Find a comfy chair after 7 p.m.

I still cannot remember my alternate career epiphany. But, then I am partially blonde now so it’s more difficult for me to remember things. Well meaningless clichés wasn’t the point of this blog post. India’s Daughter was. Heard of it? Well now you have. Go watch it. Well, here’s the thing. You seemingly can’t watch it if you’re in India. Because there was a court order to remove this content from YouTube.  How ingenious of my government. The government doth hide-th too much, methinks. Also, thanks for creating more interest and curiosity via this defensive step!!

Well I said seemingly for a reason.

My mom sent me a video on self-defense recently. Her way of trying to make me safe on dimly lit streets of my city from 3123 kms away. I jokingly said I will try all these moves on the next boy I come across on the road, to which she got really alarmed and said, “Only if they provoke you physically! Just ignore them”. I don’t recall ever provoking a guy into misbehaving with me, unless you count existing on the road at the same time as him as misbehaving. I mollified my mother and agreed to karate chopping boys only on a physical provocation only basis. This coming from my fire-breathing dragoness of a mother who has never been afraid of standing up for herself and calling out on anything she believes is not fair and never takes anything lying down, puts into perspective how scared she really is and how much uncertainty there exists for a girl living alone (or otherwise) in an Indian city. Everyone is frightened though they veil this fear with regular socially acceptable concern. I get “text me when you get home” requests from co-workers, friends & my mom on a daily basis. Yes, it’s that bad. People aren’t even confident you’re going to reach home safely. And we have become so used to this, we don’t think how ridiculous the request was to begin with. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t trying to be hyper aware of my surroundings while walking alone – day or night.

It also occurs to me how us women have become a handicap for the men around us. They’re constantly cautioned to take care of us. Ensure nothing happens to us. Blamed if something does. In fact, we call out men who don’t act “manly” if ever our honor is targeted by a wolf whistle. I don’t get it. How is the man you’re with responsible for another man’s wolf whistle exactly? It’s the worse vicious cycle in the world. Men assault women, women look to men for defense. I am not saying men on the whole are untrustworthy. Far from that. I am saying it’s ridiculous that men should be so pressurized to clean up other men’s messes. It’s all so messed up.

Well Happy Holi, folks.