Image Courtesy: voice4girls

Hello I am Akshay of grade 10 and 15 years old. I live in the state of Tamil Nadu and being a north Indian I don’t know Tamil. Everyday I have been dealing with this problem and seeing it every day in my daily routine.

I travel by public transport and just like many others I use the bus to school and back in my school uniform of course. In the bus there are sections, the left side for the Ladies and the right for the men. The back row is common to anyone.  The day  (09/09/2015) I occupied the back row seat in the crowded bus and sat with my friend.

My friend had gotten down on a early stop and at the same time a woman entered and looked at me. I looked at her and looked away. She quickly approached me and asked me to get up in the native language (Tamil). Not knowing Tamil I did not know what to respond and I sat quietly looking. Sudden she began shouting at me.

I was shocked if I did anything wrong, until the bus conductor approached me. He began shouting at me in English telling me to get up and let the lady sit. I, like any normal student, had a heavy burden bag and a lunch bag and would have and did find really hard to stand in the heavily crowded bus.

Anyhow, all the people next to me began shouting at me for being a “Shameless and rude” boy sitting on a seat. I was pulled out of the seat by everyone and the woman, being very young, normal and without any disabilities was made to sit down. I stood on the right side at the men section to make sure I don’t choose the wrong seat “again”.

As the bus reached closer to the destination, the bus became empty. Ironically, two girls came and sat on the right side of the bus which is strictly men. It became clear that things were not normal when I looked towards the ladies section and found out that it was fully empty. If by any chance I sat on the ladies section I would have been run over by a road runner but of course, it was just for us guys.

The girls were gladly sitting and were not asked to leave even though I could not sit because of them. This journey was 45 minutes long and i was standing all along. This has not just been happening to me but to any other people as well.

There are young woman and girls taking unnecessary privileges. I feel the seats should only be reserved for senior citizens, pregnant women and specially abled persons.

Submitted By Akshay Somvanshi

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