Gone are the days when you have to watch out only for
vehicles on the road. Even stray dogs can be avoided easily. Its those animals in the form of men to watch out for. They no longer look
just like hooligans or huge Goondas like the movies portray. They maybe
disguised as a middle aged man returning home, or a random loafer, or even as a
professional.
Turn on the news, and there will be atleast one report about these animals
everyday. They didn’t come up out of the blue. They were always there.
Most women in India would have experienced being groped or
touched by a random stranger either in the bus, or a queue , or a crowd , or a
movie theatre or even right outside the house at some point of their. But that doesn’t
shut us down inside the house forever. We know that what happened to the girl
next door can happen to us anyday but we still get up, dress up and go out
knowing that these animals no longer just lurk in corners but are out there on
the open roads. Some of us armour ourself with a knife or a pepper spray to give
us confidence, knowing deep inside that
if anything happens, these might not even be of any use to us.
Neither a travels full of people nor an AC coach can stop
these animals from groping in the dark. We cannot all run out of the country to
be safe. So, we live with it. While stricter laws with loopholes are being
made, while debates happen all over the country trying to nail the root cause
as illiteracy of these animals and while
it may take years to implement it on the streets, we don’t have to live with it
quietly. We can always fight back. Prick the guy with a safety pin if he quietly tries to put his hand
on you in a crowded bus and shout at the top of your voice. Don’t bother about
what the 20 unknown faces around whom you may never even meet again will think.
To them, its just a story of “what happened to the girl in their bus” to share.
Probably, there are some real men out
there then who will come to your rescue. If he tries to come at you from the
front, spit right on his face and run away as fast as you can immediately. You
might be the thinnest or weakest among your peers but spitting doesn’t need any
major show of physical strength from your side and anyone can do it.
Lets fight back until we get the independence that Gandhiji
said as,"the day a woman can walk freely on the roads at night,we can say
India has achieved independence"
