LIFE IN DELHI METRO (29/12/2013)

Delhi metro brings in many facets of live which is entertaining and at the same time amusing. It helps to understand the pulse of the society. Metro brings to me the polished face of Delhi. Girls still in their teens or even lesser in age board metro regularly. They love to flash their mobile as much as they love to flash their style. They carry themselves with dignity and with all seriousness in a bid to defy their age. Their pretensions make them appear more than their age. The purpose is to carry themselves as mature young lady. But their maturity melts away in thin air once they start conversing with their colleague. Curiously enough, aged ladies in their forties often with heap make over and dressed casually in outfits which even young girls may avoid also board metro. Here the effort is to play role younger than their actual age. They often smile and giggle at simply nothings. They seek to draw attention of fellow commuters by their girl like act. Unfortunately either of them fails miserably in their role reversal, which I term, inverse act. This crossover makes for interesting observations more so when they are in a crowded tube. The problem with such BTMs (Behanji turned modes) is they never board the first car (compartment) in metros which is reserved for ladies (Is it reverse gender bias or whether such arrangement is followed internationally even in the 21^st century, I leave it for readers to ponder upon). But at the same time these BTMs regard it their right to occupy the seats reserved for ladies in other car. One day I found two such BTMs occupying the ladies seat in a general car. When the train stopped at Inderlok, an old lady in her late seventies entered the car. This lady was a genuinely old lady and I expected one of the two BTMs to vacate seat for this old woman. But that didn’t happen. A male commuter finally vacated his seat for this old woman. Ladies are generally considered more sensitive and gents often find themselves at the receiving end when it comes to learning a lesson or two on sensitivity; but shouldn’t such sensitivity be reflected by ladies towards a fellow lady commuter as a matter of general courtesy?  Ought these ladies not to vacate their seat for a fellow older lady passenger, just in the same manner they expect gents to vacate their seat for old, physically challenged and lady commuter? Metros make for an interesting learning place for many more such lessons in human relations.