Bengaluru Chronicle

You are walking on a crowded street, window shopping with pals, when all of a sudden someone gropes you from behind. Before you know the offender has slipped away, leaving your ashamed and furious. What you do in retaliation? Stay quite or make a hue and cry?

Simran Prabhu (name changed) a software engineer encounters a similar incident a few months ago. “I was walking on MG road in broad daylight when a guy on a bike passed me by and reached out and lunged at my chest. I was shocked and couldn’t even shout back at him. My friends ran after him and caught him, but he was too strong so he escaped. After the shock settled down, all I felt was shame and sense of regret. If only I could have overcome my shock and had the presence of mind to react and give him a good kick where it hurts,” she says.

, who teaches the Israeli art of Krav Maga says that they offer short term capsules which last for six hours where women can learn basic reflex techniques to defend themselves. It is divided into three modules – Street, Home & Car. From defending yourself on the street to when someone tries to push you into a moving vehicle, they use real life scenarios, replete with real car to enact the scene. “All it takes is two hours in a week to learn and practise Krav Maga. You surely can spare two hours a week if you wish to safeguard yourself. ” says .

, Bengaluru’s Krav Maga instructor says, “Follow old wives tales. Don’t go on a lonely road and trust your instincts. If attacked, use your purse itself or the contents inside it to fight back. Use your pen or phone to poke him in the eye or other vulnerable places”.

Pepper Spray or physical assualt

The debate between using pepper spray or physically attacking your attacker is long standing one. says, “You cannot use it in closed places or windy areas as you might inhale some of it yourself. A pen is a better tool than pepper spray at such instances.”

The best defense is offense.

MYCATPRESS