I'm male and got this invite from Supriya, a fellow blogger at sulekha.com. This is something my wife did and made me quite proud of her. Mixed emotions actually. Part of me was wild and wanted to go and do some serious damage to the man involved, but another part of me was happy that she had the gumption to give it back...and she did just that...in spades!
This was in 1999, when we had just shifted to Bangalore. I knew Kannada well, but Vini was just picking it up. We are Tamilians, as a rule it shouldn't be difficult for us, but she had lived in Bombay since birth and so it took a while.
One day, she and my cousin were returning from a movie show. It wasn't too late, just about 6:45 PM or so, but Bangalore - for all it's IT makeover - is still a conservative town. It is not really safe for women after dark o be out alone. Being wintertime, the sun set fast and it was dark by the time they got out of the M G Road traffic. My cousin and Vini, both pretty women in their late twenties were busy chatting about the movie. They were speaking in the rough & tumble argot that passes for Hindi in Bombay. Suddenly, the auto driver took a wrong turning, away from the main road and into a narrow side road. My cousin immediately noticed this, but being mild by nature, didn't question him. She just mentioned this to Vini.
Now Vini is a Bombay girl and acting fast and decisively is kind of an inbred trait I guess. Haven't seen anything like it elsewhere in the country. She asked the guy what was the problem. He didn't reply. She asked again, louder this time. The guy then let loose some choice vulgarities in Kannada, saying that he was going give both of them a good time. He had miscalculated, thinking that both the women were from out of town.
My cousin duly supplied the translation. Vini just went ballistic and screamed at the guy to stop the auto, almost standing up in the process. The Auto, as a vehicle is horribly balanced. The C.G. is way too low and it can topple at any time. Sensing the imbalance, the guy had to stop the auto.
Vini then jumped down and pulling the guy by his collar, dragged him out of the auto. She let him have one tight slap in the face and raked her nails in his face too. She had acted so fast, he was taken by surprise. By this time, a crowd had gathered. Here, my cousin did her bit. She explained to all the people in Kannada that the Auto guy had misbehaved. The crowd then completed the job on the would be molester.
That's one guy who will think ten times before he touches his own wife I guess.
Justice was swift, sure and appropriate.
B.S.Keshav
Posted 8th March 2007 by J
