As citizens of India, we have the right to freedom of a number of things. But there is no better freedom than to be yourself and do what you want without fear. But does that mean that in order to experience this freedom you should modify yourself? This statement is contradictory in itself. Freedom is an internal feeling like all other feelings, not something bestowed upon you by the world. But sure, the world can take away from you what it didn't give you in the first place.
I currently live in the alleged crime capital of India. First advice that was given to me in college was “Don’t go out alone, especially after dusk”. It was more like a warning. Yeah Yeah! Have heard that a million times since my birth. The worst vice is advice. So I disregard almost any advice given to me and follow my heart; which is usually clueless. That makes me happy and that is how it is supposed to be. Otherwise the very purpose of existence is defied and you live someone else’s life. In my opinion, if you follow others’ advice blindly you are living the life of a surrogate mother, taking all the pains to nurture someone else’s baby which you will never ever end up having.
But it turned out that it was better that the particular advice was heeded to. So like wild boars escaping lions in a jungle, we always ventured out in groups. But recently I dared to go out of college with a friend at 7.30pm. So it was just the two of us, girls, walking to a place not very far from where we stayed. Not that weren’t warned earlier of the sensibilities of people towards women but this time it hit me again for the nth time in life as a rude shock. No woman needs to be reminded of her femininity by ugly looks, stares, ogling, whistling, pinching, caressing, comments and gestures of any kind. It usually does not require Sherlock Holmes to find who is at fault. But more often than not, the woman is told to be submissive and maintain a low profile so that she is not noticed by the vultures of the world. It might not even serve the purpose; leave alone the fact that by doing this you let your grooming choices be decided by pervert strangers.
So my friend and I were once again reminded to feel vulnerable. The street was dark but not dark enough to hide both of us completely. So it provided ample opportunities for vehicles passing by to have a nice look at us and get some entertainment by almost running over us. One guy on a bike even stopped before us, probably hoping for us to hop on his bike, but luckily nothing happened. We walked at the fasted speed possible to get to the place we wanted to. We were scared. At least I was, much against my wishes. And I was ashamed that I was scared because I hate to be like this. A typical solution offered is to go with a male company. I don’t need a body guard for my entire life. Each person is born alone, dies alone and is capable of taking care of oneself.
We returned to college in a rickshaw which we believed would be safer than the journey we just had. We had to give up our freedom to have an otherwise pleasurable walk in the evening because of unknown faces who wanted to have fun in the same way as one irks zoo animals to see them jump around. It didn’t seem fair to me but still I gave up. I felt cheated that someone on the road could take away my freedom. When we returned to the campus, I was relieved. The smell of freedom is indeed sweet. But the world stinks and it’s time we clean up.
