Yesterday I suffered a panic attack as I saw my daughter step out of the house. She planned to catch the metro to meet friends in Gurgaon. I was fine with that. She would be back before dark - and that was reassuring. So what was my problem?
I had read the morning papers. Some days ago a young college girl had been shot dead in an area crowded with people. A few days later the killer has been nabbed. What worried me was that being in a crowded public space did not protect her. Whether any bystanders tried to help her or not is another question.
So the culprit is behind bars - why was I still panicking?
Possibly because, unlike the vociferous banner wielding protesters - I do not blame the police. I see the eve teasers and stalkers as frustrated testosterone charged men who do not know what it is to be friends, or have relationships with a member of the opposite sex. They get their behavioral cues from bollywood and tollywood film heroes. Or possibly an equally misguided peer group.
They look at women and do not see a person.
That is why when my daughter was going out I wondered if I should call her back and ask her to change into a long ugly sack - on the vague offchance that the metro would be full of more smartly dressed women who would take that perverted potential stalker, or plain old eve teaser's attention away from my child.
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