15/08/2024
Happy 78th Independence Day, I guess? Well it’s certainly not happy for sure.
I wasn’t sure entirely if I wanted to talk about this on a public platform but as a girl who was raised in Delhi all her life, each and every time I’d hear my parents say, “don’t stay out too late”, “come back home on time and keep letting us know where you are”, “never take drinks from a random person”, “share your location”, “don’t trust strangers” and the list is endless. While a lot of times I told my parents, “I know who I am with and I trust them, they are my friends”, they always told me, “You never know”.
There was something about being raised in Delhi that my gut instincts were trained to be constantly aware of my surroundings. It’s a shame, isn’t it? To be constantly be vigilant and not being able to feel free.
I started travelling with my friends in 2018 and solo since 2020, I believed that there are good people out there. In December 2022, when I moved to Canada, I met people from across the world. For them, I represent India, a country which is unsafe for women. Every time they’d express how beautiful India is and they’d want to visit, there was always a level of hesitation. I kept defending saying, It’s not so bad. You just have to trust your gut, be with the right people and it will be all right.”
But with ever case I hear about where a woman and even children are brutally r***d and left to fend for themselves, I wonder, “Do I have it in me to keep defending a country I call my own where we women feel unsafe pretty much every single minute of our existence?”
No matter what I wear, whether it’s a dress, jeans, kurta or a saree, I am stared at. What is considered ACCEPTABLE by men after which I won’t be looked at in a creepy way?
All we ask is for us to feel safe when we step out of our homes not wanting to live in constant fear of ‘something can happen’. That’s all we ask for as someone’s daughter, sister, mother, female friend, wife, some freedom and independence in our own country!
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