Comments on: Shylaja Praveen: When Despair Replaces Anger

By: kalagam

kalagam — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:43:34 +0000

???? ???????????????????? ???????????? ??????? ??????????????????? ???? ??????? ????? ???????? ???? ?????? ??????? ?????????? ??????? ????? ????????.??? ????????? ????? ??????????.??????????????? ???? ?????????? ????????.??????? ????????? ???????? ??????? ??????????.??????,????,????????,???? ?? ????????????? ???????????????????????? ??????????. ?????? ?????? ???????? ?????? ??? ??????????? ???????????????? ?????? ?????????? ?????????

http://kalagam.wordpress.com/

By: Maya

Maya — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 06:21:26 +0000

Tried using the link to your own harassment experience but the post isn’t there any more. I think that the first person stories are the most important and oddly there are very few available. Is there any way that I can read the post?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:22:48 +0000

There are women’s organisations, commissions etc to help women but it is unfortunate to see that no one comes handy to the suferer at the time of need. If the offender to be punished there are ample evidence. One can go back to the previous banks where Bharath was working and the harassment met by women staff under him. Most of them were forced to leave their jobs by the management protecting the harasser and vicimising the victim.

Now he is back to normal life. Victim is dead and gone. All have forgotten about it, no noise made by the public or women’s organisations etc.

It is disheartening at the state of affairs.

By: bvn

bvn — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 07:23:19 +0000

disturbing…

By: arasubalraj

arasubalraj — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 16:24:24 +0000

you have got me wrong Anindita. i didn’t said it’s the solution. but i certainly mean to beat him as part of the struggle. when i say the scores are to be settled in the streets it’s not a mere muscle exercise but i mean it politically. we need to get the issue to the people if not to end up in sobbing email chains and petitions. Khairlanji would have suffered the same if the maharashtra dalits didn’t organised in the streets.first of all let the people know the case widely with agitations, dharnas but don’t stop with that. ghereo him, shout around him, file a case against him, if get a chance beat him. With all due respect on you, i quote from your own lines.
” Let’s not kid around. When you’re fighting something like sexual harassment, you cannot also play ‘nice girl’.”
hope i’ll not be misunderstood again and the debate would not get narrowed in to whether beating him is right or not.

By: sirensongs

sirensongs — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:29:57 +0000

The Deccan Herald reportage sucks, and is shocking in its judgmental terminology. This was the reported news story, and not an editorial, right? An awful lot of Indian papers do not seem clear on the distinction. They have no right to judge someone within the body of a straight news story.

Looking at the situation as an American, I am alarmed at how very often suicide appears to be the best alternative to a number of educated young Indians. To me, it certainly seems to be letting the a**holes win. My first response would be, no way in hell are they going to win this battle!

But so many women are never taught the defensive coping skills that I take for granted – as Anindita says, the ability to get angry, get aggressive and fight back.

It sucks that the woman did not feel she had enough support from a community (any community) to do this – especially considering that a “women’s group” got involved, so ineffectually. I don’t pretend to know what can be done about this….I would just love to see more women learn to fight back.

By: Anindita Sengupta

Anindita Sengupta — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 12:03:08 +0000

@cowsdung
We are thinking about what can be done. Any ideas?

@spacebar
Thanks for the link. I will post it. The comments are appalling. Just when you forget the levels of misogyny that exists, you run into something like this.

@anasuya
That’s a great idea. Would love your help with it. Will email you separately on this.

@arasubalraj
Thanks for the comment and the link. I have to disagree with the proposed solution though. We definitely need to fight — but beating up one Bharat is not going to change a system.

@Shobha
Thanks for that input. It does clarify things somewhat. But I feel (and I may be wrong, of course because none of us can know the absolute truth now) that support systems failed to instill enough confidence in Shylaja. She must have felt that filing would be worse in some way than — dying? Why did she feel that? What was she so scared of? Why couldn’t someone (in this case, Nesargi) make her feel it wouldn’t be.

This is the problem — so much of our approach in these matters is slipshod and superficial. It is NOT enough to tell a victim to ‘file a case’. She must be counseled, supported, provided with the emotional wherewithal to go through with that.

By: Shobha

Shobha — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 11:46:24 +0000

Hi Anindita….Well, I wanted to add something. I covered this story. Well, I say what Nesargi told me. Shylaja had approached Nesargi on an informal basis. She had asked Shylaja to file a complaint against the people harassing her. However according to Nesargi, it was Shylaja who decided to first write to her employers first. Following an unfavourable response from her employer, why she did not proceed further is something no one knows. According to her family members, she had put in her resignation a month before her death. They also said that the company wasn’t relieving her. I am not trying to defend Nesargi per se. Just thought that I should clarify certain things.

By: Sexual harassment in the Indian workplace | DesiPundit

Sexual harassment in the Indian workplace | DesiPundit — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:05:13 +0000

[...] Anindita reports on sexual harassment in the Indian workplace. [...]

By: arasubalraj

arasubalraj — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 05:42:07 +0000

i have cross-posted it here.
http://arasubalraj.blogspot.com/2007/09/replace-despair-with-anger.html