Fight for the Right- Won!


“That’s a Ladies seat. Ask the man to get up and you take the seat”, I told my friend when we entered the Metro last Saturday afternoon. She replied, “We already have a whole coach reserved for us, I do not want to dominate another seat in the general compartment as well”. Aware of the fact that I was talking to a firm lady who was not liable to change her decision, I dropped the topic without insisting.

With the reservation of seats for women becoming a reality in the parliament and the harassment cases of ladies increasing in the trains, the DMRC thought it wise to implement the reservation in the Metro trains as well. And so, starting from the second of October 2010, the first coach of each Delhi Metro train got reserved for ladies.

Travelling on the roof of the metro attracts ‘a fine of Rs 50 and free removal from the train’. Whereas, an entry into the women’s coach attracts a fine five times in amount and free beating from any agitated women around. Haha…that sounds funny! But a few men, who made the high level mistake of entering the women’s coach in one of the trains on the Yellow line towards Gurgaon, actually faced this situation. A friend, who happened to be at the spot of the incident, captured a video of the humiliated men and uploaded it on facebook. And yes, she got many ‘likes’ on it!

On the day before the much talked about Commonwealth Games started, I happened to be at the Rajiv Chowk station. I had to go towards Dwarka and while moving from the yellow line to the blue line, I saw an almost empty coach in a train about to move towards my destination. Yes, I was surprised and increased my pace of walking towards the ‘empty’ coach. Little did I know that soon I was going to be stopped by a lady police officer with the words ‘Ye ladies coach hai’ and instructions to follow the right the direction. The pink markings were not to be followed!!

On entering any metro station we are greeted with the words ‘The first coach on every train is reserved for ladies only’. Yes, this is a necessary reminder every time both for the men and the women. For the men, so that they remember not to venture into these ‘forbidden areas’ and for the women, so that they enjoy a place of pride made specially and exclusively for them.

With the increase in the number of coaches in the metro trains from four to six, rumours (thankfully, they were just that!) had it that the number of ladies coaches should be increased from one to two, keeping in mind the increasing demand for those! If that happens, I wonder if Mr Sreedharan would like to take another ride in the metro to his home in Gurgaon, because he would just have two-thirds of the metro train for himself and his fellow male-passengers. Probably he would like to send his wife on a metro trip- at least she, a woman, would surely get a seat for herself! Hehe…

P.S.: I know it’s been some time now- a full month almost- since I made my last blog entry. Over the past few days, I actually realized the importance of my writing in many of yours’ life. So many of you have complained because of unavailability of new posts here. Thank you so much everyone for making me feel important. I shall try my best to keep updating this blog as often as I can. :)

Comments

  1. Nyc ntry...

    Bt, sumhw I feel dat such Reservations 4 Women in evrythng z nt gud...

    Only d weak shud b protected... Y shud v???

    Though these may make us feel special, they also underline d fact dat v need 2 b giyn separate Coaches n seats... Isn't it???

    ReplyDelete
  2. But that's not how all our 'experienced-leaders' think...! ;)

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  3. oh ho!!!! this is the first time i have read your posts and i would like to share that my roomate agam jain's first journey on the metro was in the ladies compartment itself..when he was returning from his NSEB olympiad...he he he...ab usne jaan bujhke kiya tha ya anjaane mein...ye baat to ek rehasya hai!!!!!

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  4. Hahaha...eashan that matters requires a CBI enquiry for sure- Raaz Agam Jain ka!! :D
    Anyways, good to see you reading my posts for "the first time"...go ahead...take a look....even u have been mentioned a few times by me somewhere here...:D

    ReplyDelete

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