostory#thewephoenix |
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| She spreads her wings to fly high, to catch the sky.#acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix |
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| While she was playing with the wind and her fluttering dupatta; her beauty was sweeping off the feet of her admirers. Heads were turning, desires were mounting….The lover around the corner street was born. “I love her” he said; “ I want her” he felt. #acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix |
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| He was waiting for the beautiful Chitrali, holding a red rose. The rose was as red as her lips, as fresh as her essence. #acidattackstory #photostory#thewephoenix |
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| The proposal didn’t go very well though. She said ‘No’. Irrelevant are the ‘why’s that worked in her mind…but it was a ‘No’. A firm ‘No’. Again a ‘No’. And again and again…. ‘No’ #acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix |
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| The wheel of life keeps on rolling and so was for Chitrali. She got a job! #acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix |
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| She sought blessings from the Almighty as she takes the first step to make her dream come true.#acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix |
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| She borrowed that cotton saree from her mother. It made her feel secured and confident. Neatly making her hair she stepped out #acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix |
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| In the corner of her eyes, she saw him. ‘Oh is it him? Waiting again?’ she frowned. She was wearing the same disapproval, the same disgust of repeated nags in her eyes. #acidattackstory #photostory#thewephoenix |
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| But wait….its not the same look in his eyes! #acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix |
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| And even before she could think of anything, there was a splash! She couldn’t decipher, she couldn’t reason and the concentrated acid was melting away her flesh. Those hands brought her roses and those hands set her life on fire. What remained in between is the shattered pieces of his male ego and ashes of her burnt faith in love. #acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix |
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| Who knew that day she will lose her vision? Who knew from that day the world will appear so clear to her? #acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix |
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| Her defeated burning body was lying there, brutally ignored. #acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix |
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| She didn’t die. He didn’t intend to, either. Because death is absolute but mutilation is forever. In just one splash all color from her life turned pale. #acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix |
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| While she was still struggling to come in terms with her own destiny, society didn’t mind hitting new low each day. If some express their compassion telling how unfortunate their parents are, some others suggested to give her poison and end the pain…once and for all!! #acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix |
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| When life decided to play harsh with her, the only support she had was Family. The healing touch of her Ma was penetrating the layers of burnt skin and heap of ashes over the burnt soul. #acidattackstory#photostory #thewephoenix |
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| He cursed his life for seeing the mutilated face of her ladli. His doting soul fails to gather courage to see her princess like that. #acidattackstory #photostory#thewephoenix |
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| They removed all mirrors from the house; a tiny effort to rescue her from the daily trauma #acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix |
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| But she catches her reflection in the water. It viciously shows her what she has lost. She misses her face, she misses herself. #acidattackstory#photostory #thewephoenix |
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| In the ocean of mankind, kindness was what she didn’t find. She found her all alone in the crowd; walking her way against the tide, hiding her face while facing the world. #acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix |
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| There were hush stories, pitiful glares from the corner of the eyes, some judged her, while some kept on judging her fate. With time the wound in her body was healing while her soul was getting a new burn each day. When pity subsided, it was rejection in their eyes…loud and clear. #acidattackstory#photostory #thewephoenix |
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| She is the same girl with her likes and dislikes and thoughts and dreams…..what changed is just the way she looks. And that made her ‘being’ at stake.#acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix |
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| In each prayer she asked for a path. A path to relieve her from this humiliated life, this painful existence. #acidattackstory #photostory#thewephoenix |
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| Every day she tried to gather and join the pieces of her life and each day she retired tired. The exuberant pain of humiliation was blurring the meaning of life to her. She thought of ending it all.#acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix |
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| After hours of fighting with her own self she accepts defeat and chose not breath the obnoxious air of the earth anymore. #acidattackstory #photostory#thewephoenix |
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| She took her final step to reach her final abode #acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix |
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| But…when man proposes, god disposes. Her destiny was calling her out ---towards a different dawn of thousand splendid suns. Her step fell on a baby, another ‘she’ rejected from the society. The tiny life was tried to be cut at the nip by the evil hands of female infanticide. But destiny plays the best role in making the most far yet complementing ends meet. #acidattackstory#photostory #thewephoenix |
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| She took the new born in her arms and in an instant she felt a current running her spine. The innocence in the eyes of the baby was washing away her painful tears. Holding the bundle of love was rejuvenating her from the deepest core of herself.#acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix |
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| “Ya devi sarvaabhuteshu matri rupena samsthita Namas tasyai namas tasyai namas tasyai namo namaha||” With all her ten hands, Maa durga blessed her with the ultimate power of the universe---the motherhood; the uninhibited power of creation.#acidattackstory #photostory #thewephoenix — withPooja Sarkar. |
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| and she named her Udisha, the first ray of a new dawn has touched her soul and lit the lamp of a new life. She raises above all the ashes and the burnt pieces of her old self. The immense potential of her human soul was pricked with reality harsher than her imaginations and she could already feel the vibration of the new life. #acidattackstory #photostory#thewephoenix |
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| At the burning ghat the fire echoes death, but it drenched her with plenty of living energy. People attain the ultimate ‘mukti’ from life full of agony and pain in the hands of death; yet, she attained it through a birth… a rebirth of herself into a finer one, into a mother. #acidattackstory #photostory#thewephoenix #motherhood #newlife #mukti#manikarnika There are hundreds of Chitrali, living in different parts of the world, fighting their share of war. This story is inspired by & dedicated to the the brave hearts of #SheroesCafe who inspite of facing the harshest reality didn’t succumb to the evilness of the society. The attackers could melt their flesh, but couldn’t burn their wings. Let us all come forward in support of this beautiful souls and provide a big blue sky for them to fly high…very high. TEAM Behind this Photostory... #thewephoenix Concept and Photography Sudeshna Ritu Sarkar & Bijit Kumar Mukherjee Face: Pooja Sarkar Makeup: Debrup Ghosh Sushmita Basu thank-you once again for putting my thoughts in to such beautiful words.. |
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