A Woman, A Prey

I refuse to be someone who can be shoved and stomped upon. My silence should not be mistaken for my weakness, but merely the quietness before a storm.
I will go straight to the point. Today I went out with my mother and was waiting for her to pay the rickshaw puller. While waiting, a man in his mid 20’s passes me by, intentionally bumping into me. I clearly saw him lean in towards me and brush me by, when the rest of the road was completely empty waiting to be walked on. I have faced these sorts of situations numerous times before in buses, and markets where it is crowded and bumping into someone is understandable. I always tried to give any action a reasonable explanation, because that for me made life that much easier. I always have on my headphones while walking, to avoid demeaning comments that would only upset me if I hear them. I have given those rascals their chance.
But today, I have no idea why, but I pushed him back demanded a reason behind his action. What he did next left me flabbergasted. He asked me what MY problem was, and blamed ME for pushing him! He even said, ‘did you look at yourself? Why would I push you?’ he also advised me to learn manners, since I had no idea how to talk to decent people, blamed me for a false accusation and lastly, demanded an apology. After trying to retort, to his train of allegations, he finally came towards me, because he thought I needed to be ‘taught’, my manners. But eventually the pedestrians intervened and my mom, pulled me away asking me to let it go. ‘Come on’ she said, ‘ there is no point shouting, you cannot do anything. He will perish in Hell.’ Thanks mom, that’s a relief!
I thought I was doing something brave, standing up for myself, and raising my voice to a bad deed. But the way he counter attacked me, totally took me by surprise. I know it was a simple bump, but I am just tired of all this. I know this is nothing compared to all the things that my sisters around the world have been facing for so long, but today I saw a new side of me that I have never seen before. I have surprised and impressed myself. I know things did not go as it should have, and I did not win in the end, but I have to say, somewhere inside I am a bit proud of myself because for the first time in my life I have given