Last week, thankfully, my office facilitated the most
important “Self Defense Workshop” for women employees. Although it was planned
for some day in March as per the theme of Women’s day, however, it took a whole month to finally organize this most
awaited workshop. At least I was looking
for it.
I don’t know how women employees (of my office) feel that
only attending a few hours session can’t help them so unexpectedly the presence
of attendees was very less, despite the fact that it’s been announced multiple
times. Honestly, I had a little relaxed
day for myself so I was determined to attend this. I couldn’t understand why others
didn’t turn up. They must be having a busy FRIDAY( I am being so optimistic
here) Even when you type self-defense, google automatically gives the
very first suggestion “self-defense for
women”. Strangely very few ladies were there to understand what literally self-defense means.
Our teacher that day, Mr.
Ankur Sharma from “Invictus Survival Sciences” kind of opened my eyes and I am sure others would also be thinking the
same. Why women take their protection for granted, is the biggest question of
our country! We squawk about crime increasing day by day, molestation cases, snatching
attempts and acid attacks; we condemn all such offenses and dump on the government for not maintaining the law and
order. I am no different. I also put my good share in reprehending our society
and lawmakers. But when Ankur asked how
many girls have any safety app in their SMART phones and how many have pepper
spray with them, none of us could nod our head.
Ankur discussed many things around being ALERT, being abused and being trapped. He gave us a much-needed insight around pepper spray, its
use, its intensity and the damage it can cause. I never knew that pepper spray
is considered as a strong weapon and in many of the countries, it is illegal to have. And see, OUR country has given a
legal pass to carry pepper spray and use it for the purpose of self-protection.
Another interesting topic was materialistic crimes. Purse/gold
chain/mobile snatching. Even though I had very closely seen my friend fighting
with the purse snatchers and the injuries she got during that juggle, I used to
think it's okay to try pulling your
belonging from snatchers. But during the session, I realized that it’s foolishness
to try getting things back from snatchers who mostly come in groups over bikes.
There were many other awakening points that Ankur put in front of us and most
of us were like “You are right (and I was
always wrong)”. In three hours, we discussed
understanding criminal’s psychology, conflict avoidance and verbal techniques
to relax situations, handling emergencies and what can be done to detect threat
or mishappenings around us.
After a few physical pieces
of training to handle circular and direct attacks, Ankur came into the
topic how heinous crimes like acid attacks, rape and honor killing get to
happen with someone. He was so correct when he said that such crime starts with petty incidences and because of our
ignorance and apprehension; they eventually trouble girls in the most horrifying
form. Even I have overlooked the abuse incidences that happened to me during my
initial days of work. I never reported them to police and not to my parents. I
used to think that these talks only disturb them. This was actually giving
confidence to the person who used to tease me (or others).
Take away from the session:
1. If you are confronted with snatch/ theft,
COOPERATE! Give the criminal what he/she asks for. Your life is more
valuable than replaceable possessions.
2. Keep emergency numbers on speed dial.
3. Safety apps should be installed and updated with
your details.
4. Pepper spray is MUST
TO HAVE thing for women.
5. Report even the petty crime incidences. This
will avoid making the foundation of a future
bigger crime.
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