The forensic examination of the clothes submitted by the students from LSR found no traces of semen, on the 18th of April, 2018. Neither the college nor the Internal Complains Committee has commented further on the subject. Sections of the populous are and have been angry at the claim of the students. What must not be overlooked is that balloon hurling at strangers, filled with even the “purest waters” of Ganga should not be an accepted practice.
The festival of colours brings with it an increased frequency of sexual harassment cases in our ‘Mother’ land. Lobbing balloons filled with water has become a norm in the Northern part of the country. I was once hit by a balloon, en route a meeting in New Delhi, by a random stranger a few days prior to Holi. I was angry. The delinquent had no idea of my situation and felt he had the right to violate my right to personal space. As I would be pushing time if I chose to confront the person, I shrugged off the encroachment, because “Bura Na Mano, Holi Hai”, right?
While I had long forgotten this incident, the targets of recent cases in the vicinity of India’s top-ranked college for arts and humanities: Lady Shri Ram College for Women, can only hope that the scars of Holi related harassment eventually fade. The national capital truly believes in beating itself and achieving new lows. ‘Civilized’ men of modern India threw balloons allegedly filled with semen on students when they commuted to and from college. Such was the state of affairs, that when students told their friends they were hit by a balloon, the question was “I hope it was a normal one?” When the incident was reported the game of victim-shaming began. Priya Sharma, a student of the college penned down the following poem to relay her thoughts and those of many others.
अब होली मनाते हैं!
सुनो, इक बात बतानी है,
सुनो न, तुम्हे औकात दिखानी है।
ये मार के फुग्गा पानी का,
सने अपनी मर्दानी का,
जो मन ही मन मुस्काते हो, बस घटिया होते जाते हो।
जिस दरवाज़े के पार हरकत करते हो,
अब बात ज़रा अंदर की सुनो।
बूंद को ललकारा था न,
अब चीख समंदर की सुनो।
ये हमारे शरीर के कुछ हिस्सों से जो ज़्यादा ही प्यार है,
प्यारे, हर फूल इकट्ठा हो रहा है, अब बगिया तैयार है!
अब, हम खेल बदलने आ रहे हैं,
हम तख्ता पलटने आ रहे हैं,
क्योंकि अब अंदाज़ भी हमारा होगा और बोली भी,
अब रंग भी हमारे होंगे और होली भी।
जिस सड़क पे तुम्हारे हौंसले बढ़े थे, उसी सड़क पे आते हैं
आओ, अब होली मनाते हैं!
रंग आसमान से नीला हमारा,
तपिश हमारी का लाल है
अरे, अभी से घबरा गए? अभी ये हाल है?
अभी तो सड़क पर आते हैं,
आओ, अब होली मनाते हैं!
आओ, अब होली मनाते हैं!
-Priya Sharma
Read more about her here.
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