Women, Please Be Safe!

In the light of the, rather unfortunate, events where a woman was raped in Park Street, Kolkata and 2 girls were raped by 17-18 men in the Betma rape incident, security of women (and men for that matter) have become a serious concern. I know there should be law and order to protect women, but instead of going on a debate about the same I think every woman should be concerned about their own security. After all, its better to be safe than to be sorry. So here are a list of things to remember so that you can be safe, anytime, anywhere.

1. I won't be an hypocrite, like some other people, and say that women should not go for late night parties and to discs and pubs. But should be very careful about befriending someone on their first meet, be it a man, be it a woman.

2. Do not, abso-fucking-lutely DO NOT, divulge your personal details to someone you have met for the first time. Doesn't matter if that person looks like a reincarnate of Mother Teresa or Pope John Paul, remember looks can be deceiving.

3. If you are going for a late night party, or to a disc or a pub, make sure you go in a group. If not, then make sure you arrange for your commute back home well ahead of time. DO NOT ask for lift from that guy you met at the disc, no matter how much he insists.

4. For working women, who spends more than half of their lives in office and have to stay at their workplace till the wee hours in the evening, if you are taking a shuttle make sure you look inside the shuttle first and check the passengers. It might not be a shuttle at all, the people sitting inside might not be passengers at all.

5. Try and take a window seat in a shuttle that's not empty. Try to take the seat behind the driver. That way, even if the driver tries to catch you off-guard by suddenly hitting the breaks, he would have to turn all the way around to get hold of you.

6. Do not be over-confident and become a fool.

7. Try and carry a mace pepper gun or a mace spray in your hand bag. Make sure its easily accessible considering the fact that's its very difficult to find something inside a woman's bag when required.

8. Do not post your personal details like you address, phone number, on social networking sites. It becomes very easy to stalk you with those details in hand. Even if you do post those details, change the setting so that those details are only viewable by your friends and only friends and not even by your friend's friends.

9. DO NOT befriend random people on social networking sites or in real life no matter how charming they might sound.

10. Keep your emergency number on speed dial.

11. I read about this in a magazine called Sananda and the idea seemed quite alright. Practice screaming. When at home, put a pillow on your face and scream as loudly as possible. If you have a boyfriend, or a husband, you do not need to put a pillow on your face.

12. DO NOT ask for lift from unknown cars unless its abso-fucking-lutely necessary. In that case make sure you call up someone and give that person the details of the cab over phone so that the driver can hear you and doesn't think about trying something hanky-panky even if he had it in mind.

13. Be concerned about your own security, remember that someone is waiting for you at home. Play safe.

If you have some other points to add, please do by all means.