Situation 1
A guy boards a bus. Almost empty. Just three seats occupied, one of them a ladies seat, on which a single girl is sitting. He invariably goes up to her and sits with her. Delhi.
Same situation. He sits on the most convenient seat, not necessarily with her. Mumbai.
Situation 2
Reverse the situation. A girl boards a bus, almost empty. She makes a beeline for the ladies seat. Delhi.
Same situation. She goes up and sits on the most convenient seat, lots of times alongside a guy. The ladies seats remain vacant. Mumbai.
To cut a long story short, behaviour exhibited in situation 1 causes the behaviour exhibited in situation 2. Simple phenomenon. Culture. The females feel like human and “normal” in one city, while they’re constantly wary and feel “objectified” a lot of times in another.
Situation 3
An elderly person boards a bus. Almost full. Nobody cares. Forget the reserved seats, nobody cares to offer them a seat.
Corollary: At last, a guy gets up and offers his seat to the elderly person. A girl standing nearby gives him a look of admiration as if he’s made the biggest sacrifice she’s ever seen. Needless to say. Delhi.
I need’nt waste words to explain the counter situation in Mumbai.
Situation 4
This is very interesting. A guy boards a bus. Ten males are already standing. But there’s an empty seat. A seat on which a lady is sitting. Nobody dare go and sit next to her. Kerala.
I remember when I was 8 years old and travelling in a crowded bus during one of my Kerala trips in summer vacations. I was glad to have a seat. A lady turned up and asked me to get up. Thick skinned that I was, did not pay heed and looked away. Usually works. Endured the whole journey listening to taunts about how “uncivilised” a kid I was. Questions were raised about “Which school did I study in”? The best indicator of character probably.Of course I'd committed the cardinal sin of occupying a ladies seat. Compounded manifold by the impunity of not getting up when required.
Situation 5
Buses Crawl. Buses Speed. Rude conductors. Haggling for change.Smoking people. Defaced bus bodies and seats. Smelly interiors. Clouded windowpanes. Buses stop anywhere else other than on the prescribed stop.Delhi, of course.
Disciplined driving..Clean buses, not so pretty. Standard efficient service. Buses will stop right in front of you if you are on the stop. And you follow gate discipline. But all instructions in Marathi. Mumbai.
Buses drive Crazy fast. Faster mode of transport than cars a lot of times. Pretty and decked up. Innovative and colourful bus bodies. Clean windowpanes. (Or no windowpanes) Educated conductors who read newspapers. Plentiful change. Kerala.
The culture exhibited in a public transport system is a good indicator of the culture, as well as the dominant socioeconomic characteristics of the society as a whole. I don’t think its necessary to point out the specific inferences about culture that can be drawn from each of the above and make the post long.
I’ll end with my favourite story.
My first day of summers in Mumbai. Was taking a midnight walk on the Chowpatty beach. Was extremely glad to see some girls doing the same, feeling safe and normal at that hour, and dressed in pretty revealing partywear. No questions asked. Quite a novelty for someone brought up in Delhi. Felt nice about the culture. No gawkers, no teasers, no whistles. Suddenly a car stopped. And reversed. And the guys in the car started ogling. I looked back to spot the number plate of the car which said “DL 4C T9XXX”.
P.S: I love the public transport infrastructure in Delhi. Grew up travelling in DTC buses and Metros.
8 comments:
Being a delhite I hate to say this, I cannot agree more
Though you've told me this before, putting it all in one place really makes Delhi look disgusting and Mumbai almost heavenly.
I hope Delhiites take offense and start a comment war here. From your post, I'm guessing you're hoping the same.
:)
"Faster mode of transport than cars a lot of times. Pretty and decked up. Innovative and colourful bus bodies. Clean windowpanes. (Or no windowpanes) Educated conductors who read newspapers. Plentiful change. Kerala"
A true Kerala bus service you seem to be, but mine personal experience was totally contrary.A shabby bus from cochin to kozhikode, with people thronged to the limits far exceeding double the capacity specified by manufacturer. Even once IE prof. too showed those same educated conductors discriminating against taking students on board due to their student discounts. A phenomena that can't even be imagined in Delhi. I personally have used it for 4 years on DTC.
Above comment is by me
@ Richa : Well yes..sad. Whats worse is thats the culture people grow up in, hardly the ideal situation.
@Arslan : Well of course everything's slightly exxaggerated to make the point via "contrast effect"
@Amanpreet: True.. maybe should add that too. But discounted passes work in DTC buses..sarkari of course. Its a different story they are RIDICULOUSLY discounted and the corporation runs in huge loses. Of course..KSRTC runs in losses too. Try getting on a Blue line with that pass of yours.. you know what happens. Get the choices Bc's and Mc's and the most innovative profanities. :) The IE prof thing was private buses again..not Govt. Buses.
Interesting corollary :)
@Hareesha
:) Was very surprising.Have you noticed such incidents?
Delhi is most uncultured place in India! But the crowd is less in different parts of the city in comparison to Mumbai. Mumbai is more milder in character, people are better than delhi. I don't like delhi bcaz there is too much feudal culture existing there, typical of contemporary dominating political creed in India (from tip to toe). Banglore also has very good transport infra and cool people.
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