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October 19th, 2006 .
Aap Beeti
One evening, before sunset, I was walking on the pavement on
Shanti Path with a friend. I was the one closer to the road. Suddenly I felt something touching me very roughly and then groping for my breast. Before I realized what had happened, the “thing” had moved away. The “thing” was a man on a cycle. I was initially shocked and then very angry but I could do nothing as he had cycled away. I then felt dirty and violated.
This happened twenty-one years ago when I was twenty. I did not see the “thing” coming as he was cycling in the same direction that I was walking. My way of avoiding such incidents was to walk on the side of the road where I could see the traffic coming towards me instead of behind me. To date I walk on the streets of Delhi on the side where I can see “things” coming.
November 2nd, 2006 .
I was going back home from work. It had been a long day and I was tired. I got a seat on the bus and closed my eyes. Some time later, I felt someone sit down on the seat next to me. Even without opening my eyes, I knew that this someone was a man. Was it the way that a person sits that we can instinctively tell whether it is a man or a woman? I opened my eyes and sat up straighter. Suddenly, I felt his thigh touching my leg; I gathered my body closer to myself. Then his hand started moving on my leg. I grabbed his hand and pushed it away saying, “Sit properly. Keep your hands to yourself”. He said, “I am keeping my hands to myself, what is your problem?”. I said, “You are creating the problem here”. By now, other people on the bus started looking their way, and warned him to behave himself. The man slunk away and got off the bus.
November 2nd, 2006 .
I am a fourteen year old from Delhi. I and my friend Veena were on our way to the movies. We were both chattering excitedly and were quite oblivious to our surroundings that day. Suddenly, we heard the sound of a horn honking loudly right behind us. We turned and were struck dumb with embarrassment. Veena started sobbing in anguish. The man had opened his zip and was flashing at us.
April 30th, 2007 .
It is horrible-i know so many women who have been victims-We need to bring an end to this. Let’s unite and tackle them. Do join the Safe Delhi Campaign by Jagori and the BLANK NOISE Project-with such inititiatives we can put an end to this problem.
February 27th, 2009 .
8 years ago, when I was 13, I was groped at New Delhi railway station. I’d been separated from my parents and, in all the confusion, I was too scared to react. I just fled from there and found my parents…I was just a kid and no one had told me about things like what had just happened to me. Luckily for me, two young men had seen what had happened. They followed me to our car and told me that they’d caught the man and beaten him up. They had then alerted the guard on duty. They told me that the one thing I should never do is remain silent…they said that whatever happened, I should always make a noise and attract attention…silence would only allow perverts to continue unchecked. I don’t know who those men where and I’ve never met them again, but I’m ever so grateful to them. While that incident shocked me deeply - I was barely 13; it was pretty traumatizing - it also gave me hope. If every bystander behaved like those two men did, India would be a much better place.