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 well dressed professionals... they were getting late for work.
I had a camera phone but I did not take photos. 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. But then maybe they would have taken and broken it anyway.
This is what men in Kolkata do. Nincompoos, good for nothing backboneless saviours of society.
Orange zest, the very thought brings back memories of childhood! Of life when it was more simple and innocent. Reminiscence. Love. Colours and joy!
that was horrifying... i hope you did not face somewhat similar situation at the police station later.
ReplyDeleteits the same story all aorund the eastern world. sorry to say its nothing to do with females/women, had i been in ur place some of them msut have fought wid me for sure. its the public aka mob and not male female thing. public have lost their sense of right and wrong in todays ever demanding and greedy world.
ReplyDeletewonder what has happened to so called intellectual babus of kolkata, for which they r known worldwide.
hope it gets better.
Anurag, this is the exact thing one of my friends said. I got away with some blows on the car because I am a woman, had I been a man the blows would have been on the body. They would just hurl abuse till someone snapped and raised a hand, then it would be a full blown road assault. My god, whats the world coming to??
ReplyDeletei think the ppl have got frustated, they got enuf probs in their life that they now dnt want to be a part of urs. they simply want some peace n when they dnt find they find world is wrong n senseless...sadly this is the start of the end of humanity...still u will find exceptions around. having lived in 7 cities I still think kolkata has life, still breathing, others cities on respirators!
ReplyDeleteEKta kamona kori je aei baar jokhun amar maa aase oh saathe niye aashe amader jonne ektu time, ektu peace and a better heart to make this place worthwhile!