In a world of men
One of the first things I noticed here in Paharganj, Delhi was the abundance of men on the street and the lack of female companionship. With the exception of foreigners, I would say the ratio is about 90% men to 10% women. The odds are a little brighter in New Delhi but not much.In this part of Delhi, the men seem to hold all the available positions dealing with the public. Shops, restaurants, food stalls, etc. are all run by men.
As a female traveller, it can get a bit unnerving, especially since it is well known that many foreign women get harassed here in one form or another. We read in our book that we have the right to slap or punch them if we feel we have been harassed. Good to know.
We witnessed a showdown between a local woman and a man the other day. The guy got off his bike and accidentally bumped into the woman. She turned around and stared him to the ground. The guy kept apologizing profusely and she eventually left. Ian and I were wowed.
Then, my showdown came. We were in the Palika Bazaar, an underground market and this guy bumped into me. It totally took me off guard and I turned around and gave him the death stare. The guy kept apologizing and eventually left. It was nice to know my death stare has some effect when I need it.
Unfortunately, this doesn't work all the time. Sometimes, it's difficult to tell if someone bumps into your butt by accident or if it was intentional. I don't want to mistakenly slap someone who accidentally bumped into me. But then again, Ian said he's never been bumped into .... hmmm.
posted by Jenni @ 5:13 AM
3 Comments:
you guys are in india -- amazing! seriously if you get harassed, don't hesitate to use those killer tkd moves i know you can do...
and anyway, 90/10 ratio -- it's really no different than waterloo engineering!
haha ... true enough with the engineering comment. although rubber necks weren't quite as common there. :P
sure they were, you just didn't notice... nor did you notice ian giving them the death stare back! :D
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