Journey From Jasola - 2

Office      : Jasola Apollo, Violet Line

Home      : Guru Dronacharya, Yellow Line

Entering the Metro Station

My right hand is fractured and my colleague, who picks and drops me daily, tells me that he will be late today. I decide to go home by metro.

I reach Metro Station. There is a long flight of stairs that one must climb to reach concourse. I look for escalator.

“Escalator doosri side hai” informs a man. I take the lift.

A board outside the Lift reads ‘For Senior Citizen, Physically Challenged & Sick People only’. Inside, the lift is full of fourth kind of people – Lazy Footiyaas.

I walk straight to the queue of Security Check. I look right. There is a long queue at Token Counter. I recite the words in my head “samay aur dhan ki bachat ke liye smart card ka prayog kare”. Bloody Un-smart Footiye.

Security Guard frisks me for namesake. He is sure that a man with a broken arm cannot be a terrorist.

I reach the Entry Gate. Scan my wallet. No response. I rub my wallet again on the scanner. Still no response. I look for my Smart Card. Shit!! I left it home today. I join the long queue at the Token Counter.

I get the token. I stand again in the queue for Security Check. This time I avoid looking right but look left.

I see green-blue-red objects in the x-ray monitor. It is fascinating. I look further left where women are being frisked inside an enclosure. I wonder why men are frisked in open. I try to see what happens behind the curtains in the enclosure.

“Bhai baad mein taad liyo, abhi aage badle” I hear a man’s voice from behind. I feel self-conscious.

I scan my token and cross the security gates. There is another long flight of stairs to the platform. I look for escalator again.

“Escalator doosri side hai” informs a lady. I take the lift.

Jasola Apollo to Central Secretariat

The train is still 4 minutes away. I find a place for myself where I think the train will be least crowded. The train arrives. Coach in front of me is over-flowing with people.

I think of waiting for the next train but I am pushed inside by the crowd behind me.

“In bhaisahab ko jagah de do yaar, handicap hai yeh” Man 1 tells Man 2 to get up from the seat for me. I thank God that chivalry is not dead. I sit comfortably.

“Bhaisahab ab thoda adjust holo, humare bhi pair mein bada dard hai”, Man 1 adjust himself, pushing me to the glass partition. I am pissed off. Over-smart Footiya.

Man 1 immediately takes out his phone and texts, “Baby, pair mein dard hai par koi seat nahi deta”. What a liar!! I look at him in disgust. “Babu dis kis wil gv u enrgy :* ” comes the reply. Man 1 wink at me. I look away.

Another man in magenta loose shirt and orange tight jean is narrating his story of machismo to his friend while scratching his crotch.

“Woh mujhse number maang rahi thi aaj, main bola chal hat saali” I roll my eyes. Hey Bhagwaan, uthale in sadak-chaap footiyon ko!!!

“Agla station Kendriya Sachivalaya hai” goes the announcement.

I get up and am pushed down by the crowd. I get up again.

I hear commotion behind me. “Bhaisahab utarna hai?” “Are bhiayya side ho na” “Utarna hota nahi hai par Saamne Khade ho jaate hai” “Haath jagah pe rakh le saale” “Dimaag na kharab kar.” "Tere se bol raha hun kuchh?" "Behere" “Bahar nikal tu, phir batata hoon tujhe” “Abe mere headphones"

I wonder why some footiyaas have to fight inside metro.

Pushing, hitting, squeezing, abusing I manage to reach the door. I wait for the door to open so that I can get down. The door on the other side opens.

“Abe pehle nikalne toh do saalo, phir andar ghus jaana”

Central Secretariat to Guru Dronacharya

Train to HUDA City Centre will arrive in 5 minutes.

The platform is cramped with people. But all are standing in line. Half a dozen Security Guards have maintained decorum on the platform. They blow a whistle whenever anyone tries to break the line or crosses the dreaded “Yellow Line”. I feel happy to see all of this. These Security Guard should be rewarded for their work.

The train arrives and the line converges to form a chaos. Everyone is pushing everyone else. Decorum gives way to disorder. A stampede is inevitable. I try to protect my plaster. I look for Security Guards. They are sitting and watching the confusion from the stairs. Stupid, irresponsible footiye.

I think of waiting for the next train but I am pushed inside by the crowd behind me.

Delhiites have always had this peculiar habit of crowding around the door while leaving inside empty. I remember during the days of Blue Line buses, everyone will be standing and hanging from the stairs giving an impression to an outsider that the bus is crowded. But actually the bus will be completely empty from inside.

The moment I enter with my fractured hand, people sitting on the reserved seats close their eyes and pretend to sleep. Saaley nautanki hai sab ke sab.

I go and stand in the vestibule that connects the two coaches. I lean my back against the synthetic rubber. I like the feeling of softness and feel the urge to slide down. I like the floor shake beneath me. I try to balance myself without holding on to anything. I imagine what would happen if the joint is open and train separates.

A couple standing in front of me are making out. Hands of the boy has found every possible entry point in the girl’s dress. Despo kahin ke. Gone are the days when Delhiites had to go to Buddha Jayanti Park. Ab toh jahaan jaga mili shuru ho jate hai.

Hauz Khas station arrives. The train gets further crowded. The boy doesn’t like the crowd pushing his girl.  He takes his hand out. He forms a shield around her with his arms ensuring no body touches her. The girl feels protected. Kisses the boy on his lips for being her hero. Aye haye!! Cheaper saaley!!

Hauz Khas brings in more kinds of footiyas inside the train!

Bubble-Shoot khelne waale footiye, speaker par gaane sunne waale footiye. Mauhalle ke saari kahaniya sunnane waale footiye, Overhead hanger par dono haathone se latkne waale footiye.. Reminds me of Veeru from Sholay. Basanti in kutton ke saamne mat naachna

Underground Metro mein goggles pehene waale footiye, jahaan jagaah mili wahaan baith jaane waale footiye, selfie kheenchne waale footiye, metro mein khaana khaane waale footiye, chetan bhagat padne waale pseudo-intellectual footiye, pata hai network nahi aata, phir bhi zor-zor se baat karne waale footiye..

I count the number of stations to Guru Dronacharya. Multiply it by 2 to calculate the estimated arrival time. I am so smart.

Arjan Garh arrives. I leave the vestibule and start moving towards the door. A man is standing with his middle finger inserted into the hole above the door. Ched dekha nahi, ungli ghusa do bas. Another man has his lips and nose pressed against the glass door. Sheesha saaf inke papa aakar karenge.

Guru Dronacharya arrives. I get down of the train and look around for escalator to go down.

“Uncle Escalator doosri taraf hai” informs a small kid. I take the lift.

Exiting the Metro Station

I reach the exit gate. Scan my wallet. The door doesn’t open.

I remember I had bought a token. I search for the token in all my pockets. Cannot find it.

“oh bhai.. token nikal liya karo pehle se”.. “Hema zara dekhiyo Kaun hai yeh footiya jo line rokh kar khada hai?”

Embarrassed, I insert token. Exit.

*******

Inspired from real life experience of a fellow blogger Sarthak Ahuja

Journey From Jasola

Blessed are those who do not have to travel from Gurgaon to Jasola every day. 

Those who travel are footiyas.

– Safal Mahajan, A footiya

                                         

Office      : Jasola, Delhi

Home      : Gurgaon, Haryana

Distance : 29.1 Kilometers

The Grid Line

It’s 6:30 PM by my watch and I climb on to my bike to go back home.

I have barely started moving and I already see a traffic jam at the intersection.

Carwaalas are trying to manoeuvre through deep potholes. Delhi Jal Board have dug up both sides of the road. Pedestrians are walking on road. Trucks carrying construction sand and stones are polluting the air with black smoke.

In the middle of all the chaos, Rikshawaalas are randomly coming in between the cars to find their way forward. Their rikshaw handles are rubbing against the cars stuck in traffic jam creating long scratches on the painted metal. Carwaalas are shouting abuses, but rikshawaalas don’t care. Yeh hai beech mein ghoosne waale footiye.

I somehow manage to reach Mathura road.

Lap 1: Mathura Road

There is a flyover at 100 meters. I should take the U-turn from under that flyover. I go straight under the flyover and take a U-turn.

I can see a traffic light. It is red. I am not stopping at this. I see a cut on my left. I take the left and enter service lane. Policewaalas have put a barricade on the service lane to teach a lesson to footiyas who act smart.

I turn and go back to the cut and re-enter the main road.

Traffic light turns green. There is a train running parallel to Mathura road on my left. Scenes from Dil Chahata hai flashes in my mind. I decide to race with the train. I accelerate 70.. 80.. 90.. Press hard brakes. There is a traffic light again. I curse my luck. Train wins the race.

Lap 2: Outer Ring Road

I take a left from Mathura road and climb up Modi Mill waala flyover. Who gave that name to this flyover? Surely some footiya.

I see a 6-lane road almost lying empty in front of me. Wow! I engage the highest gear and full throttle down the Modi Mill waala Flyover. Then climb up Kalkaji waala flyover in all gusto. I see an advertisement of my company’s car. I feel proud  to be working in this company as I reach on the top of the flyover.

Once on top I see a traffic jam starting exactly where the flyover ends. A temple constructed in the middle of the road makes the 6-lane road into a 2-lane road. But because of religious sentiments involved no government authority will demolish this temple. This spot has been witnessing daily traffic jam for a decade now. Aur aaj phir wahi footiyapa hai.

Cars, buses, trucks, autos are struggling to pass through the bottle neck. I try to steer through them driving my bike into every inch of free space available. I cross the bottle neck in less than 5 minutes.

Its 6-lanes again! Chalo traffic toh khatam hua

I speed up my bike again and reach Nehru Place waala flyover. There is another massive traffic jam waiting down the flyover.

A wise senior in my office once told me “delhi ke traffic jam ki chaabi hai, gaadi ko humesha left mein rakho”.

I take my bike to the left most lane and ride adjacent to foot path. Though I move slowly, but I keep moving unlike the vehicle on my right, that are stuck to their place.

I cross Chittranjan Park, Greater Kailash, Chirag Dilli.

I reach Panchsheel Colony and I am bored of travelling so slow. I see a cut on my left. I enter the service lane. Its empty. A sabziwaala at the cut greets me with a smile. I smile back at him. Dilliwaalas are so courteous. I ride on the empty service lane.

More than a kilometre later, I see a board that reads DEAD END.

I go back to the beginning and stop in front of the same sabziwaala. Footiye bata nahi sakta tha aage raasta band hai?

I enter the main road again and continue to move slowly till IIT Gate.

Lap 3: Aurobindo Marg

Its all about spotting Qutub Minar.

A two kilometre stretch that caters to traffic of four major malls of Delhi, three super speciality hospitals, a five star hotel, Mother’s international School, Aurobindo Ashram, Adhchini Village, IIT Delhi, NCERT Office, a showroom of Yamaha, Hero & Renault Cars, a world famous monument and above all a CNG gas station. Did I mention about the traffic going to Gurgaon?

Town planners added icing on the top by installing 3 traffic lights of 90 seconds each on this road.

Stuck in a pathetic traffic jam with nowhere else to go, I remove my helmet to breathe free. It is already wet with my sweat.

I see a driver of an ambulance blowing horn frantically but there is not even an inch to move.

A carwaala next to me rolls down his window and says “Yeh toh saala roz ka tanta hai.. pata nahi kaun planning karta hai?”

Footiya karte hai uncleji.

After crawling for 20 minutes I see a glimpse of the world famous Qutub Minar. The monument marks the end of this road (and the torture). I turn ON my left indicator and turn to Anuvrat Marg.

Lap 3: Anuvrat Marg

I turn ON my right indicator as the road turns naturally towards right. I see a traffic light. Surprisingly all three lights - red, yellow and green – are switched ON at the same time. Confused, I stop at the light.

Rukh mat footiye, yeh lights khraab hai  shouts the man from the car behind me. He keeps blowing horn until I move. Horn maarna band kar footiye.

I jump the traffic light.

I turn ON my right indicator again as the road naturally turns towards right again. I see a traffic light again. All three lights - red, yellow and green – are switched ON at the same time again. Deja vu! I stop again at the light.

Abe footiye chal na, tu rukhta kyun hai? shouts the same man. His car is still behind me. I jump the traffic light yet again.

I turn ON my left indicator as the road now turns naturally towards left. I see another traffic light. But this time none of the three lights are working. I look into my rear mirrors if that man is still behind, he is not. 

Oh my God, he is on my left! He rolls down his window to warn me. Footiye, iss waali mein rukiyo,dekh saamne thulla khada hai.

I stop and wait for the signal from traffic police waala.

I notice a massive traffic jam just 100 meters ahead of me. A speeding metro passes by my right into a huge station that reads CHATTARPUR.

Lap 4: Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road

Did I die? I pinch myself. No I am alive.

I was riding normally on the MG Road when a speeding Toyota Fortuner overtook me from left. I was only millimetre away from being thrown away by SUV. For a second my entire life flashed before my eyes. Yeh left se overtake karne waale footiye.. kabhi nahi sudhrenge

I regain my composure and start riding again. There are street lights on MG Road but none of them are functional. The only source of light is my bike’s headlight and night’s moonlight.

The road is empty and well tarred. Even a speed of 60 km/hour seems slow to me. The traffic signs on the road side prescribe the maximum speed limit of 80. I increase my speed to 95 km/h.

I suddenly turn blind, everything is white in front of me. I think there is a car speeding towards me. Am I on the wrong side? No I am not. The carwaala is driving on the wrong side of the road.

I slow down by bike, but the carwaala doesn’t. Accident is imminent. I bring my bike to a complete halt and frantically wave my hands signalling the carwaala to stop. A Mahindra Scorpio stops just centimetres away from my bike’s front tyre. A gujjar rolls down his window and shout. Footiye raaste se hat warna lappad khayega mere haath.

I give way to the Scorpio. Saale ulte chalne waale aur high beam use karne waale footiye.

I start yet again, this time very carefully. Now I know MG Road belongs to Footiyas who own SUV. I reach Gurgaon border with utmost care and constant humiliation of a band of Scorpio, Bolero, Fortuner waalas shouting throughout my journey abe footiye bail gaadi chala raha hai?

Lap 5: Gurgaon

I enter Gurgaon and take a U-turn for DLF Phase 3. I know I am only two minutes away from my home. Or maybe 5 or may be 10… 15?

Two carwaala are fighting in the middle of the road. Seems like one of them has accidently smashed the other one’s taillights. A traffic jam has started piling up because of their fight. 

Abe side mein gaadi karke lad lo yaar. Beech sadak par ladne waale Footiye.

But I need to reach home. I take my bike inside a petrol pump and exit from the other gate. I climb up on a footpath. Footiye yeh footpath hai chalne ke liye, sadak nahi  shouts an aunty.

I run my bike on empty plots of land, inside rainwater drain, on the heap of sand near a construction site. Dogs chase me as I ran my bike over their tail. Yeh footiye kutte.

Victory Lap

Its 9 PM and I reach home. I need to open the gate. I find it difficult to get off the bike. My crotch is frozen. I walk toward gate in the frozen position. I am looking like an alphabet Y turned upside down.

Two pretty girls out for a night walk see me walking like that and giggle. Hema woh dekh, footiya kaise chal raha hai.

Guddi-2

I must confess I am running a bit late on my schedule to put this article up on mool-dhara. Guddi-2 was always on my mind ever since I decided to write on mool-dhara again this new year. Anyway, better late than never. 

So, in this season of sequels (Dhoom 3, Nach Baliye 6 and Roadies whatever) let me present to you yet another sequel; a sequel to my January 2009 article: Guddi-2.

‘Everything that goes up has to come down’ is a famous saying. But do you know, everything that goes up fast comes down even faster? The latter exemplifies guddi. 

Do you remember Lalit Modi - the man behind IPL? Take his case. He was always associated with cricket, even before anyone ever thought of Twenty20 cricket. But one fine day he proposed a concept of Indian Premier League (IPL) before the cricket board in India. His proposal was accepted. IPL was organised and later turned out to be the biggest brand in India. Overnight he became an eye candy of everyone. BCCI revolved around him, news channels would run shows with him as the central theme. Newspapers were filled with him. Every industrialist wanted a share of him and his IPL. In short his guddi started rising.

And then as fast was his rise, faster was his fall. Series of events expelled him out from IPL. He was no more in BCCI, no more on news channels, no more in newspapers and least of all among the industrialists. That’s what guddi does to you. It takes you up fast, brings you down faster.

So here is the list of 5 such people whose guddi has been rising recently, which eventually would fall sharp (that’s not my prediction, that’s the way guddi works). If you read my January 2009 article (http://mool-dhara.blogspot.in/2009/01/guddi.html)  you will observe 5 out of 7 people on guddi list who were virtually everywhere then, are virtually nowhere today.

The list below doesn't fall under any order; I simply chose to go alphabetically.

1) & 2) Arvind Kejriwal and Team AAP:

Arvind KejriwaI’s guddi started rising the day he decided to part way with his one time mentor Anna Hazare. Days later he announced his own political party, weeks later he was fasting for

agitation against high electricity bills in Delhi, months later his posters were on Delhi’s 10,000 auto rikshaws and a year later he was the Chief Minister of Delhi. AAP and Kejriwal are the stuffs what real guddis are made of.

Arvind Kejriwal has time and again demonstrated that he has seen the hindi film, Nayak (remake of Mudhalvan in tamil) every single time it was aired on Sony TV or SET Max.

His team mates/members of AAP were no lesser on guddi than him. While Arvind Kejriwal (and to some extent Manish Sasodia, Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav) were the only face of AAP before elections. New AAP faces have quickly come in the limelight after Delhi's election, as if guddi of Aravind Kejriwal had a ripple effect on AAP's members too.

Kumar Vishwas became a hero overnight when he appointed himself as an AAP candidate from Amethi against Rahul Gandhi, even before deleting his old kavi sammelan videos from YouTube (he should have known, aam aadmi has a bad sense of humour). He even went on to challenge our Gujju potential PM candidate, Narendra Modi to fight elections from Amethi in UP. Ha ha.. When their guddi is rising, people do funny things.

Somnath Bharati was another Hrithik Roshan from Team AAP who became an overnight sensation a night after he did a Kaho Na.. Pyaar Hai with women from Uganda. I have no clue if there is actually a drug racket running in Malviya Nagar, in Delhi (I won’t be surprised if Bharati’s claims are true) but what made him break the normal protocol? He is no Batman. He went for an arrest without an arrest warrant. Pissed off National Commission for Women waited for him the next day for hours together but he was flying kites somewhere else with cameramen by his side. Oh, he loves cameramen!!! 

Coming back to Mr. Arvind “Nayak” Kejriwal, like Mahabharat’s Abhimanyu, he might know how to enter Chakraviyu but he doesn't know how to exit it. And the gurus of Hastinapur - Political and non-political will wait till his guddi stop rising, and that is when they will attack him.

3) Deepika Padukone:

Deepika and 13 are considered unlucky for most (Yuvraj Singh, Ranbir Kapoor and Siddharth Mallya and rest of the world). But last year Deepika and 2013 teamed up to prove themselves lucky, and without a doubt Deepika's guddi started rising.

Some Kanta bai's daughter's friend's mother who works at Deepika’s house supposedly told one of my sources that on 1^st January 2013, Deepika kept a new year’s resolution that she would no more do the bowkwaas party girl roles any more (apparently after more than half a decade in Bollywood and making similar kind of films again and again and again, she could do those roles even without reading the script). She kept delivering 100 crores hit one after the other all throughout 2013 - Race 2 (104 Crores) , Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (189 Crores), Chennai Express (224 Crores) and Ram-Leela (202 Crores).

All throughout the year she had some of the biggest directors coming her way and she signed the best advertisement deals. While her guddi was on the rise she was attracting everything in bollywood, even Ranvir Singh. 2014 will see her coming along with the two biggest stars in Indian cinema – Rajanikanth in Kochadaiyaan and Shahrukh Khan in Happy New Year. Lucky girl. What else does she need?

“What is Katrina Kaif’s real age?” said the lady over a (K)offee with Karan.

4) Devyani Khobragade:

Devyani's guddi started rising the day U.S. authorities charged her with committing visa fraud and providing false statements in order to bring her domestic made from India. A relatively Junior IFS (Indian Foreign Service) Officer, Devyani Khobragade was allegedly

“handcuffed in public, subjected to a strip search, and made to share a cell with drug addicts".  So what’s the big deal about it? It is a routine affair in Indo-US affairs. Not when it involves a person whose guddi is on the rise.

Unexpectedly for most Indians, Devyani’s episode changed our relations with our favourite Uncle Sam. Senior officials in government refused to meet the US counterparts, security barricades on the road outside the US Embassy in New Delhi were removed. Staffs employed by US consulates in India were checked for inconsistency or frauds. Suggestions were even made for the arrest of same-sex companions of US diplomats based on Section 377!!! It was as if, we suddenly discovered – Hey, even we have balls. Wow!!! Devyani’s guddi was rising at Sehwag’s batting strike rate. At the peak of her guddi, Devyani removed NaMo and RaGa from the front page of all national dailies!!! 

But there was something cooking underneath, after all guddis don’t rise just like that. Former President Abdul Kalam was frisked at the Delhi airport by employees of an American airline when he was travelling to New York in 2009. India’s U.N. envoy Hardeep Puri was detained at Houston airport after refusing to remove his turban in December 2010. Shahrukh Khan was detained in 2009 and 2012 in US. Why so much hoopla in Devyani's case?

Devyani is a dalit (now I see a potential political angle to much of this drama in an election year) and she also owns a house in infamous Aadarsh Housing Society (A to Z of Indian Scams: http://mool-dhara.blogspot.in/2011/07/to-z-of-indian-scams.html) . World is such a small place, isn't it?

Anyway all's well that ends well. Now that our dearest Devyani is back home from her deputation in US, what next for her? Someone prompted Big Boss 8.

5) Virat Kohli:

Well let’s face it, there comes a phase in every cricketer’s life when the cricket analyst predicts this man is going to be  'The Next Sachin Tendulkar'. In case of Virat Kohli, analyst have went a step further to say he has the Best of Sachin and Sehwag (He is the BOSS).

Now, I have no personal issues with Virat Kohli (he has never called me bhen&#@d) and being a Delhiite myself he always has my vote of liking. But all I want to say is this - Guys, let's wait. May be it’s just a phase when his guddi is rising. Don’t jump to conclusions straight away. Let him perform consistently for 22 years, to conclude that he had Sachin in him. Let him hit a six when he is in 290s to complete his 300, then say that he has Sehwag in him.

See what I am trying to impress upon is, when your guddi is rising even Aamir Khan’s lead actress is ready to fly down to New Zealand for you. It’s normal.

Have you seen him in cricket matches these days? The ball refuses to touch his wickets and fielders drop his catches. He takes wickets whenever he is given a ball, even though he is actually a batsman!!! Every ball passing him within a radius of 6 feet automatically slows down because of his magnetic field. Virat Kohli's stardom has touched new heights in the era of Lord Ravindra Jadeja.

But God forbid if someday fate does what it did with Gautam Gambhi, Murali Vijay, Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh (basically your guddi starts falling) what will he do?

Virat Kohli replies back: nlm

*******

Men and Prejudices

This incident happened 2 months back.

I was coming back from my office after a tiring day. I walked up till a point from where I could catch a share-auto. For those who have never been to Chennai, share-auto is mostly like any other city auto (a little bigger in height though). They are modified to add an extra row of seating behind the normal seating area. The cushioned seat of the auto is pushed back to the rear and an additional wooden plank is added in front to accommodate more people in a single pool trip.

Usually when a stop arrives, everyone in the front row of the auto, need to get out making way for people in the rear. That day when the auto reached my stop, a lady in her mid 20s, sitting in front of me, didn't move at all.

“Ma’am, would you please excuse me?” I requested her politely. Generally the moment these auto stops anywhere, everyone in the front row involuntarily steps out of the auto. This is an unsaid instruction. But she was different, maybe someone new in the city. The young lady yielded no response to my request.

I noticed she had plugged head phones into her lobes. I repeated again, raising my voice a little more than the last time.

“Madam, move out” 

“This man is trying to touch me” Her index finger was pointed at me.

She still didn’t move an inch. On the other hand, realising that no one is getting down at the stop, autowaala slowly began to accelerate the auto.

I hate it when people plug headphones into their ears in public places and become immune to their surroundings, only causing inconvenience to people around. Irritated by her behaviour, I tapped on the edge of her shoulder this time.

“Excuse....” But I had barely finished my sentence when she suddenly became animated and shouted with terror.

“This man is trying to touch me” Her index finger was pointed at me. The auto had already picked up some speed by then.

All of this happened so abruptly that her accusation actually threw me in a self doubt if I really touched her at any wrong place.

Anna (the autowaala) stopped his auto on one side of the road immediately and asked me to come out (and the lady finally gave me way to go out).  A couple of passer-by stopped to check what had happened. While coming out of the auto I knew language would be a major barrier if I have to explain my innocence. I didn't know Tamil and autowaalas in Chennai know little English.  Castration was on the cards.

Holding me by collar, Anna had just closed his fist into a punch, when an old lady from inside the auto started blathering something in Tamil. A minute later, autowaala left my collar and got inside the auto. Passer-by left. Anna cranked his 2-stroke engine and gave race. The auto was moving again. The young lady peeped out of the moving auto and said a simple “Sorry”.

As the auto got disappeared in the traffic on ECR, I, still standing there at the spot where autowalla had held my collar tried to recover from the incident that just happened with me, or rather could have happened with me. From the sequence of events, I could guess that the older lady narrated what actually happened inside the auto.

While everyone keeps talking and writing about prejudices against women, by doing so the society also gives birth to prejudices against men.

But I still couldn't understand why would that young girl react like that? What did she think I was? What wrong did I do that made her petrified to this extent? Just because I am a guy and she is girl, does not mean I would always seek an opportunity to touch her or anyone else for that matter. Did I have any other option to let her give way for me? For a moment I thought I should chase down the auto and tell her ‘My Name is Safal Mahajan and I am not a rapist’. But then I remembered, Shahrukh’s movies do not run as much here in south.

This incident brings to light an important aspect of the society we live in today. While everyone keeps talking and writing about prejudices against women, by doing so the society also gives birth to prejudices against men. One of my female friends makes this point quite often “All men are hungry dogs” and I would generally laugh at it. Little do I realise that she is putting a label against me that isn’t easy to wash away.

Labelling anyone for that matter is wrong. It is like saying “Islamic extremists”. Extremism of any kind and type is bad, be it done by a Hindu, Muslim or a Christian. Why should we label an entire religion just because some individuals from that religion chose an extreme path?

This is important here because experts in psychology believe that by labelling an entity, human mind tends to associate those entities only with their labels (Though sometimes they have a positive affect too, like for example “German technology”). As a result, every time you talk of Islam, the first impression that most human mind will get is that of their extreme behaviour. Even “Saffron Terror” for that matter.  Saffron no more inspires Indians to think of courage and sacrifice-the reason for which this colour is on our Indian flag. On the same lines, The Delhi Gang Rape case of 2012 seems to have added a label with men-Rapist.

....by labelling an entity, human mind tends to associate those entities only with their labels.... The Delhi Gang Rape case of 2012 seems to have added a label with men-Rapist.

Even on the first anniversary of that unfortunate incident, there were pictures published in newspaper of ladies carrying placard that read,

“It is the men who are the real problem of the Indian society and not the women”

Another card read “Don’t tell your daughter not to go out, tell your son to behave properly“.

In the incident of Delhi Gang Rape (or even Mumbai’s Shakti Mill Gang Rape Case), what many don’t realise is that if there were some obnoxious men who committed the crime, there was also one gentle soul (a man) who was equally thrashed by the goons while trying to protect the lady victim. In fact if the newspaper reports are to go by, in Delhi’s case the body of the victim was lying on NH-8 for a long time before a passer-by, a man, informed the police.

The feminist groups protesting at Jantar Mantar against the anarchy of Indian Men have clearly failed to realise that the fear that has spread in the society is not a result of the mayhem created by men. Delhi Rape Case was a law and order problem. A group of miscreants could dare to do a dastardly act of this amplitude because they were not afraid of the law.

And it’s not only the feminist group holding placards at fault; the perception of the society on a whole has swayed in an “anti-men” direction. Most of us live in a bubble that “my father, my brother, my boyfriend/husband and my son are the only gentleman left in the town”. While the truth is that, even they are perceived as “potential rapist” by somebody as close as our best friends.

Is this a sign of a healthy society? No it is not. It is important to bridge this gap of mistrust between the two genders for the betterment of the present and future. And this confidence building exercise can start within our own houses. While parents need to educate their boys about sensitivity with which they should treat a girl, women should also be advised against having a pre-conceived opinion about every man in town. Also parents should stop seeding fears in the minds of their daughters that a city is unsafe for woman after 9. Walking alone, on a dimly lit, lonely road at midnight is as dangerous for a woman as it is for a man. So if daughters are unsafe in the city, what makes your son so brave?

 Parents should stop seeding fears in the minds of their daughters.... dimly lit, lonely road at midnight is as dangerous for a woman as it is for a man.

On a personal level, we should make an endeavour to stop labelling cities, colour, and habits in terms of gender (Pink is not a colour only meant for women). Women need to take a leap of faith and try to bridge the gap because fear will only spread more fear. Men, unlike women, have characteristics that make them susceptible, but blaming them for “being hungry for flesh” is too much of an accusation. Accept them for the way they are and you will feel protected. After all it was a man who was primarily responsible for abolition of what was once considered the worst curse to a woman-sati.

Just for record, My Name is Safal Mahajan. And I am not a Rapist.

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