“I am Strong … I am invincible… I am woman”
On the rush hours of 9 30 in the morning, on board the delhi
metro express train to Gurgaon I bless DMRC for the pink coach. Laden with
ladies of all sorts with the common underlining factor : most of them are
headed to the office. When you look at the sheer number of corporate faced
laptop loaded women of the city (and not compare the figure to the one of the
opposite sex in the eight other similar coaches) you feel proud to live in the
times when we have come such a long way from behind our purdahs and prathas,
out in the open, yes still fighting the gravity pulling us down under but we
are putting up a good show. I wonder why still in the far flung areas of our
country men & women are not happy to see their children grow. It ought to
be a proud feeling to see your daughter or sister brave the world n win its
many challenges, true she would be doing n number of things to make the
neighbor aunty raise her painted eyebrows. But times have moved on and we need
to look beyond the neighbor aunty, hear more than what her gossip has to say,
and think beyond the worries of what the uncle next door would think of us.
Pic: Live Mint
Pic: The Hindu
So inside the pink coach looking at the pretty faces of
different ages, different professions: I see stories. The dreamy eyes of the
chura clad newly weds, the tired story of experience of the aunty contemplating
the demand of the senior citizen seat, the nervous looks before the interviews
of the one with many files in hand, the forlorn look of the sindoorless young
girl, the strong look of the crafty professional, the intimidated new n town
girls, the getting late corporate, the skimpy clothed aide, the sari clad
bhabiji, the sleepy n tired fresher, the habitual working mother, the rebel runaway
daughter, the dotting wife, the responsible mother, the smart home maker…
Too many roles too many faces, too many stories all moving
forward in the pink coach!
Pic: DMRC Footage
