Of the many occasions that I have been harrassed on the streets most of the times I preferred to ignore and walked away. All the while seething inside wishing for a gun to shoot through some heads. Kolkata is notorious for the way women are abused on the streets and I have documented some of the events in my journal.
At a busy fish market one sunday morning a mean looking burly man kept touching me everytime he passed by me. Finally I screamed and hurled my shopping bag at him. My dad joined in and after we created a ruckus the other marketgoers chased the man out. Both of us were pretty shaken up but decided to shop elsewhere for that day. It was not the first day I was shopping with my daddy at that place and on that particular I had not been wearing my regular jeans/capris but a forlorn salwar suit. That should shut the people who toe the your-clothes-attract-abuse line. Its not always the case. If people intend to be mean and abusive they would do it anyways.
Right now I am at Pune, where things are much better than what I have seen back home. Though I'd like to warn anyone frequenting the Kalyaninagar area...things are not so nice after dark around here. On 14th February, there was an unusual crowd of young boys all over this place riding on bikes and harassing the girls walking down the street.
I wish Jasmeen and all the others the best with the Blank Noise Project. I hope something does come out of it. And the noise is not blank at all...it packs a punch if you care to stop and listen.
Posted 22nd March 2007 by J
