在印度最贫穷而边远的北部班达地区，有一支由女性组成的义务警队，专门对付腐败官员、家庭暴力，挑战不公平的种姓制度，争取女性权力。她们身穿美丽的粉红色纱丽，成为了充满传奇色彩的“粉红娘子军”。
文字难度：★★☆
Under a 1)scorching summer sun, a swarm of 400 furious women 2)engulfed the 3)scruffy electricity office of Banda district in north India. They were all dressed identically in 4)fluorescent pink 5)saris. For more than a fortnight they and their families had had no electricity, plunged into darkness at dusk and stewed in sweat at dawn. But they had all been sent bills demanding payment for power they had never received.
在夏日炎炎的烈日下，400来个女人怒气冲冲地涌进了印度北部班达地区破旧的电力局办公室里。她们全都穿着亮粉红色的纱丽。在过去的两个多星期里，她们家里一直停电，黄昏时便陷入一片漆黑，凌晨醒来时则满身大汗。但是，她们一直收到索取电费的帐单，为没能用到的电付钱。
There are few places on earth where life is as short and brutal as in Bundelkhand, the 6)desolate region straddling the southern tip of Uttar Pradesh where Banda lies. Farming is the principal livelihood; wages are as little as 60p a day for men and half that for women. Bonded and child labour are 7)rife. Corruption is routine. Its reputation in India is that of a place where people still die of hunger.
在这个地球上，很少有地方的生命比印度的本德尔坎德区更短暂、更残酷了。这个荒凉的地方位于北方邦南端，班达地区就属于这个区域。当地人主要靠农业维持生活；男人的日平均工资仅为60便士，而女人的工资还要减半。债务奴隶和童工在当地非常普遍。腐败早已成为惯常的现象。在印度，这片地方由于人们仍然因饥饿死亡而闻名。
But what has made Bundelkhand infamous is 8)banditry. Scores born out of feudalism and 9)caste violence are settled by bullets. It was here that 10)Phoolan Devi, the Bandit Queen of India, used to lead her gang of robbers in vicious acts of 11)retribution on rich, upper-caste villagers. Products of this cruel environment, the hundreds of pink-12)clad women knew that their electricity supply had been disconnected by corrupt officials to extract bribes from them to get the power switched back on. With no functioning law to fall back on, they knew also that the only way to get a power supply was to take matters into their own hands. Within an hour of their 13)absconding with the key, the electricity was restored.
但是真正让本德尔坎德区臭名昭著的是猖狂的匪盗。由封建主义和种姓制度遗留下的宿怨依然要靠子弹来解决。正是在这里诞生了印度著名的强盗女王璞兰•戴薇，她曾带领匪帮洗劫当地富人和高级种姓的人作为对他们的惩罚。作为这种残酷环境的产物，这些数以百计的穿粉红纱丽的女人们很清楚，腐败的官员故意切断了她们的电力供应，希望以此向她们讹诈贿赂，来换取电力的恢复。她们还知道，由于没有法律可以求助，恢复供电的唯一办法是依靠自己的力量去解决。在她们拿走了电力局的钥匙一小时后，电力恢复了。
It is just one victory in a list of successes achieved by the Gulabi Gang since it formed two years ago. Gulabi means pink, and refers to the electric shade of the uniform worn by the 500-plus members, who 14)hail from Banda’s 15)arid villages. The women have become folk heroes, winning public support for a series of Robin Hood-style operations. Their most daring exploit was to hijack trucks laden with food meant for the poor that was being taken to be sold for profit at the market by corrupt officials.
从粉红帮两年前成立至今，争取恢复电力只是她们取得的许多成就之一。Gulabi是“粉红”的意思，因为它的成员们以亮丽的粉红色纱丽为标志，目前成员数量已经超过了500人，全部都来自于班达地区的贫瘠乡村。她们已经成为了当地的民间英雄，凭借一连串侠盗罗宾汉式的行动赢得了公众的支持。她们最大胆的行动是劫持运载食物的卡车。这些食物原本是用于救济穷人的，却被腐败的当地官员扣押，准备拿到市场上卖掉进而赢利。
The targets of the Gulabi Gang’s 16)vigilantism are corrupt officials and violent husbands. The gang has stopped child marriages, forced police officers to register cases of domestic violence—by slapping them—and got roads built by dragging the official responsible from his desk on to the dust track in question.
粉红帮针对的主要目标是腐败的官员和暴虐的丈夫。她们成功地阻止了多起童婚，还迫使警方将家庭暴力案件记录在案——她们使用的方法是扇耳光——她们还把腐败的官员从办公室拖到泥泞不堪的路上，迫使他答应修路。
The gang is led, and was created by 46-year-old Sampat Devi Pal. When I meet her, she is demonstrating self-defence moves with a stick. “We always carry them but only for protection,” she explains, twisting the weapon high over her head and 17)thwacking it hard against her opponent’s.
粉红帮是由46岁的萨姆帕特•德维•帕尔创办并领导着的。当我见到她时，她正在用棍子演示自卫术。“我们总是随身携带着棍子，但只是为了自卫。”她边解释，边旋转着高举过头顶的棍子，并突然用力地朝对手的武器打去。
The daughter of a shepherd, Pal was put to work on the family’s land while her brothers went to school. Married at 12 to a 20-year-old man from a neighbouring village whom she had never met, she was pregnant by 15. She wanted to be 18)sterilized after having two daughters but her mother-in-law wouldn’t allow it until she had produced a son. Another four children followed. As is common among Hindu families in rural north India, her in-laws wanted Pal to veil her face and remain silent in the presence of male family members, as a sign of respect for authority. “I never did either,” she giggles 19)throatily.
帕尔出身于牧羊人家庭，当她的兄弟们去上学时，她却不得不在地里干活。12岁时，她被嫁给邻村一个20岁的素未谋面的男人。15岁时，她怀孕了。生下两个女儿后她想做绝育手术，可她的婆婆不允许，除非她生下儿子才行。之后，她又生了4个孩子。就像在印度北部乡下的印度教家庭一样，帕尔的婆家人希望她用面纱遮住脸，在男性家庭成员面前保持沉默，以表示对权威的尊敬。“这两样我从来都没有办到过，”帕尔大声笑着说。
It took Pal over a decade to 20)muster the foot soldiers for the gang she now calls her “army”. Travelling from village to village, she 21)amassed hundreds of female fans by belting out her 22)repertoire of protest songs. “I wanted to lift them out of the black hole they’d been pushed into,” Pal says, like a true 23)orator. Only 20% of women in Bundelkhand’s villages can write their name and most are child brides. “I realised that without education, women are steeped in superstitious beliefs.” Eventually, hundreds of women were turning out to hear Pal. They also brought their problems: land grabbing by powerful 24)thugs that left whole families homeless; their violent husbands’ alcoholism and drug abuse; how officials demanded bribes even for payment of a widow’s pension.
帕尔花了10多年的时间才召集到她的粉红帮成员，如今她将她们称之为她的“军队”。她走村串巷，对女人们大声演唱她的抗议歌曲，赢得了成百上千女性的支持。“她们一出生就被推进了深渊，我希望能把她们从那黑洞里拉出来，”帕尔说，口气就像是一位真正的演说家。在本德尔坎德区的农村，只有20%的女人会写自己的名字，大多数很小就被逼嫁人。“我意识到，正因为缺乏教育，才使女性专注于迷信的信仰中。”最终，几百名女性被帕尔说服，转而支持她的行动。她们也提出了自己的问题：有权有势的暴徒抢夺她们的土地，使得全家人无家可归；她们粗暴的丈夫酗酒和滥用药物；政府官员索要贿赂，甚至连支付寡妇的养老金时都不例外。
“I realised that if I could have this kind of control over women then I could get them out of the clutches of their husbands,” Pal says, narrowing her eyes. There is not the faintest hint of a smile on her lips.
“我意识到，既然我能够带领这么多女人，我也能把她们从丈夫的控制下解救出来，”帕尔眯着眼睛说道，嘴角不带一丝笑意。
Pal is difficult company. Those not showing her the utmost respect get crude abuse. Yet in a place where expectation of female restraint is so faithfully observed, only someone as 25)irascible as Pal could defy it. I meet her husband in the couple’s home, which is built in a 26)ditch with plastic sheeting for a roof. He is mute and utterly obedient to her every order. Later, an astonishing role reversal takes place as half a dozen loyal and obedient male 27)hangers-on are sent running at the snap of her fingers to fetch us tea and 28)guavas.
帕尔是个难以相处的人。任何对她不够尊敬的人都将受到严厉的惩罚。然而，在这个信奉女性要绝对顺从克制的地方，只有像帕尔这样个性强硬的人才敢于反抗传统。我在她家见过她丈夫。他们的家建在一个山沟里，屋顶用塑料布盖成。帕尔的丈夫沉默寡言，对妻子言听计从。后来，我目睹了更惊人的形势大逆转：帕尔打个响指，六七个忠诚的男随从就乖乖地去沏茶倒水，端上番石榴招待客人。
To them, Pal is someone who can defend the weak, which, in the badlands of Bundelkhand, is rare indeed. Although 80% of the gang’s actions are on behalf of women, they are increasingly called upon by men. When 7,000 Banda farmers decided to take to the streets to demand compensation for failed crops earlier this month, they asked the Gulabi Gang to be there.
在这些男人看来，帕尔能够捍卫弱小，她这样的人在本德尔坎德区这块荒芜的地方实属罕见。虽然粉红帮80%的行动都是代表女性实行的，她们也得到了越来越多的男性的支持。这个月初，当7000名班达农民决定上街抗议，要求政府赔偿坏掉的作物时，他们也邀请粉红帮参加。
The gang’s challenge to the 29)throttling grip of male authority has brought new confidence—and dangers—to its members. I meet Radha, 40, the leader of the 30)ambush on the electricity office, walking with a friend in the market. “Before I joined the gang I was in 31)purdah and never went out of the house,” she says. “Now I’ve tackled ministers and officials and I’ve done away with my shyness—and the veil.” Others have been less fortunate. A few days before I arrive in Banda, one of the gang’s youngest members, a 14-year-old girl, had been attacked with a 32)sickle as she went for her morning 33)ablutions in the fields. She had put up a fight when a 16-year-old neighbour tried to rape her.
粉红帮对男权控制的挑战给其成员带来了新的自信，也带来了危险。一天我遇见了40岁的拉达，当时她正和一个朋友逛街。她就是率众冲击电力局的带头人。“在加入粉红帮之前，我一直戴着面纱，从未走出过房屋半步，”她说，“现在我对付过政府官员，我不再害羞，并扔掉了面纱。”但其他人就没有这么幸运了。在我抵达班达的前几天，粉红帮的一位最小的成员，一个年仅14岁的女孩在清晨去野外做洗礼时被镰刀袭击。一个16岁的邻居企图强奸她，而她在奋力反抗中受伤了。
Meanwhile, Pal herself is in danger of being criminalised. Following a complaint by the police, she is waiting to hear if she will be formally charged with 11 offences, including unlawful assembly, rioting, attacking a government employee and obstructing an officer in the discharge of duty. “To face down men in this part of the world, you have to use force,” Pal says. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I have faith that justice will prevail.”
与此同时，帕尔本人也面临着被抓进监狱的危险。当地警方提出控诉，她可能面临11项正式指控，包括非法集会、暴乱、袭击政府雇员、妨碍公务等。“在这个地方，要想挑战男人就必须使用武力，”帕尔说，“我没有做错任何事。我相信正义能得到伸张。”
