Monday 28 July 2014

Women's bus service between Noida and Greater Noida has been shut down

I was recently at Botanical and had to take a bus for Greater Noida, then I saw this Pink Yellow bus, in which everyone was trying to get in. This pink yellow bus was just for women, but then I thought they might be just carrying everyone, so I move fast toward its door and went in. The bus is normal government bus, I didn't see any teddy bear on its wall. I was waiting for it to move soon, as it was too hot and I was getting sweaty and finally thank god the bus moved, I was enjoying the wind coming from everywhere and then I suddenly saw a lady ticket conductor. It was not the first time I saw her, I saw her around 1 year ago also in normal bus. But looking at a female conductor is something different, the way she asks for ticket, writes the pending amount, hold her pen, argue sometimes, smile on something. I think the bus was women's bus, so nobody bothered because all the passengers were females. but when most passengers are males, she definitely gets more attention and even more respect than male conductors.

She is dusky, strong and beautiful bold lady, who is working as a conductor in a bus. And I see these women arguing why this bus service was stopped? I was reading an article here - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/noida/Why-shut-Noidas-women-only-bus-service-when-we-need-more-of-them/articleshow/39108825.cms , and there was a line that - , "Noida women insist that the service was useful to them after all. "It was a welcome move. We were assured of safe travelling. Violence against women is on the rise and such initiatives were helpful." The bus was shut down because it even didn't had 75% of passengers, on average it had only 12% women using that bus service, due to which things were getting in loss and officials later decided to shut down this service.

I am not against this service for women, but I am against this idea that they would not feel safe with men in bus. And what about that lady conductor? I saw her, she was confident and had no problem in interacting with any male passenger, neither any male passenger bothered her. May be any male passenger misbehaves with her, but she has everyone around her, it becomes the responsibility of everyone to raise their voice against crime. Using separate modes of  transportation will not going to make you feel safe. This is society, you have to get fit into it. You must help others when they are in need and other will help you when you are in need.  And how many separate things government will provide you, or how many separate things you will be able to afford. Can you afford a private jet? Will you book a complete compartment just for yourself when you will travel via train? Can it be possible to have women's only metro station or a Highway just for women? Wanting everything separately means what?

It is better to change yourself, it is better to respect each other, it is better to live with peace in society, it is better to get bold, it is better to raise your voice, it is better for people in society to help each other, otherwise society will face only problems and destruction.