Saturday, March 11, 2006
Have been reading some of the Blanknoise project blog posts.... Mostly by people I know by association.... I'm sure you've read some too... considering that every woman has posted something and 80% of bloggers I know (you know) and women... they are a little hard to miss...
And frankly... wow... the stuff's really moving, really strong, and makes a real impact... even more so because they are real... And people out there are such great writers... and there is something about personal tragedy and shocking experiences that makes them better writers still... But seriously... excellent read..
It was all quite surprising to me I guess because I have never really seen public sexual harrassment, molestation or even eve-teasing close up front. I always sort of believed that such things happened in B grade Hindi movies... the type the sweepers used to watch on DD on a Saturday evening...
Probably because a)I am not a woman and b) I lead a pretty sheltered life as a kid... I don't think I rode on a bus, metro or autorickshaw till I was about 19... I didn't really have much interaction with girls either in the sense that I had no sisters or cousin sisters. When I did interact with other girls my age socially, well, this is not something they like talking about now is it? Which is why for me the problem didn't exist... which is why when I did see it happening first hand... I didn't know how to react... and probably reacted in a completely inappropriate manner..
1) This was probably in the last year of school... just outside Woodlands hospital... I had been there to see my grandfather and was walking to the main road to catch a cab... when I saw this guy trying to grab this girl... the girl kept pushing him away and he kept trying to hug her. She slept him but that seemed to have no effect at all. So the girl was feebly yelling for help... there were other people around. Maybe half a dozen or so... and they were all staring... but nobody did anything... somebody yelled "stop him. stop him." And I was closest... so I hust tapped the guy on the shoulder and said something like "come on. What are you doing. Stop it."
Immediately the guy spins around and slams his fist into my jaw. It felt like a bomb had gone off inside my mouth. My ears were buzzing. And everything swam around for a few seconds. But worst of all my ego was bruised. Or something like that. Which would explain what happened next. With all my strength I kicked the guy in the groin. And it wasn't pretty. Considering that I was about 50% taller than him and 150% heavier than him. The guy sort of collapsed. Went to a kneeling position. At which point I grabbed his head and slammed it against my raised knee. Twice. I hit it so hard that I had to walk with a limp for the rest of the week. And that was it. The guy went down for good. He lay there in the foetal posistion. And I think I kicked him a couple of times. Until someone grabbed me from behind and I snapped out. The guy wasn't moving much. A steady stream of blood flowed out of his mouth and nose. I thought I had died. But then he started choking on his own blood and spit.
And that's when the peope woke up. I looked around and suddenly there was a crowd strange faces. A dozen. Two dozens. Someone rushed to the guy, trying to help him up. Somebody held my arm in a clamp of grip. And everybody was shouting "what's going on? He killed him. He killed him. Somebody get a doctor. Let's rush him to the hospital. Call the police. Get the fellow who did this." The last comment hit me. Something told me this could end badly. I quickly shook off the guy holding me and scampered away in the confusion. By some strange luck, there was cab filling up on Diesel at the pump on the main road... next to garden cafe. So I managed to get away.
The funny thing is, how peopel react to these situations. A little girl was getting molested and everybody just stood around watching. Most people were probably even enjoying it. It was a show. But when somebody kicks the life out of the pervert, suddenly people wake up. Half the city descends on him. Trying to rescue him.
2) The second one happened on a crowded metro. It was just after I had joined college, and had started using public transport. I still didn't know that they really were a front for some people to get cheap sexual gratification. Two of us guys and another girl had boarded the train. It was packed so the girl was standing a couple of feet from us. When the train braked at Chandni Chowk I saw it. Two other guys. Standing in front of me, who had been making eyes at our female friend suddenly fell over her and grabbed her breasts. Our friend looked upset and gave them a stare. But what struck me was that she was utterly helpless. All she could do was give them a dirty look. And the boys looked like they had won some prize. Smiling and chatting away among themselves. Celebrating some great victory. When the train started, they tried falling over her again, but she quickly manouevered out of the way. At which point, my friend and I decided to do something about it. So I leaned over the guys and whispered into their ears, "If you two try that stunt again, my friend and I will ride on this train until you get off. Then we will get off at the same station. And we will break your arms and throw you over the tracks." To drive the message home, my friend gave one of them a sharp jab in the ribs making him yelp. And he said "Getting poked is not so much fun is it?"
Once again, the fact that we collectively outweighed them by 80kilos also helped I think. It worked. The guys started movign further and further away from us as the train satrted to move. Suddenly we couln't see them anymore. All three of us got off at Kalighat. And surprise, surprise we see the two guys also get off, from the next comaprtment. They take one look at us and turn around and run as fast their legs can carry them. One of the guys slippers break, and takes off the other throws it away but never stops running.
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7:28 PM
