My friend and I were crossing the road in India. The signal was red for the vehicles when we were trying to cross, but, of course, none of the vehicles stopped. So, like every Indian, we decided to cross the road when it felt safe, weaving through moving vehicles; otherwise, we would have had to stand there for hours without moving.

Suddenly, while we were crossing, a tempo came speeding toward us. I was confused, and it felt like the best thing to do was to move ahead of it. While doing so, the driver started flashing his lights, but I was already well ahead of him. In a sudden turn of events, he began steering toward me as I was moving ahead. He ended up hitting me at an almost stopping speed.

I wanted to confront him and ask why he wasn’t using his brakes and why he was turning towards me. I know I could have crossed more cautiously, but the way he was driving was maniacal. When I got close to talk to him, he grabbed my hand and slapped me really hard. Before I could say anything or retaliate, another man jumped out from the back of the tempo, hit me twice on the head, and started cursing at me. There were at least seven of them, so my friend couldn’t step in either—it would have escalated even further.

I was too stunned to react and kept asking, “Why are you hitting me?” Eventually, I decided to leave with my friend. I don’t remember the number plate to file a police complaint.

What should I have done? What could I have done?

I feel a lot of anger on myself for not hitting back and for not defending myself while i was getting hit. I feel like i should have atleast punched back or done anything at all instead of just cowering at the thought of having to fight more than 3 people at once. It is not affecting my self esteem. What should I do ?