Being from the services background I have never lived anywhere for more than two years except Delhi
Studied here from 8th till 11th and then came back here for vacations while I was in college. And now I am back here again to work. I love the sights and sounds of this city. The food. The buildings. The history. The language.
Yet I feel more of an alien here than anywhere else.
The constant thing of staying alert. The everyday sermons on staying safe and yet never really feeling completely at ease.
This is what I have realized about this city....
To stay safe never be alone.
If you want to be alone have a car.
But even if you have a car don't drive at night
If you drive at night then make sure your windows are rolled up so that no one knows that there's a girl driving the car alone.
Forget being independent because no one will let you.
To party you'll always need to have a man around.
If you don't want that have a house party.
Maybe I am overreacting!
But do you blame me.. At 5 in the evening yesterday when I was waiting for an auto, a van filled with guys younger to me (for sure) came up on the pavement and tried to run me over for fun. They just wanted to see my freaked out expression and they succeeded. But I cant help but think that if I had jumped in the wrong direction I might have been under that van. Would they have stopped and helped? who knows... I don't.
What I do know is that I felt pretty humiliated. Pretty scared. And suddenly very exposed..
I am adjusting. I hate to say that I am but I don't feel like I have a choice. If I want to fight back I am clueless as to where to start. Everywhere around me people have accepted the situation and to them this incident holds no importance It is commonplace.
So even I have started feeling like 'well get used to it'.. And I don't like this feeling.
5 comments:
ahhh! not a good thing at all. Have no clue why some one would do that , but was very risky game they played. hope u able to fight back or atleast get a car of your own soon.
Ah delhi... i freaking hate that place.
And like i alwayz say carry a gun like an M249 for situations where boys try to run over you and you doge them and let them have some tast of the sweet metal gun projectilez..
or note the number and sue them.
Lolz...
take care...
Aj...
bad.
but its unfair to blame the city for the actions of a group of deranged teens.
if you were in timbuctoo and that happened you would think that timbuctoo is an unsafe city.
natural reaction.
but the sad truth is that a single girl these days is unsafe everywhere.
atleast, thats what i think. and yes getting a car would be a good idea, but even that guarantees nothing.
i carry a bat in my car, by the way.
@ Raghav:
a city is made of its people... N i am part of this city.. I dont deny it.
I have lived on my own in Pune for 3 yrs... n i have traveled on my own to a variety of places.. plus I am a defence kid so I have seen and lived in alot of cities.. have i ever felt this unsafe? no..
Of course i knw a girl is unsafe no matter whre.. I mean this thought has been instilled in my head since i hit puberty.. my point is tht delhites shud stop making this excuse to themselves tht every city is unsafe and accepting it blindly.. the truth is tht no where else are ppl that blatantly cool about it..
Something is going wrong and the city we love is becoming scarier by the minute... is it so hard to accept that maybe just maybe it is only delhi that is becoming a madhouse for women?
@Aj: hehehe..
@Mihir: have a car. But parents think it is too unsafe for me to drive back home in the nite.. see the circle im trapped in :P
I totally agree.. My mum is totally paranoid bt sending me to Delhi.. like not even fr a day.. I remember when I had visited that place last, she didn't let me get out of the society! Havn't really seen the city so don't even have many fond memories.. and the stories I hear bt tht place frm ppl arnd me , its scary!
Come back tee..come to mama ..:P
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