blank noise

My post for the BlankNoise Project.

remember that guy Madhav who called Diane Rehm to say that in india women are worshipped? where did he live, i wonder.

every time we step out of our homes, sanat finds it hateful that people stare at me. he stares back at them pointedly and they turn away embarrassed. sometimes he says "ey, kya dekh raha hai, abey?" and they hurriedly look away while i am half-afraid of their answer, if they dare give one. he finds it offensive, rude and lewd. and he's surprised at my reaction.

i ignore. a bombay girl, growing up in that melee, hanging out of trains, pushing my way into buses, only we know what that feels like. men, by and large, do not. and stares...? well those were like breathing. you get it everywhere. bangalore is particularly adept at undressing a girl with a look. bombay has the slllsss air-sucking-thru-tongue-and-teeth sound down to a T and delhi? old gnarled hands everywhere.

but more than the actual acts, what lingers is the mental dialogue i have with these characters. i begin to think about what it must be like in their homes. their wives? heaven forbid, daughters? sisters? is anyone spared their leers? my eyes well when i think of girls orphaned in the tsunami and earthquake disasters. men... uncles... all around preying, waiting, letching, leering, sllllsssing.

but in lands where smoking guns are ignored, i guess probing eyes and feeling hands can rest assured.