It was 8 in the night on Wednesday, 23 and I had crossed the main road after coming out of my office and was waiting for auto rickshaw. There were men and women waiting for the rick too, but I was in hurry. A shared rickshaw came, a man was already sitting. I asked the lady lady if she wanted to get in. she nodded “NO”, I got in. not loosing a moment another guy got in and then we looked at the lady and realized how mean we are, so both the guys (not me) got down and then sat aside the driver, I shifted to right corner of the seat, and then we again looked at the lady but she didn’t respond and seemed not interested in taking the rick. The guy on the left side of driver quickly jumped back to his seat and then another guy rushed to grab the last place. Auto was filled in with men and then it moved. I was in too busy to understand why that lady didn’t get into the rickshaw; I was looking for the restaurant where I had to get down to attend my roomie’s birthday party.
I reached the place and met my roomie and his friends, there was one, yeah a single, and I mean both - one and single, gal in the entire gamut of guys. The place was restaurant cum bar, so guys quickly got involved what they wanted – alcohol. Smoke and booze created all together different atmosphere for guys. Sometime later guys asked this gal IF she was feeling out of place (every one had to ask for the sake of it, like we didn’t know). What gal could answer?
At that point of time it struck me why that LADY didn’t get into rickshaw. The LADY didn’t want to seat herself in middle of the seat (probably thought of getting harassed), so, she declined it first when I offered her and then we didn’t leave her any option. Even after we made adjustment it was thoughtless concern for a woman. It never concurred to me that women have to tackle so many issues for almost everything they do. I don’t know if any men ever thought how it would be if they always have to protect themselves from getting harassed anywhere. Men don’t have to be bothered in man’s world, though they may show concern about other half but always forget to be thoughtful about it.
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1 comment:
I agree with you here. Its really tough for a girl/ woman to venture out all alone in this MAN's world. No wonder, there are 'n' number of things moving in her head whenever she's out of her home. Not just that, even when she's at her home alone and the door bell rings at a time when no-one is expected, subconsciously she's thinking who it could be?? Is it safe to open the door? [All these worries are subconscious]And the fears become obvious when she actually opens the door and it is a stranger and not the usual mailman or paper wala....
And yes, she is braving the world despite these challenges and Nodding 'No' when you offered her the lift is a refelction of her decision making capabilities (to an extent) - If she hadn't made a subconscious decision, she would have very much accepted your offer.
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