It’s 4:30 in the afternoon and classes have just got over for Dia Sen, a college student in Calcutta. As she waits for her bus, she has a don’t-mess-with-me scowl plastered on her forehead and her elbows stuck out on either side to make sure that no one does. “It’s my strategy to ward off molesters and other perverts,” she explains. “They like to hang out at crowded public places like buses and grope women. I’ve had my share of being felt up by weirdos. But I’ve realised that if you look mean, they don’t mess with you too much.”

But if that doesn’t deter them either, Sen’s got other tricks up her sleeve. Whipping out a pen with a sharp nib from her shirt pocket, she says, “I stab the guy with this. It won’t kill him, but it’ll teach him a lesson.” (A case of the pen being mightier than the sword.)

Sen is not alone. Sick and tired of what Sen calls “sick guys who never tire of harassing girls”, Indian women are devising their own methods of fighting the menace. “I keep a safety-pin handy,” says Simi Tandon, a Delhi college student, who is a regular public transport commuter. And Mumbai college student Vrinda Deshmukh uses an umbrella "more to keep roadside rogues at bay than the rain”.

A recent incident in which film director Anindita Sarbadhicary and actress June Maliah were chased by a group of schoolboys while the two were driving back after seeing a movie in a Calcutta multiplex, focuses attention on the importance of a proactive plan. When the boys blocked Anindita and June’s car with their own, verbally abusing them all the while, they noted down the licence plate number, called up the police and the following day, lodged a formal complaint, which, subsequently resulted in the arrest of the boys. “It is important for women to devise their own self-defence plan,” says Sarbadhicary, “because a situation of threat can arise at any time, often, when you least expect it.”

“It is vital at all times to keep the control room phone numbers of the police station in the area of your movement,” says Krishnakali Lahiri, deputy superintendent of police at the criminal investigation department (CID) in Calcutta. She agrees that a personal plan of self-defence goes a long way not only in helping women deal with an intimidating situation but also, in some cases, helps the police to track down offenders. Then there is the ‘Dial 100’ 24-hour hotline. Though this is a number for general emergencies, Lahiri says, “helping women in distress is one of its integral functions”.

Neeloo Sherpa Chakraborty of the C.I.D’s Women’s Grievances Cell in Calcutta suggests that women learn some form of martial arts, such as karate or judo, as a means of self-defence. “While it won’t necessarily mean that you can bash up all the guys the way they do in masala movies,” she jokes, “it will definitely boost your self-confidence, and that is one trait in women that molesters find intimidating, because they are essentially cowards.”

Many women in Delhi, arguably the most unsafe for women amongst the metros, rely on this “self-confidence” to help them deal with unpleasant situations. Journalist Rukmini Lamba says, “I adopt such an aggressive air that few guys dare to come near me.” But then there are those times when even that doesn’t work. Many women in Delhi, including Rukmini, carry pepper sprays. “It’s easily available in Delhi,” she points out. “It comes in a small container and you can carry it around in your purse or pocket. Most of my women friends carry it.”

Also, the Delhi police have been organising self-defence workshops for women since December 2002. Says Neeta Malhotra, inspector, self-defence. “Till date, we have had 172 camps and have trained some 20,500 women in the basics of self-defence.”

The Delhi police also organise camps upon requests from schools, colleges or even residential areas in case students or residents want to pick up a few self-defence tricks. “The sessions are conducted over 10 working days, for two hours daily,” says Malhotra.

Says R.B. Solanki, principal of Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, New Delhi, where a training camp was conducted recently, “We have made it mandatory for all freshers to attend the training programme,” says Solanki. “And the students who go through the paces say their level of confidence increases considerably and that they are less scared to walk down the streets.”

Self-confidence was also Mumbai-based film maker Bela Segal’s biggest weapon when she was growing up in an area that she describes as “trouble-prone”. Says she, “I used to swear at guys who passed lewd comments and I would go up and slap people if they got fresh with me. That would scare them off.”

Maitreyi Chatterjee, convenor of Nari Nirjatan Pratirodh Mancha, an agency involved in helping women in distress, advises women to scream, shout and swear if they are harassed. “People will try and deter you by making you feel small for acting ‘un-ladylike’, but don’t pay attention to it,” says Chatterjee.

“There are laws against sexual harassment,” points out criminal lawyer Joymalya Bagchi of Calcutta High Court, “and eve-teasing and molestation are cognisable offences.” In fact, the Indian Penal Code’s Sections 509 and 354 deal with “outraging the modesty of a woman” and “intimidating with the intention of outraging the modesty of a woman” respectively.

And while you can’t take the law into your own hand, you can certainly take charge of the situation.

With reports from Anirban Das Mahapatra in New Delhi