Ladies Only

30th September 2010 was a much hyped day in Mumbai on account of the Ayodhya Verdict which was given on that day. I have been in Mumbai for just over 3 years now and 1 thing which I have noticed here is the nonchalance which people have towards bandhs/hartals and the like. Probably, being from good old Kerala where even the murder of a mouse affiliated to a certain political party somewhere in Timbuktu will lead to a day long bandh, the non conformance to bandhs by Mumbaikars makes me feel really happy.

Well, coming back to the 30th, I found the ghost of 1992 haunting people who had been here at that time. As a result, there was nervousness among the public, a lot of organizations declared an impromptu holiday and the usual indifference of the public was replaced by panic. For me, it was business as usual as I went to office that Thursday, wishing it was Friday instead… Office talk centered around possible outcomes and wagers on them, level of violence expected and so on. It was around 2:30 PM that I saw a notice which left me wondering – the women within the organization can leave on account of violence expected after the verdict (then expected at 3:30 PM)!

Understandably, there was a ruckus… why only women? Violence would apply to all, right? The following options were put forward –

Some felt that it is because women are more important than men in the scheme of things. Hence arrangements have been made for them to get home before anything untoward can happen. The men would be left to fend for themselves in the face of violence and hence must be unimportant!

A few other were of the contrary opinion – Men are more important, the women are likely to get into trouble being on the road when start of violence is expected (i.e. around 3:30 when the verdict would come out). The men can coolly leave after everything settles down!

But the final opinion took the cake (and the bakery!)… a particular smart alec commented that, in fact, there would be no violence at all… the women are being sent off early so that at least once, the hardworking men can have a chance to work well without the interference of the women who only gossip and shirk responsibility all the time…!

Needless to say, there was a riot at this statement, which was controlled only coz most of the women left in the special bus at 3 PM!!! :-P

Anyway, I didn’t leave. And anyway, there was no violence. And of course, I travelled home in an empty train coz most people had left their offices early as a precautionary measure!

But at the end of the day I wondered… are women really so much more fragile than men? Can’t they handle a difficult situation well and is that why they alone were sent off early? It seems we still have a lot more to think and do in terms of man-woman equality!