Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Kolkata safe for women drivers???

Time: 10.30 am
Place: Salt Lake Sector 3, near Stadium
Bus No: WB 02 Y 1928

The road is itself bad, horrendous. Anyone travelling that route will know your car is at a risk if you dont go at 20 kmph. I was coming from byepass road toward Salt Lake, travelling to office near PNB. The bus was one of those private buses ferrying people to office in Sector 5. As I was negotiating the potholes, I was at the extreme right of the road, almost touching the divider but for a few inches. I saw the bus hurtling down from behind me, and slowly inching right, directly towards my car. I honked with all my might, braked, stopped. the bus simply came and hit my passenger door.

Of course I was not at fault. And hence, of course, I had to do something about it. My passenger door was anyway quashed. But I wanted to take the driver to the police. I drove right in front of the bus, in the middle of the road, the bus was trying to swerve and flee... and stopped. There was enough space on both sides for traffic to cross, I had made sure of that. I got down and approached the driver. Even then I could see men hanging their heads out of the window shouting at me to move. Then it started.

The men ranged from my age- early 30-s to late 50-s. They surrounded me, first 5 then 10 then slowly maybe 25... surrounded me and started shouting, abusing, just short of touching. I said call the police, I want this sloved. The moment I said police, they started banging on my car. I was inside the car then having taken down the number of the bus. They started hitting my car on all sides, screaming at me to move. They started pushing my car. A mob of grown educated working men... they were getting late for work.

I made one mistake. I did not take photos. My camera phone was there. I wish I had taken the photos of the screaming mob and posted them everywhere so that employers would see them, families would see them. Men, employees, surrounding a lone woman in a car and abusing her, trying to intimidate her into moving away. This is what men in Kolkata do. Nincompoos, good for nothing backboneless savious of society. All rise.

5 comments:

  1. You should definitely have taken photos and sent them to the press. Let me know if you want help.Maybe I can get in touch with a few press people.

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  2. it is an important issue you had raised but if you had photos you could have used them to raise concern if you want we can load this on the our blog to raise more concern

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  3. really, salt lake badly needs some decent bus drivers and some more transport services...pity to see everyday people going to SDF and Technopolis hanging from buses...

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  4. i have been living in USA for 3 year now and was driving here so decided that once i go back (in June) i will be doing the same in Kolkata,but reading your blog ,am too scared to do so . Imagine the irony i am scared to drive a car in my own native place and that too in my country ,just becaise the bus drivers are reckless and morover the men in the city are spine less who have never stood for anything in their life other than satndign aginst a female . when the whole world will be moving towards a new dawn ,Kolkata still sleeps . I wish the authorities could do soemthing about it .Even after so many accidents related to the reckless driving of the bus drivers ,looks like the authorities get a comforable sleep ,may be the dead bodies make a warm bed for them.

    Hoping that soemthing changes and someone can make these drivers coem to their senses. Also,maybe someday the men of Kolkata start satnding up for the right thing and realise they do have a back bone

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