Deliverance in Delhi

Sat, Jul 19 01:20 AM

It's the first week of college, the beginning of a new life for thousands of Delhizens, old and new. For those of you have left home and hearth to follow your dreams, welcome to Delhi.

Get ready for an affair that begins with apprehension, hate, distrust and yet, somehow, miraculously, ends with love. Until you get to the love part (and it takes a while in coming), here's a little heads up on what to expect.

I must add that your experience of Delhi also largely depends on your gender, not because the city is sexist (though it is), but because it seems a majority is sex-starved. So, all you lucky girls who have won the lottery to Delhi college life are now an exhibition piece.

You will be stared at, commented upon and, on occasion, felt up without consent. Until our government has some serious sensitisation programmes in place, the above is certain.

What you can do until such a day is enroll in some friendly neighbourhood karate class and learn how to kick a**. But then there's no guarantee that your karate instructor is not a sleazebag himself! Every woman in the city has been given those 'safety' lectures: "Carry a compass in your bag", "Try not take autos at night", "Try not to be out after sunset", "Avoid lonely areas on campus and #8230;" At the end of it all, there will come a day when headlines will scream about a rape on campus and people will furiously debate "whose fault it was".

That is the disgusting, disillusioning side of this city, that stares wretchedness in the face and will not accept blame. When hordes of masturbating men stand outside girls' colleges, it is the girls of that college who get a 'reputation'.

When a woman protests against a molester on the bus, the deaf and dumb janta stares at her as if she has violated the sanctity of the dirty, grimy drive. If you smoke, you are 'bad'.

If you drink you are 'loose'. If you wear a skirt/kurta/burkha you were 'asking for it'.

This city is unforgivingly judgemental, stranded in 1645, or some other pre-pseudo-enlightenment era and we bear the brunt of its unwillingness to grow. As if the 'my-child-is-in-Delhi' paranoia that parents drill into kids was not enough, gossiping aunties will now follow your every move.

Their baggage of conservatism will make your comings and goings a well-discussed state secret. There will be sleazy landlords and chatty autowallas, countless cars will honk at you and make you feel like a prostitute for crossing the road.

No, really! Do you know how many cars slow down, beam their lights and wait expectantly just because you are trying to cross the road? And if you're in one of those of colleges with gangs and gundas, watch out. A friend's boyfriend was beaten up once because he dared to hold her hand in public.

Best of luck for the future and remember, life in Delhi is a working model of that handy adage: "God helps those who help themselves." Meaning: sock the next jerk who looks at you funny.

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