Experiencing stalking or anything to that effect is something that is always a traumatising event. And what’s more, is having the courage to confront it and talk about it. Swara Bhasker recently came out and spoke about how she had also been a victim of stalking and how the experience deeply affected her. This was even before she really became a star, which goes on to prove that anyone can experience it and not only celebrities.
Swara has always been someone who is vocal about her opinions and has never been afraid to speak up for what is right. MX Player’s web series called ‘Hello Mini’, which released on the 1st of October gives people who have experienced this trauma a voice. While talking about how such a show is so important, Swara spoke about her own story and how scared and nervous it made her feel.
She said:
I think the experience of being stalked is one of the scariest things that can happen to a person in their lives. I had a stalker in college once and I was surprised to see how nervous, scared and uncomfortable he made me. He would just keep following me and staring at me from a slight distance. He would just ceaselessly be lurking in my line of vision- non-stop. And actually, I had no reason to fear because our university was super safe for women and my parents lived on campus – so at a rational level I knew I was safe. But that’s the thing with stalking- it can turn your safest spaces into sinister seeming, fearful ones. One day the stalker showed up at my house at 6am and confronted my parents and asked for me and said he was in love with me. My parents were quite taken aback as well but sent him off politely.
Being the person she is, she says she finally confronted him and felt her fear for him disappear. Se even made sure to say hello to him whenever she saw him thereafter. Swara rightly adds that it is always romanticised in our cinema and how irresponsible that is. Way to go, Swara!