As women we all have reached that point where we would want to cut off the hands of the guy who touches us while walking on the road or travelling in the bus or train or while we are running to catch a train or a rick or a bus. I never really had the courage to retaliate when such a thing happened although the best I could do was give a stare and I thought I was daring. The 1st time I was told to dare further was by my good friend Kalpana. A petite figure who always wore high heels and always well dressed. Once on a regular day, when we were on Dadar bridge crossing from Central railway to Western railway, a guy brushed past me and I just said a loud “hey”. Kalpana asked if he intently did that and my answer was of course. She gave me the stare of her life and asked how could you let him go then. She grabbed my hand and we ran back to that guy and she yelled some interesting words at him and that was all it took for a crowd to gather and get ready to thrash that man. That day I learnt the exact way to defend myself from such people. There was no more turning back and till date I thank Kalpana for teaching me to stand up for my dignity.

We have reached from Damini (Bollywood movie released in 1993) to Pink (Bollywood movie released on 2016) and are yet to realise that a no means no. We can say an evolution has passed by and we are yet to realise a no means no.

As a child almost every sentence they hear has the word no in it. For some children their first word is a no. However as they grow the word no becomes and stands as a negative word. Although schools and colleges teach that good manners and social behaviour is necessary why do they not harp on the fact that a respectable society needs respectable humans.

Such learning cannot be taught suddenly one day when your child is in teens or has started college. These values are to be inculcated in every child from childhood and are just as important as learning alphabets and numbers.

It is quite important that we teach our child to stand up for themselves and to respect a male and female equally.

Just as lighting diyas for Diwali is a culture, respecting and valuing people around us is an equally important culture. Teach these values to your child and do not wait for the society to do it. Remember when you teach your child the right things at the right time, your entire future generation will be in safe hands.