“Delhi Guys are Aggressive”

Says a guy from Delhi to me.

“Yeah, no shit.” I think. This thought came after having several opportunities to meet guys from Delhi. The word ‘opportunity’ is a misnomer - I should replace that with the word ‘experience,’ as in what you go through to learn from and become adept at either confronting head on or avoiding completely at a later time.

And while my experiences have manifest into a strangely coincidental occurrence of all culprits being from Delhi, (I’m just repeating what people in India say to me!) I would encourage these practices regardless of where people originate from.
Here are my pieces of advice for fellow single women travelers:

Do not sit alone by yourself

There is a reason my male friends in Mumbai (in retrospect I had no idea how lucky I was to meet right on the onset) informed me women in Mumbai do not go out without a guy friend with them. Because men are all OVER YOU. “What’s your number? What are you doing? Let’s get a drink! Let’s go right now. Let’s go back to my place.” Um, usually in america we exchange greetings and sometimes even a few words before we go there, buddy.

Do not carry any interesting paraphernalia which could be a potential icebreaker

Do you own a kindle or a blackberry? For the love of god leave that stuff at home.

Do not feign interest in their existence whatsoever

Trying to be nice? Trying to let them down easy? Trying to act civil while discouraging their lead? Stupid you (err stupid me). You gotta just shut that shit down pronto.

If you are from a bitchy country like the UK, France, or the USA use that to your advantage

Are your people known for their rudeness, distance, or lack of humanity? I’d suggest putting that cultural smugness into full affect if you are trying to rid yourself of unwanted attention. Condescension is always a romance killer.

If you sense someone staring at you, do NOT look up or stare them down, just ignore it.

I’ve learned by unfortunate circumstances that the stare down is apparently a female breeding call – where American men would be admonished, it appears to be an invitation for conversation and paying for dinner. Do your best to avoid.

I guess traveling without your boyfriend nets you on the “available” chart for most men. I’ve actually never been very good at telling guys to go away, mostly because I’ve rarely – if ever -- had a guy approach me out of the blue. I’m not good at being rude, nor do I want to be rude, but how can you politely ask guys to just stop bothering you?