I had never felt so helpless, unsafe, and violated.

Helpless – 8th March 2017:

#women’sday, # NoWomen’sday, etc. Many such hash-tags were trending on this day. Many videos, posts, and memes on women and our strengths were shared and liked. I was beginning to think that I had finally become a part of a progressive world where women are treated as equals without fanfare. How naive of me.

Helpless – 9th March 2017:

At 9:00 PM, I returned home from work and was waiting at the traffic signal near my home to cross the road. I had crossed this place a gazillion times in the last 13 years of my life very comfortably. However, today was different! Some random guy dared to stop his motorbike right in front of me, carefully remove his helmet and make lewd kissing sounds and gestures at me. What could I do other than shout behind him while he sped away with a triumphant laugh? I had never felt so helpless, unsafe, and violated.

Not that it matters, but to be very clear, I was wearing the society-approved safe dress – the “SALWAR KAMEEZ,” and that too with a “DUPATTA.” Mind you, the dupatta was not just dangling around my neck but was covering all the provocative things that it was supposed to cover. Did it protect me? HELL NO. Then, what’s the point in blaming us women and our clothes?

Helpless – 10th March 2017:

After a night, I almost forgot about the incident until I walked past the same place to work. That was when I realized that we have become immune to such incidents. Now, these incidents don’t annoy me for a while.

It is not an isolated incident, just a recent one. I can narrate many, many more. YES! I don’t forget, actually I can’t forget. I choose to push them to the least used parts of my brain. They stay there until such incidents bring them back into focus. But the question that always stays with me is that what can be done to stop such incidents from reoccurring to any woman in the world. I haven’t found a concrete solution yet. Would you please let me know if you have one? I want them to STOP.

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