On Reddit, a 21-year-old man shared a troubling experience near the Mata Bahuchar temple in Becharaji, Mahesana, Gujarat. He said he was walking back to his hotel when a car stopped in the middle of the road.
“Mind you, I’m a guy,” the Reddit poster wrote.
A man stepped out, came at him angrily and shouted about his clothes. The youngster was wearing shorts (“half-lowers”). The stranger said such dress was not allowed there, claimed “our maa-behen (mothers and sisters) live here”.
According to the man, he never wears shorts even at home. He then threatened to beat him and boasted that the police could do nothing. He flashed an army-style tag from his car and bragged about having beaten “150 people”.
It happened about 200 metres from a police station. Far from home, the young man felt scared and helpless.
“This is the mindset? This is “culture”? And we talk about progress in India? With people policing clothes, making threats in broad daylight, and flexing about being above the law and being kattarbhakts?” the young man wondered.
“Honestly, I don’t see how progress is even possible with this kind of thinking,” he added.
Social media reactions
A Reddit user wrote that the same thing had happened to him as well, though in a different city. He loudly told the man that, if seeing his legs was making him uncomfortable, he should simply not look.
“I could see the hint of anger in his eyes but I was so ready to leg kick the hell out of his leg and give him a lifetime limp,” the user wrote.
“Thank you, Gujarat. The model state of India,” came a sarcastic comment.
Another posted, “This is how a girl feels whenever someone stares or anything aunty gossips about them.”
“Progress in India is only on paper,” came from another.
Some other social media did not empathise much with the OP as they thought he should have stood up for himself.
“Should’ve taken your shorts off and asked if that would feel more convenient for his…” wrote one Reddit user.
“Bhai, itna isme dum hota to… (If he really had that much courage, he would have either filed a complaint with the police or given him a few punches right there),” replied another.
One user pointed out the “mind you, I’m a guy” comment by the OP.
“We have just normalised moral policing women’s clothes so much that it’s sadly weird to see men too facing the same issue,” reacted another user.