I've been ogled at, commented upon, bumped into, touched and yeah...felt up. Like almost every other girl in India. I don't find it pleasant. And neither, I'm sure, do any of the other girls with similar experiences.
I was sitting in the bus the other day, with the guy sitting next to me stealthily trying to bring his hands closer to me. I'm not too fond of creating scenes, so I tried to shift, and fiddle about with my stuff, so he couldn't come too close. I waited about ten minutes before I decided I should just get up, loathe though I was of losing my seat.
It feels weird now to think of my reaction. I wasn't scared, frustrated, or angry. I was just fed up, sick and tired of this game I've had to play since I could distinguish one word from another. Since then, I've had to put up with this strange penchant some of the male of our species seem to have, of feeling random females around them.
Every time it's the same story. A guy sits next to me on a bus, in a theatre, and invariably, his hands start creeping slowly towards my body. And I would start moving to avoid him, wondering what I could put between us, counting the seconds to when he would get up and leave, or if I was lucky enough to have a male escorting me, asking him to shift places with me.
That day I wondered why it had to be me. Why did my brother never have to think twice before sitting next to someone of the opposite sex? Why did he never have to change places, or slap someone on the street, or create a hue and cry? Why did he never have to tolerate strangers staring, commenting, whistling at his body? Why did he not have to change out of his shorts when he left home?
I don't have answers to my questions. I'm just a normal, young, urban Indian girl wondering why she has had to, and will have to (probably till the end of her life) go through something she doesn't want to, and which her brother, or any other males in her family will never have to.
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