An incident

I go for the Yog class in the morning. One man who is not a teacher takes the prayers or Pranayam in the absence of the teacher. He was teaching some women students. He makes a lot of mistakes in conducting the class or taking the Pranayam. I told him a couple of times that his instructions were wrong and we could not follow his Marathi. On checking with a fellow student, she said it was not clear and his language was inappropriate. We did not like his body language and the way he went little closer to the students than required. The students whom he was teaching were okay with it. We both talked about how he was constantly looking at those women and how they had no issues with it. I told the main teacher about this. The main teacher said everyone makes mistakes when they start teaching. The man was instructed not to come to the women's side and teach them. This man did not want to teach the male students. We could see him pursuing his own Aasan after that. 

In our class, everyday people practice their own Aasan. Once a week, a class is conducted where we do group practice. Last week, for group practice, this man was showing the Aasan. He went to this particular woman whom he has always been eyeing to teach her. The woman is always seated behind me in the class. I was doing my Aasanas in the back of the room when I saw this man go and lie down on my mat. His face was facing that woman at a distance of 12 inches. I saw from far and walked up to him. I told him to get off my mat. I told him this lady has been coming from last six months and she knows how to do Makraasan. He got up and went away. I was hopping mad. I mean how can a woman be okay with this creepy behaviour. This was the last Aasan and as soon as the class got over, I asked the woman why she was not stopping the guy and his proximity. She said she knew this Aasan which basically involves lying down on your stomach, interlinking the arms above your head and resting the head on it. The legs are spread apart with heels in and toes out. I went in the small room to keep my mat and met the main teacher there. I told him the same in front of that man. The others were also telling him that this was not appropriate behaviour. The family doctor maintained a stoic face and did not take sides. The main teacher kept looking down as he did not want to take a stand. I came out to wear my shoes. The other women thought that this man had hit me by mistake and so I was angry. The 'victim' lady, can't use that word 'victim' as she had no issues whatsoever, was waiting for me. I told her why she is not speaking up when he is coming so close to her on the pretext of teaching Aasan. The man had also come out by now and the lady was telling me to keep quiet as he was there. There are two ladies who are my friends. One is 75 year old and the other must be in her early fifties. They wanted to take up for their 'Marathi Manoos' . Oldest lady in the class told me with a sly smile that she can see my pink Bra and all can see it. I told her it is called a Sports Bra and one wears it while exercising. I could get what she was implying. She was saying that if you dress up like this in a hep fashion, you have no moral ground to tell that man anything. These two women were taking a lift with that man in his car. I walked further ahead and met two other old men from my class. They are both retired and very sweet to talk to. I shared with them the incident. They both smiled and one said he thought I was hit by mistake. They could not understand why I was getting all irritable and vocal about the incident which I was neither the victim nor the criminal.

When I reached home, a few things struck me. How does a rape victim feel? Does she want to file a complaint? How people look at her with disbelief? How if someone else takes up her cause, the society plays foul? I could see the teachers politics as he does not want to loose an old student and a part time instructor. I could see some men ignoring the incident and some choosing to look the other way. I could see only two people who were really affected by it and chose to speak up to the man and the person in-charge of the Yog class. I could see the women just moving away from the episode and some trying to blame me for the man's behaviour. The Marathi insecurity with a non Marathi was at play. How women encourage men to behave as the sexual predator and are okay with it? This man's behaviour was not just in my imagination. The other student and me have discussed it and she too got the weird vibes from that man. Was the 'victim' women so innocent with husband and children that she could not get the intentions of that man? Am I being righteous and not letting people behave the way they want to? Do I have any right to interfere ? Since nothing untoward happen, is it okay to let the man continue with his behaviour? Does someone want to put a stop to this man at this stage or wait till he gets bolder because no one is speaking up? Will the man hold a grudge against me and do I need to be careful? Can I put it behind as just an incident?