By Sejal Mehta

Zareena*, 23, student: I was walking back home from college when I spotted him. Just outside the lane I live in. Again. I had noticed him for two weeks now. My shadow, as a friend put it. He was at my college hangout, he was outside my guitar class and I could've sworn he was in the movie hall last night.

I wasn't alarmed before; he was really cute and I kind of enjoyed the attention. But now, standing below my house... this was my territory. It worried me. But not as much as it did when I looked outside my window close to midnight and saw him looking up at me. That was before the blank calls started. I knew then that I was being stalked!

When you read such pieces, it's usually with a morbid curiosity. It makes for interesting reading, you think. It has all the excitement and drama of a thriller - threatening calls, police intervention, scared victims. But somewhere you fail to relate to the helplessness the victim faces - the helplessness that remains in their lives even after the stalker has been removed. ( Had a scary stalking experience? Share your story with us . )

Because no one - not family, not friends, not newspapers, not us - actually feels the trauma the victim feels...

But we can try and educate ourselves. We can try to understand. So we are better equipped to help when this seemingly remote problem hits someone close to us... or worse, us!

It's not just the famous who get stalked. It can happen to you or me. In fact, studies show that normal, unknown people like us are plagued by the stalker phenomenon more than celebrities are. And with cyber stalking flourishing under the colossal umbrella of the World Wide Web, the world is suddenly full of weirdos who are coming out of their closets with abandon.

What Is Stalking?
Says advocate A Majeed Memon: If a person follows you in an intimidating manner or poses a threat to you and intrudes illegally on your privacy, it becomes a legal offence. Simply put: If you find you have a tail, get rid of it - quickly.

Let's Identify The Enemy
Not that they're easily identifiable, much less recognisable. A stalker's physical appearance and initial behaviour gives nothing away of his state of mind. But by and large stalkers fall into certain behavioural patterns.