I am a resident of Noida. I commute to and fro using the metro everyday. It is an exhausting journey where sometimes I get to relax and travel and sometimes tossed and turned by jiggling lipids of loud women. So on one such winter evening I find myself in this rapid transit mode going back home.The harassment i am referring to is not the long journey but something you experience right after you end the journey, swipe your card and are looking for the cheapest means to get back home. It is then when the rickshaw and auto pullers are almost climbing onto you confidently asking you “ hanji, madam kahan chalna hai ?”about your whereabouts. The trouble is they don’t let you take a breather and immediately jump onto you right on the stairs. They are crouching there bundled in groups almost like roaches looking for leftover meals in the kitchen.
Well on the surface this might not seem harassing but then again after a tiresome day the last thing one needs is the crass looks scanning you through. Top it off with the vulgar remarks, sly c-grade songs and loud conversations about the subject who dint care to ride with them almost shows us that its not the technology that needs to be brought to the people, its the people who need to be brought closer to the technology. Giving the city malls, metro, flyovers is not enough until the people know how to respect and use these amenities properly. Its a waste of bringing convenience to people if at the end of the day your travel is marred by hasty rickshaw pullers looking for a way to earn their meal. There are no proper rickshaw stands, the noida police is confounded as usual and the metro authorities can do nothing about this menace.
So what i am left to ponder over is a problem. A problem my city faces which has no seemingly substantial solution but to let rickshaw pullers fight with each other to make you their “savari” .
