I was on a panel at my old school and we were invited to speak at a seminar on Montessori education. There were two males and two females and we all shared our experiences of our school life and the positives and negatives. Once the panel got over, I noticed that there was a gentleman who was part of the school and he wanted us former students to come to the interior parts of Tamil Nadu to help spread the message of education there.

There was a female friend of mine on the panel and this man wanted her number and her email address , so that he could tell her to come with him to the village.

I noticed she was quite uncomfortable and so I excused myself and shook his hand, pretended as if nothing happened and tried to change the subject.He once again tried to ask for our numbers and that is when I said,
"Hey why don't you take my card and I will email you all the details!"

I just made it up on the spot that I had the details and I saw an instant wave of relief on my friend's face, who was just trying to get a bite to eat when she was accosted by this gentleman. Later, she thanked me profusely for the 'save'.

These are just simple things we can do. Maybe his intentions were good, maybe not. But it did come across as a mild form of harassment and I was glad to have done my bit, however simple it was. In the future, if something like this happens and, I know I will step in to diffuse the situation.