I am not for sad stories / stories that portray a whole community in bad light... But there is the reality about life in some places you can't hide... and so exists a painful reality of women harrassment in India.
March 8th is celebrated women's day. And in India there are people (mostly men) who argue that we don't need such days because India is the only country where women are "respected" the "most". I wonder what here means "respected" and further what is "most respected".
If you had a few female friends at college, or even at office, people say "Lucky guy yaar.. ", "kush kismati ho"... I used to think this was a joke, never understood the internals of why they said so.
There always is a never-ending argument on why women are harrassed in a society... men would say (even i have felt so sometimes) that its women who are to blame for their dress-sense..for their weakness in fighting harrassment.... while women would say, "you want us to dress the way you would feel comfortable looking... rather than what we feel good about our dress, and why would you ask whether we are weak, how many guys should we fight through every day for our space".
If everyone in India is agreeing on one thing... that can only be this... "India has a rich culture.. and women are treated well". ... A BOLD FAT LIE that is.
Born a woman in India?
Welcome to the world of adjustment, tolreance & patience...for the rest of your life,
you will understand how to dress-up such that no guy teases you,
you will learn how to put your head down and walk so conscious about people around you,
you will learn how to avoid certain roads at odd timings,
you will learn how to select the bus in which you can travel without anybody hurting you,
you will learn how to avoid people following you,
...
...
And sometimes, women will unfortunately, sadly, even have to learn how to take little sexual harrassement, forget it the very next second and laugh it off... as if you are not hurt.
Read what Annie has to say on the shocks and adjustments she had to overcome to live through bombay.
Chennai or any other place is no better.. but if you are a man, it will take you one or two female friends, or sisters if you have, to tell you a painful experience like Annie's article to know the truths about people around...and how they treat women.
I found Annie's blog name 'Known Turf' (for known playfield or known strategies), say it all, rather than the article in her blog.
Unfortunately, people who behave like that with women won't be advanced enough to read this or any blog...
Image courtesty: http://www.amnesty-volunteer.org
