Yes, you. I’m talking to you,my “good man.”
You would think I’m here to criticise you, to scrutinise your worth, but I am only here to let you in on a not-so-very-important secret. But I thought you should know.
I didn’t know you were so helpless when it comes to standing next to me.
You are the father who would scold his daughter for being up late at night.
You are the brother who would scold his sister for being out with the guys after dark.
You are the uncle who would scold her niece for falling in love with the wrong person.
You are the grandfather who would scold his granddaughter for not wearing the appropriate outfit when visiting a relative.
Then where are you, my so-called “good man,” when the pretenders are teasing me on the streets, laughing at me at my workplace, rubbing against me in public places, hitting my breasts with their elbows, accidentally or not?
Where are you, my so-called ‘good man,’ when the pretenders are teasing me on the streets, laughing at me at my workplace, rubbing against me in public places, hitting my breasts with their elbows, accidentally or not?
Why don’t you stop them, my good man, my hero?
Why don’t you tell my father about what you know about my private hujur, the chauffeur who has been working for us for almost a decade, the young boy at my place apparently taking care of me?
Why don’t you tell my brother about his friends who sneak into my room under the pretense of using my bathroom, about the male cousins who knock on my door after my brother has fallen asleep?
And can you also please let my grandfather know how that other elderly “grandfather figure” of mine living at some relative’s house, who enjoys my five-year-old self’s company all alone in his room?
I know you are there, hero. Because, in some corner of the world, it is a nice place to live in. Just not where I am, apparently.
Please come.
The world needs to know what you know. Come for me. I am not strong enough. I don’t have the strength. Be my voice, my good man, my hero.
I need you.
Upoma Khan is a freelance contributor.
