A few days back I had an opportunity to see a change in Delhi that would make at least a few of us very happy. I was on Anand Vihar (Delhi) bus stand when I saw an old man in the uniform of bus driver with a very beautiful girl in a red bus; the girl was one of those kinds with whom you would fall in love at first sight. She was wearing tight blue jeans, white sneakers a black over coat of knee length and a black Dupatta around her neck. She was very fair, had long silky hair and dark black eyebrows. Basically she was the centre of attraction around. After enquiring about the route of that bus I got into it, as I was the first one to board that bus I didn’t bother looking for the conductor hoping that he would come and give me ticket. I sat in the first row and waited for the conductor. All along I was thinking about this beautiful girl hoping if I could start conversation with her. But I could not gather the courage to go and sit beside her. After some time I started looking for the conductor meanwhile some more people had boarded the bus. I was amazed to see one guy walking up to her and talking to her, but when I had a closer look I was surprised to see that the beautiful girl was none other than the Bus conductor. I went to her with a smile and took my ticket. I was very happy not because I could at last talk to her but because what I had witnessed was one of the very odd events in the northern part of India which is full of male chauvinists. It’s not that the girls are out rightly denied to work out doors, but the kind of work she was doing was very different from the ones usually done by girls. I was seeing something that I had seen long time back in Bangalore. But after a few moments my enthusiasm faded, more and more eyes were ogling at her as the number of passengers increased, unfettered by the stares she was doing her job. But how long could some one bear this, she passed a firm signal by scolding a young boy of around 17 in her typical haryanvi tone. Once again I was looking at her but this time not to appreciate her beauty but to see how she was managing all this. To the woes of her not so welcome admirers she called some one over phone and started talking. It didn’t take long for some of us to realize that she was talking to her boyfriend. May be she was talking to her boy friend but this might also be true that she was just pretending to do so. During all this drama my destination came and I got down from the bus after having a brief glimpse of her.
All this incident bring two major aspects of our culture in north India one that positive changes are happening and two people still have the prejudices against women.
Though these changes will go in a long way towards the empowerment of women especially in a male chauvinist India still I feel that people need to change their behaviour and attitude towards women who work outdoor. They also have freedom to do any work which is dignified at least in their eyes.
Without bothering too much about other things I feel good that at least something is moving in right direction.
nice...:)
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