Here is a taste of the mentality of Indian guys, first hand.
Some look at you creepily.
Some look at you like they want to eat you up.
Some look at you like they are going to kidnap you.
And there is one other kind. The kind which shakes you up.
The kind which wants you to curl up into a ball and never wake up.
When I see this kind, my insides are squirming in fear. But
I always put up a façade. A façade of bravery. And when the situation is over
and I am still alive and breathing, I write.
Because, all I can do is write.
Auto man: Where do you want to go?
Me: Gem Hospital
Auto man: 120
Me: Nothing more than 100.
Auto man grumbles but asks us (Pooja and I) to get in.
He takes us in a route which we are unaware of. I ask him to
use the main road but he says that was the closest and continues driving. He
kept asking me for money. I refused. I told him I had gotten into the auto only
when he agreed to 100.
Auto man: I will drop you in the middle of the road. Take
another auto and go.
Me: I will call the police if you don’t take us to gem
hospital.
I agree, I might have over-reacted. I might have responded
harshly. But his look and the way he spoke made me and I am not ashamed of what
I said.
Auto man: So? If you call the police? Do you think that will
scare me? Talk like a woman. This is not
the way for a woman to talk.
I was scared. We were in a tiny lane with no one at the
vicinity. Kidnap, rape, murder were the many things constantly flashing in my
mind. I did not speak a word after that. I did not speak because I had a sister
whose face was pale with fear. Because, I wanted to go home safe. Because,
though I don’t want to agree to it, I will never be able to overpower him, if
situation arose and we would both end up, god knows where.
But one thing kept nagging my mind. Who is he to tell me how
a woman should talk? Who is he to confine me to a certain rule that he has on
his head? I am a woman and I was in danger and I spoke, wanting to protect
myself and my sister. I am not ashamed of trying to threaten him. Because, I had
no other way out. Being a woman does not and will not stop me from protecting myself and my loved ones. It is the right of life and I will not have that plucked away from me because of the disgusting Indian mindset about women.
After a few minutes which seemed like hours, and after the
many unknown turns and cuts, we saw the huge Ganesha temple on the corner of my
street. And though my sister did not notice, I saw her closing her eyes for
just a few moments, thanking the Gods that we knew where we were and we were
not in danger anymore. What a way to celebrate Ganesh Chaturti!
I threw the 100 rupee note on his face and hurried up,
because I knew I had to write.
Because, all I can do is write.
