Most women do not want this

By Sumitro Chatterjee, Corporate lawyer and a true Delhi boy.

Perception, it’s a dirty word. The process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. Most humans are very bad at interpreting. We interpret how a woman is, just by looking at her or hearing things about her. She may be the most religious in her heart or the most caring, but if she thinks freely a large population will characterize her as they perceive. What is most interesting to observe is the behavior of the male sect who will go to same parties, gaze at the same girls with short dresses, and want to dance with them and if they get to chat her up then maybe take her back home. In a city like Delhi to achieve the conclusion of my previous statement is a rare occurring, and on not achieving the end men drink more to satisfy their ego and numb their brain and in their drunken confidence recount to their male dominated sausage fest about the loose thread holing her moral fiber (aka 'she is a whore') . In our city if you go to any nice club a sight often seen is where a girl or a group of girls are being closely protected by their male counterparts and rightly so as the others staring are mostly savages and having an intelligent conversation with them will make pigs fly! However, sometimes there are men who are genuinely interested in talking to a lovely lady. In this situation let’s call her male counterparts; protecting her from preying eyes; the 'protection group'. This protection group doesn't take it very sportingly when another alpha male preys in their territory and this leads to easily recognizable sounds of hostility from them. Now the problem starts when the woman is also willing to talk to this stranger. The protection groups do not fancy such an act and in most cases call her a slut or a woman with low moral values. It is funny to analyze such a situation as most likely these men are frustrated and/or are looking to get off with this woman. They are also many a times 'close' friends.

Lately, I have notice a tilt towards the better, where in some very high ended places men and women both interact freely with no judgment of any sorts. This is a rarity and is like the paradise of what most like minded dream about. This mentality will not change in one day as this stigma has the reach of the highest class and has a good ring to it! This perception sounds like you are trying to 'protect' women and in their benefit. The reality is that most women do not want this kind of protection; they want the freedom to walk the streets when it’s a full moon, dance when it rains and whistle when India wins.

Every human being wants to interact and showcase their personality to whosoever is interested. Let us not bound them with our chains of perception!