It is a sad story…typical of incidents that are not uncommon in some Pakistani cities/towns, as well as in some parts of India, especially northern India (and Delhi in particular). To read the first-hand account of sexual harassment narrated by a young woman/writer in the blog the Pakistan Spectator please click here…
Shockingly, many incidents of harassment take place in full public view. Many times the police is are silent spectators and least helpful (something to do with lack of proper sensitization/training on the subject and cultural reasons).
It is not that the leaders in the two countries are not aware of this shocking state of affairs. But even in their own minds this subject seems to be low down in their list of priorities. Did someone say we recently celebrated “International Year of the Woman”???? The media reports such incidents (one wonders whether only to titillate their audience). Their seems to be no concerted effort to create public awareness on this issue.
There have been incidents in India when the culprits were resoundingly thrashed or even lynched. The public is increasingly taking the law in its hands because the state machinery is not doing enough to check the growing menace.
Another dimension that deserves attention is the fact the before the partition of India into two in 1947, Indian and Pakistani cities (and big towns) had areas informally earmarked where prostitution was socially accepted. The logic was that it was better that the “drain flowed in one known part of the city”. Now with the sweeping ban on prostitution “the drain has begun to flow in different parts of the cities.”
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.