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Stupid hole
A solo woman traveller from Poland has shared a troubling video from her recent trek in Himachal Pradesh, where she was followed by a man who allegedly insisted on clicking pictures with her despite her refusal.
Kasia, a travel content creator who goes by the username jenesaisquoi_x on Instagram, posted the video showing a man trailing her while she descended a mountain near her guest house.
In the caption, she wrote, “I was pretty sure he was asking me to take a picture of him, but turned out he wanted to take a picture of me. I said no, because I didn't feel like stopping for a chat and taking pictures, I wanted to be in my own space. After so much time spent in India and so many selfies taken with strangers that include small talk, I really don't feel l want to do this anymore.”
Typical Indian male being Indian
She added that after she declined, the man did not back off. Instead, he followed her and shouted in Hindi. Feeling unsafe, Kasia began recording the interaction. In the video, she can be heard telling the man, “I don't want to take a picture with you. Can you stop following me? I don't like this.”
As soon as he noticed the camera, he averted his gaze and walked away.
The post quickly gained attention before she turned off the comments.
In the post, she also wrote, “I am not an animal in the zoo to look at and take pictures, it's so uncomfortable. To some Indian men - don't be a creep. We, foreign women, don't want to feel like meat. Staring at us weirdly is not going to make us want to talk to you. I am not an object. Let me be.”
While the incident left her shaken, Kasia clarified that she would continue travelling solo and that her post was not meant to generalise or discourage others.
In a follow-up post, she wrote, “There is a saying that goes - India is not for beginners. My intention wasn't to scare women, or to put a bad name on the whole nation. My intention was to show an example of what to not do when you're a man, raise awareness. Doesn't matter if you're an Indian, a Croatian or British.”
She said she thought long and hard before uploading the video. “If we don’t address the issue and talk about it, nothing will change.”
Stupid hole
A solo woman traveller from Poland has shared a troubling video from her recent trek in Himachal Pradesh, where she was followed by a man who allegedly insisted on clicking pictures with her despite her refusal.
Kasia, a travel content creator who goes by the username jenesaisquoi_x on Instagram, posted the video showing a man trailing her while she descended a mountain near her guest house.
In the caption, she wrote, “I was pretty sure he was asking me to take a picture of him, but turned out he wanted to take a picture of me. I said no, because I didn't feel like stopping for a chat and taking pictures, I wanted to be in my own space. After so much time spent in India and so many selfies taken with strangers that include small talk, I really don't feel l want to do this anymore.”
Typical Indian male being Indian
She added that after she declined, the man did not back off. Instead, he followed her and shouted in Hindi. Feeling unsafe, Kasia began recording the interaction. In the video, she can be heard telling the man, “I don't want to take a picture with you. Can you stop following me? I don't like this.”
As soon as he noticed the camera, he averted his gaze and walked away.
The post quickly gained attention before she turned off the comments.
In the post, she also wrote, “I am not an animal in the zoo to look at and take pictures, it's so uncomfortable. To some Indian men - don't be a creep. We, foreign women, don't want to feel like meat. Staring at us weirdly is not going to make us want to talk to you. I am not an object. Let me be.”
While the incident left her shaken, Kasia clarified that she would continue travelling solo and that her post was not meant to generalise or discourage others.
In a follow-up post, she wrote, “There is a saying that goes - India is not for beginners. My intention wasn't to scare women, or to put a bad name on the whole nation. My intention was to show an example of what to not do when you're a man, raise awareness. Doesn't matter if you're an Indian, a Croatian or British.”
She said she thought long and hard before uploading the video. “If we don’t address the issue and talk about it, nothing will change.”
