Being 12

My first vivid memory of sexual harassment occured when I was around 12 or 13 years old. Those were the days when E-ticket booking was not common, and one had to reserve the seats online, and the ticket would be delivered at your doorstep.

Since my both my parents have jobs, I had the task of collecting the ticket.

The doorbell rang at around 3 in the afternoon. This is how it should've happened. I open the door but not the grill, collect the ticket, read out the PNR number, sign the slip and close the door.

Except that is not how it happened.

I collected the ticket, took the list and asked for the place to be signed upon.

There was the locked grill between us and yet that did not bother him.He cupped my breast and squeezed it and at the same pointed out the place to be signed.

I quickly signed on the paper, returned the papers to him and shut the door behind me.

This happened twice.

To this day, I shudder to think what would've happened if the grill wasn't locked. Also, i'm writing this story anonymously, not because I prefer not to disclose my identity, but because when I think of this incident, its a little hard to digest the fact that I had been a victim of child abuse. That I just let him get away with it. That I knew what he was doing, but did not slap his hand away, because I was so terrified and shocked

Action Shero Shipra

Place: Bangalore

Being 15

I remember this incident from when i was younger. i was in the bus on my way to school. it had so happened that i didn’t get the school bus and had to catch a public bus to school. I was standing in the ladies section of the bus and it was really crowded. There was someone behind me pushing and shoving me. I thought it was some lady and never looked back until i felt a hand at my waist. i turned around to realize it was a man standing in middle of all the ladies and groping anyone around him. I glared at him and asked him to move to the guys section, i guess that is when everyone realized he was there. All the ladies started screaming and shouting it him and he just saying 'there's no space sister. I am sorry I was'nt being indecent. It's just there's no space'. When did no space become an excuse for groping people??

Action Shero Anonymous

Place: Pune, Maharashtra

Being 14

My first memory of street harassment was sometime in school when I was walking back from school and this random guy came and touched my boobs and by the time I realised what happened and went ahead to say something he had already got onto a bus from the signal.

Action Shero Anonymous

Place: Mumbai

Being 12

I was visiting a fun fair with some friends. The walk from the exit to my car was a little long. Mobiles weren't that common then and I couldn't call my driver to escort me till the car and being young such a thought never even crossed my mind. Whilst walking to the car, I got stuck between a mob of people mostly men. I was groped, my butt was pinched, attempts were made to touch my breasts but I shielded them 'atleast'. With shame in my mind and whatever little dignity I felt I had left them, I sat in the car and went home. That day the fearless tomboy in me grew up suddenly to become a 'girl'. This was not how I'd expected the transition to take place. I  have never shared with with anyone. Not even the friends I went to the fair with.

Action Shero Harshika

Place: Bhopal, India

Being 12

I was in a public bus going to school and I remember those eyes staring at me. I was in my uniform. It was a white colour physical training (PT) uniform. I remember being stared at almost the entire journey. It almost felt as if I was not wearing any clothes. I remember being so uncomfortable with my body.

There are two more such memories all between the age range of 12-15. One was where I was groped in the bus and I was too young to do any thing about it but I was so angry with myself and felt like cutting off that part of me.

The earliest experience of being violated was at such a young age that its much later in life that I realized what that man was doing. He was a half bald man, the uncle types, a man in his mid 40's and he would often come in the public bus I would travel back home in. He would give a smile, help me find a seat and then come near me and and rub his penis on my hand. I would be holding on to my school bag and my hand would be in such a position that he could easily do it. It only years later that I remembered that warm sensation on my hand and I don't know how I figured out what was actually happening.

Its not that I was unaware of things at that age. My mother has always been very particular about discussing harassment on the road and what safety measures my sister and I should take if such an event is to occur but it did not even strike me!

Action Shero Parmeet

Place: Kolkata

Being 11

I was about 11 or 12, don't remember exactly, but I do remember by first incident of street sexual harassment rather vividly, because it was one of the worst I've encountered till date. And not just because it was the first.

31st December, New Year's Eve, Park Street, Kolkata. Crushing crowds, jolly, riotous, loud and happy, car horns and yells of "happy new year!" everywhere. I'm walking with one hand in my dad left hand, and my mother and brother are walking right in front of us. The footpath is crowded like Ashtami night, but there's a relatively orderly procession bi-direction foot traffic.

When we're next to Flury's, going towards Magnolia, suddenly I feel a bunch of hands, at least 6-7, clutching at, groping, pinching my butt all at the same time. It hurt, and was completely unexpected. I had never experienced and don't recall seeing any instance of street sexual harassment before this. It was a group of boys going in the opposite direction on the same footpath. I twist around, utterly shocked, to see some leering faces for a moment before they melt into the crowd, but that moment of shock when my body is turned is enough for the rest of the same group of boys to collectively grope my breasts. Several hands, again, tugging, squeezing and pinching cruelly for a brief moment that feels stretched in time. I turn forward again, even more shocked and scared, and have a fleeting impression of wide grins before they're gone forever.

This whole incident takes a few seconds, and is almost invisible in the noise and crowds and confusion. It was extremely well-planned and executed, with almost militaristic precision. My father, right next to me and still holding my hand, has no idea what's just happened. We are borne along in the opposite direction by the crowd. It takes a week or more before I can get the memory of those touches off my body. The anger I don't think has worn off yet.

Action Shero Anonymous

Place: Kolkata, India

Being 20

 I was walking down a road in Civil Lines when a man on a scooter came up behind me, put his hand between my legs and dragged me for a few feet further. Then he looked back and laughed.

Action Shero Anonymous

Place: Civil Lines, Delhi, India

Being 12

A 12-13 year old boy stalked, faced me, put his hand forward to feel me up and said 'Do you know that I can rape you?'

Action Shero Anonymous

Place: Bangalore, India

Being 12

I was being stared at, unblinkingly. And then in another incident, being felt up.

Action Shero Anonymous

Place: Calcutta

Being 18

There must have been earlier incidents, but the one I really remember with tangible clarity was when I was groped while getting off a bus in south Calcutta.I was 18 and dressed in loose jeans and my favourite oversized white tshirt. I was new to the city and even though I'd been travelling on my own in public transport since I was 14, I burst into tears.

Action Shero Sunayana

Place: Calcutta, India