After months of plans made and postponed, on 24th Feb 2013, my friend Dipannita and I finally went 'Book Shopping' at the Daryaganj sunday market, near Chandni Chownk, Old Delhi.
Known for paperback books piracy of a kind, its a paradise for book lovers. Although i love brand new original books but what to do when your heart yearns for reading and the pocket's mostly empty.
Anyway, on Sunday i woke up with the excitement of going to old Delhi and dressed like a hippie, in a colorful skirt and a green hoodie with birds and trees on the back and a backpack to fill loads of books.
Met Dipannita at Chandni Chownk metro station and we headed off towards the dingy streets of Old Delhi. The shops were mostly shut but you can never find the streets empty.
I stopped to ask for directions when a man who seemed drugged tried to touch my ass, i turned quickly and gave him a sharp look and he backed off. I wondered why i did not create a scene. Anyway we moved on and almost all the men did something to ruin the walk. They would stare and lick their lips, they would pass by repeating excerpts of our conversation, stop and wait for us to pass and then walk behind us, stand in a group and pass lewd comments.
We kept going as if nothing was happening around us, trying to be alert yet focusing on our conversation. I wonder why we did not turn around and slap those jerks. I guess we always try to keep ourselves safe first instead of risking it by reacting and moreover there were too many of them.
I had never felt so humiliated in the visits before. I had a serious urge to cut off their balls.
We kept walking, trying to enjoy the old architecture and history. Finally when we asked someone the way, we were told that the market was closed because of the Hyderabad blasts. DAMN IT ! We kept cursing our fate and looked at each other, brokenhearted. DAMN IT !
We confirmed with more people and then finally decided to find the next love of our lives - Food. Since Karims was too full, we went to Al Jawahar to eat instead. Had our meals with the humiliation ringing in our heads and finally bursting out by talking about the issues related to that.
While killing our appetite along with the conversation, i noticed that the boys waiting tables had a peculiar smile on their faces, almost romantic. We all know that old Delhi is held in time with pros and cons but this was new to me. Recent events have made us think deeply about male behavior in India.
After eating Seekh Kababs and Chicken Tikka and Phirni, we went to Jama Masjid. I had never been their before but heard so much about it. As we entered, two policemen sat on their chairs, with their fake aviators on, sleeping. On the stairs, countless beggars mixed with fancy DSLR owners, capturing the irony of the state.
We went in and roamed about the whole place, it looked like a picnic spot. Most of the women were completely covered and many were forced to wear a gown at the entrance. But no one questioned "Why men still stare?" It was a question i so desperately wanted to ask the Masjid guard who wasn't letting women wearing half sleeve shirts, enter.
Suddenly we heard a foreigner shouting on the top of his voice ' This is a mosque for god's sake'. His friend added ' This is the place of worship !'. We hurried to check on what was going on and by then the foreigners were yelling at the guard ' You are the disgrace for India'. The guard grinned and replied with a stubborn 'Ya Ya Ya'. Turns out he wasn't letting a black woman enter the place even though she was wearing a kurta and a shawl. She wanted to leave but her friends encouraged her and they entered anyway.
Me and Dipannita were enraged by the mistreatment. We were asked by the guards to move on. Instead of that we went on to read the board that gave instructions to the visitors. It stated - No shoes, No half sleeves or sleeve less, etc and therefore there was no point asking the old guard, 'Why men still stare'? We finally decided to leave the place and head home. With the backpack still empty but the mind buzzing with old and new questions, we parted ways, not with hopelessness because hope need not be expressed in words, its always been a mutual understanding of the ones who will never give up.
Known for paperback books piracy of a kind, its a paradise for book lovers. Although i love brand new original books but what to do when your heart yearns for reading and the pocket's mostly empty.
Anyway, on Sunday i woke up with the excitement of going to old Delhi and dressed like a hippie, in a colorful skirt and a green hoodie with birds and trees on the back and a backpack to fill loads of books.
Met Dipannita at Chandni Chownk metro station and we headed off towards the dingy streets of Old Delhi. The shops were mostly shut but you can never find the streets empty.
I stopped to ask for directions when a man who seemed drugged tried to touch my ass, i turned quickly and gave him a sharp look and he backed off. I wondered why i did not create a scene. Anyway we moved on and almost all the men did something to ruin the walk. They would stare and lick their lips, they would pass by repeating excerpts of our conversation, stop and wait for us to pass and then walk behind us, stand in a group and pass lewd comments.
We kept going as if nothing was happening around us, trying to be alert yet focusing on our conversation. I wonder why we did not turn around and slap those jerks. I guess we always try to keep ourselves safe first instead of risking it by reacting and moreover there were too many of them.
I had never felt so humiliated in the visits before. I had a serious urge to cut off their balls.
We kept walking, trying to enjoy the old architecture and history. Finally when we asked someone the way, we were told that the market was closed because of the Hyderabad blasts. DAMN IT ! We kept cursing our fate and looked at each other, brokenhearted. DAMN IT !
We confirmed with more people and then finally decided to find the next love of our lives - Food. Since Karims was too full, we went to Al Jawahar to eat instead. Had our meals with the humiliation ringing in our heads and finally bursting out by talking about the issues related to that.
While killing our appetite along with the conversation, i noticed that the boys waiting tables had a peculiar smile on their faces, almost romantic. We all know that old Delhi is held in time with pros and cons but this was new to me. Recent events have made us think deeply about male behavior in India.
After eating Seekh Kababs and Chicken Tikka and Phirni, we went to Jama Masjid. I had never been their before but heard so much about it. As we entered, two policemen sat on their chairs, with their fake aviators on, sleeping. On the stairs, countless beggars mixed with fancy DSLR owners, capturing the irony of the state.
We went in and roamed about the whole place, it looked like a picnic spot. Most of the women were completely covered and many were forced to wear a gown at the entrance. But no one questioned "Why men still stare?" It was a question i so desperately wanted to ask the Masjid guard who wasn't letting women wearing half sleeve shirts, enter.
Suddenly we heard a foreigner shouting on the top of his voice ' This is a mosque for god's sake'. His friend added ' This is the place of worship !'. We hurried to check on what was going on and by then the foreigners were yelling at the guard ' You are the disgrace for India'. The guard grinned and replied with a stubborn 'Ya Ya Ya'. Turns out he wasn't letting a black woman enter the place even though she was wearing a kurta and a shawl. She wanted to leave but her friends encouraged her and they entered anyway.
Me and Dipannita were enraged by the mistreatment. We were asked by the guards to move on. Instead of that we went on to read the board that gave instructions to the visitors. It stated - No shoes, No half sleeves or sleeve less, etc and therefore there was no point asking the old guard, 'Why men still stare'? We finally decided to leave the place and head home. With the backpack still empty but the mind buzzing with old and new questions, we parted ways, not with hopelessness because hope need not be expressed in words, its always been a mutual understanding of the ones who will never give up.
