"Who are they to decide what's moral and what's not? Who's to say what is Indian culture? Just because I go to a pub doesn't make me any less Indian!"

Anoushka feels if such violence can happen in one part of the country, it could happen in another. However, she won't let fear stop her from living life the way she wants to.

"I'm not afraid, because I haven't had an experience like that myself. I don't think it will happen in Bombay. But then who can tell? Look at the things that happen these days! Those boys should be beaten up and thrown into jail!"

She says the incident has left her parents extremely angry and fearful for her safety. It is one of the reasons they are apprehensive about her going out.

And when it comes to taking action, Anoushka has mixed feelings.

"People stand up for their rights and get beaten up. What can you do? I'm quite confused about it. I mean, NDTV will have their debates, but at the end it's all talk. I think, what we can do is discuss it and try to change people's mindsets. For example, if there is someone in my class who feels this is right in any way, I'd talk to him and try to make him see that it is not. Since I'm studying filmmaking, I might want to make a film on it."

Attack on women: Raise your voice NOW!

'Earlier I could go home late, now I have a deadline'

Aarthi, a young girl working in the media industry in Mumbai, has strong ideas about what the youth should do to stop this kind of harassment.

"The only constructive thing we can do is to reach out to the media. They are the only people who can take our message to the masses. And that message is that no one should interfere in our personal lives. The Internet is the medium where we can protest. Put up a message board. Collect the messages and show it to the people. Send it to the government. They will have to listen to us," she says passionately.

If Aarthi had her way, the perpetrators of this violence would be punished severely. "The government should ban these parties. They should be declared illegal. Only such stringent action will deter them. Kudos to the Hyderabad cops who shot dead three goons who threw acid on young girls. Nobody will throw acid in Hyderabad for the next 100 years. The girls will be safe there."

While this passionate girl fervently defends her right to go to pubs, she does admit that her parents have been shaken and frightened by the whole incident.

"Earlier I could go home late, now I have a deadline," she explains.

"I felt very bad when I saw that scene," Aarthi adds. "Here anyone can take the law into their own hands and nobody can do anything about it. What is this nonsense about promoting culture? Were those goons promoting culture? They were just beating up young girls. All over the country this is an issue. The moral police, they call themselves. They are goons!"

Image: A scene in a Mumbai pub. Image published for representational reasons.

Previous

|

Next