I am 55, female, grey, skinny, wear jeans and short hair. I also commute on bus - all over Bangalore. Here are a few bus moments I remember.
- Every Monday I head out from where I live, in Kengeri, to a meeting in Shivaji Nagar.There is only one direct bus every hour or so - and occasionally this also skips a beat. So, the other day, as I was crossing the road near Kengeri police station, my bus whizzes past me, a couple of hundred meters ahead, to roll into the bus stop. I run. Very few takers for this bus at 3 pm in the afternoon - I realize this and race to catch this bus. I can feel the cool breeze on my face, and wear a Tin-Tin tuft on my head, and a silly grin on my face. I feel I have never run so fast before - and its decades since I last ran. The bus rolls out towards the road and moves as I catch up alongside, grab the handlebar as I have seen many reckless youth do, and swing myself on board with a single swing - the grin still pasted on my face, hot and breathless from the most exciting thing I have done in a long while - and absolutely Cool.
- The other day, I found a Ladies seat on a bus back home and sat there - slumped, gazing out of the window, when I felt a shove on my arm. A buxom villager with huge bags of shopping had got on at the City Market and was shoving my arm, asking me to get up and give her the seat. I was utterly confused and must have shown just that when I heard giggles and laughter all around. Am not great in Kannada, but followed the conversation to understand this much: the young women were telling her that I was really a woman! Now it was her turn to look completely blank - and the laughter turned into a roar!
- What I am going to say now represents a collection of moments, it has happened so many times, and not just on buses. At Majestic, I run between buses, asking for my destination. People helpfully point out towards a bus; I run and clamber on - to be told - its a wrong bus; get off and the bus rolls away and I ask for my destination, to be pointed to the same bus - which has now gone. Another time, I asked for a ticket to Malleswaram, but the bus went through Rajajinagar and ended at Yeswantpur; my protests were answered with derisive laughter "learn Kannada if you want to live in Karnataka". Prejudice of an outsider lives on buses, RTO, telecom office, police stations - where I have heard the same thing. It has been suggested that I wear saree, bottu, and my hair long..I rather be who I am and hope for a world without prejudice.
