Ladies' Special

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I commute to and from work everyday, one hour each way. On days that I travel with Michael we often take the metro train but the arduous walk and short mini-bus ride to the metro station has made me look for alternative way. The auto-rickshaw is out of the question because it would be way too expensive for my limited budget. I soon found out that there’s a bus plying the route from just across the street where our house is to where the office is located. My early experience of the bus rides was not very pleasant though, the buses are always crowded and it takes an adventurous spirit to squeeze oneself in and find the best spot to stand with the least chance of being elbowed, shoved or crushed. In one of the nights that I took the bus home, the bus being dominated by male passengers, a not so young man grabbed my behind as I inched my way out.

In Chennai, I was advised by my colleagues that next time some guy tried to harass me I should cry out and the people around me would come to the rescue. So when it happened to me in New Delhi I yelled and made a scene, but none of the men inside the bus did anything. Lesson 1, New Delhi is a dangerous place for women and men don’t care. But between taking the bus and walking in a sidewalk turned public men’s urinal to the metro station I chose the former; now every time I get off the bus I have to use my laptop bag to protect my behind. And then on one of those mornings when my alarm clock failed to go off I went to the bus stop later than usual and behold, the Ladies’ Special.

The Ladies’ Special is a bus reserved for women commuters. In the last couple of years women have come out of their homes and joined the labor force. Sexual harassment in public places rose. In November 2009 a survey showed that public buses were the most unsafe place for women in Delhi and so in January 2010 the High Court ordered the Delhi Transport Corporation to make arrangement for special buses for women. Now there are a few buses plying select Delhi routes that are off-limits to men. It’s not to say that the rest of the buses are off-limits to women in turn. The rest of the public buses lets anyone in anyone who can pay - there’s Rs200 fine for travelling without ticket (Php195 or S4.40)- but there’s 6 to 8 seats designated for women. Able-bodied men who are not beyond the age of 60 can be evicted anytime if they made a mistake of taking those seats.

It’s fun to be in Ladies’ special. It does not matter if the buses reserved were the old and rundown units . As soon as you get on the bus you feel a spirit of camaraderie. The ladies’ special is probably one of the noisiest cramped places I know of. I’m a feminist and I hate to stereotype but the women do talk a lot. Never mind if the conversations sound like just a loud buzz to me, and I don’t mean conversations between friends. Women in ladies’ special just chat with anyone, laugh with everyone. It specially becomes noisy when men would attempt to get on the bus and the women would chorus “Ladies’ special’ and shoo the men away. The men get off frustrated and women would grin or laugh. Now I don’t know what those mean. I’m thinking that the women are enjoying their privilege and the power to tell off men and claim what is theirs.

Photos 1)bbcnews.com, 2)mine, 3)mayank austen soofi at flickr.com, 4) youthkiawaaz.com

6C feels like 4C

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That’s today’s temperature in New Delhi. I whined to Michael this morning about how so not fair it is when weather bureaus forecast max-min temp (today’s is 15C/6C or 59F/43F), yet they also say that it actually feels colder. It has a debilitating effect on me. Every morning when I wake up I check the current temp so I could psyche myself up and decide how many layers of clothes should i wear. Today, at 7 am the temp was 5C, my problem was I don't have enough clothes to wear anymore; yesterday I wore 4 layers with the same temp as today, and the other day 3 layers.

Buying more warm clothes is out of the question, it's beyond my budget. And then without a washing machine it's difficult to handwash clothes with tap water that's close to freezing point. Add to that New Delhi has been covered with fog for 2 weeks now that even If i did my laundry last weekend, they're still damp today. The only solution I had was to reuse clothes from yesterday or the other day. And forget about good fashion sense, mixing and mismatching clothes I could be declared worst dresser in New Delhi.

But it isn't just about the clothes. It gets so painfully cold here because both our house and our office building have marble floors and huge glass windows designed to fend off summer heat. Even if i wore enough clothes and covered my head with beanie my hands would still be exposed, for how could I work with thick gloves on. The office has provided some low-voltage heaters but the quantity is not enough for the size of the building and the number of staff. The heaters are so inadequate that I stole Mike's and then he borrowed the chairperson's who is not in office today. Having said all that, I am still feeling so chilly that it proves to be extremely challenging to concentrate on work. Last week Michael, on our way home, was asking me several things but I could barely comprehend what he was saying. This must be what my son meant when as a kid, he would bellow "Brain freeze!!!" after slurping 16 ounces of Slurpee.

Seriously, in UK and Canada the temperature may be down to negative two-digits but at least they have central heating systems and carpeted floors. Here, the only relief from the cold is get a portable heater if you can afford it, join Indians gathered around a small fire they made, or get on SRO bus or metro train. Trust me that when you're on a bus or metro during rush hour, you would forget it's winter in New Delhi. It also helps if you could just exclaim to anyone who would listen, "it's too cold!" as if they don't know it yet.

Photos of me and the Indians by Mike.