I Was Cat-called By School Boys — As If Grown Men Weren’t Enough!

I was cat-called by boys going to school as if grown up men weren’t enough.

I moved to Deoghar, a small town in Jharkhand, a few months ago. The speciality of Deoghar is, everyone stares. The phrase ‘not all men’ doesn’t seem to work here at all! As a woman, after a while, you get used to the staring and the comments, but Deoghar is like a nightmare.

Morning, afternoon, evening, night — time never matters here. Forget about crop tops and spaghetti sleeves, even wearing a salwar gets you stares. And it’s not like a subtle kind of look. They are riding pillion on a bike and turning their heads a full 180 degrees like an owl to stare at me going my own way wearing simple jeans and a T-shirt. They are gathered early in the morning at tea stalls and conspicuously nudging their friends who then turn to stare at me dressed in the most loose fitting pyjama set and returning from night duty.

These kids grow up seeing the older men and think it’s ‘okay’ to comment on any woman on the road. What is the meaning of education in English medium schools with a global outlook if that’s what they do with all the knowledge? Honestly I fear for where the world is going. The moment teenagers start cat-calling women 6-7-10 years older than them, we know it’s where the problem starts.

A request to all parents of the boys out there. Teach your child what’s wrong and right from a very young age. Only being a good role-model isn’t enough. Only sending them to good schools isn’t enough. The world they see is bad and they need to be made to realise that what they see is wrong – very wrong.

Image source: a still from the Marathi film Dahavi

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