Dear men,
Just letting you know that it is Holi. You know that, don’t you? For you, it must be an opportune moment to dance to the rhythm of “Rang barse bheege chunar wali”, but it isn’t one for us.
The gulaal (dry colour) embraces people, irrespective of who and what they are. But, dear men, the bheegi chunri is not going to let you act on your impulse for the sake of Holi. Hurling balloons at us, and accepting it as all right is actually not all right, but all wrong.
Hands sliding down the cheek, and towards inappropriate places is, ostensibly, not appropriate. Manners, my dear men, manners. Where do you pack your manners when you decide to grab a fist full of colour and bedeck our face? And no, it doesn’t confine itself to the face alone, right? After all, bura kyun maane? Holi hai! (Why feel bad? It’s Holi). Do you see that girl dancing, and giving herself to the occasion right next to you? Of course, pull her to yourself and let your hands do the rest. After all, bura nahi manegi, kyunki Holi hai (She won’t feel bad because it’s Holi).
But, dear men, hum bura manenge (we will feel bad)! Holi is not an occasion for hooligans. Holi is not for men to leave a mental dent on us women. Holi is not an occasion for mass molestation. Holi is not a festival where perverts are born.
When you touch us, despite our unwillingness, when you force us into getting drunk with you on the pretext of Holi, when you lose your brain to your hormones, we, the women, do not see the vibrant colours of the gulaal; it is nothing but a monochromatic vision that engulfs us and stays with us for a lifetime. It is dark there, and pitch black.
No, do not assume us to be remotely weak. Because we are not. Kowtowing to your depraved ways is not what we do. Wetting our chunris for you to play with is not what we will resort to. Jeans pehenke thumke nahi lagayenge (We won’t wear jeans and dance for you). If your hands and brains start acting up, remember: we have better hands and smarter brains. Trust us when we say this, the old cell behind the bars doesn’t really smell good, and the only colour you will witness is khaki.
Kyunki, Bura na mano, Holi hai (Because don’t mind, it’s Holi)!
Yours,
Women