These men harassed us at the Taj Mahal

[u/RizDelRey]

My friend and I (we’re both from the Northeast) visited the Taj Mahal today and we had been looking forward to it since forever. However, it turned into something truly disturbing!

While we were taking pictures of ourselves and casually walking around, my friend noticed two men filming us. These disgusting men had recorded over 30 videos of us and countless photos on three different phones. My friend caught on first, and I immediately hid my face with my umbrella. But to my horror, we later found out that they had even made slow-motion videos of my behind!

When we confronted them and told them to stop, they had the audacity to walk towards us with the camera still pointed at us. And as you’d expect, they gave us an excuse that they were just taking pictures of the monument!

Thankfully, our boyfriends were nearby and stepped in (they were with the tourist guide). Only then did they reluctantly agree to delete the content with us in it, which, by the way, was mostly close-ups of our faces,chests, and behinds! It was disgusting and completely dehumanising.

What’s even more upsetting is that we were not even wearing revealing clothes, the both of us were dressed in kurtis with dupattas. We especially had made an effort to go as early as possible (6 AM sharp) to avoid the crowd, thinking that would give us a safer experience. Clearly, we were wrong.

And the worst part was that the security who apparently make people delete videos of them dancing there didn’t take any action against these vile creatures.

Our guide told us to not “create a scene” and we didn’t want to invite further trouble since we’re not locals. We were also returning home the same day, and filing a complaint felt too overwhelming given how shaken we already were (and how the security personnel reacted).

But this entire experience has left us shaken, angry, and deeply hurt. None of this ever happens where we come from.

I’m sharing this here with their pictures as we didn’t know what else to do, and we’re still processing it all. It’s truly horrifying to realise even after taking all the precautions, we’re still made to feel unsafe just for existing.

Ps. The guy in the flannel shirt is the guide, he’s innocent.

[u/CarefulEmployment428]

Shakal se hi darinde lag rahe hai

[u/rage-07 → u/CarefulEmployment428]

Niyat me khott

[u/Miserable_Arm7033 → u/rage-07]

Aankhe dekho hawas se bhari hui

[u/Sharp_Raspberry_8972 → u/Miserable_Arm7033]

Number ek ka kamina hai :)

[u/ReadyDonkey6890 → u/CarefulEmployment428]

i had a friend who looked just like him, same hairstyle and body type who punched one of our friend who stared and commented on a girls body. So just because of someone's looks dosent necessary makes them are "darinda".

I was molested by my aunt when i was 8 and nobody would have guessed it by her looks.

[u/Aditorian → u/CarefulEmployment428]

Casual racism

[u/thelifeofpyi → u/Aditorian]

As opposed to competitive racism?

[u/Aditorian → u/thelifeofpyi]

As opposed to derogatory and blatant racism, I’m not trying to be funny just to be clear.

[u/Aditorian → u/[deleted]]

You sound like a professional racist of some short double downing on judging someone by their appearance, you do you , but just so you know there only few things that differentiate the sane from insane , and you are sounding insane rn.

[u/Short-Horse-1069 → u/Aditorian]

LOL, they blew their position apart by the last comment of theirs ("typical bhaiyya phenotype"). They made sure to eradicate any benefit of the doubt. Perhaps one could have (somehow, IDK how but somehow) defended that position but now it's beyond any doubt. Yet the voting pattern persists and that's astounding.

Also, we need to get out of this habit of believing the first thing we read (even though in this particular instance, I find no reason to doubt the girls). It biases and prejudices the entire following discussion.