I like the way you have written this piece. It is so sad but we who live priveleged lives don't think twice about something like access to travel and how crucial it can be.

Dear Chaitali

That was nice twist to your tale :D. I used to work at a newspaper in Pune for a while when we were there and I remember how many arguments and fights I got into with my colleagues and even the editor sometimes because everytime I pointed out something they either called me a feminist (though I never understood what was wrong with that)or stuck in gender politiks. I finally left because it got so frustrating and even today I find everytime you raise a question of rights, empowerment, basic facilities or harassment everyone around you rolls their eyes and calls you names. And I'm someone who did not grow up wanting to change the world or anything, I just like to say it as I see it and of course I hate arrogance and lies. But its just so difficult being me because I feel like screaming out no I am not a feminsit or any 'ist' I'm just a normal person who wants to see things get better for humanity.

I'm glad you write like you do and point out important things. that's why I like this blog, at least you guys think differently! But you can see not many people want to comment and put their narrow-minded ideas out. They prefer to be silent and just watch.

Hi Chaitali,
I think your article has come at a very timely juncture when Mumbai is getting inundated with water.
I have an Assamese friend who is undergoing her hotel management training in Mumbai and she finds Mumbai transport the worst that she has come accross. She says that a ride in a Mumbai local train is such a horror where every man tries to feel her up or stare at her in such a way that she feels like jumping of the train.
The taxi drivers try to find the longest route possible extract the maximum money as her looks betray the fact that she is a non-Mumbaikar.
Yesterday evening she got caught in the Mumbai rains and the famed Mumbai bus service was not running. Thanks to a chance meeting with a colleague, she was able to reach her home safely.
We talk about Mumbai and Delhi to be answers to Shanghai and Beijing, but do we come anywhere near in terms of infrastructure?

Aah job interviews, campaign speeches and in activities involving man wooing a woman and vice-versa... 3 situations where many of us are most likely inclined to be politically correct!

Works for the moment... that is to get the job, the political seat or the woman or the man one is vying for... but in the longer run it can be very burdensome if we aren't able to meet with the answer.

Nice connection you have made here Chaitali.

Ananda you are right. Many of us who are privileged don't think twice about the privileges that we have as compared to others. I mean it's summer in Delhi and look at the way people waste water while filling their coolers. Forget about places in Delhi where water is scarce... think about those parts of India where scarcity of water prevents families from marrying their daughters into villages where water is scarce ( a very good thing in one way). But at the same time this has created a system where either poor women from other neighboring states are being bought or one women is being married off to more than one man; many farmers are being affected because of the scarcity of water for their fields and their animals.

Women have to walk long distances to fetch water which often effects their health and well-being, consumes much of their time and prevents them from acssesing opportunities of education.

I think responsibility is more important than being politically correct. Chaitali I read an interview of Madhu Sapre a couple of months back in which even today she says that she has no regrets for her politically incorrect answer. Now if that is not a woman of substance then what is!

Hi Ananda, Chet, Ananya and Annie,

Chet an advise to your friend. Ask her to carry a safety pin with her while she is traveling in buses and when she feels that a wandering hand is troubling her ask her to give it a good poke with the pin. A friend of mine had told me how many women in Madras use this as one of their safety measures.

Often I have heard my girlfriends say that they don't say anything to the molesters because others in the bus don't support them or just turn away or giggle while they are confronting the molester. Some girls say that they feel ashamed to confront the molestors in the bus because that will draw everyones attention.

I keep telling them who cares what the others are doing, you must stick to your stand and give one whack to the person. Afterall it is your body and spirirt that is being violated so it is you who has to take the rsponsibility. Women have to come out of this thing of feeling shy, ashamed, scared to speak out when things such as these happen to them in buses, trains etc.

Ananda, Annie yes we need to realise how privileged many of us are and at the same time not take it for granted and instead act responsibily.

Ananya, even I have often wondered what's asking for basic rights and facilities got to do with feminism. Isn't it logical that as living beings everyone has access to proper and efficient facilities, whether that is health, transport, education etc.

Either that is not important or as long as you are not affected by the problem it does not matter to you how it is affecting the others. Terming those who are trying to bring this to notice as 'ist' is just another way of washing off their hands from that which does not seem to personally affect them.

Yes chatali you are absolutely right stll in todays modern india i have seen male chauvanism at its worst and more so among people doing their engineering or mba from the top colleges of india.I think the problem lies in the fact that still a lot needs to be done in the area of gender emancipation.Though obvious differences in the way girls and boys are brought up have decreased in a considerable extent parents nowadays being equally progressive for education for both their sons and daughters,yet some subtle preferential treatment is still there in certain professions.There are certain lines however like fashion designing,modelling etc where girls often have the upper edge.So dont lose hope,there has obviously being some improvement in this area with the passage of time with more free mixing i think slowly the problem can be eradicated.

Very well put. I think your answer was an apt, real solution to a problem rather than an airy-fairy 'general betterment' thing. I wish your interviewer had understood the depth of thought and understanding that had to have gone behind an answer like this one.

Hi IdeaSmith,

I went through your blog. It is very interesting. I like the way you have put across thoughts and questions that often come into our minds in such simple words and in such short paras.