“Bhai saheb, ye ladies seat hai, please chod denge?”, asked a frail exhausted woman to a stout man snoring on a seat reserved for ladies. The man ignored for a while, but could not stand her gaze for long. He said casually, “Ye interstate bus hai, isme ladies seat nahi hoti.” The lady pointed to the sticker with red text written on it and said, “Bhaiya, wahan likha hua hai.” “Likha hone se kya hota hai, aisa nahi hota hai. Utha sakte ho to utha do mujhe seat se, jao conductor ko pooch lo.” To inform all those people who do not know what a DTC bus conductor is like- He is a middle aged man with grey hair and white moustache, with a bunch of tickets and a money bag in hand. No one has ever seen him standing or walking. No matter how crowded a bus is, his favourite line is, “Bus itni khali hai, aaplog aage kyun nahi badhte?”. This is all a DTC conductor does. This is how a journey from Delhi to Gurgaon and Gurgaon to Delhi is most likely to be. I do not know what the Haryana Government has to say about the reservation of seats for ladies but the people really show how chauvinist they are and how chauvinist their state is turning into. Reservation of seats is not an issue (I am not talking of reservation of Lok Sabha seats. It’s a different matter altogether though I wonder people who don’t like to get up from their seats even for senior citizens, pregnant women, handicapped and women with child, how are they going to step down to give way to women politicians to take such important positions); women are not weak and they can travel for hours at a stretch standing in a bus but a woman standing in a crowd is more prone to misbehavior and teasing by fellow male passengers. Every five or ten minutes, a girl screams on a male passenger either for leaning on her or touching her.
Haryana has a sex ratio of 861 females per 1000 males, the lowest in India (according to 2001 census). While walking down from Udyog Vihar to the border, I often turn around and find I am the only girl walking on the road. I prefer taking a rickshaw even for small distance but often I find them either demanding more money or drunk (thanks to the liquor shops everywhere in Gurgaon just like small hanuman temples built in every nook and corner in small towns). Even in buses, half of the population is drunk and the bus stinks like a rotten gutter.
One unfortunate day, I waited for a DTC bus for more than an hour but in vain. I decided to cross the road and take a bus to the main bus stand. As the bus was moving along the innards of the city, away from the chaotic traffic deadlock at the IFFCO chowk, I could experience a city just like Delhi until I encountered some movie posters on the walls .It was an adult movie (may be an A+ grade movie) and I was taken aback at the insensibility of the people who dared to put up such kind of crap on public walls (in the same country where FTV was banned for 10 days for showing topless models). The posters had vulgar titles and explicit pictures.
A disclaimer- I do not mean to say that no reservations, high density of liquor shops and A grade movie posters are reasons for the low sex ratio of the state. Low sex ratio simply reveals the narrow mentality of people which is cemented by such policies and systems. It is like provoking a wild beast to the extent of madness. The abovementioned incidents are few observations that I made during my internship and project period while traveling from Delhi to Gurgaon.
References:
http://www.consumercomplaints.in/complaints/dtc-buses-c350643.html
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090928/main7.htm
5 Comments:
->"Low sex ratio simply reveals the narrow mentality of people which is cemented by such policies and systems. It is like provoking a wild beast to the extent of madness."
These two lines say it all. Being attracted towards a girl is a different thing. Being insensitive towards the women gender on the whole, an entirely different thing. The idea itself is repulsive.
But I am also tempted to say that the women community of Haryana is also responsible for the low sex ratio. After all, 'they' are their daughters too.
I am not blaming the male community.I am pointing out the narrow mentality of people in general.... I am just trying to say that in this patriarchal society, the system is in favor of male community. And talking about the women community, first- She hardly has any say in such matters. second- no woman will ever like to have a daughter who suffers the same way her mother did.
Agreed. Its a vicious circle.
But until and unless the women themselves come forward and make sure that that no crap-colored A rate posters decorate the community they live in, most of the males would continue to be happy after remain seated even if an old lady is standing right next to them in the bus...
I feel that at the grassroot level, even women become too indifferent to fight all this.
And as you pointed rightly, no women would want their daughters to suffer like she did.
Somewhere, something is definitely wrong.
I agree totally with Arpi [well that was quite expected ;)]. Journey from Delhi to Gurgaon and Delhi to Noida by Bus is really a tormenting experience and on top of it bus stinks ewww :|
First of all, Brilliant work. Secondly, it's not about Delhi or Haryana, the conditions are similar or sometimes, even worse in smaller cities/towns. Whether a man does it or a women to another women, the point is, this is happening, and it's shameful.
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