15

Little has changed.Yes wearing the traditional Indian attire will get you respect and appreciation from the the nice Indian males.But the vulgar ones will be encouraged to treat you just like they would an Indian woman.....

16

When using public transport read a book. Wear dark glasses. Sadly. India is saddled with moribund cultures when it comes to the place of women in society. And it is difficult to see how this can be changed. I first heard of "Eve Teasing' during my first trip to India in 1970. In 2009 on my last visit incidents of 'Eve Teasing' were still appearing in the press and of course the recent 'Gauhati Incident' received blanket coverage nationwide.

17

I'm so tired of hearing about western women who have more tickets on themselves than a FA Cup scalper +"I'm young, pretty, nice figure, blonde, blue eyes, white: will anyone look at me?"*

Here's a tip, read the permanent topics at the top of this branch where this question has been done to death and get over yourselves!

18

Avoid short pants. If you keep your legs covered, and even your arms, it will be better.

19

I know and have met women who wear Burkas,too,complain of gropping and rude comments
As merantau says,there are no easy answers to change a whole cultures way of thinking.
I accept and adapt.To each woman their own choice.Best of luck.

20

My gf and I are seasoned backpackers, always dress conservatively where appropriate etc. Sometimes that just doesnt matter. But then we did make the mistake of going out for Holi.

We were in Varanasi for Holi Festival 2 days ago, where everyone gets coloured in bright dye/powders. Went for a walk down to to the ghats by the Ganges about 11am, was all happy people, a lot of elders around, everyone well behaved so we kept walking towards the main city area from Assi ghat. Had a few groups of drunk young indian guys say "happy holi" and shake our hands, had to push 2 off my girlfriend that wouldnt let her go, had 2 guys grab her chest and dragged away by their friends when i had to push them off hert, a bit freaked so we headed to the main road thinking it would be quieter and we could grab a cycle rickshaw home..
I now understand how easily gang rapes happen in india. We had to make our way thru these tiny metre wide alleyways, even with me there some guys still grabbed her, had one fight start with a guy after he walked past and grabbed her chest worse than the other guys, they blatantly just grab and laugh, sooooooo many of them did it, i only had words or pushed off the worst ones and that was many.
Got to the main road on the tuktuk, so thought we were finally safe, but ran into a parade of hundreds young of drunk guys carrying a holy man and waving 2 foot long hard plastic penises. The cycle rickshaw driver stopped and tried to tuck us in off the side and tried to stand between us and them, but between me, him and one of the guys in the parade we had to fight off guy after guy climbing up and on to the rickshaw to grab her chest, try to kiss her mouth or slam their hard plastic penises between her legs, I had 2 guys grab my sunglasses and hat and walk off so I jumped off and like all pathetic bullies they gave them straight back once they saw how much taller i was. I was off the rickshaw for about 5 seconds, and then continued to fight off drunk guys with hands fists and feet, the only thing that stopped it escalating was the sheer mass of people as the parade of guys rolled on each guy had about 30 seconds to have a go at her and tell her what they were going to do to her before the crowd movement forced them on. It was horrendous, my girlfriend was in tears and shaking trying to protect herself, we were lucky we had the 2 indian guys helping us cos if it was just me we would have been in a lot more trouble..
10am on the main street of varanasi, cops everywhere and it didnt matter. After the parade, with my gf bruised and in tears we had about 10 more minutes of guys still grabbing as we cycled past.
Females in india, dont go outside during periods of drunkenness. No matter how peaceful and fun it looks, your presence alone can escalate it beyond control.
Varanasi was lovely, sad to leave there on such a terrible note. It was a nightmare.

Edited by: twiz

Edited by: twiz

21

It is really shocking for whatever "twiz" has to go through; for just to enjoy holi festival.
I do agree people do get drunk on Holi and do misbehave with women folk; moreover on pretext of celebrating holi.

And even in Delhi (on holi), if we have to travel on foot with women with us - follow the safest path and with some men with us. Generally we do avoid it.

22

HI

Just an update- I was not harrassed in India. WE did atttract a fair bit of attention but it was inoffensive. On numerous occassions, people asked to take photos of my daughter which she found a bit strange. Once they even ripped the hat off her head so that they could get her blond hair featuring in the photo better. On my first day in India, the homestay owner directed me to buy a wollen shawl so I could cover myself really well when necessary. It actually turned out to be a fantastic buy in the cold weather.

Twiz, I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I have heard that festivals such as Holi serve as an excuse for all sorts of unacceptable behaviour.