Ladies Special

Years ago, I remember a show called "Ladies Special" that my mom used to watch. It was a story of a group of women,traveling in a  local train everyday to work, sharing their stories with each other right from maid's abseentism to life's strange dilemmas.

 Since then I wondered how it felt to travel in an all women's bus or train & what would the real  conversations be like. My tryst with frequent bus travels started during my undergraduate years when I used to travel home during weekends from my hostel. Just like the poster of movie Swades where ShahRukh is seen sitting in an overcrowded bus, my picture was similar.Luckily my travels back then used to happen during low rush hours & I used to settle for a seat that was occupied by me & my bag beside me.

Transfer to Odisha requires me to travel almost 70 km (back & forth) everyday. Yet for the wonderful feeling of being at home with parents, I chose to travel everyday. A recent family function had me explaining the location of my office, mode of my travel, arrival & departure timings to almost everyone who saw me & wondered what I was doing in Cuttack after getting a job in TCS :P  After the initial joy over my transfer , I got the warnings that "Aaj kal din kaal khoob kharap"(Now a days situations are very grim) & "shabdhane jeo" (Be careful while travel).

That brings me the thoughts of my travels.Every morning I travel by the "Ladies Special" bus run by Odisha government. A dream come true of some sort. As a ninja like creature after covering my head & face with scarf, I silently observe my fellow ladies who travel. The "special" in ladies special was justified by the winsome smile of a little girl who boarded the bus with her mother only to find that she could come in the bus because she was girl, she was special. Amidst the chitter chatter of ladies who travel for work to the young students who reserve seats beside them for their friends, morning travel is almost picnic.

I have seen various aspects in a woman's personality during my travels. One is of a fearless tigress who lambasts at hooligans who try to disrupt the bus journey through her fierce words & looks. The hooligans hide their tails between their legs like scared jackals & flee.She emerges during bus travels when some lecherous beast is trying to display his dirtiness with her, she shouts at the top of her voice,reprimanding the beast with her words & sometimes slaps, fearless to the core, reminding the people in the bus that she is the daughter of the land that worships Durga, the deity of supreme power & that she is totally intolerant to any activity that provokes her modesty.Kudos & salutes to the tigresses.

The other is of a shy & demure creature  who is fearful to even demand her ladies seat when it is occupied by a shameless male. She will choose to stand throughout her journey, getting pushed by others in a crowded bus, but she wont go & ask for seat from the male fearing the "SCENE" that could be created. Any girl demanding for her seat  invariably becomes the "Nari netri" ( female activist). The demure creature ranges from a management student to a working woman who is scared that the beast might attack her. She out of her own interest wants the beast to win by smiling & feeling proud by sitting in the ladies seat.By feeling superior, by feeling that he can get away with anything as his opponent is too demure & powerless.

A recent article I read stated that in India the chances of a girl getting molested in a bus are more than her getting a seat. I do not agree with this statement completely excluding the shameful incidents like Guwahati where many lecherous beasts gathered & performed a heinous act.In most cases of travel, I believe it is the choice of the woman that determines the outcome of any beast's evil intentions or actions.

She can either choose to be demure & silent, whether for a seat or any act of indecency,making the beast more powerful by making him feel that provoking the demure creature is his  damn right.Else she can  choose to be the daughter of Maa Durga , revolting valiantly to any act of indecency inflicted on her , teaching a lesson to the beast & his followers to never repeat the act again.

Dear Sisters , my appeal to you is to be absolutely intolerant to any act of indecency that you face anywhere as your silence then will become the source of your regret lasting a lifetime.Be Brave, Be Valiant, Be The Courage that destroys the beast in murderous rage !