overcrowded bus and being treated as a “target” during Holi. I am sure you must already be thinking about that one

incident in the bus when that uncle touched you in the most creepiest manner or that time when that “galli ko keta” roadside Romeo whistled at you, calling you names, asking you to do little “favours” for him. For many, the routine is to wait and tolerate it till it’s over. Then cry about it, try to forget it, move on with the scar and then get victimised again.

When I was harassed for the first time, I was in my pre-teens, pretty much unaware of what had happened. So I didn’t do anything back then. But as I grew older, I realised the reason behind that uncomfortable feel of that stranger’s touch. I realised I had been harassed and had been several other times. But unlike many others, I didn’t want to move on with that emotional burden. I wanted to lift it off my shoulders, throw it on the ground and then shatter it into a billion pieces, bombard it with one of those sci-fi laser things and vaporise it altogether! I started reading about others’ experiences and even devised my own methods to tackle them. By the time I reached 11th grade, I had thrown stones at boys in response to their “lola” water balloons, argued with a group of men in a bus who had been making unwanted advances towards me, and yes, I had become an expert in giving disrespectful one-liners to strangers who so far as even stared at me.

But not everyone does this. Many of us think it’s too embarrassing. For some like me, the parents will discourage you. They’ll say, “Just because a dog barks at you doesn’t mean you have to bark back.” And this is when I feel defeated. Discouragements like these provide sufficient space for the bad to win over the good, the evil to rise to power and in our case, for cases of eve-teasing to upgrade to rape and severe cases of physical assaults. This is what I want everyone to understand. If we don’t want to live with the scars, we must learn to become rowdy. If a “dog” barks at us, we should be able to put up a fight like a “bitch”. The roads and the alleys belong to us as well. We can walk on them like princesses and queens, holding our heads high. But all this may happen only when we act. When we do what should’ve been done long ago… act rowdy and become the Rowdy Ranis.