" WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"
“ You are not looking decent, I mean you are looking fat, you are not looking very nice, I think you should change."
“ It does not suit you, this dress does not suit you.”
“ Wear what you want! You just want to be leched at right?”
“ Gosh! Look at her, she’s so cheap, why does she bother wearing anything, she would rather be naked.”
“ Dressed like a slut man! Total slut!”
“ Lipstick? I think it’s too much. People will think you’re a slut!”
“ But I was wearing something completely normal and it had frills on the top.”
“ Tie your hair. You must look neat.”
“ Please wear a slip over the bra. Your school uniform is transparent. It does not look nice.”
“ The skirt is too short. You can wear shorts if you like, but not a skirt.”
“ How come you wear only salwar kameez these days?”
“ I was in school, I remember my green pt uniform and the stranger in the bus put his dirty hands in my clothes.”
“ I started dressing more androgynous. People didn’t know whether I was man or woman.”
“ I wear what I want, nothing happens to me, I don’t know why you make such an issue out of this, I mean , why do you want to travel by bus anyways?”
“ This girl is crazy! She is screaming!”
“ Don’t talk back! Don’t you dare answer back!”
“ It was just an accident.”
“ “ What law can stop a man from talking to a woman? Take me to the police station, let me see what anyone can do. I just asked you out for coffee”
“ I think you are beautiful. I have two eyes. I will stare at you.”
“ Why do you look at them in the eyes. Best is to look down and walk. Avoid it.”
“ I carry a safety pin.”
“ I put my huge knapsack in front of me and walk in peace.”
“ But it was only a crush. I was staring at you because it was a crush.”
“ Please don’t do this to me, I am a father of two children. I am sorry I wont do it again.”
“ I am allergic to women in pants. It is against our culture.”
“I have a dupatta?”
I ask for it because I have a body with breasts that I should feel ashamed of?
I ask for it because you think there are good girls and bad girls, decent girls and indecent girls?
I ask for it because you think I am attractive?
Eve teasing it is, a joke, a prank that designs, shapes, structures our daily lives:
Who we are, where we go, what we wear, how we sit, stand, talk, walk in our very own cities. When we demand the need to make our cities non threatening , I don’t expect anyone to think of me as their sister or mother, but to really look at women as citizens who have every right to be out on the streets, without any explanation. Sometimes we just love to walk, stand around, hang around, without looking ‘avaliable.’
Blank Noise Blog-a-thon participants 2006
Technorati tag: The Blank Noise Project blogathon
