Delhi, a monstro-city

It is slowly getting dark in the evening and a tense Mrs Sharma is pacing up and down in her balcony. She keeps looking out of her window every two minutes towards the main gate. This is a simple story of every mother in a city called Delhi which becomes unusually dangerous once the creatures of the night go on the prowl for innocent victims. After the gruesome murder of a TV journalist last week, the city once again jolted out of its somnolence and, justifiably, got the tag of being unsafe for women. But the murdered journalist is no exception in a city like Delhi which time and again displays its regressive ethos and reduces the much touted concept like ’freedom of women’ to a sheer farce. North Delhi Plus spoke to some college going students of North Campus to find out how safe they feel while going back home in the evening after their extra classes and stay-backs for the different society activities in college. Neha Sharma, who is originally from Meerut, goes for her rehearsals after her classes finish by 3 pm. "Being part of the Dramatics Society, it is mandatory for me to stay back till late in the evening, sometimes as late as 8 pm. Getting back home definitely becomes a matter of concern. So either my brother picks me up or I take an auto with some trepidation to reach back my place without any unwanted jerks," says Neha who stays in Shalimar Bagh.But others are not as fortunate as Neha. Take, for instance, Piyali Das. Commuting from South Delhi to North Campus and on top of it staying back late in the evening for her choreography sessions is surely not a child’s play for her. "I keep hearing about incidents of murders and rapes quite frequently, which can surely rattle any young woman. But it does not mean I stop living my life, on my conditions," says Piyali with a hint of assertiveness. So how does she get back home in such an unsafe city from North Delhi? "Prevention is better than cure. If my practice sessions goes on late till evening then I prefer to stay back at my close friend’s place rather than venturing out all alone for my home at that weird hour of the day," she says.However, this is not the case with Tanya Taneja. Being a first year student of IP College, she is quite edgy when it comes to travelling alone late in the evening. "I prefer not to join any particular society which requires me to stay back late in the evening after my classes. Even if I wanted to join any of these, looking at the present scenario, my parents would have definitely asked me to reconsider my decision,’’ says Tanya. With issues of safety hogging the limelight every other day in the city, girls of North Campus have just one thing to say to the authorities that these young girls are not going to live in fear but would continue with their life as they always did in their own way. “Definitely we will take precautions but won’t let ourselves be mowed down by these predators of night," assert the young North Campus girls.