A guy tried to touch me or snatch my phone at 4:30 AM in a new city. Did I do the right thing?
So today something really weird happened.
Around 4:30 AM, I was on my way to the railway station to pick up my mom. I was standing at a chowk waiting for a tempo, but none were coming, so I booked a Rapido. While I was waiting, a guy on a scooter came and stopped a little behind me. He felt a bit suspicious, but I didn't pay much attention because I was checking how far the train had reached.
A few seconds later, he suddenly started his scooter, drove very close to me, and stretched his hand toward me. Honestly, I still don't know if he was trying to touch me or snatch my phone—it happened so fast. My first reaction was to yell and abuse him loudly. He stopped a little ahead, shouted back, and I told him to come back if he had the guts. Instead, he made a U-turn around the circle, passed in front of me again, and then left.
For a second, I was genuinely scared. This is a new city for me since I'm here for my studies, and I had no idea who this person was. My Rapido arrived a few moments later, and I left.
The whole incident made me realize how vulnerable people can feel in isolated places, especially early in the morning. It honestly gave me a small glimpse of what many women probably experience regularly, and that's a horrible feeling.
I keep thinking that maybe I should've thrown something at him or tried to stop him. But then I realized I'm alone in a new city. I don't know who he was, whether he had friends nearby, or even if he had a knife or a gun. After hearing about so many violent incidents recently, I didn't want to take that risk. I also thought about my family.
The worst part is that everything happened so quickly that I couldn't even see his scooter's number plate. My eyes just froze, and I was full of adrenaline and anxiety.
I'm a guy, and this happened to me. I still don't know whether he was trying to snatch my phone or touch me, but whatever his intention was, it wasn't normal.
So I wanted to ask you all—what do you think? Did I handle this the right way, or is there something else I should have done in that situation?