Warriors of the Night

We name our daughters Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati; we worship the divine feminine power in the temples but oppress, repress and even attack the feminine power amidst us. That is the irony in the way India sees its women.

After the safety of the daylight fades, women are seen as easy prey by the predators of the night. We mark the nine nights of Navratri, the festival of the goddess, by celebrating the dedication and valour of nine real-life women who brave the challenges of the night to pursue their dreams. The series ends today.

The series ends today.

PART - 10

The Safety Strategy

“Don’t travel alone at night; travel in twos or keep someone informed,” says Komal Lath

Komal Lath, Founder of Tute Consult, 39

Leading an all-women team means that Komal Lath, 39, has to look out for the safety of her colleagues when they are travelling or have events to attend. The founder of Tute Consult, an integrated marketing agency, the Mumbai-bred marketing professional started working at the age of 17 years and has worked with several brands over the past two decades. After gaining experience at various agencies, she started Tute in 2010 and has had brands like Carter, Priyanka Chopra, Pixi, Victoria’s Secret and Insight as among her high-profile clients. “The profession that I am in involves a lot of networking, socialising, meeting people, having to attend social gigs which does mean that in a quite a few cases, we have late evening and travel involved,” says Lath.

While she travels in her own car, she keeps a tab on her female colleagues when they are travelling home after a late evening. “I am not very open to my team members travelling by train late in the evening or even through dark alley streets. I insist they travel by uber-backed cabs which can be traced,” she says.

Recent cases of attacks on women have worried her even more. “Nothing seems safe anymore; not a school, not a college, not public transport for sure and not even private spaces,” says Lath. She confesses to waking up dreading some distressing news about attacks on women. It’s especially concerning for her because Lath, since the inception of her company, has led an all-girls team.

Like most women, she has her share of experiences with men trying to get too close for comfort in public spaces and even miscreants misbehaving. She recounts an incident in Delhi where she had taken her team for dinner to Hauz Khas after an event. A group of men started misbehaving with them. They went back to the restaurant and had to wait until the staff arranged taxis for them to return to their hotel. “What was even more scary is that the men looked like they came from decent families because of the way they were dressed. It’s scary and worrying,” says Lath who has offices in Mumbai and Delhi.

Women, she says, must be vigilant at all times. It’s essential to keep SOS numbers handy to be able to call trusted people in an emergency. “Don’t travel alone at night; travel in twos or keep someone informed so they can check on you,” she says. Lath recommends that women, when travelling at night, must take only cabs that can be traced at all times. “Keep someone informed about where you are off to,” she says. A final piece of advice she offers is to carry a big bag, a ‘weapon’ most women have used in crowded public areas such as railway stations, malls and markets. “You never know when you need to knock someone or their parts off.”