I'm not your sister, mister!

Behen, right after ma, is one of the most prized possessions a person has. When you tack on a bad word or two - the curse has maximum impact. Women turn into census surveyors while being harassed and molested on the streets by asking "Ghar pe maa-behen nahin hai kya?"

Basically, in order to maintain any kind of "acceptable" relationship between genders, it has to be enthusiastically desexualised to a point that we become related to each other. All Indians are my brothers and sisters, indeed.

Every college has that couple that insisted, "Arre, but he's/she's like my brother/sister, yaar", who would be blissfully wed two years after graduation. On the other end, the Indian version of the "friendzone" is making someone your "rakhi brother/sister". This is a commitment to exchanging rakhis with Cadbury's chocolate with erotic names like "Silk," "Dark Fantasy" etc., every year. The embarrassing suggestion by Asaram Bapu that victims need to call their rapists 'bhaiya' in order to avoid the attack, makes it seem like the moment one does, a gaggle of bhaiyas will show up and whip the attacker to death with their rakhis.

When we ask a molester if he has a sister or mother at home, we are implying that if he did, he would know how to respect a woman. But is it not possible to respect a woman when she is not your sister or any other assorted relative?

It is important to respect women because they are your mothers and sisters and daughters. However, shocking as it may seem - it is entirely possible for a woman to exist in a role that has nothing to do with her relationship to others and it is entirely possible to respect her even then.

On the spectrum from "mas/behens/betis" to "khulli tijori" (not related to Deepak Tijori) there exists a whole middle ground of women that one doesn't have to make their rakhi sister or mooh boli ma or whatever filmy term du jour and who one can still enjoy a healthy, respectful non-sexual relationship with.

And let's face it, respecting a person's space, time and opinion is not complicated and does not much work either. It's a luxury we can definitely afford to be generous with, even to women who are not our family members. Maybe normalising relationships between genders can begin with that simple step.