Blank Noise Action Hero Deepika Kumar

I am in my early 30s and was born and grew up in Delhi. I remember the very first time that I had my first-hand experience of sexual harassment- I was barely 9 at that time. I was standing at the bus stop with my older sister, waiting for my school bus when a rickshaw puller passed by us. He winked at me and blew a kiss in the air suggestively. I didn’t really understand at the time why he did that but I do remember feeling strangely uncomfortable. Since that time, there have been countless incidents of such harassments and I have dealt with them strongly each time that I have felt secure enough to do so. Usually, if you find yourself in a secluded spot and someone is harassing you, it’s always better to try and get out of the place as soon as possible instead of trying to confront the teaser. But if you are in a public place then there are high chances that people will help you if you choose to confront the teaser.

My most recent brush with street harassment was when I went to a local market in Gurgaon with my older sister, my niece who is 10 and my nephew who is 9. It was about 7 in the evening and it was getting a slightly dark, but it was a crowded market. We were casually walking towards a shop when a guy walked from behind me and brushed against me. He looked liked he was in his late teens and was a vagabond sort of person. Acting on pure reflexes, I pushed the guy from behind and screamed “dhakka de raha hai saale (you trying to act smart, idiot?)” really loud. The guy was clearly not expecting me to react this way, lost his balance and fell hard on the ground knocking down a standing bicycle. He looked up and started muttering something with his hands folded in an apology and that’s when I realized that he was either drunk or doped as he was slurring. I stopped myself from kicking him since I was also taken aback by his condition. My sister also screamed at him and a small crowd gathered. Then another teenage boy- perhaps his friend, came forward and started apologizing saying that his friend is drunk so I should spare him. The crowd started asking what happened and I told them but I decided to end the episode there and we walked off. As we were walking away, I realized that my nephew was in a state of shock because he had never really seen his aunt react so aggressively before. He looked very scared and I felt bad for him. He asked “bua apne uus aadami ko kyun mara (Aunty, why did you hit that guy like that)?” and I tried to explain to him how that guy had acted inappropriately and so deserved to be hit like that. I apologized to my nephew for scaring him. My niece on the other hand seemed to be in good spirits and even said how she wanted to kick the guy herself. I guess girls have a natural sixth sense about these things. Then a few minutes later we walked into a pet shop and both the kids forgot about the incident and started playing with the puppies in the store. I felt relieved.

This was their first lesson in sexual harassment and curiously enough they experienced it at around the same age as I did so many years ago. This just goes to show how things have remained the same over all these years and even today women have to face such insults on almost an everyday basis.

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Blank Noise Action Hero Kohl

I went to India for a month to meet family I have not seen since my birth, and subsequently my famiy's moving to England. In my town, sexual harassment is not very common. For me anyway, I'm only thirteen. However, the second I arrived in Bangalore airport, men probably twice my age would be staring, whistling, making comments that I couldn't understand, I don't speak any indian languages. I just ignored this, walked straight past, chin up. Let them stare, it wouldn't bother me, one day they would learn to respect women when one slaps them round the face-hard. I knew it wasn't because I was pretty, but rather I was white-we saw many foreigners during our stay, but not many were young women, so guys like this just saw it as an oppurtunity to tease and speculate. I kept this attitude until we came to Chennai. After a long day of shopping in T-Nagar, my mother and I were walking down the main street, and it was beginning to get crowded-it was about 3 o'clock, so people must have been coming back from work. We passed three men on the street, who stopped after one of them pointed at me. They raised their eyebrows at me really suggestively, but I just smiled-I found it really pathetic, and walked on. I saw that they were walking after me, but I didn't think the stalking would last as long as it did-5 minutes I thought, as a joke. My mother wanted to go into a silk house, so we did, and I thought "Oh, they'll stop now." I looked out the window and saw all three standing outside! One was pointing and mouthing something at me-I scowled a bit and then walked on to where my mum was walking to. Meanwhile, the guys had come inside the shop and by bad luck, I walked in front of them while they were looking for me! They gave me this big smirk that made me feel really anxious so i hid behind my mum, this was a big department store so surely I could lose them. A salesman was talking about something to us, while the guy who had been mouthing walked past-and very deliberately "accidentally" brushed past me. I began to text my friend back in england to ask what I should do-I wasn't very close to my mum and found it hard to discuss stuff like this with her.

A few hours passed and I saw no more of them, so I felt really safe. As we walked out, one was sitting by the door and walked out too, and immediately I felt sick. How long was this going to go on for? He paused by a lamppost to call someone, and we quickly walked past, and walked into a shop filled with pots and pans. I saw his two friends join him, and I was standing on the other side of the shop, trying hard to ignore them, but I saw them taking pictures. My mum walked out, not wanting to buy anything, and they followed. My mum didn't understand when I asked to go into different shops, and just replied that we didn't have much time left before we had to meet with friends. The crowd had got bigger on the street and I was walking behind my mum, and these guys would brush past me, try and push me towards the wall, and the ringleader-the gesturing one, mimed masturbating while walking beside me. My temper was wearing thin by now, and I swung my fist out beside me and hit him in the stomach. I did it quite subtly but hard and he doubled up a bit. I ran on quickly to my mum, and said "I think these guys are following us." really bluntly. I didn't say what they had done, because she is really protective, and she misunderstood like I wanted her to-"Oh, they're after your phone. Put it in your pocket and lets lose them in the crowd." I looked back and saw their faces, so ducked a bit (my mum is really short anyway, so no one could see her in the crowd) and walked into a jewellery shop and went to the first floor.

I really felt so angry, and I wished I could beat the hell out of them. I was worried they would follow us all the way back to our guesthouse, and I was going to be alone there most of the evening as my mum wanted to see the owner of the guesthouse (a good friend of hers.) I don't think they realised how old I was-They looked in their twenties. I am tall for my age and I look quite a bit older too, so I think that accounts for it. After that, when people stared or winked, or whatever, I just smiled, looked ahead and walked away. I think thats better-your walk can show people what your attitude is.

age: 13
location: T Nagar, Chennai.
time: 3-6 pm
felt anger, fright, embarrassment.