My two bits on the Delhi Metro

Source:
http://respectwomen.co.in/life-of-a-woman-in-delhi-metro/

I vividly remember my first encounter with the Delhi Metro. It had been recently set up and made functional (especially the blue line which I was using) and I decided to use it to visit a book fair at Pragati Maidan. On the way there or back, I can’t remember clearly now, I recall sitting in a busy coach. A man was uncomfortably close to me and coming closer. I was younger then, and perhaps rash, so I gave him a few swift kicks to remind him that this was not okay. In retrospect my behavior is not very commendable either, but I forgive myself because I have let things slide in such cases more than I wish I had. This man started yelling brazenly ‘this lady is hitting me’ and it did not seem like if things escalated, anyone would help me out (notice the word rescue purposely not being used).

After that I stopped using the metro during rush hours and then pretty much all. I was hardly alone in feeling that unwarranted touching and ‘accidental’ brushing was going on during busy hours and otherwise. Soon the Delhi Metro launched a ladies compartment and I think it changed the face of the metro. I don’t think of transport as necessarily gender neutral. Especially not in India, where gender issues are a big problem. Traveling in crowded spaces for women means dealing with not just the regular annoyances of being cramped or pushed or having to board and deboard moving vehicles risking your life but also dealing regularly with the gropers and molesters. You have to pick your battles especially if travel is part of your daily routine. I don’t think you can spend all your traveling time fighting and possibly screaming and shouting. Especially when you know help is not always forthcoming.

But the ladies compartment has changed that. Initially it started as the first coach of any train (which now have between six to eight coaches). But on some routes where the same train has to turn around and come back, it has been changed to the last coach. I don’t remember if it was marked at all in the beginning, but now Whisper has installed pink displays with flowers at platforms (note: I do not approve. The implied correlation with women and flowers. But I am a hater).

This new system has taken time to drum itself in the brains of people, both men and women. I heard a lot of men crib in the beginning, had arguments (both in the metro and outside), complained to the metro authorities in the case of people misbehaving. Other women beat some miscreants up. Before I left to study, girls used to persist in bringing their boy friends to stand with them, and that was disappointing at a whole other level as well. If you can only see what individually benefits you in that moment but not what the overall problem is, then that is sad and disheartening. Anyhow. This is one of the few times I revel in group justice. I didn’t see men trying to enter the ladies compartment at all during this trip and any men who wandered in were politely but firmly guided to the next coach.

Arguments against having a separate compartment are plentiful. Reservations don’t solve the problem, why should women get such benefits, what about old people, etc etc. At the beginning I had constant arguments with people. It is something I keep dwelling on and I think we need a coach. First of all, to say that some millions of women have to subject themselves to molestation till we sort our issues out as a society is plain wrong to me. Secondly, women get the coach because they are more likely to be molested. I have heard of the occasional case of a man being molested and I am equally sorry, but let’s face it, women are way more likely to be the victims etc. Finally I agree with something I recall reading a while back, which is humanity above any sort of ‘ism’. If you are a woman and can’t allow or give your seat to an old man, then you are a bad person in my book. Unfortunately this is not the sort of thing you can teach people. But on the bright side, a lot of people don’t seem to need to be taught this.

I quibble about the ladies compartment as well occasionally. I find the lack of courtesy and manners, the pushing and the shoving, the young girls ignoring the older and pregnant ladies sad. But these are small things. And definitely infrequent. A display board at one of the stations said 95% of passengers give up their seats to needy passengers and I’d like to believe that. I know that in general metros are seen as less equitable than bus systems as they don’t go from point to point, their cost of use often prices out the poorest. and more. But what I see gives me hope. It is not easy to manage so many millions of passengers, most of whom have not seen a system like this before, are in a rush, and let’s face it, are not going to demonstrate common courtesy unless you incentivize or penalize it in some way. Add to that the gender issues and you have a microcosm of a tumultuous society. But having had the chance to observe metros in other parts of the world as well, I am definitely very proud of the way Delhi Metro works. Every single day it is able to manage the complete mayhem that millions of passengers traveling can create and does it well.