NEW DELHI – Female students in India’s capital Delhi are protesting againstharassment during the popular Hindu festival of Holi. The BBC’s NikitaMandhani spoke with them about their experiences.
Holi, a spring festival, is celebrated in many parts of India by peoplethrowing coloured powder and water at each other. But some women say theirexperience of the festival is far from the romantic representationspromoted by Bollywood and tourist accounts.
“As you grow older, Holi becomes the time when you start realising thatyour body is an object,” says Gurmehar Kaur, a student at Delhi university.
Several female students at the university told the BBC that they are scaredof walking on the streets near their college campuses around Holi becausethey are hit by water balloons, mud or eggs.
A few days before the festival, Avidha Raha, was travelling in an autorickshaw when a liquid-filled balloon hit her in the chest and exploded.
“I don’t know what it contained; it was sticky and slimy,” Ms Raha says. “Ifelt disgusted.”
When she heard stories of students who had been attacked with”semen-filled” balloons, she soaked her t-shirt in water for two days.
Another student, Tolino Chishi, posted on Instagram on 27 February,claiming that someone had thrown a “semen-filled balloon” at her. The postwent viral, triggering a few anti-harassment protests within and around theDelhi University campus.
While it’s unclear how the students knew that the substance in theseballoons was semen, being hit by balloons filled with coloured water is notnew.
“On my way back from the protest, I was hit by a water balloon,” saysRaginee Samarah. “There were two boys on a bike who sped off after doingthat.”
None of this is limited to Delhi. Women in cities and villages acrossnorthern India are anxious about leaving their homes during Holi. The dayis often used as an excuse by strangers – mostly men – to smear them withcolour or throw water at them. People often drink “bhang”, a liquid form ofcannabis, on Holi, increasing the chances of women encountering groups ofintoxicated men.
Women who spoke to the BBC said they enjoy celebrating Holi with family andfriends and embrace the joy that surrounds it. But they added that somekinds of behaviour under the guise of celebration was still unacceptable.
“You cannot just throw anything and everything on strangers without theirconsent and say – bura na maano Holi hai (Don’t feel bad, it’s Holi),” MsRaha says.
Ms Raha and others have filed a police complaint against men who have beenflinging balloons at women for more than a week, leading to policepatrolling the area around the campus.
“There is rampant normalized everyday sexual harassment in the name ofculture,” says Avantika Tewari, an alumna of Delhi University. “Wheneveryou try to raise a demand of security on campus, the institutions imposemore regulations on you.”
Ms Tewari is a member of a collective that has been protesting againstdifferent hostel deadlines for men and women – some women’s hostels locktheir gates as early as 6:30pm, forcing students to return by then.
But campaigners such as Ms Tewari say that the idea that enforcing suchdeadlines will keep women safe is flawed.