' We are often called chinki because of our features'.

YESHLEY and Karma, both 18 and from Sikkim, went to school together back home and decided to study in the same college, no matter which part of the country it was in.

The two got into the BA programme in Daulat Ram College this year and are staying together at Vijay Nagar, not far from Delhi University's North Campus.

The two lead the regular life of students -- they go to college, enjoy shopping in Kamla Nagar and Lajpat Nagar, and then return home in time to watch Bigg Boss.

But when they have to go out alone, even for something as ordinary as getting milk, the two avoid it as far as possible.

" We always go out together, even if the place is five minutes away from home," says Karma.

" We've heard so much about north- eastern girls being molested in Delhi that we don't want to take chances." Their experience is not any different from that of other young north- eastern women who come to Delhi to get an education their home states do not afford them. It is their daily lot to be subjected to lewd behaviour, or worse, molestation.

The murder of 19- year- old Ramchanphy Hongray from Manipur, who was raped and killed by an IIT PhD scholar in her Munirka home on Saturday, might not ring a bell with some north- eastern students in Delhi, but they have their own unsavoury experiences to share.

Rajeshwari Oinam, a 19- yearold Zoology student at Miranda House, had a nightmarish experience at the Ridge near Delhi University, where she was first harassed and then followed by a group of young men. " I had to run to save my life," she says.

Since then, she hasn't dared to venture out alone from her Mukherjee Nagar home, not even to her college.

Chanchan, 21, BCom ( Pass) student of Laxmibai College from Manipur, has had problems with rickshaw- pullers, who often overcharge and then drop her at the wrong place. " If I ask them to drop me at Mukherjee Nagar, they'll leave me at an unfamiliar place," she says.

Chanchan has also been told in her class to go home and learn Hindi. " Our teachers often insult us, saying we don't deserve to be in a place where the majority of the people are Hindispeaking," she adds.

The other problem these young women face is racial stereotyping. " We are often called chinki because of our features," says Sonam Doima from Arunachal Pradesh, a 20- year- old who is a final- year BA student at Indraprastha College.

" It doesn't hurt so much now, but it sure did, initially." Doima has faced problems because of the clothes she wears. " I used to wear short skirts but when people started passing lewd remarks, I had to switch to jeans," she says.

Doima is still considered a Chinese.

" My classmates quiz me on my hometown and they think I'm lying," she says with a helpless smile.

Some have got accustomed to these remarks, the others, often freshers, can't take it.

" I don't call someone from Himachal a pahari or someone from Gujarat a Gujju," says Tohuto, 22, a BA first- year student at Satyawati College. " We are all Indians at the end of the day, aren't we?" It's a question boorish Delhiites must ask themselves more often.

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