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
