Doorbell rings one fine morning.

I went to open the door and I saw my society president and secretary standing at the gate. I was in a deep sleep and so was in my night dress. The secretary asked me if I have any complaint against the “Bachelor boys” staying next to our flat. I said, we hardly stay in flat and moreover when we stay, we either cook and eat and sleep. However, there was one incident that took place on our initial days when we shifted in. One night, when I was in office, my roomie saw one of those boys trying to peep in from the window and putting flash light inside our flat.

Next question came, why did we not report the same to the society.

I told them, we work in night shift and when we are awake the society sleeps and when we sleep they are awake. So honestly we did not get the time and also as we came to the society recently, so we don’t know who is president and who is the secretary.

Now, there comes the scene that made them so concerned about us(not really)!
Last night, one of those boys came and started ringing our doorbell. Of course, we were lucky that we were not there but in office (Night shift be the saviour). The guy was drunk till throat, and when he was asked the reason behind his behaviour, he said, “these girls smoke cigarettes, they wear short clothes, they come back home late night. So there is nothing wrong if we take them for granted!”

Strange? But yes, this is true!

I told the secretary and president, whatever we do, that is not disturbing anyone. And these things don’t make any sense that it is an invitation for those boys to come up and embarrass us. Now, let’s get into a deeper discussion. Our society president is an old man aged between 60-65. He is a retired Govt. employee and he wants each and every people entering the society to respect him and salute him. Our secretary is a single working woman, running her own business now, has worked in a software company for the past ten years.

They came back with 4-5 more people in the evening and said that we should follow society’s norms and conditions to stay in society. After a few days of this incident, they held up a meeting and they have decided all the bachelors to move out of the society, cause if something wrong happens, they cannot take the responsibility. As our owner stays in the US, the secretary of the society was the one to speak for him and yes I am glad that she spoke for us. President conveyed the message that we wear inappropriate clothes, come back home at late night with boys and those boys misbehaved with him. So, the society norms state that we should dress up appropriately, else those boys are getting provoked and hence they are going out of control.

Yes, we wear short clothes cause we feel comfortable in that. We smoke cause it gives relaxation to us. We come back late at night cause we work in night shift that ends at 3 am. Hardly any of our friends come in flat cause none of us has time. But, guess what! The president was successful to convince the society that our dress up is the reason those boys got the invitation from. Our schedule provokes them. And my owner asked us to dress up appropriately and not to bring in friends to the flat, wherein before moving into the flat he clearly said that there are no restrictions for us. Even though we wear saree or kurti, those boys still stare at us, and even when we wear short clothes, the dear darling president also stares at us. He must be concerned for us, I guess!

Till date, I never knew that any society has any rules for the residents’ dress codes.

In the same morning, one news went viral that a 1.5 years old girl child was raped by her own uncle. I am still wondering how the hell on earth that baby girl provoked and invited him!

How responsible people we have around us all the time! No matter what we girls are always to be blamed by society. We still live in a society, where raping a girl who is under 18 is ok, but punishing a rapist who is under 18 is not. We live in a society, where aunties are saying that we girls are inviting guys to rape us by wearing inappropriate clothes. Where a short only flaunt our legs, their saree still reveals their whole belly and still, our dress is to be blamed. Yes, I can go ahead and lodge a case of harassment, however, I know none is going to stand with me and somehow those society people will come up together and prove that we were wrong.

I am sure, all the people have watched the movie named “Pink” but still, nobody got the inside message from the movie. Even though the girl had no fault, and just because she was friendly and goes to the party and wear short clothes, did not mean she invited anyone. Before teaching a girl to dress appropriately, it’s high time, we teach the guys to behave appropriately! Until and unless this society people change their thought, a newborn baby will also be provoking, so the one inside the burkha and so the one wearing short clothes.