Did you know that Delhi has 2,500 lady bouncers? And did you know that the first female bouncer in India is Mehrunissa Shaukat Ali (who works at the Social in Saket, an upscale locality in south Delhi) hailing from Saharanpur in Western UP? These and other interesting factoids are studded within Saman Husain’s fascinating article on the lady bouncers of NCR. Ms Husain’s text packs a punch as well:
“As more Indian city women step out into crowded public spaces and busy nightclubs, a new profession has begun taking shape alongside. That of lady bouncers. They are big, bold and tough-talking. They compete for space in predominantly masculine spaces like IPL matches, music concerts and watering holes.”
Interestingly, until a few years ago these women labelled ‘guards’ rather than ‘bouncers’. Ms Husain explains: “The shift to the word bouncer has mattered: it signals legitimacy and brings a measure of respect.
Explaining the shift in Language, Women’s Rights Activist Jagmati Sangwan said that just ‘guard’ is a vague, umbrella term — anyone protecting anything can be called a guard.
“Bouncer sounds like a more specialised, professional role, and it has long been associated with masculinity. That is perhaps why many women initially preferred calling themselves guards rather than bouncers.”
The star of the article is the lady who is responsible for the word ‘guard’ being dropped in favour of the title ‘bouncer’ – Mehrunissa Shaukat Ali from Saharanpur. Saman Husain’s article gives us several glimpses of Mehrunissa’s mental strength and clarity of thought. We quote from Ms Husain’s piece at length so that you too can draw as much inspiration from Mehrunissa Shaukat Ali as we did:
““I wanted to join the Army or the police, but my family was reluctant to let me work; my younger sister got married at the age of 12, and in their opinion, they felt that it was high time that I get married too,” she told ThePrint.
Saharanpur, she said, had its own rules for girls…“Whether Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian — everyone believed the same thing: raise your daughters, and as soon as they turn 12 or 13, get them married,” Mehrunissa said, adding that education for girls in her society was only ornamental.
“Even if they did educate them, it was only enough to teach them societal mannerisms. After that, their marriage would be fixed,” she added….
“My mother stood up to my father; she stood up to the entire extended family. She walked such long distances to support my education that her feet were covered in blisters, but she ensured that I studied,” Mehrunissa said.
She had just taken the police entrance test and cleared the reasoning section when the pressure at home intensified….“Eventually, my mother had succumbed to the pressure and told me, ‘Beta, I fought your father and the whole family so you could study. I took all that blame on myself. But now, if you take up a job, people will say that I have spoiled my own daughter just for a little salary…” Mehrunissa said.
In anger and despair, she tore the acceptance letter and buried her dreams for which she had worked so hard. “My only regret is that had I been more insistent, perhaps today I would have been a police officer….” she added.
… the day she saw a bouncer in 2003 and realised she could become one. She spotted a bouncer outside an event — tall, steady, dressed in all-black, carrying the same authority she had always associated with ‘sarkaari naukri’….
In the job, Mehrunissa had a reality check. She found that women were expected to stand quietly at bag-check counters while the men took charge of crowd control, confrontation, and made every decision that signalled power.
“They would call us security guards…as if we were only there to fold our hands and assist. I told them one day that I am not a guard, I am a lady bouncer,” she said.
It wasn’t an easy insistence to hold, as most women in the profession at the time were reluctant to challenge the label. “Other lady bouncers would tell me that they are here to earn, why fight over a word?” she recalled. “But that word decided how people treated us. It decided the respect we got. It decided what work we were allowed to do.”
So Mehrunissa made it a rule: if any organiser addressed her or her team as “security guards,” she would pick up her girls and walk out — even from the most lucrative assignments. “People thought I was stubborn. Maybe I was. The male bouncers would say that I am good at my job, but I am a little foolish for expecting people to call me a bouncer. But slowly they realised that they had no choice. The work would suffer without us.”
The tide turned sooner than she expected. Male bouncers began referring to her as “Bouncer Madam” whenever she would arrive at venues. People often corrected themselves and others around them mid-sentence. Over time, the designation printed on ID cards shifted too — from guards to bouncers…
Her team of women stopped accepting being addressed as “guards.” They began to correct people the moment the word was uttered. Mehrunissa clearly remembers the moment her girls finally started saying it out loud.
“Sir, hum guard nahi, bouncer hain. Guards haath jodte hain, hum haath todte hain. (Sir, we are not guards, but bouncers who break hands, unlike guards who fold them),” she said.”
We would suggest that you read Saman Husain’s full story for how ordinary Indians are fighting for dignity, livelihood and rights whilst city sophisticates wallow in dated stereotypes circulated via social media.
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