A photograph shared by Kareen Tamang on Facebook is going viral. The photograph, posted on January 23, shows a Mizo girl readjusting her traditional sarong (Puan).
The beautiful girl in the picture, clicked by Sawmtea Pachuau, is unfazed by the camera and nor people around her seemed to be bothered about a young girl adjusting her cloth in public. Rightly so.
But, what’s set apart in the post by Kareen Tamang is the message that accompanies the beautiful photograph.
“This picture made me think a long thought, thought about the mentality of the mainland Indian men. As is visible, the Mizo man in the picture is not even aware of the girl tying her puan right in front of him. Mizo women do that all the time anywhere. It’s as plain and simple an act as adjusting your shirt collar. But had it been done elsewhere in India, men would look at her lustfully and some would even look for a chance to molest her. Men in India need to re-adjust their mind!,” she wrote.
Her strong words were appreciated by many. But there were others who pointed out facts about crime against women in Mizoram. Her post was shared more than 4,000 times gathering more than 20,000 likes.
While the “Indian men” portion didn’t down too well with some, others ignored the details and rather focused on the fact: The girl was just adjusting her cloth, like men adjust their trousers. So why any unwanted attention?
“Kareen. You have written very contrasting statements. Mizoram is also India. To say that men need to change their attitude towards women in India would be right. To exclude men from Mizoram out of this issue would be wrong (sic),” wrote Monalisa Saikia – one of the top comments.
